Category: Weekly Word of Encouragement

“And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” Acts 5:40-41 ESV. They believed in the blessings of suffering. We may not experience physical persecution but we may experience social persecution or discrimination in the workplace. Even high school students are unpopular if they are holy. When this happens we can follow the example of the apostles and rejoice when we lose out for Jesus, what greater honor is there? Remember the words of the Apostle Paul: Now if we are children, then we are heirs —heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:17 (NIV) Jesus Continue Reading →

You have the tremendous privilege of hosting God’s Spirit. If no one had God’s Spirit then it would be the dream of godly people to have God’s Spirit. But it is not a dream. “And in the last days it shall be, God declares,that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,and your young men shall see visions,and your old men shall dream dreams.” Acts 2:17 (ESV) The promise of God’s Spirit actually dwelling inside His people was one of the most important promises of the Old Testament. This indwelling would mean that God’s people would have the power to actually follow God’s directives for living. They would also have the power to be channels of God’s kingdom power on earth in order to fulfill God’s desire for people to hear from God and for healing hearts as well as bodies. Now Continue Reading →

“”For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people.” Rev. 19:7-8 (NLT) After Jesus returns we, the bride of Christ, will “wear” all the good deeds we have done in our life. They will hang perfectly and beautifully on our glorified bodies, radiating the glory of God. As we wear our good deeds for eternity they will remind us of the good that Jesus did through us in this life. This means that every good deed we do has eternal value, they are not forgotten. “Whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord” (Eph. 6:8, ESV). God will remember and reward us. Then our good deeds will beautify us for eternity! This may sound Continue Reading →

“[Jesus] has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father” Rev. 1:6 (NLT) Way back in Exodus 19:6 God tells the Jews that they “shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (ESV). I Peter 2:9 says believers are “a royal priesthood.” This is an incredible dignity. One of the key principles of the Reformation was that all believers were priests, as these Scriptures state. As priests we are all directly serving God in Christ, we have no need of human intermediaries for a direct relationship with God. We are elevated to a high position of dignity, higher than any earthly office, higher than any President or Prime Minister. We are also God’s kingdom, his nation, we belong to him which is a greater honor than belonging to any other nation or group of people. God wants to give us glory that is greater than Continue Reading →

“You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” I Peter 2:5 (NIV) It is hard to picture what a living stone would look like but you are a living spiritual brick and God is carving all of us into perfect pieces of a magnificent spiritual temple of God’s presence. And, we have the Spirit of God dwelling inside us, as in the holy of holies in Solomon’s temple. So we are the higher fulfillment of the concept of God’s temple. God dwells in us and our whole lives are sacrifices, offerings, to God; this is all in the realm of living spiritual realities instead of a physical temple and physical sacrifices. Moreover, just as the Garden of Eden was a temple of God’s presence so now the collective of all believers is the Continue Reading →