Tag Archives: encouraging words

Security! Se-cu-ri-ty!

18 Sep

Several years ago, my children introduced me to a TV skit where a not too competent worker at a burger place was taking food orders. If a customer asked for a change on his order, she would proclaim it as a “complicated order,” no matter how slight a change. If the person persisted in the request, she would call out, “Security! SE-CU-RI-TY!” It was quite humorous to us, and we’ve used the complicated order phrase and call for security many times in joking around at home.

Everyone wants security. We want the rescue of it when in perceived or real danger. We want to feel secure in relationships in a way that makes us feel worthwhile. But too often we go on a lifelong search for security, when the very source of it is found in Jesus.

The Apostle Paul knew this security of unconditional love and acceptance. In Roman 8:38-39, he speaks of being persuaded, convinced about it.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NASB1995)

He had come to this belief regarding God’s love for him and would not be deterred from that belief. It was a done deal for him. No matter the circumstances, he was holding on to the fact that God loved him unconditionally and accepted him.

Paul knew from personal experience many of the circumstances listed in these verses. In 2 Corinthians 11:16-33 he lists even more difficult circumstances: imprisoned, flogged, multiple death threats, whipped repeatedly, often beaten, shipwrecked several times, alone in the open sea, stoned, in danger from everything and everyone imaginable; lack of sleep, hunger, and clothing; and his personal concern for those to whom he ministered. Any or all of these could have understandably brought into question God’s love and acceptance of him.

Yet despite all this, he was convinced that God loved him. He used the phrase “separate from” to describe the security he knows from this love. The phrase gives the picture of removing oneself from or placing a room between. But Paul states that nothing can cause God to bring this kind of separation to His children. Regardless of the circumstance, that sort of separation will never come to pass. God’s love is secure and gives us security in our relationship with Him.

Is Satan whispering in your ear, because of your current circumstances, that you’re not worthy; that God has left you to go to another part of the house? I can assure you He has not done so. He loves His children, and nothing can change that. Call for Him. He is right there with you in the circumstance. Bask in His love for you, His acceptance of you, the worth He has placed on you in Christ. Receive His security. Let Him be your SE-CU-RI-TY!

Photo by Wesley Marçal on Unsplash

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Rocky, The Encourager

6 Feb

Earlier this week I attended the funeral of a man who was a great encouragement to people worldwide. His life verse was Philemon 1:7,

 

“Your love has given me great joy and encouragement,

because you, my brother,

have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.”

 

As I listened to several members of his family and friends speak about the impact of his life on those around him, it was obvious that he was an encouragement. I, myself, have been a recipient of that encouragement through direct and indirect means. I also couldn’t help but think of the life of the man I married 31 years ago today, and how his life mirrors this verse as well.

 

An online dictionary defines “encourage” as follows: “to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope; to attempt to persuade; to spur on; to give help.” Encourage is much the same as the word “exhort” in the Bible. It speaks of coming alongside someone to give aid, help, comfort, etc. It’s a picture of linking arms with someone to give support. Rocky fits this description well.

 

Through our years of marriage Rock has inspired me to hope when mine was waning. His confidence in Christ’s power to work in any situation and God’s sovereignty over it, encourage me to look to the Lord and not the circumstances of life. He is sometimes called “VOR” (voice of reason) because he is able to sift through my emotional upheaval and let me see the reason behind something or the reasonable response to a situation. His encouragement has given me courage to try new venues for expressing what I’m learning from God’s Word. I’ve witnessed his encouragement to our children in the challenges and highlights of their lives. He weekly spurs on his Sunday School class as well as the group of men with whom he meets to godly living as he shares God’s Word and the life-changing truths in it. Friends often call him for counsel or help. He chooses to lock arms with them to give support in their time of need. His acceptance of people where they are and for what God can do for them, gives them comfort, and is a challenge for me to view people with God’s eyes and not my own.

 

I can truly say that for 31 years of marriage, God has shown me love through Rocky. Sharing life and love with Rock has given me great joy and encouragement. My heart is refreshed when I’m with him. I totally recognize that this is because of God’s grace, and is not something I have earned or deserved. I’m grateful for the years we’ve had and look forward to what the Lord has for us in the future as we seek by His power alone to “magnify the Lord and exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:3).  

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Progress vs. Perfection

12 Jul

Progress: “Movement, as toward a goal; advance. Development or growth. Steady improvement.” (thefreedictionary.com)

 

Perfection: No explanation necessary.

 

I awakened this morning with a very “Debbie Downer” mentality. I was weary of seeing my commitments to do or not do something fly out the door after two days, two weeks, two months, … (You get the picture.) I was overwhelmed because my “performance” wasn’t perfect. 

 

Then my husband, without knowing what was going on with me, complimented me on one of my “commitments.” As I started to protest, he said, “At least you’re making progress.” Immediately I was reminded of wise words Rocky and I had heard many years ago from a very godly teacher: “Be encouraged by progress rather than perfection.” I so needed to hear it again.  The encouragement of progress was Ephesians 4:29 to the emotional wreck happening inside me.

 

My discouragement was based in a dependence on self-effort and not reliance on the Holy Spirit to empower me in the process of change. I was forgetting that just as a child learning to walk will step, then fall, he/she gets back up and continues to learn how to walk. As a favorite teacher of mine once said, “They keep doing this until their practice is walking and not falling.” It’s the same in the Christian life. The danger of falling is always there, but getting back up and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, walking by faith is of utmost importance. Remembering this teaching encouraged me again, in a very Ephesians 4:29 kind of way! 

 

My dad used to sign off on phone calls with “Hit it hard!” That was his version of Paul’s conviction in Philippians 3:12 to “press on” or Hosea’s challenge to “press on to the know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3). Even now his Ephesians 4:29 words call me to keep moving toward the goal, to keep developing, steadily growing in my walk with Christ…to be encouraged by progress!

 

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth,

but only such a word as is good for edification

according to the need of the moment,

so that it will give grace to those who hear.

Ephesians 4:29 (NAS)

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