Encouraged

Have you met anyone that couldn't use a little encouragement? It might be the beginning point for most ministry.

The great preacher Paul had a life changing encounter with the Son of Encouragement, or Barnabas as we know his friend. The encouragement of Barnabas launched the apostle into a courageous career of faith. Perhaps that courage is rooted in the uplifting words of a real friend.

As I have traveled the world, a common need of many believers is simply the need to be encouraged. I am not talking about some vague fluffy nonsense but genuine hope clothed in words of expectation and faith. This is the encouragement that changes lives. This is a foundational ministry that most believers can master and utilize to build up one another in the Body of Christ.

Jesus is the master encourager. He us and speaks to us in view of our destiny and fulfilled personhood. He calls the things that are not as though they were. He sees us as finished products, not as incomplete projects. He speaks to us as grown sons and daughters although we may be babes or adolescents. He sees us as what we will become, not what we have been. He always sees the best in us, because he sees us through the finished work of the cross.

Dear friend, be encouraged today. Take courage in the truth that Jesus sees you as a wonderfully created son or daughter destined to be like him. You will make it. You will become all you were intended to be. He will finish the good work he started in you!

Mark

The Pain of the Prophet

It is Good Friday, and for most Christians we remember the pain Jesus went through thousands of years ago to bring us forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.

As I was reading this morning, the Lord reminded me how pain has always been a reality for the man or woman of God who seeks to help God's children. The prophets of old were often beaten or killed because they took a stand for truth and spoke the Word of the Lord. The same principle is still being worked out today in God's people.

I read about the prophet Ezekiel and was amazed at his visions of God. After the visions, came instructions from heaven that surely caused him pain in his life. He had to spend time tied up and lay on his side for days on end because of the sins of God's people. His pain had to have been emotional and mental as well as physical and spiritual. This same kind of pain was amplified in the life and death of Jesus as he hung on the cross and died for the sins of the world.

When we are in pain because of the stands that we have taken for righteousness, we can be reminded today that this is part of our Christian heritage. The apostle Peter even said to rejoice when we suffer because our suffering is an indicator that we are indeed blessed and we have ceased from sin in our lives (I Peter 3:14-4:2).

I suspect that only a few of us have resisted sin to the degree that we have shed our blood. Nevertheless, suffering for the Lord is still part of out calling. Let us remember today the one who died for us, that shed his blood for us. Let us remember Jesus who made the ultimate sacrifice and died that we might live for the Lord.

Mark Van Deman