Encouraged By Faith

The past eight months have flown by, but I think the most encouraging bits were when I truly saw God working in real time, whether if it was the job situation or if it was sharing the gospel with random strangers. Paul continues to talk about being encouraged by seeing others come to Christ, but I noticed that in the wording, Paul never referred back to himself, because it was all God's work and timing that this was done. Hearing it from his perspective was also different because you can hear how much he yearned for his friends, the Thessalonians to come back to Christ; praying for them day and night (v.10), hoping that Timothy would return with a report that they are still strong in their faith (v.6-7), and hoping persecutions and trials did not pull them away (v.4).

In the same way, we should have that desire to see others come to Christ, it saves them from a life of eternal punishment and grants them a life of eternal happiness. Think of such friends in your life who need to know Christ, or need to come back to him, or need to keep growing in Him and pray for them; day and night. In turn, when you see God working, you will be encouraged, inspired and motivated to keep going. Christ is our power, Christ is our rock, Christ is everything in our lives, set your eyes on Him and he will help everything fall into place.

verse of the day: 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13
12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

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