Encouragement

Hello everyone,

How are you doing today? I hope well and bubbling in the Lord.

Primary Text

“My dear friends, this is now the second time I’ve written to you, both letters reminders to hold your minds in a state of undistracted attention.” 2 Peter 3v1 (MSG)

“Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.” 2 Peter 3v1 (NIV)

As believers, it is good to be constantly encouraged in the faith. One way this happens is through Scripture, where we learn more about the Lord, His promises, His ways, and receive wisdom. We also receive encouragement from the words or actions of others – partaking of this in a fellowship, a group, in Church, or one on one. Hebrews 10v25 (AMP) tells us “Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.” Paul himself wrote in Philippians 3v1 (AMP) “For the rest, my brethren, delight yourselves in the Lord and continue to rejoice that you are in Him. To keep writing to you [over and over] of the same things is not irksome to me, and it is [a precaution] for your safety.” Amen.

Constant encouragements and reminders are a safeguard for us to remain in the faith, and to keep things in proper perspective. Hebrews 3v12-14 (AMP) says “[Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him], leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God. But instead warn (admonish, urge, and encourage) one another every day, as long as it is called Today, that none of you may be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [by the fraudulence, the stratagem, the trickery which the delusive glamour of his sin may play on him]. For we have become fellows with Christ (the Messiah) and share in all He has for us, if only we hold our first newborn confidence and original assured expectation [in virtue of which we are believers] firm and unshaken to the end.”

Supplementary Text

“So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.” 1 Peter 1v12-15 (NIV).

Prayer

Father, we thank You so much for Your Word. Father, please help me be a source of encouragement to those around me, and keep me encouraged, in Jesus name, amen.