Words of Encouragement and Thoughts (6)

Shalico2007

Jesucristo es el Rey! Que Dios te Bendiga!
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542a152ae88e1b364dddc6b9
 
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WannaWitness

Shining God's Light for a Lost World.
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This catchy little song came from a tape mainly aimed at adolescents I got some years back (which I was at the time), but the message in the song is for everyone - all about the powerful love of God and the feelings we have from His love.

 
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Debby 24

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Don’t forget that there is an unseen enemy of your soul who will try to cause you to stumble, so let Me be your eyes when you cannot see.

And remember, “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). I am He that is in you. I am the one who fights for you. Even when you feel like you are in the middle of a war, the battle is not yours—it is Mine. So let Me open your eyes of faith, and you will see that the victory is won.

Love,
Your King who gives you sight
Mika, you are very much welcome and I am glad that this encouraged you. Also I would like to welcome you to this thread. You are also more than welcome to share encouragement. Blessings to you.

Moriah Ruth
I would also like to thank you for all the beautiful words of encouragement they have lifted and strengthened me. The Lord is good and ever present help in times of trouble and will always make sure that we receive what we need at the times we most need it, He never leaves us or forsakes us. Thank the Lord for his goodness and mercy in Jesus name Amen.
 
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Moriah Ruth 777

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The Lesser Blessings
by Rick Whitter
God has the very best for us but most of us never get there. We settle for blessings like money or security or other things we can acquire. While these things are considered blessings, they should be considered as second-rate blessings. In other words, you can do better.

Let me explain. When most American talk about “being blessed,” they are talking about material things: houses, cars, boats, jobs. Without doubt, these things are provided by God – and they are blessings. But sometimes the acquisition of these blessings has cost us something of much greater value. While it is not always the case, some lesser blessings cost us greater blessings. We have traded. If financial gain is the best blessing you have, you are not experiencing God’s best. According to Jesus, you can’t serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24).

Plainly put, if you skip worship to go out for a day of relaxation, your relaxation is a more valued blessing to you than experiencing God’s presence with your church family.

If you make a lot of money on your job but you neglect your family in doing so, your money is a more important blessing than your family. You have blessings, but they are lesser blessings. You have settled for second-rate.

Life has fooled us. Many of us have been duped into thinking that money = blessing. Dig a little deeper and you get to real blessings:: relationships, love, eternal life, the Presence of God. These are first-rate blessings – Greater Blessings!

Jesus asks you a very straightforward question: “What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?” (Mark 8:36) I think we know the answer: lesser blessings.

Don’t settle for the lesser blessing. Let God give you His very best!
 
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Moriah Ruth 777

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Devotions for Married Couples

Where Is Your Treasure?

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” 1 Timothy 6:10

Money. Men and women have lusted for it, killed for it, died for it, and gone to hell for it. Money has come between the best of friends, fractured families, and brought down the proud and mighty. And it has torn millions of marriages limb from limb! According to Larry Burkett, founder and CEO of Christian Financial Concepts, 80 percent of couples seeking divorce say the focus of their disagreements is money. During Jesus’ time on earth, He spoke more about money than any other subject. Most of His pronouncements came in the form of warnings: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21); “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26); “You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matthew 6:24).

If we want to love and serve God—and keep our marriages intact— we need to regularly examine our relationship with money, then ask: “Whom do we serve?”

Just between us . . .

• Have you ever had a hurtful disagreement with family or friends over money?
• How do you feel about the way we handle our finances?
• Are there ways in which we push God aside to “serve” money?
• What could we do to make sure our financial decisions are in line with Jesus’ teachings?

Dear God, we confess that we’re so often beguiled by the allure of money and possessions. But we want You to be Lord of our money and all our belongings. Lead us into an enduring obedience to You in this area, we pray. Amen.

• Larry Burkett excerpt from Love for a Lifetime by Dr. James Dobson (Sisters, Ore.: Multnomah Publishers, Inc. 1998).

This devotional is taken from Night Light for Couples. Copyright © 2000 by James Dobson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
 
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Moriah Ruth 777

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Moments Together for Couples

June 24

Pass It Down

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. PSALM 32:8

How can you tell if the spiritual-sounding words coming out of your children's mouths are evidence of a true faith?

The fact is, you may not really know until they're somewhat older, because most children are clever enough to say what they know Mom and Dad want to hear. It often takes some severe testing to determine the veracity of your children's faith, and that doesn't usually happen until they're well along in their teen years, perhaps even college-age or older.

Our children began to have their faith tested in middle school. They started coming home with questions like, "What does the Bible say about evolution?" or "What does God think about being gay?" We had many lively discussions at the dinner table as I played devil's advocate to help them think through their beliefs. That's when they began to discover truth on their own from Scripture.

I don't know how to emphasize enough the importance of this kind of training. Depending upon whose research numbers you believe, the rate of young adults who abandon the faith of their parents is somewhere in the 50-to 80-percent range. We're talking about a major problem.

If we are to avoid the fate of many other nations where Christianity has dwindled into irrelevance, it must begin in homes like yours.

Your children can only hitchhike on your faith for so long. You must constantly be looking ahead to the day when you release them to take their own journey of Christian belief.

May we raise children to invade and infiltrate the twenty-first century, not with faith standards blindly adopted from their parents, but with biblical beliefs honed into convictions.

DISCUSS

What are the key messages and convictions from the Bible that you want to pass on to your children? Discuss how you can both do a better job of diligently teaching and training your children.

PRAY

Ask God for the passion to make biblical training a top priority in your home, as well as the peace not to worry about being a super-theologian—just to share what you're experiencing and learning about God.
 
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Moriah Ruth 777

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EXPECT CONFLICT

2 Corinthians 4:5-10

Contrary to popular but poor theological teaching, salvation does not guarantee an easy life. It is tempting to present Christianity as a safe haven from which to watch the world swirl past—then one could open the door to allow in joy and blessing, but hardship could not squeeze through. That brand of religion might sell well in the world marketplace, but it isn’t real.

The truth is, Christians cannot escape conflict or ridicule. The biblical principles we hold dear often seem like foolishness to nonbelievers. What’s more, defending our faith and sharing the gospel will frequently draw criticism or anger from listeners. But Scripture counsels against keeping quiet and blending in (Matthew 5:14-15). In fact, we are to welcome disagreement as a way to grow our faith.

Consider this: Our belief system is named for a man who so thoroughly challenged the status quo that religious leaders called for His death. Jesus Christ was at the center of controversy during His ministry and very likely all through life. That’s why the biblical record so often shows Him slipping away for time alone with God—He was seeking direction and receiving strength. While Jesus was fully God, He was also fully human. He knew the sting of rejection and the taste of fear, just as we do (Hebrews 4:15).

As believers, we are called to be peacemakers, but that doesn’t mean isolating ourselves from all who oppose the church. Accept conflict as inevitable and reach out anyway. You can have a powerful impact simply by being the person God called you to be—His child.

InTouch Daily Devotional
 
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Moriah Ruth 777

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Reconciling Yourself to the Fact of Sin

This is your hour, and the power of darkness. —Luke 22:53

Not being reconciled to the fact of sin— not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it— produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature, but there is something in human nature that will mockingly laugh in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something downright hateful and wrong, in human beings, when it attacks your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise with it and say that it is of no use to battle against it. Have you taken this “hour, and the power of darkness” into account, or do you have a view of yourself which includes no recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and friendships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and say, “Yes, I see what this sin would mean.” The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship— it simply establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.

Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person. The so-called innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the fact of sin.

Utmost For His Highest devotional
 
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Moriah Ruth 777

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You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Psalm 139:14
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
(NIV Bible)

Do you ever look in the mirror and wished you were different? Maybe you are too short, or too tall, or too thin, or too heavy. The list never seems to end. Even the super model seems to be preoccupied with the one slight imperfection that nobody else even notices. It seems that most of us, in varying degrees, are not happy with the way we were made.

For some of us, it might physical dissatisfaction, while for others it might be that we're not be smart enough, or outgoing enough, or etc. etc. etc. Our society has believed a lie that says we have to look and act a certain way in order to be accepted. Even those who make up the standards of acceptance feel unaccepted deep down in their hearts. No matter how hard we try to change our outward appearance in order to gain love and acceptance, I am afraid that it will always elude us.

True love and acceptance does not come from changing ourselves to become more loveable, for according to Psalm 139, we all already loved just the way we are. In verse 14, the psalmist cries out "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." When God created us, He made us exactly the way He planned. When He designed us, before we were even in our mother's womb, He planned our size, the color of our eyes, the color of our skin, everything about us!

Just as He proclaimed His creation good in Genesis 1, He proclaims that we were made perfect in His site. When we believe the Hollywood lies that we are not good enough, we are in fact, disagreeing with how God made us. Your Father in heaven does not make junk! You are fearfully and wonderfully made and God's work in your life is wonderful! You do not need to conform to somebody else's image of success, but only ask God for ears to hear His delight in your creation.

The next time you look in the mirror, don't be afraid of what you see, for you were made in the image of God, and He declares that you are fearfully and wonderfully made!

PRAYER
Father, forgive me for not agreeing with You that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Forgive me for believing the lies that I have to be somebody other than who I am. Help me to come into agreement with Your love for me and not despise all my imperfections. The fact that You love me and accept me is more important than the love and acceptance from anyone else. I am thankful that I am Your child, and that I am fearfully and wonderfully made! I know that full well. In the name of Your beloved Son Jesus I pray, Amen.

Father's Love Letter devotional
 
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Moriah Ruth 777

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Quote from the series, "Spiritual Conflict, Vol 5."

Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart . . . . - Psalm 111:1:

Not halfhearted praise, but wholehearted praise. Put your whole being, everything you have into praising the Lord. Where?

. . .in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation [of God’s people].

I will praise God with my whole heart. Psalm 47:7 gives another requirement of acceptable praise.

For God is the king of all the earth; sing ye praise with understanding. - Psalm 47:7

God expects us to know why we’re praising Him. The reason why we are praising is because of His unchanging nature, His love, His mercy, His truth which never changes with situations, feelings or
circumstances. And specifically what God has done for us, through Christ, on the cross which never changes. All these reasons the Scripture gives us for praising God never change with our feelings, our situations or our circumstance. And when we understand that and sing praises with understanding, we do
not allow our feelings, our situations or our circumstances to withhold us from praising God. We don’t praise God because of what we see or feel. We praise God because of what He says in His Word.
 
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