Words of Encouragement

If you are a cloud watcher, do you see anything here? I see a city amongst rolling hills and a beautiful sky. I think this is just God's way of making us take time to see the beauty of his world. This picture is taken at sunrise in Miami. This last one is the close up of the first one. It is the top of the cloud. All pictures this week are the property of James S. Williams

" 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes." Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again." – Mark 9:23-25

Where can I find help? Do you have faith to believe? Jesus’ disciples tried to cast out a spirit from a boy but were not able to and the man now ask Jesus if he can help. Jesus ask how long have he been like this? The man says since his childhood. He then asks Jesus if there is anything you can do, would you do it?

This is Jesus’ response, if you can. In other words, do you not know to whom you are speaking? Jesus then says to the man, everything is possible for him who believes. The man in excitement says, I do believe and if there is any doubt in me, help me to overcome it.

Sometimes we do the same, we are faced with God and we question can you do this? We have situations that have been going on so long that we think, surely this cannot chance. We want it to change, just as the man wanted his son changed, but we have doubts they can. We go to God in our prayers and say, if there is anything you can do, please do it.

God’s response to us is, do you not know to whom you are speaking? It doesn’t matter how long the situations has been going on, God is able to change it. He then tells us that if we have faith all things are possible to us.

We should respond like the man and with excitement exclaim, I do believe and help me with my disbelief. In other words I need your help in all areas. I need your help to change my situations and I need your help so that I can trust that you will.

As we go to worship this week, go with the confidence that God is our helper. He will help us through our situations and our circumstances. He will sometimes send others to sacrifice of themselves for our release. That is what we are called to do as believers, be living sacrifices as Jesus was the sacrifice sent to release us from our captivity. Sometimes God simply wants us to look in the right places. We trust in things to gives us help, but God wants us to see it is him alone. We can know that when we call for God to help, he hears us and by faith we can believe that he will grant us what we need. So I pray for us to place our complete trust in the one that can help us every situation we face, our loving Father.

Words of Encouragement

This is a fountain at the Lowe's Hotel in Miami. I thought about what the pool might have looked like that the man was seeking healing from.


When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." – John 5:6-8

Where can I find help? Are you looking in the wrong place? Jesus sees a man lying down and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time. He had been seeking someone to help him into the pool of water when it was stirred, but while he was trying to get in, someone else came ahead of him, and he continued to miss his healing.

Jesus asks the man a question when he sees him waiting to try and get in the pool, do you want to get well? The man did not truly understand the question, because he began to tell why he wasn’t well. He began to talk about how he had waited and how someone else had taken his blessing.

I don’t think it is strange that Jesus did not address his complain, but simply when back to what he asked him in the first place, do you want to get well. Jesus grants the unspoken response with, get up. Pick up your mat and walk.

This man had an opportunity to meet the savior. Jesus was passing by his way and asked him if he wanted healing. The man did, for he had tried to get someone to help him, but it was not working. What this man didn’t realize was the ultimate healer was standing before him. He was looking for his healing in the wrong place. He was seeking the stirring of the water, but not the one that stirs it. He was looking at physical strength to place him in the healing waters, and not the spiritual strength that was the healing waters.

Sometimes that is how we are. We are looking for our help in the wrong places. We are limiting our help because we don’t see clearly what God wants to do in our lives. Sometimes God has asked us a question, "Do you want to be healed"? Instead of answering the question, we begin to tell him why we haven’t gotten better yet. We begin to complain about how others didn’t help us or how someone else took our place and therefore we missed our blessing. However, Jesus asks us a simply question, do you want to be healed?

Let us thank God today, for even when we don’t always see clearly, he answers us completely. He gave the healing even though the man didn’t see clearly the source of healing standing before him. Sometimes we don’t complete comprehend our source either, but that does not stop God from helping us. So I pray today, that we have clear vision and see from whence cometh our help, it cometh from the Lord.

Words of Encouragement

Do you know how many miracles you are looking at? This is a picture from the Meet and Greet at Langley Avenue Church of God, last November. How many? COUNTLESS!

The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. – Luke 7:15-17

Where can I find help? God is here. Jesus was walking and there was a funeral procession passing by. He saw it and took pity on the mother whose son had died. Jesus had pity on her and touched the coffin of her son and called him forth. The dead man sat up and began to talk.

All that were around were astonished by what they saw, but they still were not aware of what it was they were experiencing. They assumed that he was a great prophet and they rejoiced that God had come to help his people.

They were partly right; God had come to help his people. Except he had not sent a prophet, but he had come himself in the form of his Son. God with us, Emmanuel had come to help his people. What the people did not realize in the full sense of the word was, “God is here”.

They are not different than us today, we see the wonder of God as his miracles are performed, but we stop short of acknowledging that it is God’s Spirit. We say, oh that was this or that, and we marvel at what was done, but we stop short of giving God’s Spirit the credit. We may say, for example that person did a good job, but are not willing to go all the way and say that they were being led by God’s Spirit and in doing so we don't acknowledge the presence of God in our world today.

Lord help us. We are seeking your help, but we sometimes cannot see that you are right here with us. Your Spirit is available to help us, but we don’t always see clearly the full picture. Lord help us to recognize that you are still working miracles in the lives of everyday people and we only need to realize that it is you, because you are with us and you are our help.

Words of Encouragement

This is an attraction in Wisconsin Dell. It made me think about how God can shake things up. He can totally flip situations upside down!

So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. – Acts 16:8-10

Where can I find help? God sends help. The Holy Spirit kept Paul from preaching in the province of Asia. When Paul came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit would not let them. This is where our verses pick up. The Spirit kept them from going one way, so they went another way.

During the night, Paul had a vision that a man from Macedonia was begging him to come and help them. Paul when he woke got ready to leave for Macedonia and preach the gospel to them. It would seem then, since this is where God is sending them, that they would have instant success and no difficulties? That would be an incorrect conclusion.

If you are familiar with this scripture, this is where Paul and Silas are thrown in jail for casting out the spirit in the slave girl. It would seem that Paul and Silas would be upset. They have been beaten, stripped and thrown into jail. So what do they do? Do they feel sorry for themselves? Do they give up because this walk is too hard?

No, they praise God. They sing and praise the Lord as the others in the jail are listening to them. The scripture says that there was a violent earthquake and all the doors were opened and all their chains were loosed.

Paul received a vision for help and he followed the leading of God to go and preach the gospel. In the process Paul met with difficulty. But he remained faithful to praising God because he knew something important, that God would send help him. This same God that sent him to help someone else, would send help to him, because Paul knew he had to fulfill God's plan.

Paul’s faithfulness to continue in praise, not only released his chains but the chains of all the prisoners that were in captivity. Sometimes it is hard to figure out how God will work, but it is quite amazing to see when he does. Paul’s praising and singing released the prisoners in jail because he was in the right place, the place where the captives were. He was a captive himself, but yet he was free because of his help from God. He was a servant of God in chains for the sake of the gospel.

Today, let us remember something important, God will send our help. Sometimes he calls for other believers to go through some difficulty to be in the right place to help you be released from your captivity.

Lord help us today be released from the prison that has us held captive. Lord if you are sending us to show forth your praises and prayers until the earth be moved so that someone’s situation and circumstances can be shaken, then help us to see clearly that the place we are in is not to destroy us, but to help in the process of freeing the captives.

Words of Encouragement

This was from our balcony in Miami. It was so beautiful watching the sun rise up in the morning and to be reminded of God's beauty.

Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. – Psalm 5:1-3

Where can I find help? Rise up with expectancy. The Psalmist is seeking an answer from God. He is asking God to listen to his petition, his request. The request is for the Lord to give his ear to his words and to consider his very sighing.

How many times have you wanted to know if God was listening to your very sighs? Did you wonder is he listening to my cries for help? Does he hear me when I come seeking an answer? I know there have been moments in my life when things were so heavy that I wondered, God do you hear me, are you concerned about me?

I wondered in my situations and circumstances, was there a place that I could find help? The Psalm today gives us a reminder of where we can go to find help and that is in the Lord. The writer says listen to me because you are my king and my God and to you alone do I pray.

He says in the morning you hear my voice and I lay my request before you with expectation. What this reminds us is we must rise up early in the morning with an expectancy of God to hear us and answer our request. We must rise up early because when we linger, it gives the Devil the opportunity to torment and to tell us we are defeated and that God is not listening to us.

So instead, we should rise up early with the expectancy that God will not only hear our request but that he has an answer for us. There is no other place where I can find help, other than my king and my God to whom I pray.

I pray for us today that we find comfort in knowing that all that we seek, God already has the answer for. If it is comfort, he has the answer. If it is direction, he has that also. Lord help us to rise up early and come to you for the answer to our daily questions. Lord give ear to our request