Author: Phil Rehberg

Rewards For Do-Gooders – Weekly Word Of Encouragement

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“Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” (Gal. 6:9, NASB) We are “do-gooders!” (It sounds strange.) Remember that we will reap a reward for doing good – more of God – if we don’t give up. Application: pick one or two words from the verse that help you and repeat it to yourself throughout the day or week. God Guides The Humble – Weekly Words Of EncouragementFebruary 2, 2026Overcoming A Fault That’s Beyond Your CharacterJanuary 23, 2026Hope In God – Weekly Words Of EncouragementJanuary 20, 2026

humility

Upside-Down Leadership-Part 1

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You just finished leading a great meeting. Everyone was happy and happy with you. Several smiled and thanked you personally. At home you are feeling thankful for being able to lead. Then as you relax your mind starts wandering and thinking about what a great person you are. You are a fantastic leader, so much better than most…whoa! What happened here? You were just thinking about being thankful then you started getting delusions of grandeur. How quickly spiritual pride rears its head. Scripture teaches that you have an old self, or “flesh” that you have to fight. This explains why these temptations and impulses rise up within us. We also have an Enemy that takes advantage of our old self. So we shouldn’t get discouraged by temptations to pride. The early devout Christians considered pride the deadliest of enemies for those pursuing spiritual growth. They observed that once someone decides Continue Reading →

Rescue From An Evil World – Weekly Word of Encouragement

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Most weeks I will post a brief word of encouragement on Monday or Tuesday. This is a new feature of Meat for Maturity; hope you like it. “Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live.” Galatians 1:4 (NLT) There is a lot of evil in the world but one day we will be free from all of it. Some of the “evil” in this world is just the trials and struggles of getting through life; we will be free of that too. And God is rescuing us right now from the impact of evil on our lives! Application: pick one or two words from the verse that help you and repeat it to yourself throughout the day or week. God Guides The Humble – Weekly Words Of EncouragementFebruary 2, 2026Overcoming A Fault That’s Continue Reading →

How Do I Deal With Unwanted Thoughts? – Part 2

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This is the second of two blog posts on unwanted thoughts. The first post looked at the stages a thought goes through, and when we need to stop it. This post looks at specific strategies for dealing with unwanted thoughts. First: stay calm. Unwanted thoughts gain influence when we fear them, or stir up a lot of emotion. Instead, “be anxious about nothing” (Philippians 4:6) but rather, as the verse states, “give thanks” for what God will do, and “make your request known” to God to overcome this thought.   Offer your thought to God. Pray something like: “I don’t know where this thought comes from but I offer it to you. I depend on You. You take it. And help me to know how I should respond.” Also, “I can’t stop thinking about this, I can’t do it, You need to.” In this way the unwanted thought turns you Continue Reading →

How Do I Deal With Unwanted Thoughts? – Part 1

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You are innocently working on one of your daily tasks and all of a sudden an evil thought comes into your head. It plays for a few seconds, but you don’t embrace it. You mentally fight and reject it. Then you feel a little dazed and confused by its impact. Finally, the thought fades away. Then you start wondering where it came from. Is this from you? Is it some buried corruption you are not aware of? Or is it from Satan? Is it a combination of the two? Is it from neither one, just a quirk of the human mind? Was it triggered by something around you by the power of suggestion? Is it just free association? You can’t really figure it out. This will take more time. Regardless of how it came it is frustrating and sometimes discouraging when unwanted thoughts come in. You want to grow in Continue Reading →