Community of Believers | We are here for one another!

Dear Reader, the challenges of this life come in many shapes and forms. Regardless of how it comes or what it appears like, the blow of difficulties can often be softened when another will come alongside to help shoulder the load. I am resharing this post to encourage us in our need to look out for the welfare of one another:

Races can take you through many terrains. Running uphill is hard. The more you go, the steeper the incline, the harder it gets. Breath after breath, your chest heaves for relief. Push after push, your muscles cry out for mercy. And, just when you thought you had no more in you, just when you thought you couldn’t go any farther, imagine for a moment, from behind there comes these hands out of nowhere that steady your stride and help propel you forward. On the side of you come these smiling faces with encouraging words, grabbing hold of your arms and helping pull you up that incline so that you might finish your race. They want to help you make it.

Just as runners need each other on the steepest climbs, so, too, do we need each other in our spiritual journey. We rely on our association with fellow believers to not only run well, but to finish well.

The Apostle Paul often described our Christian life as a race (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). We run it. We press for it. But, sometimes the way gets hard, and if it had not been for the grace of God, we would not have made it. 

As the community of racers pushed and pulled the struggling runner uphill, so, too, God will minister to us to help us run our race. Often this is done through the community of believers who will come alongside the one who needs support.

In this world, as they say, the struggle is real. May we, as a community of believers, recognize the support that each one needs. May we join our fellow Christian race runners and offer the help and encouragement they need to make it. May we see beyond our own race and allow God to use our hands and smiling faces to help bolster someone’s faith as they strive to make it up the inclines of this life.

We all have the same goal in mind: to finish the race. We need each other to do it. As a community of believers, our job goes beyond spreading the gospel, being a light in this dark world, and all the other spiritual stuff it entails. Our job is also to seek the welfare of one another, to help those around us. We ought to be there for one another. We need to be present and involved in what they are going through, champion companions in this race, so that, as the Bible says, “that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it,” (1 Corinthians 12:25-26).

The hardest climbs can be conquered when we support one another. 

More encouraging verses and quotes:

“Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow . . .” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10a

“God has chosen us to help one another.” Smith Wigglesworth

“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the Good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Daughters of Grace | Her Excellence Within

As a woman of God, a daughter of grace, are we any more beautiful than when we are reflecting the character of our Father?

Graciousness, for women, often applies to her poise, her friendly and welcoming demeanor, manners, status, and more. But, oh, my friends, she is so much more. Those things may describe what people see, but her true excellence comes from within.

Inwardly, she is known and loved by God. Inwardly, His salve of grace has covered her wrongs, hurts, and scars. Inwardly, she has received a holy covering, and she cannot help but cover those she meets in the same manner. Inwardly, she has been touched and transformed by the Father, and in turn, she wants to touch those around her in an authentic and meaningful way.

She is true for people and not a woman of pretense. Sincerity is the rule of her heart. The changed heart inside of her won’t let her be anything but. She sees the personal beyond the people. She is solicitous in her concern for others. She pays attention to them. People and their circumstances matter to her.

She loves the way her Father taught her to love, thinking of others before herself. She seeks to put their needs ahead of her own, selflessly moving through this generation with compassion as her guide, being a vessel fit for the Master’s use (2 Timothy 2:21).

So, she shares her heart through her words, ready to bless, encourage, and lift others with the power of her tongue. She shares her heart through service, loving people through acts of selflessness. This gracious woman adorns herself not with merely external adornments of this world but with “bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (Colossians 3:12).

She is her Father’s daughter, ready to pour grace into the heart that needs it. As He loves, so she seeks to love. As He operates, she wants her life to echo the image of what He desires from one’s heart, will, and mind. She wants her footsteps to mimic His as she walks through this life distributing kindness, gentleness, and compassion; cultivating love, and expressing to those she meets the true beauty of what it means to be a child of God, a daughter of grace.

“A gracious woman retaineth honour…” Proverbs 11:16

Where can you pour extra grace into a life today? Your actions, no matter how small, may be the largest act of kindness another receives today. I encourage you, don’t hold back. Pour, dear daughter of God, pour out His love, and let it overflow into the lives of others. You may never know the impact it makes, but no small deed done for the Lord will ever be insignificant.

For more encouragement, check out this poem I previously wrote titled Within.

Photo by Marina Abrosimova on Pexels.com

It’s in You!

When God puts a gift, a seed of talent in you, whether you feel particularly inspired or not, the gift in you demands to be heard, noticed, and shared with the world.

It’s just like that.  In each of us there dwell the possibilities that He knows you can do something with it.

We are good ground and from it we want to bear much fruit. The world needs what grows from the soil of you.

Community of Believers | We are here for one another!

 

Races can take you through many terrains.  Running uphill, it’s hard.  The more you go, the steeper the incline, the harder it gets.  Breath after breath your chest heaves for relief.  Push after push your muscles cry out for mercy.  And, just when you thought you had no more in you; just when you thought you couldn’t go any farther, from behind there comes these hands out of nowhere that steadies your stride and helps propel you forward some more.  On the side of you comes smiling faces with encouraging words grabbing hold of your arms and help pull you up that incline that you might finish your race.  They want to help you make it.

The Apostle Paul often described our Christian life as a race (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).  We run it.  We press for it.  But, sometimes the way gets hard and if it had not been for the grace of God, we would not have made it.

As the community of racers pushed and pulled the struggling runner uphill, so God will minister to us to help us go through our race.  Often this is done through the community of believers that will come alongside the one that needs support.

In this world the struggle is real.  May we, as a community of believers, recognize the support that each one needs.  May we join up with our fellow Christian race runners and offer the help and encouragement they need to make it.  May we see beyond our own race and allow God to use our hands and smiling faces to help bolster someone’s faith as they are striving to make it up the inclines of this life.

We all have the same goal in mind: to finish the race.  We need each other to do it.  As a community of believers, our job goes beyond spreading the gospel and being a light in this dark world, and all the other spiritual stuff it entails.  Our job is also to seek the welfare of one another.  We need to be there for one another.  We need to be present and involved in the process of what they are going through “that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it,” (1 Corinthians 12:25-26).  

More encouraging verses and quotes:

“Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow . . .” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10a

“God has chosen us to help one another.” Smith Wigglesworth

“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the Good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Love Others!

Love is more than the flowery speech of some. It is commitment and devotion put into action for the whole world to see. This is the same kind of love God showed toward us and this is the same kind of love we are commanded to have toward others. Learn from Jesus, our best example, so that you too can be an overcomer of love.

1 Johnn 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.”

John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

John 15:12 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”