An Encouraging Word for the Moment

 

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

An Encouraging Word for the Moment

 

 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

 Hey Gang:  For the past several months I have been on a mission to cut sufficient wood to provide for our needs for the next two years.  I am blessed by a neighbor who recently harvested a bunch of trees and gave me the tops.  I have learned, in my sojourn with the wood project, that when we get older, we no longer have the strength and stamina we had as young bucks.   

 But, there is always a ‘but’ to save our ego, our minds are still geared to yester year and getting the job done but our bodies send us clear messages that the days of eight to twelve-hour work-days are gone forever.  Just a warning for you super turkeys out there who have noticed the first grey hair and felt the first pangs of soreness after a day of labor.

 I believe that if I were to ask the majority of folks in our country today what the number one malady is, they would remark discouragement.  My hillbilly dictionary defines discouragement as a mixture of fear and lack of knowledge.   I believe there are times in every ones’ life when they are discouraged.  I certainly am no exception to that statement. 

 Perhaps you are discouraged today.  We live in an unpredictable world and just when we think we have the world by the tail, someone clips it off.  Hebrews 12 tells us in that in the last days everything that can be shaken is going to be shaken.  Are you in God’s shaker this morning?  If so, I want to give you Good News that you can take to the bank.  No, not to the money bank, the news says they are on the precipice of failure even as I write this.  Put the Good News it in the one place that is truly secure – the bank/depths of your heart.

 My dad drove a bus for more than twenty years and looked forward to the day when he could get the rocking chair out and place it on the front porch and slowly start rocking, but one day he received a pink slip that stated the bus company had filed for bankruptcy and would cease operation within the month.  Where does a fifty- five year old man with only a basic education find work to feed his family? 

  Now that folks, is discouragement, and I might add there are multitudes of dads who have been sent packing and can find no meaningful work to feed their families at this moment.  You may know one such person – go to them today and come alongside them with God’s love and encouragement.  If there is one thing the church is lacking is providing for hurting people in need of “encouragement”.

 Paul tells us in Romans fifteen why God gave us the Word, “Everything that is written is to teach us and help us through the encouragement of the Scriptures, that we might have hope”.   (Hainley Rendition).

 Soooo, friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, my purpose in these next Morning Messages is  to encourage you and through that encouragement challenge you to “Go ye into all of your world and spread the Good News…”that Jesus Christ is standing at the door of their heart wanting to come in.”

Blessings,

Gramps