Encouraging Word

Who can you invite to church with you? If you have been a believer for very long, you have probably noticed it is easy to surround yourself with people to think like you, act like you and believe like you. Part of that is really good, because we want to hang around people who challenge us to grow in God. At the same time, we can become immersed in church life, that we forget that there is a world out there dying to know Jesus. We have received something wonderful through salvation, new life in Christ. Now, instead of just going on our merry way, loving Jesus, we need to think about those that haven’t met Christ yet. They don’t know the joy, the peace, the rest, and the hope that we have in abundance. One of the reasons we have an abundance is because we have some to give away. God always works that way. He fills us up, so that we can give something to someone who needs some of what we have. So keep your eyes and ears open. Where can you find someone to help? Ministry is all about helping people. You can start by leading somebody to the feet of Jesus.

Sunday is my favorite day of the week – Sunday Funday! I know I say this a lot, but I love getting together with my church family. Here it is Friday, and I’m already looking forward to Sunday. The Bible reminds us to meet together regularly, and for lots of people, regular attendance, is less than once a month. I want to stir you up to make your commitment greater than that. I encourage you to participate in your church life, every single week. The Jews had the Sabbath set aside for worship, and when Jesus rose on the first day of the week, the early believers made worshipping on Sunday the new pattern. What a great way to start the week. I look at it almost like the tithe. If you give God the first part, instead of the leftovers, you are showing where your priorities are. I actually missed a church service a few weeks ago, and even then, I watched church online at agf.org, I watched our TV service on KMVT and then I turned on some praise and worship music. But, I was still bummed, because church life to me isn’t just the great teaching or awesome worship, it is loving and serving the church family face to face. Plan to go to church this Sunday, and get your spirit recharged and refreshed, and be prepared to do the work of the ministry all during the week.

I love going to weddings, and I have been to a lot of them recently. Weddings are a beautiful time to see a couple commit their lives to each other, in front of their friends and loved ones. They promise that they will love each other and lay down their life for the life of their mate. You have probably noticed this too, that newlyweds can be so devoted to one another that they love serving each other. Sometimes it’s even a contest of who can serve more. Lynn and I were like that! But if you look around at older married couples, that sweet, innocent, loving devotion to serve one another can sometimes get tarnished. We often don’t serve each other out of devotion anymore, we do it out of duty, or we tell our mate that they can fend for themselves! The sweetest thing ever is when I see an older couple that keeps freshness in their relationship. They serve one another out of love. In fact it becomes a life long competition of who can out serve the other. It takes a conscious effort to continue doing that year after year, but boy is it worth it. Let’s keep love alive in our marriages, and remember that since we are called to love one another, love is action. Love is a verb. I encourage you to refresh and recharge your relationships. Put some action to your devotion!

Maybe sometime in your life you have had a hard time breathing. It could have been from an infection, or just the smoke from the fires in the northwest really made it hard for many people to breathe, including me. Breath is essential to life. You can’t breathe, you don’t live. It works like that in our spiritual life too. If you need some fresh air in your sail, continue listening! If you walk into a house that hasn’t had the doors and windows opened for a while, the air feels stale. We don’t want our Christian walk to be stale, and we certainly want to be able to breathe. So let’s air out our “house”, Jesus did say we are the temple of the Holy Spirit! Let’s let the fresh breeze of the Holy Spirit blow out the stale, and become an inhabitable home again for our comforter and teacher to feel at home in. It would be easy to try to cover up the stale smell with an air freshener, but let’s not just do a cover up. Let’s let the wind of the Holy Spirit sweep through our doors and windows and become a “house” that is fresh and clean. Thank God for the fresh air of the Holy Spirit. How refreshing!

Every individual determines their personal speed of spiritual growth. Does that statement surprise you? It really is true. You determine your own spiritual growth. You have probably noticed that someone can be saved for many years, and still be a baby Christian. And on the other hand, you might have known someone who just recently has been saved, and have grown leaps and bounds, because they have dug into the Word of God, they have gotten involved in church life, they have spent time in prayer and they have planted themselves in a life giving small group. Those really are four keys to personal spiritual growth! Let’s talk about them.
1) Be a person of the Word. Dig in, find a good study program, do word studies, get in a Bible Study and really make the Word of God your life. YouVersiion.com makes it so easy if you like doing your study on your phone or tablet.
2) Finding a life giving local church is vitally important too. You want to be in a church that is equipping you to do ministry, a place where teaching the whole Word of God is central, and where you can call your church home.
3) A third key is having great communication with God through prayer. Prayer really is just a conversation, but it is with the person who has your best interest at heart and loves you the most.
4) And lastly, getting involved in a TeamLife group really helps you grow, iron sharpens iron, and you have the opportunity to grow spiritually in a small group, bringing refreshing to your life! What a great way to get recharged.

Intro:
Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your daily eword. I think we all have been in a dry place before, and need to be refreshed. In the coming weeks we will be talking about getting more “Re”in our life. Recharge, renew, restore, etc! I hope these daily encouragements designed to harmonize with our ladies fall bible study, will help you take a deep breath and breathe in all that God has for you. Be encouraged today! If you starting listening or reading your dailyeword each day, I hope you will start today. These few moments can be your daily recharge and encourage you to be in the Word everyday. Here is your dailyeword.

This week is the beginning of a really exciting Bible study. This introduction really is a great reminder of how important it is to have life giving relationships around us, and to be involved in a small group where we have accountability and encouragement. Why should you be in a small group? Because if we look at the pattern of Jesus’ life when he walked the earth, he had the initial small group. He had 12 men around him to were there to help and bless him, but also they grew and were blessed just by being around Jesus. So how about you, can you identify a small group where you can grow? Follow the pattern of Jesus and find a group where you can study and grow together. Our TeamLife groups have just started, so jump in, get involved! If you haven’t ever been in a small group, here is what to expect. You will find a group of people who have a common interest, and are wanting to grow in their relationships and in the love of God. What a great place for you! And what a great way to get refreshed and recharged this fall.

I think the “one another” that speaks to me the most is the first one we talked about and the one that started our one another list. It all starts with loving one another. We can forgive, accept, bear with, honor, share, carry, encourage, comfort, instruct, pray for one another, all because we love each another. With God’s heart of love on the inside of us, we can love without limits. Just like nothing can separate us from God’s love, when we operate in the love of God, we can see others drawn to God through His love in us. We can powerfully impact our world for the kingdom of God. Once others have stepped into salvation and joined God’s family, we can have limitless impact as together we lovingly serve others in the body of Christ. We can love as Christ loved, forgive as Christ forgave, and lay our lives down for each other, just like Jesus did for us. We need each other, and we are better together. Let’s realize this and become people that the Bible described. They will know us by our love. Let choose love, show love, and live out the love of God everyday!

What do you think of this quote from Larry Crabb? “We are not our problems. We are not our wounds. We are not our sins. We are persons of radical worth and unrevealed beauty.” I love it! We so often identify ourselves with the negatives and the problems in our life. What we have gone through, or are going through, or even how we view ourselves in light of our circumstances. That is not who we really are. We are people who are of radical worth! Not average worth, but amazing worth! And, there is beauty within us, that we haven’t discovered, and very likely others have not yet seen all of it either. As we conclude this series on relationships, it is so important that we know, deep down within us, that we are loved, valued, and worthy, not because of what we’ve done, or who we are, but because of Whose we are. Our value and worth is because of the cross, and what Jesus accomplished for us there. His love for us is what we should celebrate! We are not our circumstances, the problems we face, or our wounds from the past. We are hidden in Christ, and we are covered by the blood of Jesus. So let’s be our best self, and build great relationships, because Jesus made us worthy! He declared that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I’ll wear that robe anyday!

My prayer for you is that you begin to make life giving dynamic relationships a part of your life. Here is the long list of the “one another’s” in the New Testament! Love one another, Forgive one another, accept one another, bear with one another, be devoted to one another, honor one another above ourselves, greet one another, be hospitable with one another, be compassionate and kind to one another, share with one another, serve one another, carry one another’s burdens, build up one another, encourage one another daily, comfort one another, motivate one another to show love and do good deeds, instruct one another, admonish one another, pray for one another, confess your sins to one another, be of the same mind toward one another, and submit to one another in love. I hope you are inspired and encouraged to build your relationships so that they can be extraordinary! That’s what happens when we love each other. That’s God’s desire for us! Say this with me: I can love the people in my world, and build my relationships, to be all that they can be, starting in my home, at my church, in my community, and around my world.

I hope you are enjoying learning about developing authentic life giving relationships. It all begins with love, and comes from a heart to serve. It is so wonderful to be a part of the family of God. I love that we have so many others to do life with. We don’t have to be loners, just making it through by ourselves. When we hit a rough patch, when circumstances overwhelm us, we can lean on our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we have something to rejoice over, we don’t have to have a party of one. We can celebrate with our family, our fellow believers, our teammates in life. I hope that you received revelation in your own life of how to develop your relationships, so that your life is enriched. As much as your friendships and relationships are a blessing to you, my prayer is that you are enriching the lives of others around you daily as well. That’s what we are called to in the body of Christ. While I give out daily encouragement, I have people encouraging me. When you sow seed, you get to see a harvest! As the seed comes up and begins bearing fruit, you get to enjoy the fruit of your labor. By partnering together, in the body of Christ, and in our individual circles of believers, we get to experience in our relationships the very best of life, and the deepest joy that human relationships can offer. No a bad deal, any way you look at it!