Encouraging Word

Intro

Starting this year, we celebrate 400 years of having the Bible written and printed in English! The KJV of the Bible was first printed in 1611 and how thankful we are that we can have multiple copies of the Word available to us. So to commemorate the anniversary, I want to talk about the importance of giving God’s Word high priority. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. From reading the Word, to taking time to study it, to meditating on it, and to memorizing and living it out, God’s Word is our guiding force. To make right choices, and to live the victorious life God has for us, let’s give God’s Word preeminence always! We’ll start this week by talking about reading and studying God’s Word. Here is your encouraging word for the day.

Word for the Week: John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me, and I in him, will bring forth much fruit…without me, you can do nothing.

Monday

Believing alone is not enough! It is by grace we are saved through faith, but belief always has corresponding action. That action brings about change and growth in our lives! When we really believe, our actions and our words will change! It sounds like selfless living in our only option. We are dead to self, and alive to God! Living the fruit of the spirit is our goal, as it says in Gal 5:22. Living a life of love is our aim. Obedience to the Word of God is what we strive for. Imitating Christ, by acting like Him and doing what He would do is what we desire to do.

If you have evidence of your faith – there will be a fire in the fireplace that will show outside! That’s the way it is described it in book of James. Once we’re saved, we keep growing – keep developing – keep changing to the likeness of the Father. To believe His Word, we study to show ourselves approved, and make the shift from just head knowledge to heart knowledge. Belief is at our core, in the center. Belief is more than just a good idea, it becomes a part of who we are. When we place a priority on getting the Word of God into our core, we will change from the inside out. And, when we begin to believe right, we will begin to act right!

Tuesday

Words affect us and they affect others. What have we heard? What have we said?

Words framed the world – words bring life or death – one word from God can change your destiny – His Word doesn’t return void. When we believe and act on His Word, circumstance change. Have you ever thought about this? We know that God’s Word doesn’t return void, and neither does ours – once it goes out of our mouth it produces positively or negatively. Think about that! There is power in the tongue. What we believe comes out through our mouth.

Here is a great thought! The further we develop and mature in our Christian walk and our belief in the Word of God, the more fruit we should be producing! – Just as a tree matures – there is more fruit and the fruit gets sweeter.

So we get to be like TREES!

Planted by living water

Roots that go down deep

Not blown over by any gust of wind

Storms may come but they still stand

The longer they stand, the firmer footing they get

The root system becomes as big as what you see on top

A tree that produces!

As we grow deeper in the Word of God – there should be more evidence in our life that His Word is hidden in our heart, so we will not sin against Him. I want to encourage you – get your roots down deep. Be firmly planted in the Word. Know Who you believe in! Know what you believe! Then out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak believing words. You’ll be able to stand, and overcome in this life!

Wednesday

Looking good on the outside is no good unless you have the inside character to back it up. Too many Christians (or people in general) try to dress up bad attitudes and hurts with a happy face and a good look.

God can see right through that, and people can to! Some might be fooled for a while, but truly your “sins” will find you out. There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed!

Have you ever seen a beautiful girl turn unattractive in a moment by filth or venom coming from her mouth? Sounds like bad fruit.

What are some Bad Outside influences to fruit?

Like Bugs or Little foxes that come to destroy

Like adverse Weather and Storms that come to destroy

Like Bad influences – and wrong choices of friends

Like the devil and his demons come to distract and destroy

Like Lack of moisture and not being watered by the Word

Like Soil erosion or not tilling our own soil

Like Fire or other kinds of Destruction sent to ambush our life

What are good influences to fruit?

Moisture like Being watered by the Word – river of life

Good soil and continually Breaking up our own fallow ground

Good sunshine Spending time in God’s presence

Good weather Enough warmth

Bug control by Taking care of little things before they become big things

What kind of fruit are you producing? I hope it is good fruit in abundance!

We look even better on the outside, by staying true to the Word on the inside. Get the good influence of the Word on the inside of you and the outside will shine!

Thursday

With some pine trees intense heat or even fire is necessary for reproduction. The seed in locked in the cone until intense heat expels it. Devastation of a woodland by fire has a huge negative impact, but out of the ashes new life can be produced. Awful circumstances in life can be what propels you to live again – and success can be birthed from failure. Some people call it failing forward. If your past has negative circumstance in it, or if your present does, it doesn’t mean you can’t survive and then thrive tomorrow.

I am always so inspired by those who have walked through great difficulty and come out better on the other side. The enemy attacked them, and they stood strong, and their test, produced a testimony! Their tragedy was turned to triumph. They didn’t become victims, they were victorious! What the enemy meant for evil, God turned around for good! When we believe God’s Word, even in the worst of circumstances, He is on our side and is making a way in the wilderness. His living water sustains us in the desert. His living bread is sustenance to our soul. He nourishes us in the presence of our enemies, and even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t live in fear, for God sustains us. When we get the good stuff (the Word) on the inside, we will come out stronger on the other side. That’s encouraging!

Friday

How do we get more faith? That is always an interesting question to ask, because you’d be amazed at the answers. The Bible’s answer is this….Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17 Have you ever noticed how often Jesus repeated this saying, “If you have ears to hear, let him hear.” Do you have ears to hear? Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. It is more than just hearing with our natural ears, we need the ears of our spirit attuned to God’s voice. When His Word speaks to us, we need to say just like Samuel said, “speak Lord, for your servant hears you”. Then because we believe, we put action to our faith. We strengthen our faith muscle by exercising it. Just like a natural muscle, we have to use it. You never get to stop using your faith. The Christian walk is a faith walk. It is a life of faith. The Bible says that the just shall live by faith. Let’s be “believing” believers! Let’s take what God’s Word says and believe it, act on it, live by it, and share it. Why keep it all to yourself? With the great message we have, something that has changed our lives forever, why not tell everyone! We can change the world, one life at a time. How encouraging!

Saturday Eword for Kids

Do you know that believing and faith are like the two sides of a coin? You really can’t use a coin if one side is defaced or absent. Coins are only usable currency when both sides are intact. Faith is like that too! To be able to use our faith, we have to add our belief to what God’s Word says to us. Just like when you were saved, one side of the coin was faith, and the other side was belief. Once you believed, your faith hooked up with the promise of God’s Word that you could be born again. Then you used your mouth to confess or to speak about what you believed in your heart. Faith turned to action. Then you began changing and growing as you continued to put God’s Word in your life, and made choices that lined up with the Word of God. God directed your path, and gave you wisdom and insight and you continued to change and grow. Then you began to be fruitful for the kingdom of God, and became a witness of the wonderful life you have in Christ. What is so cool about faith and belief is that when you share your faith, others can believe. You get to be God’s voice to your world! How cool it is to see your friends see the change God has made in your life, and they decide to follow Christ too. That is fruitful living, and that is what believing the Word will do for your life. How cool is that!

Sunday

Did you know that there is a heart and mouth connection in salvation? The Bible tells us to believe and confess, or to believe and speak. What you believe is what you speak, as it says in Matt 12:34. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak.

What is in your HEART?

What do we believe? Here are some things the word says we should believe.

God is good and brings life

The devil is bad and brings destruction

Jesus conquered the devil on Calvary

In salvation we have everything we need to live victoriously on the earth

We choose to follow Christ, to obey His Word, and live by His commands

Has this belief system, based on God’s Word, really changed our life? Was it a drastic change? Or, are negative habits so established in your life that there is no difference between you and a non- believer?

The next big question to ask is do you want to change? If our belief system has changed our life, it should change our actions. How should we act? Here are some things to consider for the person who is filled up with the Word and believes what the Word of God says:

Gossip is not an option

Reacting in the flesh is not an option

Speaking before you think is not an option

Saying everything that comes to mind is not an option

Disobeying the law of love is not an option!

I hope you are encouraged to keep on growing. Keep on becoming more like Jesus, the Word made flesh! Let’s celebrate the Word of God by being a doer of what it says!