Christian Encouragement

Have you questioned God’s goodness when He didn’t answer your prayers, or didn’t answer in the timing you wanted? If so, it helps to meditate on Isaiah 40:28 which reminds us of how much higher God’s ways are than ours. “The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.” 

What does that verse have to do with God not answering our prayers or not in the way we want? 

Isaiah points out that God’s understanding is inscrutable. The New International Version of the Bible states, “His understanding no one can fathom.” The New King James Bible states, “His understanding is unsearchable.” 

In other words, when we pray and God doesn’t answer in the way we want or the timing we want, it has nothing to do with God’s goodness. Rather, it’s important to remember that God’s understanding of what we’ve prayed about is beyond our understanding, but not His. His understanding is “inscrutable;” limitless. 

Trust and faith are essential not only in our profession of faith but also our daily walk and prayer life. We can trust God, whose understanding is inscrutable, beyond what we can understand. Will you trust Him today, knowing He is good? 

Lord, Your understanding is INSCRUTABLE, beyond what I can fathom. Help me look to you in faith, trusting in Your goodness. 

Are you facing disappointment or struggling with unmet expectations? Get a copy of The Plan A Woman in a Plan B World to discover how to take charge of your thoughts and let God reignite your hopes and dreams.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

Do you feel hopeless? Perhaps the last ray of hope to which you’ve clung just went out the window. Things may look black. Your future may appear bleak. Dark clouds may seem to hover over you no matter where you go or what you do. But the good news is, if you’re a Christian, you have every reason to have hope. Why? Because the God of hope resides within you through the Holy Spirit. It’s not a question of if you have hope. You do. The question is, are you allowing the God of hope to fill you with His joy and peace?

You can experience hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s a matter of switching gears. Rather than attempting to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, try believing that God is on the throne. He’s sovereign. He sees you. He loves you. He has your best interest at heart. In faith, pray, “God of hope, fill me with all joy and peace through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

God of HOPE, I praise You for giving me the Holy Spirit so I can abound in hope by His power. 

Would you like to learn more about how the God of Hope can fill you with joy and peace through the divine power of His Holy Spirit? Check out Debbie’s Bible study on 2 Peter, Living by the Divine Nature Instead of Our Fallen Nature. This study will help you understand how to live by God’s divine nature even when life feels heavy. Click HERE to learn more and purchase your copy. You can also access the free accompanying videos and podcasts by clicking HERE. 

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:26).

Prior to Jesus’ crucifixion, He prepared His disciples for His departure; comforting them that the Holy Spirit would come to them. Can you imagine their confusion? Their frame of reference for the Holy Spirit was the Holy Spirit anointing individuals for divine work. The names Elijah and Elisha certainly came to mind. But them? “Dazed and confused” might have described the disciples as they listened to Jesus tell them about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would be their Helper. God the Father would send Him in Christ’s name. The Holy Spirit would teach them “all things” and bring to their remembrance all that Jesus said to them. Holy. Spirit. Isn’t that what God knows each of us needs? So, He sent Him, a who, not a what, to live in us. Are we treating the heavenly presence who abides in us as a welcomed, Holy guest?

I praise You, God the HOLY SPIRIT, sent in Christ’s name, to be with me forever. 

Want to deepen your understanding of the Holy Spirit? Check out Debbie’s Bible study, Listen UP! 31 Points Every Christian Should Know About the Holy Spirit. This study will help you understand the Holy Spirit’s role in the Christian life and respond to His leading and presence. Click HERE to listen. 

If and when you had toddlers at home or perhaps worked with them in a preschool, did you ever give them a sippy cup of water? No doubt, it was the right size for them. But what about when you are thirsty? Do you reach for a sippy cup? While we might think the question ridiculous and the answer obvious, perhaps we should consider it in light of the reference to God as the fountain of life (not a sippy cup). 

“For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light, Psalm 36:9. Or in light of Jesus’ words, “’Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive’” (John 7:37-39).

When we come to God for new life in Christ, He gives us more than a sippy cup of His Spirit. He gives us a Fountain who flows in our innermost being. Yet, could it be said of us as it was the Israelites, “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13). 

The Lord is a fountain of life. Are we drinking richly of Him when we rise, throughout the day, and until we fall asleep? Rather than be drained because we’re drinking from a sippy cup of His Spirit or because we’re doing things in our own flesh as the Israelites who “hewed for themselves broken cisterns,” we can live by the refreshing fountain of life. From what, from whom will you drink today? 

Lord, You are the FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. Thank You for Your Spirit from Whom I can drink richly.

In John 7, Jesus spoke of living water again. To learn more, watch Debbie’s teaching on John 7 HERE or listen to it HERE. 

During the peak of the 2021 COVID pandemic, someone shared with me the following regarding the dire conditions many faced. 

“Make no mistake. When loved ones are removed from your home by ambulance because the virus has hit them hard, you are not going to be able to sit by their hospital bed and hold their hand. You are not going to be able to pop in at 7:00 pm during visiting hours. They are going to have no one other than exhausted and brave hospital staff to see them through days or weeks. During that time, they will be completely alone. Imagine that person is someone you love dearly. Because it is a reality for many.” 

Disconcerting? Absolutely. Dire? Yes! What is our hope in such times? Is there any hope? Yes, we who have placed our faith in Jesus have the assurance that in even the darkest of times, our Eternal Father is with us (Isaiah 9:6).

Bible scholar and commentator Charles Ryrie explains that Eternal Father means “Messiah is eternally a Father to His people, guarding, supplying, and caring for their needs.” ¹ There could be no greater comfort in dire situations.

Do you have a relationship with the Eternal Father through Jesus Christ? If so, with whom might you share Him? 

ETERNAL FATHER, in the best of times and in the direst of times, thank You for being with me. Embolden me to share the assurance I have in You with others.

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¹ Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update (Chicago: Moody Press, 2008).

Can you imagine if God ruled by whim, by ever-changing emotions and laws? What if on a whim, God decided to not forgive you? What if on a whim, God changed His mind about who was allowed in heaven? 

I think you might agree with me that we’re thankful that is not who God is. Rather, throughout the Bible, we are assured that God rules with equity, with evenness, and uprightness, as Psalm 9:1-8 points out. 

“I will give thanks to You, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing the praises of Your name, O Most High. My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before You. For You have upheld my right and my cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge. You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name for ever and ever. Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies, You have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished. The LORD reigns forever; He has established His throne for judgment. He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity.” 

Heavenly Father, thank You that I don’t have to worry that You rule by whim. Rather, I am assured that You are EQUITABLE in Your ruling, and I trust You. 

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Have you ever felt weak when you were attacked by Satan? Have you ever felt that you were teetering and could fall? I have. What’s especially troubling is sometimes I haven’t even immediately recognized when I was under assault by the enemy. 

Those times could be more than disheartening if we didn’t have the full assurance that the Lord is our Defender, as David wrote in Psalm 27:1-3. “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread? When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear; though war arise against me, in spite of this I will be confident.” 

What a contrast David draws between teetering in fear and being confident. Was his confidence in himself? No. The word “defense” in this verse means a fortified place, rock, strength, and a place of safety. David’s confidence was in the Lord, his rock, strength, and place of safety. 

The next time you feel under attack by the enemy or you are attacked by a person because you are standing on Biblical principles, go to the Lord, confident that He is your defense, strength, and place of safety. 

Lord, how I thank You that You are my DEFENDER against the enemy. I place my full confidence in You. 

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Are you hungry? Is there a gnawing in you? Do you feel that something is missing? Do you feel that no matter what you do, purchase, or where you go, you still want more? Do you fill the emptiness but it quickly returns? 

If so, maybe it’s your spirit that is hungry. If that is the case, the solution isn’t more food, clothes, or earthly success. The solution is Jesus who describes Himself in John 6:51 as the bread of life who came from heaven. “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” 

Jesus is to our spirit what food is to our body. Our body can’t live without food. Our spirit can’t live without Jesus. 

Receive Christ as Savior if you haven’t already. Then, begin each day with bite-size Bible verses. Chew on them throughout the day. At night, graze on the promises of God. Go to sleep with your soul filled and satisfied in Christ. Wake hungry for more of Jesus. Grow as a Christian and feed others. 

Lord Jesus, I praise You, BREAD OF LIFE. Thank You for coming from heaven and being to my spirit what food is to my body. Help me recognize my hunger is only filled by You. Increase my appetite for the Bible and fill me with Your Words so I grow as a Christian.

To learn more about Jesus being the Bread of Life, watch Debbie’s teaching on John 6 HERE or listen to it HERE.