Back in December 2023 I posted one of my most important devotions on the power of encouragement. Below is an updated version of this devotion that I pray proves an encouragement to you and perhaps gives you an idea for a powerful new ministry. If this devotion blesses you please drop me a comment. I would love to hear from you.
One of the main reasons I started my website back in June 2020, was to be an encouragement to Christians all around the world. In March 2020, I retired, at age 66, from my work at the Bowery Mission in New York City. As I prayed on what ministry to get involved in, the Lord put it on my heart to launch Bibleapologetics.org. Little could I have dreamed that today, this devotion would be my 1,744th posting. I have had people access my devotions from over 150 countries worldwide, have made many friends through my website, have had the opportunity to speak at various churches, and have held three apologetics weekend conferences.
My passion has been to get believers more excited about the Bible, give them sound and solid reasons to trust the Scriptures more, provide spiritual manna on a daily basis, and, to more than anything else, fall more in love with Jesus. And little could I have realized that this website would prove such a labor of love for me. Many of you reading these devotions have sent me wonderful notes of encouragement over the years that often have made my day!
I pray that my next 1,000 devotions would encourage your soul even more to read, study, and meditate on the Holy Scriptures. I guarantee that the more you read the Bible, the more you will fall in love with its author – Jesus Christ!
If my devotions have proved a source of comfort and encouragement to you why not share some of the things that have encouraged you through them with someone today. I love what John Henry Jowett once said: “God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters.”1 My friends encouraging someone is something that often costs us little, but can have a profound effect on a person. In reviewing many quotes on encouragement perhaps my favorite was spoken by Pastor Chuck Swindoll: “Encouragement is awesome. It (can) actually change the course of another person’s day, week, or life.”2
All around us are people, both Christian and non-Christian, whose lives are filled with trouble and sorrow. Why not stand alongside them and share a word of encouragement. Better yet why not start a ministry of encouragement. May I challenge you to make a phone call, send a text message, write a letter, or send an email once a day, every day, for 365 days just to say hi, to say I miss you, to pay a compliment, or offer positive advice and feedback. There is no doubt in my mind the impact you will have on the kingdom will prove massive. This ministry costs little in the amount of time but is sorely needed in the church today.
I really like what Charles Kingsley shared: “Never, if possible, lie down at night without being able to say: I have made one human being at least a little wiser, or a little happier, or at least a little better this day.”3
And may I personally close with this encouraging thought that I have shared often in many of my past devotions: Next to the Trinity, fellow Christian, you are the most precious and valuable thing in the universe to God!
1 Inspirational Quotes on Encouragement (bibleportal.com)