Are you pained by the worries and troubles of life? Has bitterness, worry or anger taken root in your soul? Have you begun to wonder what God is doing in your life in the midst of so many uncertainties? What can we do in circumstances like this? “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10 How often do you take time to be still before God? We are too often consumed by the worries of life and we take too little time to find refreshment being still, quiet and at peace before God. Will you be still before God? Will you give up your toiling and striving? Continue Reading…
Tag Archive - Encouragement
In times of trouble let the evidence of creation bring hope: Psalm 104
Corporately sing, shout and come together before God: Psalm 95
As you read and reflect on Psalm 95 how do you view the tone and passion of the psalmist’s writing? Is the writing a monotone account that relays no passion to the reader? This psalmist was enveloped with an infectious desire to worship God with those around him. Let us sing, let us shout and let us come are the corporate calls to worship given in Psalm 95. Is your faith in God motivating, inspiring and calling others to worship God? Do you marvel at God’s creation from the heights of the mountains to the depths of the see and everything in between? Does your awe, wonder and amazement of God inspire others? “Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.” Psalm 95:6,7 We are wading through a life that is filled with disappointment, heartache and failure but if we can mutually encourage one another to press on and fix our gaze on God alone we will find our burdens lightened.
Find hope in God’s unwavering faithfulness: Psalm 78
When you tell someone your testimony do you sugarcoat the story to make it more palatable and interesting to the people listening? Do you skip over moments of failure when you were not the nicest person and only relate the moments of personal triumph and success? What benefit do all the details both good and bad have in our testimony? As we recount our history and how God worked throughout it to bring us into fellowship with Himself we share the lessons that we have learned through life with those around us. Do you listen to the advice gleaned from a person’s testimony? Do you find encouragement and hope as you see how God works mightily in the lives of people? Do you look back upon God’s faithfulness in your life and find help and hope for the present difficulties and troubles you face? Continue Reading…
A letter of encouragement from David to you: Psalm 20
Take a moment and read through Psalm 20. What do you notice about the text? Do you see the great encouragement that is found in these nine verses? This Psalm of David is a letter written to you. We are encouraged to press on in the day of trouble because God is protecting, supporting and remembering us from heaven. David is telling us to delight in God so that when the moment of trouble comes we can find refuge in Him. Do you have joy in your life? Are the desires of your heart met? God is the wellspring of all you crave. Will you turn to Him? In the midst of trouble find hope knowing that God saves His own. David knew that God delivered His people from calamity and that hope is found in God, “Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stood upright. Save, O Lord; may the King answer us in the day we call.” Psalm 20:7-9
Break the cycle: be bold, courageous, and act: 1 Chronicles 27 and 28
How do you view the Israelites in the Old Testament? Do you ever think that it is ancient history and there was little if anything remarkable about the people, nation, and rulers? There was much more structure within the Israelites society than I had realized prior to today. Why did I suddenly see this while reading through 1 Chronicles 27? I think the fact that there were scheduled divisions of men who served in the armies of Israel throughout the year. There were twelve divisions of twenty-four thousand men, one for each month of the year. The structure and order that was implemented within the nation of Israel is remarkable. As I look back on the previous books of the Old Testament the order has always been present but finally saw it today. Continue Reading…
Where will you turn in your moment of crisis: 2 Kings 3 and 4
I love the intentional, specific, and beautiful language that is used throughout Scripture. In 2 Kings 3 Jehoram the son of Ahab becomes king of Israel. He did what was evil in the sight of God, not to the extent of Ahab and Jezebel, but he choose to cling to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. The struggle that was faced by Jehoram and by everyone living today is choosing to follow the sins of those around us instead of clinging to God. This language steams from when Joshua gave his final instructions to the people of Israel to cling to God instead of the ways of the people around them. What do you cling to? Continue Reading…
Details on an ark, a tabernacle, and some furniture: Exodus 25 and 26
Chapters 25 and 26 in Exodus make me just wonder why? What is the purpose of giving us the detail of how the ark, tabernacle, and furniture was to be made? One reason to include the detail of how everything was assembled is to help people understand what an ark and tabernacle would look like. It is the same idea of simile that I mentioned before. It helps to have such detailed instructions and details to help us understand and visualize what God was commanding the Israelites to do. In the details of the construction it also shows how much wealth God had blesses the people of Israel with. Continue Reading…
