Lift Up Someone Today

 July 30, 2024

Tuesday

I have been guilty of a lot of things as a preacher. I have preached such hard messages that people wept. I'll admit that people need to weep over their sins. We will never be the broken people God uses without being broken over our sins. However, I have preached that too much. I realize now that most people need encouragement. They don't need someone telling them how bad they are all the time.

We truly need to encourage people to continue on with the Lord. We truly need to encourage people to get on the path with the Lord. Simply telling them how far they are missing the mark doesn't always help. 

I realized this when I was going through a hard time. I was getting criticism from just about everyone at church. Nothing seemed to go right. I didn't need to be told all the things I was doing wrong. Truthfully, there were too many to list. Knowing them didn't help. Doing what the Lord was telling me to do was way more important. Focusing on Him rather than on my problems was getting me nowhere. I was circling the drain and hope was fading God pulled me out of that position. I cannot thank Him enough. But that's not all. God wants me to encourage others who are going through very difficult times. Yes, they may be their own enemies but they need to know who is on their side. My job is to tell them that God is on their side when they are on His.

This past week, I preached a message of encouragement in why discouraging things happen and how someone can defeat discouragement. The number of people who came to thank me was amazing. I am not a great preacher but you would have thought I was by what they said. I gave them God's word on what He is doing as they walk with Him. I told them how Satan desires to cause them to doubt the truth, deny the truth and disobey the truth. Evidently, this is the message many people needed. They were struggling with life's difficulties. Some of them were circling the drain they needed to hear that God would give them a way to stand up under the strain. They needed to hear that when they only see hills that are difficult to climb that there is another side to that hill.

If things are going wrong. If death is all that you can see. There is another side to the hill. The best is yet to come for those who belong to Him. Even death cannot defeat the believer. People need to hear this because that is not what the world tells them. There is no hope beyond this world given by this world. This world says that this is all there is. Believing that is depressing. People need to be encouraged to walk with God and see the great things He will do. The end of this life will be the best of days. 

So, I want to be that encourager that mentions sin as the reason that Jesus died. The one who tells people they must have Jesus to walk with Him forever. The one who helps them get on the path and stay on the path. 

I think you have someone you can tell that to, also. 

Romans 8:31 (NASB 2020) ³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?