Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 25 Sep 2007

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 25 Sep 2007

It is a fact of life that we are all flawed; we are also bound to make mistakes and offend people. Today’s word of encouragement is learning how to over look an offense, and if you are the person offending people learning how to humble yourself. Firstly, to us all who are prone to getting offended by people, it is important that we learn how to be secure. Security not in relationships with people, or objects, but security can only come from our Lord Jesus. The enemy attacks and destroys relationships through offence. We need to turn on our internal alarms and be aware of when we are feeling offended and feeling hurt. Turn our eyes to God, and take refuge in Him, for His love is unfailing. In order to have healthy relationships with people, it is vital and so important that our relationship with our Father is placed first over others. Yes people are real, but humans are flawed. Secondly, to those of us who often offend people, it is important and crucial that we take time to reflect on our lives, take a good long look at our hearts and character. To us all who offend people, the word for us is Humble yourself. The tongue is such a powerful weapon, it hurts and destroys lives. Let us learn today to control and tame our tongue. If we are aware of how poisonous our tongue is, we too need to now seek God, and turn on our internal alarms, catch yourself before you say something hurtful. Today, we all have a choice, to continue being offended and to continue offending people. Or, we can choose to learn to overlook an offense, and we can learn to not offend people by our actions and controlling our tongue. James 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” Let us all pray this verse over our lives, that as we humble ourselves we will be able to develop healthy relationships with people. God reigns in our lives always, such that we are secure and humble when people offend us, and we are humble and selfless when we offend people. © Sept 2007 Shaun Lee

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 24 Sep 2007

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 24 Sep 2007

Setting personal convictions is one of the most important parts of our lives. The word conviction means, a fixed or strong belief. To me I like to think of convictions as boundaries, personal boundaries that I have set in my heart which I will not compromise. Without convictions, we are ineffective because we will be easily wavered by the world and people. Let us all take the opportunity to reflect on our convictions that we have already established. And if we haven’t established our own personal boundaries maybe today will be a good day to start thinking about it. First and foremost, we must set our convictions and boundaries with our relationship with God. We cannot compromise hurting Jesus. Secondly, we often compromise our convictions when it comes to relationships with the opposite sex. Whether we are single or married it does not matter, we set our boundaries so that we protect those that we love, and we protect ourselves. I live by this statement everyday of my life, “The choices we make today, affect tomorrow.” (Good and Bad) Finally, this last point is the most important and fundamental principle when laying down the foundations of our convictions. The moment we start reasoning, we start explaining to ourselves or to others why our actions are justifiable, we have already lost. Making excuses and justifying our actions is a clear indicator that we have weak convictions. Hebrews 10:35 says to us all, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” © Sept 2007 Shaun Lee

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 23 Sep 2007

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 23 Sep 2007

Today’s word of encouragement is building a strong prayer relationship with God. Having a genuine relationship with God is real, it is authentic, and prayer is vital in our relationship with God. I hope today we will be reminded that reading the bible, praying, and going to church on Sunday’s does not in anyway justify a strong relationship with God. We can go through the motions, but it is all on the exterior. The inner spiritual man/woman is what God sees and we cannot hide that. Isn’t it amazing that on a daily basis it is so easy for us to communicate to our close friends over God. We choose to hangout over talking and spending time with God. For some of us, we choose playing computer games, suffering the net, or using our computers over building our relationship with God. Today let us ask ourselves, what are our priorities in life, who comes first, and whom do we place first in everything?!! God is always trying to communicate with us, through reading the Word, through our prayers, even walking on the street, God wants to talk to us. Let us reflect on our week, be real and honest to God. May we be encouraged as we face a new week to re-examine our relationship with God and ask ourselves, at what state is our relationship with God? In Psalm 26-2-3 The Word of God says to us all, “2 Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; 3 for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth. © Sept 2007 Shaun Lee

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 22 Sep 2007

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 22 Sep 2007

In Titus 3:9, the Word of God says, “But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. 10Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. 11You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.” Today’s word of encouragement is about using our time wisely. Relationships with people are one of the hardest things, because everyone is wired and created so differently. The word in Titus 3:9 says it clearly to us about what to avoid, arguments, quarrels, controversies, things that are unprofitable and useless. Let’s not waste our time fighting over foolish things, when we can focus on the things that God has planned for each of us. On a daily basis, people are often stressed and frustrated largely due to relational issues. Either at home, parents, spouses, children, sibling rivalry, at work, at school, etc. How do we learn techniques to handle relational issues? Simply put, it is a matter of remembering this verse, and putting God first before everything else. May today’s word of encouragement be a daily reminder to us all about how important time is, and not to waste our time focusing on issues that drain us spiritually. Let’s stay the course, focused, set our eyes on our prize, the finish line, on God. © Sept 2007 Shaun Lee

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 21 Sep 2007

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 21 Sep 2007

Today’s word of encouragement for us all is learning how to be strategic. It is easy to conform to the world, the patterns of the world, and to take the back seat. Most fathers of today are non-existent in the development of their children. It is as though the word nurture is not in the dictionary. Do we realize that we live in a day and age where the devil is already being strategic in robbing, corrupting, and stealing the next generation? You ask me how, and it is evident, just look at how pornography has swiped through the internet, movies, throughout the world. Pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry and it is going to continue growing, unless today we choose to do the simple things right, by nurturing and teaching the youth of the next generation. Today we all have the ability to make a difference, to stand up for righteousness, to nurture our children, teaching them the importance of building their own personal relationship with God. The devil is on the prowl, he is on the move, and what are we doing? In 2 Timothy 4:2, it says to us all, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. © Sept 2007 Shaun Lee

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 20 Sep 2007

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 20 Sep 2007

The word of encouragement today is: Guard what has been entrusted to you. In 1 Tim 6:20 Paul says to Timothy: “Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care.” And in 2 Tim 1:14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. There is something vital and important that God wants us to pay close attention to, about guarding and protecting what God has given to us. If we read about Jacob and Esau, it is event that Esau did not value and protect what God had entrusted him with, and for food he gave up his birthright to Jacob. Samson was another person who was entrusted with so much, a great calling, and yet he did not guard and protect his birthright as well. All of us have been given a calling and a destiny by God that must be guarded and entrusted by us, even before we were born; God had destined each of us with a calling. Today, I pray that we would guard what God has entrusted us with. Some of us may not even know what God has given us. Our journey and paths are all different; do not be jealous about other people’s callings, talents, or even salary. Today, let us focus on guarding and thanking God for what He has entrusted us with, and guard it always. © Sept 2007 Shaun Lee

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 19 Sep 2007

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 19 Sep 2007

Give all you can give, don’t hold back. In everything that we do, give your best and hold nothing back. The end goal, the mountain you are climbing may seem like it is impossible, may seem like the hardest thing to get there. But did not God say to us, with God all things are possible. Is it worth the fight? Is it worth the struggle? We face the mountain, it seems so big, seems impossible, the wind is so strong, our muscles are aching, and all we hear is: “turn back, you can’t do it, you are tired”. Half way up the mountain, and yet it seems so far away. Today’s word of encouragement is giving our all, in everything that we do. Yes the mountain may seem very big and impossible, but because God reigns in our lives we are not going to hold anything back. Our life may seem like that mountain, but wouldn’t we rather face a huge mountain rather than a small hill? To know that God is with us every step of the way, to know that Jesus is leading and guiding our steps, even when we feel alone, that is faith. So as we face the mountain in front of us, let us all not turn back and give up, but we give our all, holding nothing back! Romans 5:2-4 Through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. © Sept 2007 Shaun Lee