Encouraging Words Devotional

I Must Keep Going . . .

Back in the 1980s, Heather Reynolds, along with her husband, Patrick, founded an outreach that has saved thousands of children among the Zulu people of South Africa. They call it God’s Golden Acre.

Old-Fashioned Word but Up-to-Date Problem

Tribulation is a word that you probably don’t use every day of the week.  But you experience it nearly every day. Tribulation means trouble, problems, hardship, misery, suffering, and misfortune--I’m sure you’ve got the idea.

Sneaky Pride

Mart DeHaan calls pride “a great imposter—one so clever that he deceived even the devil himself.” He writes, “I’m learning that he is no fool. He flatters us. He defers to us. He encourages us to develop an exaggerated opinion of our own importance, while at the same time letting us think negative and self-destructive thoughts about ourselves…. He has hats for every occasion and masks for every emotion. He has a different voice for every decision. Sometimes he struts—sometimes he limps.”[i] Good description, isn’t it!

 

[i]Mart DeHaan, “A Great Imposter,” pamphlet produced by RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI, February 2005.

 

If I Just Had Enough Money

Finish this statement: “If I just had enough money, I would…”  How would you finish that sentence?  “Live in a mansion, drive a sports car, hire all my work done and travel”? Or would you say something like “Stop HIV-AIDS and relieve world hunger”? Or maybe your answer would be, “I’d share the Gospel in massive ways so that everyone in the world can know Jesus died for their sins and will forgive them.”

I Don't Wanna

A young mom who was having a frustrating week sent me an email saying, “I’m in a ‘kicking, screaming, I don’t wanna’ do it’ mood this week.”  Can you identify with her? I certainly can. Sometimes I go so far as to get my week totally organized—lists made, priorities identified—and then I look at the #1 item on the list and think, “I don’t want to do this--I’m not in the mood—in fact, I’m not going to do it!”

Grace

Paul so often began his writings to the New Testament churches with the greetings, “Grace and peace.” Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan says that “grace” was first of all in Greek an intellectual and artistic word. It included the idea of “beauty as against ugliness, health as against disease, order as against chaos, all the realm of that which is beautiful.”

No More Condemnation

Here’s what a friend of mine wrote about the guilt she was experiencing:

Condemnation--I felt it every day. The enemy would scream denunciation into my ear for the daily sins I was committing.  

You Are More Precious Than Diamonds

In God’s eyes, are you more precious than diamonds? Could it be true? 

Think for a moment about diamonds. They are one of the most precious items in creation, rare, beautiful and highly prized. But they are nothing compared to how God values us--yes, we who trip and fall and fail more often than we care to admit.

Me and Miss California

One day my husband called me and said that Lisa needed a place to live for a few months.  “What do you think of inviting her to live with us?” Not one to wait long before making a decision, my husband stayed on the phone for my answer.

Online with God

I’ve been giving some thought to the fact that my brain never seems to turn off.  I’m always thinking.  If I try not to think, I’m only thinking that I’m not thinking! I wonder if God made our brains so that they never turn off so that we could truly “pray without ceasing,” as 1 Thessalonians 5:17 instructs us. Or at least center our thoughts on God throughout the day--not just at the beginning and end of each day.  If that is true, I realize a lot of my brain energy goes to non-essentials.  God made me with the potential to fellowship with Him at any time.  But do I take advantage of that ability?  Not as often as I could or should.