Encouraging Words Devotional

The Tortoise And The Snail

Have you ever dreamed that you were trying to run in your sleep? Isn’t it frustrating? Try as you will, you can make very little progress. And if you are trying to run from some danger, the dream turns into a nightmare.

Jesus Does The Impossible

The man had been lame for thirty-eight years—so lame that although he lay right by the Pool of Bethesda, he couldn’t get himself into the waters. “When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, ‘Would you like to get well?’” (John 5:6 NLT).

They Soon Forgot What He Had Done

I’ve noticed that many of the Psalms repeat the story of the Israelites as they made their way from Egypt to the land that God promised them. Over and over you will read similar accounts of those same events.  I used to wonder what the reason was for the repetition. Didn’t the Israelites know the story already?

When Life Knocks You Down

A friend of mine had worked untiringly on a project, and finally it seemed there was a breakthrough and she would be able to put the project together. But then someone confronted her in a very abrasive manner and told her she was wrong, out of God’s will and that she should abandon the whole project. As the saying goes, she had the wind knocked out of her sails. Was God speaking to her through this person, or was this Satan trying to defeat the endeavor, she wondered.

Grace Is Love Stooping

“Grace” is one of those words that I find hard to define.  In the Christian world, grace has often been defined as G-R-A-C-E, God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.  And that it is! God gives us His grace, or undeserved favor, at the expense of His Son, Who died on the cross to pay for our sins.

Fear Or Love?

Notice this Bible verse: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). I don’t know why, but that verse has always been hard for me to grasp.  “Perfect love casts out fear”? What is the writer saying? And how does it fit into my life? 

Motivating Millennials

Do you have a millennial living in your house—someone between the ages of 22 and 37? Or perhaps they’re your employee. Want to motivate them? Then ask them one question, says a popular business newsletter.  The question is this: What is your dream?

Misery— And Relief!

Remember when you were a kid and you’d done something wrong? You knew when you got home you’d have to face your parents—and take the consequences, so you took the longest route home, dragging your feet all the way. You were miserable.

How To Learn Contentment

In her book Calm My Anxious Heart, Linda Dillow tells about a young bride who married a Marine, thinking that living in foreign countries and traveling the globe would be romantic and exciting.  Two years later, lonely and deeply discontented, she poured out her complaints in a letter to her mother. She had no friends, she said. She couldn’t speak the language and didn’t think it was worth it to learn because at any time her husband might be transferred to another country. Worst of all, she said, her groom was never home.  She ended the letter saying, “I can’t take this any longer. I’m coming home.”

The One Thing To Do Before You Speak

There’s an old proverb that goes, “He who answers before listening—that is his folly and shame.” Yet, how many of us do just that! When people are talking to us, we’re watching for that split second when their lips clamp shut so we can start talking and give them the benefit of our great wisdom. In fact, sometimes we just interrupt.  I guess that’s because what we have to say is so much more important than what they are saying, right?