Category: Encouragement For The Downcast

“⁷ Listen to me, you who know right from wrong, you who cherish my law in your hearts. Do not be afraid of people’s scorn, nor fear their insults. ⁸ For the moth will devour them as it devours clothing. The worm will eat at them as it eats wool. But my righteousness will last forever. My salvation will continue from generation to generation.” ~ Isaiah 51:7-8^NLT

Don’t be discouraged when you are being persecuted, insulted, and excluded because of your faith. Jesus came to Earth to give all of mankind life, and they not only persecuted Him, but they also crucified Him. But He wasn’t discouraged. He did not allow His countenance to fall, for He knew in whom He trusted, and He knew the plans that His Father had for Him and the entire Earth.

When the world attacks you, don’t be discouraged because God is for you. He will bring you through this persecution, through this pain, through this suffering. Your treasure isn’t here. Your home isn’t here. Your reward isn’t of this world because you are not of this world, which is why the world will never accept you as its own. Both Peter and Paul understood this, which is why they both tell us to rejoice in persecution.

Our reward is Eternal Life with Christ, Jesus. No more pain. No more suffering. An Eternity where only love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control abide. So, let us not focus on our current persecution, for as Paul said, this is only light affliction to what is to come.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Focus On Your Eternity.

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“⁶ All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.” ~ Isaiah 53:6

No one is perfect. God didn’t get off of His throne to die for the sins of only some people. He didn’t pay the debt for only certain sins. God died and paid the debt for each and every sin known to man. Past, present, and future, doesn’t matter. God paid for them all.

We should’ve been the one on the cross, but instead, Jesus took our place. He took our punishment so that we didn’t have to. We don’t have to go through Eternity without Him; we can receive forgiveness for every sin we’ve ever committed. All we have to do is repent and confess. That’s it. Repent for our sins and confess that Jesus is LORD. We don’t have to live broken, fearful, ashamed, living in bondage because of our sin; Jesus came and paid our debt. There is no sin too great for God. There is no one too dirty for Him to clean.

You don’t have to clean yourself before going to Him because you can’t clean yourself. The whole point of going to Jesus is to be cleansed by Him. If we try to clean ourselves, it would be about as productive as washing a dirty body with a muddy rag. We can’t fix ourselves. We can’t clean ourselves. We can’t heal our own wounds. Only our creator can fix His creation. A broken pot cannot repair itself; it needs the potter to come and make it new. We are the broken pot, and God is the potter.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let Him Clean You.

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“¹ But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and He sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.” ~ Genesis 8:1

After God punished the Earth, He remembered Noah. God didn’t leave Noah alone. He didn’t forget Noah. God sent a wind, so that the waters could be removed, and Noah and his family could exit the ark and enter into the new world that God had washed clean for them.

God may remove you from a situation that you’re in, but could it be so that He may cleanse the land of wickedness and bring you to a new land that is not corrupt so that you can thrive? God doesn’t change, and if He remembered Noah, He will remember you.

So don’t be discouraged by your current circumstance, for God may be creating for you a new world to flourish and grow. Not every loss, is a loss. Not every break, is a time of punishment. Sometimes God removes you from a situation, so that He can bring you into a better one. And when the land is ready for you, God will remember you and bring you into your new land.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Encouraged.

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“¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, ‘Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.’ Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” ~ Genesis 4:15-16

Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy, then lied to God about it, and even in all of that, God still had mercy on Cain. Before there was The Law. Before there was redemption, Cain sinned, but God didn’t leave him there. He was punished, but God still had mercy on Cain. We live in a time of grace when God can still be found. When God has already paid for your sins and offered you forgiveness. He has paid the price and taken the weight on His shoulders.

Cain lived in a time that had no law. Had no way to be justified, yet God still found a way to give him grace. Don’t be ashamed to come to God. Don’t be ashamed of what you have done, for your Heavenly Father’s arms are opened, and He is waiting patiently for you to return home to Him. There is nothing you can do that is too hard for God to forgive and cleanse you of, so return home for His mercy is great, and His love for is never-ending.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Enter Into His Grace.

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“⁵ You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you” ~ Psalms 86:5

The Psalmist describes God as forgiving and good. He goes on to say that God abounds in love. What does that mean? God is love. His love cannot and will not ever run out. Because God is infinite, His love is infinite. No matter how far we’ve run. No matter how much debt we’ve collected, when we call on Him, He is faithful to answer. He is faithful to forgive us. He is faithful to love us. We are His children, so let us all return to our Heavenly Father, for He is forgiving, good, and abounding in love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Return To Your Good Father.

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“¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” ~ Ephesians 6:15

Paul tells us to put shroud our feet with the gospel of peace, but why our feet? Why not our mind? Could it be because Jesus gave us the gospel of peace so we can walk on stable ground in an unstable world? Even if everything else around us is in chaos, at least the ground we walk on is sturdy, never changing. So we don’t have to worry about the troubles of the world, but instead we can literally walk with/on peace. In this time of fear, anxiety, and panic we can hold to the promises of God and put on the Gospel of Peace as Paul instructed.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Put On Your Gospel of Peace.

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“Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you His peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all.” ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:16 NLT

In every situation our God is still the God of Peace. He doesn’t change. He’s still seated upon His throne. Even when you feel He’s gone quiet, He’s still there. When you feel He’s forgotten you, He’s still there. Call out to Him and He will give you peace. His peace. Peace the world cannot give and the world cannot take away.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Call For Peace.

“Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.” ~ Psalm 126:5

Whether tears of mourning, stress, fear, panic it doesn’t matter, those tears will be turned into joy. God doesn’t make a promise and not fulfill it. Every tear you’ve cried He has caught and planted so that at the perfect time, joy will sprout inside of you. Joy that the world can’t take away, nor can it understand. Trust in God and He will take your pain from you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Reap In Joy.

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“⁹ Then Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, ‘Haman has set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall in his own courtyard. He intended to use it to impale Mordecai, the man who saved the king from assassination.’ ‘Then impale Haman on it!’ the king ordered. ¹⁰ So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.” ~ Esther 7:9-10

Haman tried to murder Mordecai by impaling him because Mordecai refused to bow to Haman. But Mordecai was a good and righteous man who did what was right, so the LORD was with him. When the king found out what Haman was had planned to do and released who Mordecai was and what he did for him, the king turned Haman’s evil upon him.

Everything evil Haman planned for Mordecai, Haman had to endure. Everything good Haman planned for himself, he had to do to Mordecai. When you do what is right, even when others are against you, trying to destroy you, you will be protected. When you cast your bread upon the water, it will return to you. So be encouraged for good will always return to those who do good.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Always Do What Is Right.

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