Category: Weekly Word of Encouragement

“Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (Psalms 50:14-15, (NIV)). God will deliver you. But what kind of deliverance does God promise under the New Covenant? Under the Old Covenant God’s deliverance was usually a physical deliverance: from military enemies, from personal enemies, from misfortune, etcetera. But under the New Covenant God has not promised all believers political or economic prosperity or freedom from enemies and distress, until Jesus returns. For now, he promises something even better: inner communion with him, a cleansed heart, and interior peace that surpasses understanding. God will deliver you from anything that interferes with those promises. What does he ask of us? That we would trust him and thank him for who he is and what he has done – our thank Continue Reading →

“So don’t be dismayed when the wicked grow rich and their homes become ever more splendid. For when they die, they take nothing with them. Their wealth will not follow them into the grave.” (Psalms 49:16-17, NLT). This passage may not seem encouraging at first since it is about judgment on the wicked, but I think it is one of the most encouraging truths in Scripture. Ungodly wealth and status will disappear forever when the ungodly die. We often observe that compromising, unscrupulous, or faithless people become successful in this life. And godly people often do not become prosperous. But God assures us that this is not the end of the story. Everyone will be judged one day (2 Cor. 5:10) and everyone “will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body” (2 Cor. 5:10, NLT). Finances may be a trial Continue Reading →

God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.” (Psalms 47:8, ESV). It is easy to forget that God rules all governments; he really does reign over the earth. We are heavily influenced by our natural eyes which see all the actions of humans, all the power of governments, and all the force of armies. We elect Presidents and Prime Ministers and we pray they will wisely rule us; and this is good. But “the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18). He is unseen but God rules all governments. He allows people to harm and destroy one another and so it seems that God is inactive. But in this age he is only letting us choose to love him or reject him. Yet he still has ultimate control and so we do not need to fear. If Continue Reading →

“You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes.” (Psalms 44:4-5 (NIV). The Psalmist needed military victory over enemies because he was a leader. And God gives us victory over enemies of our spiritual lives. God is our King so who will defeat him? He makes decrees for his people, “Jacob”, so that we will have victory. When our enemy is our circumstances then God gives us victory by making all things work together for good because we love him (Rom. 8:28). When our enemy is our own flesh, God gives us victory as we walk in the Spirit and defeat the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). When our enemy is other people, God gives us victory as we love our enemies (Matt. 5:11-12). When our enemy is Satan then we stand Continue Reading →