Category: Weekly Word of Encouragement

“Blessed is the man . . . [whose] delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.” Psalm 1:1-3 (ESV) When I go hiking it is easy to spot where streams are. I just look for a row of trees sticking up higher than the surrounding vegetation. These trees are bigger and stronger than the others because they are next to a stream and so they have a consistent source of nutrition. When it comes to the spiritual landscape I want to be one of those trees growing tall and strong. How can I do that? By constantly embracing and meditating on God’s instructions. We know that Jesus completed the law so now we don’t meditate on the Old Continue Reading →

“[God] is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 1:24, NIV). Sometimes when we are weak and faced with temptation it feels like we are going to fail. But God really does provide strength to keep us from stumbling. The first thing we can do is refocus our hearts on Jesus; in other words “fixing our eyes on Jesus” (Heb. 12:2). Then we can focus on walking in the Spirit. We can redirect our mind to God’s Spirit inside us and let him become the influence in the moment. Finally, we can choose to live from our new self, the part of us that desires to be close to God. These three sources of power will make a big difference in overcoming temptation. Then we can look forward to the next age when we will appear Continue Reading →

“Having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs, having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7, NIV). When we believed God announced a judicial verdict: we are now adopted as children of God. We did not earn it; it was by his grace. This legal declaration means that we are also heirs of our Father, just as an adopted child on earth becomes a legal heir of their parents. One big difference is that our Father will never die and will never give up his “possessions”; rather, he gives his inheritance when we die and he has infinite possessions to bequeath. And what do we inherit? Eternal life. That is, we inherit from him a participation in his eternal life. We inherit his bliss, his love, his harmony, his freedom from corruption, his freedom to always choose good, his glory (1 Cor. 15:43), and his image (1Cor. 15:49). Continue Reading →

“He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:5-6, NIV). The gift of rebirth puts all the riches of the world to shame. How incredible is it that God actually gives us a new self? And this new self is created in the image of Jesus! Since we have a new self our corruption has been washed away, leaving only the corruption of the old self which we are putting to death daily. This new self is a constant source of power for Christformation. Even more, God has generously poured out his Holy Spirit on us so that we have the power and presence of God living inside us. If we learn to live from our new self and walk in the Spirit we will never stop growing in Christ. Sometimes Continue Reading →

“When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved [your name here], not because of works done by [your name here] in righteousness but according to his own mercy” (Titus 3:4-5, ESV). This is a reminder that God’s attitude towards us is one of goodness, loving-kindness and mercy. In fact, these are so strong in him that he didn’t even bother to take our good works into account when he wanted to save us. There was no need. His goodness, loving-kindness and mercy were more than enough, not to mention the infinite inferiority of our good works. Let us constantly remind ourselves of these. It would be a wonderful practice to constantly repeat these three divine traits to ourselves for a week. We need this continuous encouragement. We need the Spirit to embed in our hearts the reality of God’s attitudes towards us because these are Continue Reading →