ENCOURAGEMENT-15 (Psalm 4:6)

GOD’S DESIRE IS TO ENCOURAGE THOSE WHO BELONG TO HIM

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us
prosperity?” Let the light of your face shine on us.”
(Psalm 4:6)

MEDITATION:
How easy it is to be deceived when we are not walking in
the light of God’s Word. Satan is a formidable foe who is
seeking any opportunity to cause us to fall and become a
discouraged person.

Charles Lindbergh tells about the time he was flying in
a dense fog over Newfoundland. He noticed moisture
beginning to freeze on the wings of his plane and thought,
     “This great adventure is going to
      come to an untimely end. What shall I do?”
Then, he had a moment of inspiration! He pulled his plane
up and out of the fog, and burst into the dazzling sunlight.

Have you ever felt like you were living in a fog? If so, then
God has a word of encouragement for you and me. We can
get near to the heart of God, and His light can shine even in
the darkest corner of our heart.

ACTION:
Ask God to shine His light into the darkness of your heart.
Ask Him to reveal your doubts and fears. Ask Him to reveal
any sin that lies covetously in your heart. Then, get ready for
a blessing. Drawing up close to Him includes repentance, and
when we repent, He will bless us with His healing forgiveness.

Have you ever thought about the phrase,
    “God loves you”?
Have you ever personalized the phrase to say,
     “God loves me”?
Have you ever thought about the magnitude of those phrases?

To put it into perspective, think about something you have made
with your own hands. Remember how proud you were at the time?
It may have been something insignificant to others, but to you, it
was something special!

It may have been nothing more than a stick you found when you
were a kid. But, you took a knife and made it smooth by removing
the bark and the bumps. When you were finished, you may have
had visions of it being a sleek race car, or a canoe, or maybe just
a personal good luck piece.

Whatever you envisioned, it was something you had created,
and that made it special to you. Others may think it is only a
stick, because they can’t see or understand what you saw in
something that appeared to be so simple and insignificant.

Now, imagine that you are someone special that God has created
(we all are, aren’t we?). He is proud of His creation, and He has
dreams and visions of how someone as insignificant as you and me
(at least in the minds of others), could actually become someone of
great importance to Him.

Since God created you, He loves what He has created, and He knows
the potential He included when He formed you. Others may not see
that potential (and you might not even be aware of it yourself), but it
exists in you, because God put it there.

Imagine for a moment the disappointment God feels when He sees
how you have failed to embrace, and make use of the potential He
has given you. Imagine the joy you have forfeited because your
potential has remained dormant. Imagine the blessings God has
reserved for you as a reward for activating the potential He has
given you.

In addition, imagine those rewards collecting dust because you have
not used what God has given you. We can continue experimenting
with worldly things, but none of them will ever result in our receiving
the blessings God has created, tailor-made just for us.

Back to something you created:
    Imagine how you felt if you lost that preciouss, and special thing
    that was valuable to you. Even worse, imagine that someone stole
    your creation. You would do anything you could to recover your
    creation, wouldn’t you?

    That is how God feels whenever He sees the things of the world
    stealing His creation from Him, and He will do whatever he can
    to recover us from all that is stealing us away from Him, or hiding
    us from our connection with Him.

God does not want you to miss out on the blessings He has for
you. Why? Because His great love for you is greater than you
could ever imagine. God does not want to lose His creation to
anyone, or anything. In addition, God does not want to see the
special abilities, talents, and spiritual gifts He has given you,
to ‘waste away’ from lack of use.

We should not consider serving God as some drudgery, or
a tiring effort that will be unappreciated. Instead, we need
to focus on the excitement and joy of knowing that our God
and Creator, considers us as individuals with the potential
of becoming valuable contributors to what He is doing.

He may have called you to serve in an area that might seem
insignificant to you and others, but you can rest assured that
wherever and however He wants you to use your gifts, will be
significant to Him, and He will appreciate your efforts, even
if no one else does.

Never lose sight of the indisputable fact that God has a purpose
for you and everyone else who belongs to Him. If we sincerely
want to be encouraged, then we need to align ourselves with
God and His desires for us, instead of being controlled by the
things the world has to offer, which are insignificant now, and,
when we stand before God at the final judgment.

We will all face a final judgment
and we can dread hearing these words from God,
    “Depart from me, I never knew you”,
or, we can use what He has given us
and anticipate hearing these words from God,
    “Well done, good and faithful servant”.

If we want to hear Him say ‘well done’, then we need to
remember that the word ‘servant’ means we have ‘served’
Him in some capacity. We all would like to be encouraged,
and when we obediently use what God has given us, we can
experience His encouragement, as we live in anticipation of
being with Him eternally.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for creating me with all the
gifts and talents that give me the potential for serving You
in the special way You have chosen for me. Lord, You know
how easily my ego and selfish pride can cause me to be misled
and influenced by the things of this world. Help me to realize
how worldly things are going to leave a void in my life that only
You can fill. Rather than becoming discouraged by what the
world has to offer, create in me a desire to discover, and then
use the spiritual gift You have given me. The closer I grow in
my relationship with You, the more I will be encouraged in
knowing that I am significant to You, that You love me, and
that You will equip me with all that I need for serving You.”

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