Be Encouraged

“Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?’” (John 11:40) Have you ever wondered what the glory of God was? Jesus defines it as seeing God’s ability to triumph over death. Adam and Eve’s DNA was altered and corrupted by decay. Jesus’s blood removed the death and decay. We joined to Love, are bound to live without decay. From before the moment Adam...

“She said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.’” (John 11:27) Mary’s confession is enormous. She trusted Jesus, the man before her, to be the Messiah. She proclaimed His equality with God by calling Him the Son of God. Up to that time in Jewish history, only Adam had had the right to such a title. She also knew the very hear...

“and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:26) You have to have a life to give it. Once you have the Total, Christ has you, and You cannot die. The One Who is Life is living Himself by sharing that selfness with you. The natural death is the life you don’t have to live right now. You don’t have to mind the flesh. What is that? You’re being carnally mi...

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies’” (John 11:25) The fear of death no longer has sway over our lives. Walking with Jesus can be somewhat obscured by the trials of life, yet our union is an overwhelming comfort right in the middle of the fears, confusion, dread, and pain. That means that though we experience the slings and arrow...

“and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.” (John 11:15) Lazarus would not have died if Jesus had been with Lazarus in his sickness. Christ’s love for His friend was incredible. For us to discover precisely Who Jesus was, it took a soul needing resurrection. Lazarus was that soul. Jesus was glad for us who would learn that He is the resurrect...

“Many believed in Him there.” (John 10:42) Right then and there, they chose to trust Jesus as the Christ. Many today declare their faith in Christ. Many say they experience His power. Many declare His name and continue to see themselves as sinners, trying to get more. To live a Christlike life takes more than knowing He is the Christ of history or the One with the power to raise the dead. It takes...

“but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” (John 10:38) If you do not trust the historical Jesus, trust the work of the Father in your heart. Love, joy, peace, easygoing, mercy, submissiveness, tolerance, and hopeful confidence. These are not natural to humanity. These are natural to Holy S...

“If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;” (John 10:37) In Jesus’s day, the works were evident and easily measured. Today, the works of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ are birthed in the heart and confessed with the mouth. The message is that the cross forgives sins and removes the need to sin. It does not put you on the road toward union with God. It accomplishes that...

“But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.” (John 10:26) Jesus was down to earth. He knew a shepherd’s voice would be heard by His sheep. Those not hearing Jesus’s call were not His sheep. It did not mean they could not hear His voice but that they had chosen not to obey Him. His voice was brushed aside like a seed falling on hard ground and consumed by birds. The people were listeni...

“Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.’” John 10:25) Jesus declared He was the Messiah, but that did not help the people trust Him. The trust Jesus demanded of them was that they give Him power over their lives and living. He had demonstrated healing and deliverance, even raising people from the dead. But that was no...

“And he said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshiped Him.” (John 9:38) Today, society bows to itself. Arrogance is expected, while humility is considered a character flaw. This attitude is led into the Churches as if it were some King. Equality has become everyone’s right to subject others to their will. This is idolatry. Worship is submitting to another’s will. To worship Christ is to bow your knee...

“He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” (John 9:36) Now, that is a good question. Who is He? Who is the One who has healed me? There was a time when I was left with the abilities I had gained from reading, experience, and advice. I did the best I could with what I had. I was a non-reader and had what is now called dyslexia. Even today, without computers with grammar and spell c...

“Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’” (John 9:35) Jesus had already healed the blind man before He asked him if he trusted Him. So it is with us. Jesus has already healed our stony hearts, dissolved sin’s hold on our souls, joined us to His Spirit of Love and Truth, infused us with His trust in Father God, united us one with the othe...

“But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.” (John 8:45) Why is it so hard to trust Jesus? Because we want to do our flesh’s desires. Listening to them is as good as listening to the devil. He was a murderer from the beginning and did not trust Christ to save him. Why? Because there is no place for trust in the evil one. When we lie, we speak out of our flesh’s sense of lack and fear. T...

“So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;’” (John 8:31) What is a disciple? Yes, a student, but not in some sit-down-in-front-of-a-teacher-type student. It is a get close enough to hear, as we walk overhill and dale with the teacher. It is getting ahead, walking backward, reading his body and lips hanging on every wo...

Life's like trying to find matching socks in a laundry pile - challenging, and you wonder if you're doing it right. Ever felt that laundry struggle? Well, guess what? I found this life hack called Jesus. He's like the ultimate laundry sorter who brings order to the chaos. Have you heard about this person? Seriously, Jesus offers us a liberating secret – no fine print, just genuine love, and eterna...

Abandonment, what is it? Reason, logic, or any other cognitive faculties within the human mind are, at best, resources to draw upon. But the pristine sacrifice goes beyond relinquishing possessions and internal emanations; it encompasses surrendering the entirety of one's being to God. This means you relinquish everything within your grasp as far as the grace permits. This is abandonment. And what...

“As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.” (John 8:30) No magic is needed. At the moment we trust, we are alive in Christ for eternity. He is working out what He has worked in. Life is living from trust to trust. Our ability to let Him do what He does is from rest to rest. Our desire to become is extinguished by His having done. His ability to command us to perform is incomparable to...

“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He , you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24) This is not rocket science. You will die in distrust unless you trust. What comes of that trust is up to the one you trust. Jesus said we can trust Him just as we trust the Father who sent Him. Now, that talk is scary. We should trust a report of someone we do not...

“No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he?” (John 7:48) If we wait for the rulers to trust Jesus before we trust Him…well, we are in for a long wait. Rulers trust in armies, lies, secrets, deception, chaos, and platitudes, not to mention taxes. Money solves every problem the last solution causes. More money always brings about the promise that the last promise failed to bring....

“But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:39) It takes the death and resurrection of Christ to gain His right, authority, and ability to flood the world with His Spirit of love. Like in Noah’s day, everyone outside the ark of Jesus will unwillingly drown in His love. Those in the...

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:38) Christ is declaring that our thirst for Him will produce life. What will come out will come from the center of the centers. The riches of God are ready to gush out like the rock in the wilderness, turning our desert into life, quenching all thirst for life and godliness. Our par...

Jesus' teachings on nonviolence, often called pacifism, form a fundamental aspect of his message. Throughout the Gospels, he imparts a unique ethical code that challenges conventional notions of power, self-protection, and retaliation. The Sermon on the Mount is a central point in this perspective, where Jesus promotes peace, compassion, and reconciliation. One of the most notable elements of this...

Justice, Mercy, Humility In the realm of life, where shadows play, Justice beckons in the light of day. Fairness and equity, its guiding hand, A beacon leading through the shifting sand. Mercy, a stream of gentle grace, Love's reflection in every face. Forgiveness whispers, a soothing balm, In its embrace, hearts find a calm. Humility's path, a sacred art, Walking with God, never apart. In every s...

“But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, ‘When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?’” (John 7:31) What does it take to trust that Jesus can accomplish what He is doing? Nothing. But when you trust Him, you will realize He is worth everything you have and gain more than you can imagine. I knew a man who stumbled upon a rich bl...