Strengthening Your Grip on Encouragement
In this lesson, we will learn that encouragement is not the responsibility of a gifted few but the responsibility of the entire family of God. That means you.
Jesus told His disciples to love one another “as I have loved you” (John 13:34). That wouldn’t be so hard if the love Jesus displayed was primarily the write-a-cheque or call-once-a-month kind of love. But Jesus set the bar immeasurably high. Jesus’ kind of love touched the skin of a leper and washed the feet of a soon-to-be betrayer. He didn’t mind interruption by another’s demands, even those of a person all others disdained. Jesus had the uncanny ability to look straight into a person’s soul to see the deepest need there.
Is that an impossible example to follow? You bet it is! That’s why God sent the Holy Spirit to live inside us and empower us with His supernatural love. Only when “plugged in” to that power will His followers stand out in their treatment of others and of one another. Then people will take notice and say, “My, how they love one another!” Let these resources set you on the path of loving with the Saviour’s love.
In this lesson, we will learn that encouragement is not the responsibility of a gifted few but the responsibility of the entire family of God. That means you.
Where there is great freedom there is also the potential to abuse it. God’s grace, once embraced, should keep us from returning to our old ways and abusing His gift to us.
Here are two statements from Chuck Swindoll on how to live this Christian life. Number one, it takes authenticity and integrity to win a hearing. Number two, it’s impossible to convince anyone of any truth you’re not living.
Love is the greatest thing in the world because it is the ultimate motivation. Scripture reveals this truth in John 3:16.
Optimism, pessimism, suspicion, and fatalism all fail to present life as it really is. In contrast to these four ways we view life God tells us to live with a perspective characterized by reality, joy, trust, and hope.
True commitment doesn’t change with shifting fortunes of life or with the ebb and flow of feelings. Commitment is a promise made once for all time and then confirmed by the daily decision to stay rather than leave.
Love is like glue. In order to be effective, it must be applied. It won’t do any good if it stays in the container.
Our attitude towards one another must be gracious. There’s love when you’re gracious, there’s tenderness when you’re gracious.
Being involved means more than shaking hands with people on your way out of a church service—it’s investing in the lives of others.
What are the essentials for evangelism? To see clearly and to feel deeply.