Month: June 2023

Weekly words of encouragement

Humility Brings God’s Favor To Your Life – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” James 4:6 (ESV) What a huge encouragement to know that humility brings God’s favor to our lives! This is one of God’s most prominent promises in the Bible; this verse is a quote from the Old Testament in Proverbs 3:34. The worldly approach to success is to promote oneself, defeat others, exalt our abilities, etc. But God wants us to humble us so that it is God who is the supreme worker in our lives. If we cling to pride or boastfulness God actually opposes us. Instead, we should adopt an attitude of the heart that reflects who we are before God, which is the definition of humility. If we have a good grip on the immensity and perfection of God, and if we have an understanding of the corruption mixed up inside us, we should be able to abide Continue Reading →

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Healthy Relationships Through Letting Go Of Your False Self

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Discovering your false self is very important for spiritual growth. God wants to reveal any falseness and destroy your false or ideal self. Your false or ideal self is the “self” you created since childhood in order to avoid being rejected and be accepted by others. It includes all the inauthentic strategies you develop to cope with your world. Some people create a false self that always smiles and cooperates and agrees with everyone. Others create a false self that prefers to oppose and fight others; their false self is the “tough” self. Some create a false self that escapes rejection altogether by hiding behind hobbies or studies or career. There are endless varieties of false self and we all have our own individual version. Letting go of your false self can be a huge challenge. Of course, the result of adopting a false self is that others do not Continue Reading →

Weekly words of encouragement

God Sees Your Work – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” Heb. 6:11 (ESV). God sees your work. It is easy to think that no one appreciates the things we do to help others. In their hurry they may forget to thank us and encourage us for helping them. We can tell ourselves that we don’t really need the encouragement, but it really does make a difference when we are thanked and encouraged. But if no one else than us, we have the encouragement from this passage that God does not forget what we do. He sees our work, especially when we help His people. And even more, according to this verse from Hebrews, God actually deems our help as loving Him! This is the highest service we can do, and God will Continue Reading →

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When Our Society Declines: Being Missionaries Everywhere

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It’s not really fair to expect unbelievers to act like believers. We are in this world as lights, not as adversaries to the world. We are to love our enemies as well those who are not our enemies (which I think covers everyone). Most people do not follow Jesus, so we are to be missionaries everywhere. If we change our mindset then we won’t be so discouraged when our culture becomes destructive. Instead of thinking we have a right to live in the kind of place we want, it might help to think of ourselves as missionaries in our community and our world. We are in the minority and we cannot quickly change our culture. As missionaries we need to understand the culture around us. Since there is such a diversity of views wherever we go, our lives are a constant cross-cultural experience. Even talking to our neighbor is sometimes Continue Reading →

Weekly words of encouragement

Jesus Sympathizes With You And Will Reward You

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“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15, ESV). Jesus sympathizes with you. The Son of God did not just hold on to all his divine powers when he became a human. He emptied himself so that he could experience the weakness (compared to God) of being human. He did this so that he could sympathize with you! Isn’t it amazing that the Son of God wanted to identify with you so much that he became like you and suffered? So now, in our union with Christ, we are connected to Jesus who knows what it is like to be tempted as we are. This includes the temptation to fear, unbelief or despair when our life is filled with pain. Jesus knows the temptations of Continue Reading →