BEE ENCOURAGING!

Acts 11:23-24 NLT When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.

I have some chair cushions with tiny bees on them and as I was looking at one I thought of some of the things we need to ‘bee’!😊

The first one I thought of was to ‘bee encouraging’. If there’s one thing in this life we all appreciate it’s encouragement, especially when people are going through hard times. But even in the day to day, it doesn’t cost anything to say an encouraging word, whether it’s to a friend, or to the sales assistant in a shop, but especially to our families. 

When someone has been put down or hurt, the way to counteract it is for someone else to encourage them to know they’re doing something right, that they’re accepted and loved. How important it is in the church family as well!

We read about Barnabus, whose name means Son of Encouragement. When Paul had given up on John Mark and rejected him, Barnabus saw the potential in him and encouraged him. Barnabus was also sent to Antioch to encourage the new believers there, and there is still a need for us all to be encouragers.

Acts 9:31 NLT The church then had peace … And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers. It’s great to know the Holy Spirit encourages us as well!

God’s word tells us we’re precious in His sight, that we’re the apple of His eye, that we’re His special treasure, His masterpiece. In other words, God is encouraging each of us to know how much we mean to Him, how highly He thinks of us. We’re His sons and daughters, so be encouraged today to know God is not picking fault with you but He accepts and approves you because of Jesus.😊

He’s telling us He loves us, we’re righteous in His sight, we’re doing well, that He believes in us and that we can achieve great things with His help, so we can encourage someone else with those thoughts this week and make them smile. Let’s ‘bee’ encouraging!😊 In Jesus name. Amen.

FROM HIM, THROUGH HIM, FOR HIM

1 Corinthians 8:6 NLT

But for us,

There is one God, the Father,

by whom all things were created,

and for whom we live.

And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ,

through whom all things were created,

and through whom we live.

Romans 11:36 NIV 

36 For from him and through him 

and for him are all things.

To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Aren’t you glad there is only one God, the Father, and one Lord, the Lord Jesus? We don’t have any complications in having to serve lots of gods, only One all powerful, always present God who loves us with an everlasting love. How blessed we are!

Our verses remind us we live for Him to bring Him glory forever which we may forget sometimes! God created this world for mankind to enjoy and we’re not random cells that accidentally came together. No, we were fearfully and wonderfully made, breathed into by our Creator for His plan and purpose and we will ultimately bring Him glory.😊

It says we live through Him not through our own efforts, which takes the pressure off us. Jesus has done it all for us and our righteousness is in Him so He lives in us and we live through Him.

We need never feel less than, or inadequate, or put down by anybody when we remember whose we are and that He is changing us from one degree of glory to another. His word says we are accepted by God in His beloved Son, all our sins have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and we shall one day go to be with Him and be like Him. How wonderful!

So on those days when the enemy comes to undermine us or he tells us we’re not doing well, or that we’ve made too many mistakes, we can stand our ground and remind him he has no authority over us and he has no say in our lives anymore! 

Praise God, our future is safe because we came from God, we’re living through Jesus and we were made for Him.😊

Lord we give You all the glory and praise today for all You’ve done for us through Jesus. In Jesus Name. Amen.