Monday... Encouragement has two sides to it.

One side is to be encouraged to live a different way, to see our actions from a different perspective and to be encouraged to not do something. Proverbs 17:5 (MSG) gives us a great encouragement. And we need it in the day in which we live. It says, "Whoever mocks poor people insults their Creator; gloating over misfortune is a punishable crime." I have kept coming back to this verse as I have read my three chapters today. So it seems like we must need this encouragement.

It can be so easy for us as Christians to look down on other people but in reality we are insulting God. When we put down poor people, or people of other races and gloat over them, we are in fact insulting God, their Creator and that is not a good thing. It is a punishable crime. This verse is encouraging us to live a better way.

We don't want to be punished by God, do we?

1 Corinthians 10:12 (NLT) says, "If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall." The writer who is the Apostle Paul continues with an encouraging word. Verse 13 says, "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure."

You see that when we are tempted to put down the poor or other races, God will be faithful to give us a way out. He doesn't want to punish us, he wants us to endure. So God is faithful. He will do what he can to keep us from insulting him. Hr has to punish us for that. So when you are tempted to put down someone who is a creation of God then stop for a moment and see that God has given you a way out. He doesn't want to punshist us, he wants us to endure.

And that is another side of encouragement. We don't have to give in to the temptation of putting down other people who were also created by God. He will give us a way out of this temptation so we will not be punished. It might be that his Spirit will remind us of this Proverb. And that is such an encouragement, isn't it? Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do

Psalm 8:3-4 (NLT), "When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers - the moon and the stars you set in place - what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?" Friday... Yes, we need them. We really do. No, not the fact that I can go out my front door and look out at night at the marvels of the sky. I can do that and it is amazing and it takes my breath away each time I see it. Yes, that is a fact but the reality of who did that and the wisdom and the faith that I have to believe that and to marvel that the one who did that cares about me makes such a difference in how I live my life. Yes, God really does. That is so wonderful for us to believe. And that is why faith and wisdom are so important. Now whatever belief you have at how that marvel happened must also be believed through faith. And the sad thing to me is that more and more people have been taught that there is no God and therefore he did not have a h...

Wednesday... It didn't just happen.

Psalm 16;10 (NLT), "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." Wednesday... It didn't just happen. We are headed into a weekend of deep emotion. One that we really really love was killed and it didn't just happen. David in Psalm 16:10 (NLT) writes of this happening. He says about God, "For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave." We read over in the Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament in the Bible of the life of God's Son who came to earth to be our sacrifice so that our soul would not be left among the dead. Jesus came so that we wouldn't have to be buried at death and just left there. But he also shares that Jesus who was going to be killed as a sacrifice for our sins would not have to rot in a grave. David many generations before foretold this and that is what happened. Now that had to be a God thing. We can guess a lot about our future and we d...

Tuesday... Each one of us see and describe what we are going through differently but...

Tuesday... Each one of us see and describe what we are going through differently but... We each one have our own way of explaining what we are going through, don't we? Some of us are maximisers, other are minimizers and neither one is better. We each one are different and we see what we are facing differently but no matter what it is and how you see it and describe it, God can handle it! Now the writer of Psalm 46 shows the extremes. In verse 1 he states the basic reality and then he moves on into our fears and he maximizes them to make sure we really understand. Here is what Psalm 46:1-3 (NLT) says, "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!" So what do you fear? The Amplified Bible says verse 1 this way, "God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable], a very presen...

Todays Beginning

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