Words of Encouragement

What do I have to offer?

Jeremiah 1:5-8 (The Message)

5"Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations—that's what I had in mind for you."

6But I said, "Hold it, Master God! Look at me. I don't know anything. I'm only a boy!"

7-8God told me, "Don't say, 'I'm only a boy.' I'll tell you where to go and you'll go there. I'll tell you what to say and you'll say it. Don't be afraid of a soul. I'll be right there, looking after you." God's Decree.

We can read this scripture and see how it applies to Jeremiah, but can I tell you these same words apply to you and I? Before we were born, God already knew what his plan for us was. It is the same thing David said in the 139 Psalm.  God has shaped and molded each of us and he has a divine plan for all his creation.
 
The tragedy is we miss accepting his calling upon our lives. Jeremiah had an excuse. He said, I'm just a boy. I'm too young, I don't know enough, one excuse after another. It is not just Jeremiah, but we do the same. We are overwhelmed with the idea that God would want to use us, so we make excuses why we could not be called by God. We say, but I'm a woman, or I don't have enough education, I don't know enough, and that's the way the excuses go.
 
What would God's answer be to us? It is the same as the one he gave to Jeremiah. Do not tell him what you do not have or what you cannot do. He tells us that he will give us what we should speak and he will strengthen us for the journey that he is calling us to. What is he calling you to do? His call for you may not be to preach, but maybe it is. His call for you is what he has decided for your life and to find out what that is, we must go to God and ask him to show us.
 
When he does we cannot say, what do I have to offer? God is not looking at us for our skills or abilities because what we need he will give us. He is looking at us to offer ourselves. We all have that to offer. I pray that this month of June we really seek God closely to find out what his direction is for us.
 
Ask God to show you the answer to these questions, but you must become quiet to hear what he has to say.
 
1. What is your mission or call for my life?
2. What things am I holding onto that are hindering me from moving forward into what you have for me to do?
3. Help me to see those things that I am afraid of and then give me the strength to overcome them.
 
Lord: I thank you for desiring to have me as a part of your plan and as part of the family of God. Lord help me to see my part in the mission. I know I ask the question of what do I have to offer, but really all you desire is me. Help me to release myself into your hands so that I can be what you desire. Help me to hold onto the promise that you gave to Jeremiah that you would be with me and help me every step of the way. Today, help me to move forward so that I can make an impact for Christ, amen!

The Week in Review

“SEARCH ME”

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts – Psalm 139:23

When I think about God searching me I also think about what happens with the information. What I mean is this, it is one thing to ask God to search you but are you willing to hear the results of what he shows? God already knows all about us it is really about you and I being willing to see through His eyes the results.


I often have what I call self-inventory times. This is where I check myself to see how I line up with the things of God. In several retreats that I have done with young people, I have given them a self-inventory sheet. I will attach that here today. Take the inventory and see where you line up. Are there some areas where you see you need to work on? What do you do then with those areas that need work? We will answer that next week, so come back. Take the inventory now to see where you line up.


SELF-INVENTORY SHEET

1.Are you on fire for God?

2.Are you taking your personal relationship with God more seriously? Or do you have a personal relationship with God?

3.Does your life resemble the values of the world more than the Word?

4.Do you love holiness and hate sin?

5.Do you strive to fight the sin of your heart and not simply address your sinful behaviors?

6.Do you like attending church?

7.Do you enjoy reading and studying your Bible?

8.Do you have strong personal convictions?

9.Do you pray and what do you pray about?

10. Do you enjoy reading the Bible? Do you experience God teaching you when you read your Bible?

11.Do you worship God? Why do you worship?

12.Do you think about God? What aspects of God do you think about?

13. Do you confess your sins to God?



Your Motives

Why do you pray?

Why do you read your bible?
Why do you go to church?
What do you think about in times of corporate worship (the entire church coming together)?

Why do you do good works?
Why do you acknowledge sins in your life?


Your Relationships (do you put God first in your friendships?)
Do you talk about God with your friends?
Do you tell non-Christians about your faith?
Do you enjoy spending time with Christians?

Do you desire to serve others?

The Week in Review

THE PRICE OF ENCOURAGEMENT (PART 3)

Theme: Women dispatched by God to share Christ – Through encouragement

2 Samuel 24:17, 24-25 (New International Version)

Encouragement means to prod, spur, urge. This verbalization is one that encourages you to attempt something. We must not give up on individuals. We must keep urging them on to being what God has in store for them to be - And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. (1 Thes 5:14) What is the cost? – I have to be willing to take rejection, persecution, and ridicule, why? I will take it because it is more important to me that you see what God desires, than to have you like me. It is more important to urge you on than my own personal comfort. I do like David did, like Christ did, I love you so much that I am willing to stand in the place of hurt and pain so that you can be saved. Are you that kind of encourager?


Encouragement means to give a vote of confidence. This is outwardly putting your trust in someone. We must allow people to see that we have faith in them. – encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word (2 Thes 2:17). What is the cost? – I will trust in what God is doing in you. I will not try to make you into a “mini-me”. I will encourage you to follow Christ and to become all that God has said you can become. I will encourage you and let you know that I am here cheering you on. Like a small child taking his first step, when you let go and start to walk, I’ll be there cheering you own. My presence, my words, my life journey will serve to be the reminder that I trust what God is doing in you.

Encouragement is the act of giving hope or support to someone. We must be willing to make the sacrifice to support people where they are, and help them to gain hope in what God can do. We must take upon us the cares of the world, but not so that we can hold them, but so that we can carry them to Christ, the one that can bear our burdens. We must simply become the avenue for them to get there. We have to be like the man that was told to help Jesus carry his cross. He had to walk the distance and carry the cross with him. We must be willing to make the sacrifice to help someone carry their cross. - learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:17) The cost is being willing to be poured out wine and broken bread. We become what the weak feed from. We must be willing to feed those that are not able to feed themselves. And when we do, yes we will get tired sometimes, but God says, come back, get filled, and go do it all over again.

Encouragement is a morale builder. We must become the one that others feel lifted through. We must be that sight that encourages others, that “sight for sore eyes”. It’s like looking out the window and seeing the beautiful flowers in bloom. It has a way of picking up your spirits. We must be the bouquet of God. We are all different but with one purpose to be a sweet smell in the nostril of God and a sweet smell to those around us. And when they walk away, will our fragrance, the fragrance of God still linger upon them? - Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. (Phil 1:14) What is the cost? I must be that living example even in the midst of my trials. When my trials come, I must not whine and pout, but I must show forth the valor and bravery that others need to see. I must be willing to count it all joy. Not joy because it feels good, but because God is using me in this time and place to grow me and encourage others in the process.

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints. – Philemon 4-7


This scripture sums up our missions. We should remember each other in prayer as we hear about how others are about the Lord’s business. Our prayer for each other should be for us to be active in sharing our faith. Our love will make others rejoice and be encouraged on this walk. Do you know when you are faithful doing the will of the Lord that you can refresh the hearts of the saints? You become an encouragement to others.

Let us be reminded of what great gift we have been given. Let us also remember that in order for us to receive this gift of salvation, there was a great cost. Are you willing today to take upon yourself the great cost of encouraging someone else? Are you willing to give your time, your money, your prayers and your efforts? Let us stand pray.

The Week in Review

THE PRICE OF ENCOURAGEMENT (PART 2)

Theme: Women dispatched by God to share Christ – Through encouragement

2 Samuel 24:17, 24-25 (New International Version)

Encouragement means to give words of approval. This is a verbal act of urging on and support. In the sense you are cheering and shouting encouragement. We must “speak words that bring life, understanding, wisdom, and comfort” – But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief. (Job 16:5) What is the cost of our sacrifice? We must stop talking about the wrong things. We must stop putting people down, or judging others because they do not fit a mold that we set. We must take every opportunity to lift someone up, and not tear them down.


Encouragement means to advance and promote someone. Encouragement is also acceptance. We must “accept people where they are, and help them to get where they need to go” - But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see." (Deut. 3:28) What is our cost? We have to begin to have God’s heart for people. We have to see them as they will be and not simply where they are right now. If someone had not seen what I could become, I might not be who I am. We have to help prepare people to step into the leadership roles God has for them, even if it means that someday they will surpass us or take the role we currently hold.


Encouragement fosters, it aids in the development of someone. We must be willing to sacrifice our time, our energy and our example for others to develop into what God has for them – Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1 Thes 5:11) The cost? – We must be willing to be living sacrifices. That means what I want to do has to take a back seat to what God is leading me to do. Is there someone right now that God has shown you that you need to walk with? You need to spend time with? But you haven’t because; well you are just too busy with your life. That person is in need of a hero, what are you waiting for? (Come back next week for the next installment)

The Week In Review

THE PRICE OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Theme: Women dispatched by God to share Christ – Through encouragement

2 Samuel 24:17, 24-25 (New International Version)

"17 When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD, "I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family."

24 But the king (David) replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. 25 David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.


Background notes: David allowed himself to be provoked into taking a census of the fighting men. There were 800,000 fighting men in Israel and 500,000 in Judah. After David received this information, he realized he should not have taken this census. He realized his action showed his focus was in physical power, instead of God’s power. So he begged God’s forgiveness. God sends the prophet to David to have him choose what judgment he would choose for his disobedience. David told God to choose. Therefore, God sent a plague upon the people for 3 days. In that time 70,000 people from Dan to Beersheba died {NOTE: A LOT OF LIVES CAN BE LOST IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME, IN FACT A LOT OF LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST IN THE PAST THREE DAYS}.


David saw the destruction that was going on in the lives of the people and he was moved with compassion to do something to stop the devastation. He built an altar to sacrifice to the Lord, to pay for the sin that had been committed. The servant that he tried to purchase the land from wanted to give David what he needed, but David’s response was he could not sacrifice to the Lord what did not cost him anything.

This brief picture of David shows us some vital points. First, David presents for us how through one man’s sin, punishment entered and the whole world would suffer for it. Secondly, he also represents how one man’s sacrifice would lift the plague of death and set the people free. This points you and me to one greater than David that came and was willing to make a sacrifice on behalf of the people. Like David, he saw the people as lost sheep. They were wandering and in need of a shepherd, one that would lead and care for them. Like David, he saw the devastation upon the people, as the people were lost in their sins and dying with no way of stopping the punishment that was befalling them. Jesus knew that countless lives would be lost, if not for his intervention.

However, unlike David, Jesus was without sin. And from his place in Heaven with his father he said, No Abba Father, do not take this judgment out upon the people, let it fall on me” and just as David refused to give a sacrifice that cost him nothing, so did Jesus. Jesus gave himself. The price he paid so that no one would have to perish was a great price, a price we could never pay ourselves. It was his life.

As I study, God often ask me a question, so I bring that question to you. The question is, “What is the cost of encouragement?” David was willing to place himself before God on behalf of the people. He even said, God let this wrath, this judgment, let it fall on me and my family. He was willing to give his life for the releasing of the people. Jesus came and said likewise. Now there is something I don’t want us to miss. David said him and his family would carry the burden for the people. I believe this scripture is pointing forward to what Jesus would fulfill. So then who is Jesus’ family that would be willing to take upon themselves the burden for the hurting, lost and dying people? Who can this family be? Aren’t we fellow heirs with Christ? Aren’t we children of God, the father? Christ made his sacrifice for us, now his Father; our Father is sending us forth into the world to share Christ, to be his example, to carry a burden for the lost and dying.


Now you may be trying to figure out what does this have to do with encouragement? When I looked up the definition for the word encouragement, one application had to do with valor and being a hero. When someone steps in and shows valor and becomes a hero in hopeless situations, they embody encouragement. David stepped in and was willing to sacrifice himself. He was willing to show valor or bravery. He was willing to be the hero, the savior of his people. Jesus, stepped in and became the true hero, the true savior to save his people and bring them encouragement. We as the family of God, we must now step in, be willing to be the hero, to show strength, courage, valor. We must be willing to be that Christ-like hero so that we can be the encourager to the hurting, lost and hopeless.

But we cannot do it, without it costing us something. To be an encouragement to someone requires us to make the stand like David and say, I cannot give this sacrifice (this sacrifice being the giving of encouragement to others) to God without it costing me anything. And when we do, we will see like David did, that God will heal the land. He will heal the sin sick, when we are ready to sacrifice for others (come back next week for the next installment).

Words of Encouragement

The Love that Never Ends

Psalm 44:2-4 (New International Version)


With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish. It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them. You are my King and my God, who decrees [a] victories for Jacob.


As you read this Psalm you can understand the psalmist praises about the love of God. The psalmist tells of the wonderful things that God has done as he begins to enumerate God's blessings. The first point is that God drove out the other nations from the land and planted or placed his people there. Secondly he allowed them to prosper. The psalmist reminds the readers that it was not by the people's strength, power or ability that gave them this land and these blessings. The psalmist tells it very simply, it was because of the love of God.
 
What does this tell us today? It is a reminder that we must be grateful for the doors that God opens for us. He sees his children and he knows their needs. He removes the obstacles that stand in front of his children that keeps them from going into the places that he has set for them. He not only gives his children a place to dwell, but he prospers them in those places.
 
God does it all because of his unending love for us. God wants to take us into some places to occupy. The problem is we often do not see that we can make it and we began to complain, grumble and lose focus. We then try to work things out, we try to figure it out and use our own natural abilities.
 
Yet the psalmist reminds us that these things cannot help us to enter into the places God has for us. Though we often get in our own way, God's love for us is what keeps us. I simply marvel at how much God loves us and how he prepares for us, even when we don't always listen and we lose faith. Today I want to remind us that God knows how to prepare for our needs. He knows how to open those doors that will never be opened by our own hands and ability.

I pray for us today to stop looking at our situations and thinking we are defeated. I pray that we do like the psalmist and remind ourselves of what God can do in us, for us and through us. I pray that we enumerate to ourselves the doors God has opened in our favor that we could not only open but we did not even know how to find the door knob!

Prayer: Lord today we seek you to help us be reminded about your unending, unfailing love. Help us when the enemy of our soul comes to try and discourage us, to be reminded that you are the one that removes our enemies that stand in our way trying to keep us from entering into the places you have ordained for us. We pray today that you will help us be reminded but also to remind someone else that is feeling hopeless or discouraged to find comfort in your unending love. Amen.