Sunday Words of Encouragement February 11, 2024 - Rebuke Discouragement.

This morning our church shared communion. Pastor continued his sermon series in Nehemiah. This week we are in Nehemiah 4 where the Israelites faced opposition and discouragement.
The people were hearing grumblings and they were complaining. Faith comes by hearing! Romans 10:17. What you listen to effects your believe system. Discouragement changes your perspective. Don’t believe the world or the enemy that says that people won’t be saved, that our society is too far gone. Don’t let the propaganda of the enemy discourage you. Focus on God.

Pastor shared experience when he was aged 28-30 when he suffered severe back pain from injury in a car accident (not his fault). Doctor told him his lower discs were gone, he had bone on bone and couldn’t lift more than 20 pounds, couldn’t play golf, or play ball with his young sons. Devil started to threaten him saying, “I will have your ministry. You will be in a wheelchair and unable to minister with energy. You won’t be able to play with your kids.” He began to believe these lies. He asked friends for prayer and they gave him scriptures passages that encouraged Dodie Osteen. He put his focus on God and overcame the discouragement. To this day he has not had surgery, although he does have pain now and then.

I have a similar situation as I was diagnosed with crushed discs in 2000. I prayed to God to take it away or at least control the pain. Except for a few episodes (less than 10 in 23 years), I have had minimal pain! I am careful not to twist and if I get tired, I might feel pain as it attacks my week spot. I’ve learned to stretch carefully but otherwise I give thanks to God for removing that pain.

Without hope, we lose faith. Complaining is a symptom of discouragement. The enemy kept pressing in on the Israelites. Nehemiah 4:11. We are all in spiritual warfare and the enemy will push whenever there is an opening. Don’t let the enemy lie to you. Focus on God and the good deeds he has already done and trust that He will do more as he has promised.

Discouragement breeds fear. Nehemiah 4:12. Faith is necessary to please God and do his mission. Hebrews 11. Nehemiah resisted the discouragement and pressed on to fulfill God’s plan. Nehemiah 4:13-15.

Know where you are weak so you can shore up those spots; set a guard at the low places.
You are not beyond failure. Protect your walk with God. Galatians 6:1. My help comes from God. Psalm 121:1-8. Magnify the Lord with me! Psalm 34:3-5.

Don’t let fear or discouragement control your mind or heart. Remember God! 1 John 4:4; Romans 8:31; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. We do not have power within ourselves. But through God we have ability to bring the discouraging thoughts into captivity.

Discouragement brings fear, encouragement brings faith. Seek the Lord who gives you rest. Matthew 11-28. Encourage others.

When the enemy sees your faith, their plans are frustrated by God. Nehemiah 4:15. God expects us to overcome obstacles because He is working it our for our favor. Hebrews 12:2.  Find your place in the Kingdom. Finish the assignment God has for you.

I found this beautiful song video for today: Fear Is Not My Future by Maverick City Music.

Verses for Today:
Nehemiah 4:10-15 NIV.
10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
11 Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”
12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”
13 Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. 14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
15 When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.


Lord. I am so thankful that You are so faithful. I turn away from fear and discouragement and remember You are in control!

Destroying your discouragement.
Nehemiah 4:10-15

Sunday Words of Encouragement December 3, 2023 - Unlikely People.

I attended church online this morning. Pastor delivered a message from Matthew 1:1 regarding the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 1:1 NIV
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

The message noted that God uses unusual, unlikely, and imperfect people. When you review the genealogy of Christ, there are some surprises.

V3: Tamar engaged in deliberate sin to disguise herself as a prostitute and have sex and bear a child by her father-in-law.
V5: Rahab was not of the Israelite tribe, and she was a prostitute. But she helped the Israelite spies escape from Jericho.

This is not a family line you would boast about. But it shows that God can use those with “junk” and failure in their past. God is in the business of redemption and restoration.
We have an advocate with the father, and he restores us to a right relationship.

V5: Ruth, the Moabite, follows Naomi back to Israel. She marries Boaz and is part of the ancestry of Christ. Moabites were dark, descendants of Lots daughters. There line was started by incestuous relationship.

V6: The wife of Uriah – Bathsheba. David took another man’s wife in adultery, then killed her husband. The first child died but she gave birth to Solomon who is in the ancestry line.

V16: Mary was a teenage mother.

Even in the apostles it is clear that God uses unlikely people to do His work. God redeems human weaknesses which He then uses for His Glory. How many of us need to move beyond the failures of our past to allow God to use us now for His purposes.

We are mindful too that today is the first Sunday of Advent – the week of Hope.
This video song speaks to both the message of God’s work in us and our hope for the future:
Fear is Not My Future.

A Verse for Today:
Matthew 1:1 NIV
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:


Lord, I am thankful that You use unlikely people. I am especially thankful that you redeem our past and give us a new future and a Hope!