A Christmas Series: The Gift of Encouragement

Welcome to our second week on gifts. For this series, I imagined someone asked me to make a list of the top presents money cannot buy, but that I enjoy receiving from others. These gifts are intangible, yet they often gift us with the most important parts of life. Such as the gift of forgiveness we discussed last week. We continue with another valuable gift to both receive and give, encouragement.

Google defines it as, “the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope.” And dictionary.com explains it as “to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence.”

So on the flip side, discouragement means “a loss of confidence or enthusiasm; dispiritedness” (Google).

Recently, this hit close to home. Discouragement knocked on my heart’s door and attempted to enter as a house guest through unkind words.

Encouragement to the rescue! My sweet husband spoke encouraging words, cheering me on with the truth and lifting my spirits. Then my stepfather came to town relaying words of life and hope, redirecting my heart and kicking discouragement to the curb.

Encouragement gifts us with the support, inspiration, confidence, hope, and courage we need. And when we need it the most. 

Powerful Quotes on Encouragement

Look at how this gift really makes a difference in our lives. 

A Christmas Series: The Gift of Forgiveness

When we think of Christmas gifts, our thoughts ponder what to buy that family member who has everything. Or, the person who is particular in their taste. Perhaps we wonder what treasures lay under the tree for us.

Over the next 3 weeks until Christmas, we are embarking on a series about gifts. These are not the typical gifts we imagine at Christmastime. Yet, each gift offers some of the most glorious things in life. 

We begin with the gift of forgiveness. And to be gut-honest, my tendency is to only see it as a gift when I receive it. Because forgiveness is a difficult present to hand out. Especially if the hurt runs deep and the offense cuts into our soul.

Starting in my childhood, a person has inflicted injury upon injury to my heart. Even threatening the unthinkable just two years ago, and causing a recent emotional wounding.

Still, God gave me the power and ability to truly and fully forgive her. Although our relationship remains in a less than whole state. And her patterns of behavior haven’t changed. I am living in wholeness and walking in freedom by giving her this gift. 

Why? Refusing to forgive places us behind bars—imprisoning our hearts and shackling our souls. Forgiving unlocks the prison cell, making us free!

Sometimes forgiveness neither restores a relationship nor is the best or healthy result. But it restores us.

However, this gift comes with a warning label: Offering it with a limited warranty or an expiration date renders it unacceptable.

Gift Description

Let’s look closer at our gift through these definitions and wisdom.

(1.) “To cease to feel resentment against (an offender): PARDON: forgive one’s enemies” (Merriam-Webster).

A Life of Sincere ThanksGiving by ThanksLiving

Every year, I look forward to November’s main holiday, Thanksgiving. But I really desire to live a life of ThanksGiving to God by ThanksLiving for Him year-round.

Although Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, I enjoy celebrating the time set aside for giving thanks.

Maybe you’re one of those people who already has your home Christmas-ready. That’s awesome for you. I say, To each her own.

Yet, it’s not my cup of tea. Not even holiday spiced tea. For me, I like both feet firmly planted in our thankful holiday before moving on. But the weekend after giving thanks? Then, I’m all about hanging ornaments, positioning blinking lights, and spreading Christmas cheer.

You see, I’m a straight lines kind of girl. So I never like to blur the lines of one holiday and cross over into another one at the same time.

Further, my family knows how much rule-keeping runs through my veins. Perhaps, this plays a role. Regardless of the reason, celebrating holidays distinctly, separately, and in chronological order remains my thing. 

ThanksGiving Around the Table

This makes the third year to host my immediate family (kids and grandkids) and part of my husband’s family in our home for ThanksGiving. I enjoy everything about it: gathering with loved ones, decorating the table with my little pilgrims and a few pumpkins, and doing a portion of the cooking with my guests bringing dishes to add to our spread.

Six Steps to Effective Prayer and Giveaway

My guest this week is a sweet lady I met at a writers conference. Her new book on prayer releases November 18. And she’s giving a copy away on this blog post.

By Penny Cooke

“In this manner, therefore, pray…” (Matthew 6:9a NKJV)

Do you ever find it difficult to pray, to remember or find time to pray? If so, you are not alone. We are all busy.

Even when we have good intentions, we can end up discouraged as the craziness of life takes over so often.  

If I’m not prepared, my cell phone will chime, my to-do list will nag, and my stomach will growl in duet with the dog begging to go out (and in, and out…).

I begin to question, When can I go to meet with You, God? (Psalm 42:2)

Jesus gave us instructions for prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 (The Lord’s Prayer). If we look carefully, we’ll see He covered specific elements of prayer. Perhaps He didn’t mean it to be a rote prayer, but a guide. After all, He had just told the disciples not to recite vain repetitions (Matthew 6:7).

What are these elements? Here is an acrostic for prayer that explains the elements Jesus taught.

P – Proactively Pursue Prayer.

Jesus left us an example of intentionally getting away from it all to pray (Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, 6:12, 9:28). Scripture urges us repeatedly to proactively pursue prayer (Matthew 26:41, Luke 18:1, Ephesians 6:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, and 1 Timothy 2:1). Besides spontaneous prayers we may pray throughout the day, it is essential to take the time to be alone with God to pray fervently (James 5:16). 

In today’s busyness, we need to be proactive about a lot of things if we’re going to get everything done. It is no different with prayer. And if we have so much to do, shouldn’t prayer be on the top of our list? 

The Gratitude Dare: Cultivating Grateful Hearts

It’s that time of year. We know how the season is supposed to go down. Besides pumpkin pie and turkey, we are encouraged to cultivate attitudes of gratitude.

Such as these 4 attitudes.

Count our blessings.

Be thankful.

Express our gratefulness.

Show our generosity.

And maybe we do and are these things during Thanksgiving. Perhaps some of us manage to pull it off most of November or even the entire year. 

But when we look at this list, do we think of our lives, our family, and more importantly, our God?

Because sometimes I epitomize these attitudes and other times not so much. A few years ago, as I reflected on gratitude, God spoke to my heart. 

Grateful people are generous people. Generous people are grateful people. 

It proves true with me. When gratefulness rises in my heart, I’m more generous with my money and time and service. Likewise, when my generosity bubbles over on others, gratefulness swells in my soul.

Then, I express gratitude for what the Lord has given me and for the great things He has done. I realize I’m blessed beyond measure.

Yet, how do we cultivate attitudes of gratitude in all the areas of our lives, for the people in our lives, and for the God who gives us life? Even further, are gratitude, generosity, and thanksgiving possible January through December—not just during November or on Thanksgiving Day?

And where do we start? Let’s use the list in the introduction and unpack each one.

Don’t Like Religion? Neither Did Jesus!

Please welcome my guest, Doris, as she discusses religion versus a relationship with God.

By Doris Homan

Do you dislike hypocrites? So did Jesus. Do you think religion is empty and those who play the game or go through the motions are fake? You’re in good company. 

Man-made Religion

Jesus had some very harsh words for the religious leaders of His day. He called them “blind” and “whitewashed tombs beautiful on the outside but on the inside full of dead men’s bones and full of uncleanness” (Matthew 23:16, 27).

Christ said they were blind guides leading the people into more legalism and not leading them to God. Because they looked good on the outside but were dead spiritually on the inside (see Matthew 23).

In Psalm 50:7-15, the Lord rebuked the religious practices of the Old Testament in making sacrifices. But He rebuked the practice only because people were completing the act without the right heart attitude of worshipping God. Instead they were simply going through the motions. 

Faith Versus Religion

There is a difference between faith and religion. Faith comes from God but religion is fabricated. Religion is man’s invention and attempt to appease God. 

The Saving Power in the Blood of Jesus

Every year I endure the same trauma at my doctor’s office—the drawing of blood. 

Why, traumatic? The answer lies in the words of a lab tech during one visit. “Your veins are itty bitty, Mrs. Friday.” Gee…yay for me. 

And to add more apprehension, the veins on my arms refuse to come out of hiding. Like a game of hide-and-seek, lab techs armed with needles make several attempts to seek an appropriate candidate—but to no avail. Although I’m already bruised and lightheaded.

Then, the lab employee enlists support from other techs, and sure-fire methods to raise a vein. Such as trying to warm up the vein with heat packs or squeezing a round object with my hand. Any success, now? Nope. 

Finally, one brave and innovative gal not only used a butterfly needle—the smallest option—but she also decided to use a visible vein on the top of my hand. She expressed one concern. This particular vein may not yield enough blood.

Drum roll, please. It worked! Hooray! 

Ever since that day, I share my tiny-veins-and-hard-to-get-blood story with my lab person. So I kindly ask for a butterfly needle and to stick the vein in my hand. This makes my experience a little more pleasant. 

It amazes me what our blood shows about us: type, heart-health, overall health, and often diagnoses a medical condition, disease, or illness. Life is in the blood.

Life in the Blood

Look at what the Lord told Moses:

I Am: 4 Declarations of True Identity in Christ

Sometimes we forget who we are in Christ. The enemy of our souls hopes we believe all the wrong “I am” declarations. Those negative statements we often say and repeat to ourselves that damage our true identity.

So we need to remind our hearts of 4 powerful “I am” declarations to regain our true identity in Christ.

(1.) I am loved. 

If you’re anything like me, you grew up questioning if people really loved you.

And—gulp—wondering if God loves you.

Maybe these questions formed in various stages of our life. Or, the enemy uses our uncertainty of love to haunt us in the present.

But the love of Christ is firm and certain. To believe and know the truth about His love, write out and pray these scriptures: 

• Love lays down His life for us (John 15:13). 
• Perfect love drives out our fear (1 John 4:18).
• The Lord quiets us with His love, singing over us (Zephaniah 3:17).
• Christ crowns us with love (Psalm 103:4).
• God’s love stands firm forever (Psalm 89:2).

If you belong to Christ, repeat after me: I am loved. This is our true identity. 

Turning Hearts Back to God: A Consuming Fire

I stepped into the oversized paws, pulled the furry costume over my legs, and inserted my arms. Yet, I waited until the last second to put the head piece in place, wanting plenty of air for as long as possible.

Feeling a tad claustrophobic, and with limited vision through the mesh eyes, I asked someone to lead me to the designated area. Once we reached our destination, my instructions included: wave, nod, shake hands, give high fives, and pat heads. But no speaking—someone else spoke on my behalf.

So an excited group of pre-schoolers gathered around me to meet Smokey Bear. My son, Caleb, three-years-old at the time, hugged one of my legs. While I patted his head, he remained clueless Mom stood underneath Smokey’s fur, blue jeans, and forestry hat.

Smokey spent the last 75 years telling kids not to play with matches, warning about campfires, and reminding us, Only You Can Prevent Wildfires. 

Although my bear-costume-wearing days ended, I continued to possess a healthy fear of fire.

Fire From Heaven

And one of my favorite Bible stories describes a showdown of epic proportions involving fire from heaven in 1 Kings 18.

King Ahab reigned over Israel. Sent by the Lord, the prophet Elijah told Ahab he troubled all of Israel because he “abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals”(1 Kings 18:18b). 

Elijah called for all of Israel to gather at Mount Carmel along with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah (verse 19).

Then, Elijah spoke on God’s behalf.

“And Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ And the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men’” (1 Kings 18:21-22).

Now, for the showdown details.

Gaining the Victory in Our Thought Life

If we’re honest, we all struggle with our thought life—those thoughts that make or break us, and often shape us. So, I’m super excited my friend, Sarah, returns as a blog guest to talk about her new book, Transforming Your Thought Life: Christian Meditation in Focus.

By Sarah Geringer

Our thought lives form the structure for our words and actions. Every problem we have begins in our thoughts. Since no one else knows our thoughts except God, we think we can hide them. 

However, what you think in your inward life inevitably spills out onto your outward life. You can either be defeated in your thought life before you ever take action, or you can transform your thought life with the power of God’s Word. You can have victory in your thought life struggles by meditating on the truths in Scripture.

Our Past Experiences 

Many of us experienced hurt and difficulties in our past that influence our lives now. For example, my parents divorced when I was four years old. The fallout from their divorce has affected nearly every area of my thinking. 

As a little girl, I began dealing with negative, anxious, fearful, and critical thoughts in response to the wounds the divorce caused. These thoughts carved paths in my conscious and subconscious mind that still tempt me today. 

I have used the power of Scripture to reroute those thought life paths. You can reroute your own thought pathways by using key scriptures in specific problems.

The Battle With Our Thought Life