Christian Encouragement
When You Don’t Know What to Do
“I don’t know what to do.”
How many times have you said or thought that? Perhaps you’re trying to figure out your finances. Maybe you’re at a crossroads in life and trying to figure out God’s will. Or maybe there’s a personal or business relationship troubling you that needs to be handled in the wisest of ways.
Whether you’re needing the Lord’s wisdom for something big or small, look to Jesus. Why? We’ve seen in other Scriptures how Jesus is a treasure within believers. But Colossians 2:2b-3 gives us more insight. It says that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus. Ponder what that means for you.
Talk to Jesus. Look to Him. Listen to Jesus. Record what He stirs your heart to do. Follow up on His instructions. Walk in the wisdom and knowledge you have in Jesus.
Lord Jesus, thank You that You are a TREASURE OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE. When I don’t know what to do, I can look to You for guidance and wisdom. I praise You for that incredible blessing.
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Deliverance From Calamity
If it’s been a while since you’ve read 2 Samuel 22, today would be a wonderful time to read it. David models thanksgiving to God. He isn’t thanking God because he feels he must or because he’s been told to thank God. Rather, He’s praising God because he’s overwhelmed with thanksgiving to Him. He’s seen God answer his prayers and meet his needs.
In 2 Samuel 22:51, David praises God for being a tower of deliverance. “He is a tower of deliverance to His king, And shows lovingkindness to His anointed, to David and his descendants forever.”
Is there something from which you need delivering? Perhaps worry, resentment, fear, or covetousness? Let the Lord be for you who He was to David…a tower of deliverance for whom you’re thankful. Go to Him now and ask Him to deliver you.
Lord, You are a TOWER OF DELIVERANCE! I praise You with my whole heart for delivering me from Satan’s domain; for delivering me from worry; for delivering me from sin. You are worthy of my praise for all eternity.
The Lord is always present and wants us to talk to Him through prayer. Learn to pray more purposefully through Debbie’s book, “Pray with Purpose, Live with Passion.”
Do You Ever Feel Fragile or Like You Might Pop?
Do you ever feel fragile or like you might explode because of the daily pressure you are under?
David knew what it was like to feel that way and found God to be the sustainer of his soul. Listen to his words in Psalm 54:4. “God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.”
What does it mean for God to be the sustainer of our soul?
It means that God revives our minds and emotions when we sit in His presence, meditate on His truths, and absorb encouragement from His Word.
God the Holy Spirit refreshes and sustains us so we can carry on rather than break or explode.
What story do you have of how God has been your sustainer? Think over the ways and write them in a prayer giving thanks to God.
Lord God, I praise You, SUSTAINER of my soul. Thank You for the many times and ways You sustain me. I love and praise You!
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Praise to God, Our Supplier
Do you ever feel empty or drained? What about anxious or uptight? Does mad or angry describe you at times? Or, sad and melancholy?
Whatever the condition of our countenance or state of our mind or emotions, we have a supplier to whom we can turn.
Are you short on perseverance?
Are you ready to give up or cave in?
Do you feel like you’re going to blow a fuse?
Do you wonder if you’ll ever smile again?
Those are feelings we may have at times, but if we’re a Christian, we have hope.
God offers to supply all our needs. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Rather than hold tightly to feelings of anger or discouragement, open your mind and heart to the Lord’s perspective and counsel.
Take hold of what you need through God’s supply of glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Heavenly Father, thank You for being the SUPPLIER of all I need through Jesus. I confess my shortcomings, ill temper, hopelessness, and discouragement. Fill me with Christ’s perspective, presence, and power as I look to You.
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Remember This On Dreary Days
Dreary days. Gray skies. They can make us feel gloomy.
The death of loved ones, separation or estrangement from family or friends weighs heavily on our hearts. What can we focus on in those times?
Malachi 4:2 tells us. “But for you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”
What does Malachi mean?
Theologian Charles Spurgeon explains: “Jesus, like the sun, is the center and soul of all things, the fullness of all good, the lamp that lights us, the fire that warms us, the magnet that guides and controls us; he is the source and fountain of all life, beauty, fruitfulness, and strength.” 1
Jesus is called the Sun of Righteousness because on the most dreary of days when we are gloomy and despairing, we can ask Him to fill us with His Spirit and shine in our hearts and minds.
Call on Jesus now to rise in your heart. Ask Him to fill you with the light of His glory.
I praise You, Jesus, SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. Please enlighten my mind and lighten my heart as I look to You.
Praise is a powerful weapon we can use to turn around feelings of hopelessness or discouragement. Download this free printable of the attributes of Jesus from the book of John. As you read through them, praise God for each one!
1 The Spurgeon Center, Accessed October 5, 2023, http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/1020.htm.
Do You Want More Strength?
An AT&T commercial once asked a group of children, “Who thinks more is better than less?” A little girl quickly responded, “We want more. We want more.”
We can identify with her plea for more when we’re going through a difficult time. We want more of God’s strength. We want more of God’s grace to get us through our day. The truth is, we already have it. Second Corinthians 12:9 reassures us, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
What does it mean that God’s grace is sufficient? Does it mean barely enough? No. Rather, the Biblical word means, “to be possessed of unfailing strength, to be strong, to be enough.”
God’s strength is the answer to our cries when we are weak. Call on Him. Yield to Him. Ask Jesus to fill and empower you. He will.
Heavenly Father, thank You that when I’m weak, You respond to my cry for help. Thank You, that Your grace is SUFFICIENT.
Would you like to experience God’s sufficient grace and peace in your life? Check out Debbie’s Bible study, Experiencing Grace and Peace in Cultural Chaos by clicking HERE. You can also access the free accompanying videos and podcasts by clicking HERE.
When What You Want Is Different From What God Wants
There are times we’re called to do something we’d prefer not to do. Perhaps for you, it’s a medical procedure. For a parent, it may be changing another diaper. A person might wish they could stay in bed rather than go to work. Then, there are those excruciatingly painful occasions when we may be called to help with an intervention or change the lock on a door to keep an abusive person out of the house.
There is only one person who has known the great sacrifice of dying on the cross so the human race could be saved. Jesus asked His Father for a way other than the cross, but when it was the only way, He submitted His will to His Father’s will.
“He went a little beyond them and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will'” (Matthew 26:39).
Is there something you don’t want to do or perhaps want to do that is different from God’s will? Will you trust your Heavenly Father, submit your will to His, and walk through it in Christ’s strength?
Lord Jesus, thank You for modeling being SUBMISSIVE and for modeling trusting our Heavenly Father’s will. Help me be submissive as You were.
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God’s Perspective
Perspective. It’s everything. We can look around and feel hopeless and vulnerable, wondering why God has abandoned us. Or, we can turn to the Lord, scale the heights of heaven and gaze on who God is, what He’s done, and what He has promised to do.
Proverbs 18:10 reminds us, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.”
Did you catch the promise? Is safe. Say it out loud. “I am safe.”
Think through the implications for your loved ones who believe in the Lord. They are safe.
Yes, far from what some people seem to be, uncaring and distant, God is the opposite. He is caring and He is actively present in our life.
Pay attention to the ways God has proved and is proving to be active in your life.
Be mindful of God’s Spirit, who comforts and strengthens you. Let your mind relax in the reality of the new heaven and world awaiting you and your believing loved ones. Purposefully ponder your life and your loved ones’ lives from the perspective of heaven’s heights. Say a prayer to the Lord thanking Him for being wonderful, loving, and faithful.
Heavenly Father, You are a loving, faithful STRONG TOWER to whom I can run. May I be as David and boldly testify that I run to You and am safe.
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THE STRENGTH-TRUST-HELP CONNECTION
Do you ever feel weak or like you can’t go on? If so, remember Psalm 28:6-7 that comforts us with the reminder that the LORD is, in addition to many things, our strength. “Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplication. The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.”
“I am helped.” What great words David, the psalmist, said. He was helped. You can be helped, also. You don’t have to do this thing called life – being an employer, spouse, parent, widow, single person, or bread winner alone. You may be weak but God is your strength.
God is your strength, but did you notice a key to David experiencing God as his strength? He said, “My heart trusts in Him and I am helped.”
Does your heart trust in God? If so, you can say with David, “The Lord is my strength. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.”
A person with a trusting heart may not know how they will get through their day or night; but they know God is with them and will give them the strength for whatever they face.
Is your heart trusting in the Lord in the midst of your circumstance?
Will you pray today, “Lord, You are my strength. My heart trusts in You.”
Heavenly Father, thank You that You are always present and no matter how weak I feel, You are my STRENGTH. I trust in You, Lord.
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Just You Wait and See
Things aren’t always as they appear. Just you wait and see. For instance, Jesus had no earthly possessions, wasn’t married, and when arrested, His friends abandoned Him. He was lied about, mocked, and beaten almost to death before being crucified.
It would appear that Jesus was defeated in the worst of ways. However, in Mark 14:61-62 notice Jesus’ response to the high priest’s question, “‘Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’”
Jesus responded, “I am; and you shall see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, AND COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.”
“I am the Son of the Blessed One,” Jesus said. We can almost hear what He may have been thinking, “Just you wait and see.”
When we think about our lives or circumstances and it doesn’t seem like, feel like, or look like we are the “blessed child of God,” remember that is who you are, child of God. Things aren’t always as they appear. Just you wait and see.
Heavenly Father, I praise You for Christ, SON OF THE BLESSED ONE, and for bringing me to salvation through Him so that now I am also Your blessed child.
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