weekly words of encouragement

You Can Be A Peacemaker Like Your Father – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matt. 5:9 NIV). God promises to bless those who choose to be a peacemaker in the world. Making peace, in other words, reconciliation is one of God’s primary missions. His original plan for people was that they would all join together in harmony and mutual edification. Sadly, our sphere of influence is full of people who do not pursue this peace. People hold grudges, say hurtful words, ignore people they don’t like and look for ways to get back at people. Thus, many people lack peace with God, with each other and with themselves. God’s followers are called to be aware of this discord and make a positive effort to bring reconciliation. This is not easy work. It requires talking with people who may not want to come to peace. They might argue and resist and even fight. To Continue Reading →

Am I Using My Will Too Little (Or Too Much)?

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One question I ask myself fairly regularly is whether I am using my will too much in order to grow spiritually or whether I am not trying hard enough. In other words, am I doing my part according to scripture? Am I crowding out the Spirit by trying to do too much on my own, or on the other hand, am I not activating my will and thus expecting God to change me without my cooperation? Am I erring on one side or the other: too willful or not willful enough? I have erred on both sides in my life, and I still have to adjust regularly. This is an important question because it can have a dramatic effect on our growth. If I just read a little scripture each day and go to church on Sundays, then I shouldn’t expect to grow much. This is the most common side Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

The Pure In Heart Will See God – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”( Matt. 5:8, NIV). This verse gives us a tremendous gift: the opportunity to see God! This is one of the most popular verses in Christian history. Devout followers of Jesus who wanted to be close to God and “see” him in their lives made a serious effort to purify their lives. Purity of heart is a New Testament theme. The author of Hebrews instructed us to “work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14, NLT). Scripture also instructs us to build relationships with others who are pure in heart: “Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts” (2 Timothy 2:22, NLT). Jesus doesn’t give details about what it means to “see” God, but we know that it means that we will be very close Continue Reading →

dark night

A Dark Night Of The Soul Is Normal

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Most Christians go through one or more periods in their life when God seems absent. We use different terms for this such as dryness, dark night, desolation, desert time, or wilderness time. John of the Cross (1542-1591) coined the term dark night of the soul to refer to these times in his book Dark Night of the Soul. Even great Christians in history we admire go through such times. For example, Martin Luther, C.S. Lewis, Mother Teresa, and Oswald Chambers. Bruce Demarest mentions the last three in his book Seasons of the Soul, which I highly recommend, beginning on p. 84. He also discusses desolation in general which is very helpful. (There is a link to this book on Amazon on our Resources page.)  Walking through these times is very difficult and it is important to understand some basic principles so that it isn’t more difficult than it should be. More importantly, there are Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

Blessed Are The Meek – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Mt. 5:5 ESV). A meek person is someone who is gentle and not argumentative or aggressive. Jesus is our model. When Jesus came into Jerusalem on a donkey he described his coming by saying, “your king is coming to you, [meek] and mounted on a donkey” (Mt. 21:5 ESV). When Paul was trying to persuade the Corinthian believers to more obedience to Christ, he appealed to them “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:1, ESV). If we have a meek heart then we will not be prone to embrace angry attitudes when we are wronged or when others speak falsehoods. We will learn to be merciful and not give in to our desire to strike back, even in passive ways. The irony is that the one who is not warlike is the one who will inherit leadership over Continue Reading →