Category: Weekly Word of Encouragement

In your light we see light. Psalms 36:9 (NIV) One of the great privileges of being a child of God is that he opens up our eyes to more and more truth and wisdom. God is the source of light. He gives us spiritual light as well as physical light. Our old self, who still lingers inside us, can not see invisible reality. It can not see what forces are at work in the world, what God is doing, why he does what he does and what his goals are. Our old self can not see the glory and satisfaction of following Jesus, including the sacrifices we make. But as a child of God we escape the darkness in the world and in our old self and we live in God’s light. We actually get to see what countless philosophers and psychologists and activists and most of our neighbors never Continue Reading →

“People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.They feast on the abundance of your house;you give them drink from your river of delights.” Psalms 36:7-8 (NIV) The ones who trust and love God are the ones who take refuge under his wings. We have placed ourselves inside him, relying on him for our life and for the protection and blessing of our souls. And since God is a loving father who wants to give joy and satisfaction to his children he rewards our faith and love with gifts from his personal possessions. He presents us with a feast of truth, and peace, and friendship. His Scripture is like honey on our tongues. His Son is the bread of life, who nourishes us with his goodness and restores the image of God in us. We partake of his nature. We eat his body in remembrance of him and abide in Continue Reading →

“Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens.” Psalms 36:5 (NIV) Yahweh’s love for us knows no bounds. He created us so that he could shower his love on us. He is the perfect Father who delights in seeing his children grow up and develop their gifts and enjoy the blessings of creation. He gave us his Son (John 3:16) and his Spirit so we could reunite with him and live forever in his perfect community of love. We are citizens of his kingdom now and have the privilege of brightening up our world with his goodness and love. He did not care that we were unholy, but rather: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NIV) His love is unfailing because it depends on his nature, not ours. Therefore, we are infinitely encouraged because we know that Continue Reading →

“The Lord be exalted,who delights in the well-being of his servant.” Psalms 35:27 (NIV) God is happy when we are well. He is emotional about it; he feels delight, joy. He is pleased when we embrace the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings (Phil. 3:10), for our sake and for others. But I don’t think he delights in how we are feeling when we suffer. Rather, he is forming us so that we can experience complete well-being. He gives us tastes of that now. This is what he delights in. He is like a good father who is just happy to watch his child enjoy playing in the park. He made us to experience well-being and he is happy when he accomplishes his goal. When we become aware of our well-being then we also know that God is smiling with us. This is a foretaste of our eternal delightful vacation with the Continue Reading →

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalms 34:18 (NLT) Although we are citizens of heaven we still become brokenhearted at times. Our spirits still get crushed at times. But God encourages us that he is close to us. He doesn’t say that we shouldn’t be brokenhearted but rather he is willing to just be with us. This reminds me of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:4: “blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.” Even better, he will rescue us when we are crushed. There are many ways in which he may rescue us. Under the New Covenant he may not rescue us until the next age after Jesus returns. He may rescue us right away like delivering Peter from prison. He may rescue our hearts and not our circumstances by giving us an internal blessing that takes the bitterness out of Continue Reading →