Courage is uncomfortable. It takes courage to step outside our comfortable, familiar activities and habits to do something good but difficult.

To become better at something, forgive someone, serve on a church committee, volunteer at a shelter or soup kitchen, go on a mission trip, or go against the peer pressure to criticize, and gossip, takes courage.

Sometimes we see a worthy objective, but we don’t want to accomplish it bad enough to endure the discomfort that comes with the courage of taking action. To act, we need enough courage to tip the balance toward action. In ways, courage is delicate.

We can affect each other in this process. When we discourage someone, we make it more difficult for them to take the action, but alternatively, when we encourage them we make it easier for them to go outside their comfort zone and accomplish something valuable.

Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

This is one of the important reasons we attend worship services and fellowship with other Christians. We can encourage them, and they can encourage us to move the balance toward Christian action.

Dear Lord, help us remember the importance of encouraging each other to “acts of love and good works.” We may never know the power our simple encouragement may have on someone to do great things to your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

You have likely heard of “pass interference” in American football, when one player physically interferes with an opposing player’s ability to catch a pass.

A close reading of the parable of the spreading of the seed in Luke 8:4-15 tells us that the Devil tries to interfere with people’s acceptance of God’s word. You may recall the parable, the farmer spreads seed, some falls on the hard footpath, some on rocky ground, some in the thorns, and some on good soil.

In verse 12 Jesus begins to explain the parable and he says “Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.”

The Devil is out there trying to interfere with our hearing and accepting God’s word. We need to realize this, and defend ourselves with the tools God has given us; The Shield of Faith, the Breastplate of Righteousness, and fight back with the Sword of the Spirit that is the word of God, as described in Ephesians 6.

Dear Lord, as we say in the Lord’s Prayer, “deliver us from evil,” Help us rely on you to defend against the Devil’s schemes. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

Matthew 8:5-10, is the account of Jesus healing the Roman soldier’s servant. “When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.” Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.” But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!”

The officer came to Jesus to ask for the healing miracle which demonstrated his belief and faith, but the significance that Jesus highlighted, is the Officer’s understanding of Jesus’ power. The officer described this understanding in his own terms, showing Jesus and those around that he understood Jesus’ incredible power, and accepted it.

How does that apply to us? Do we really understand and accept that God can do miracles in our lives and those we love?

Dear Lord, help us truly understand your unlimited power, and accept that in your love for us, you can do miracles in our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have you ever completed a personality assessment? There are a number of different types, but all of them have you answer a large number of questions about yourself, and after your answers are analyzed, the results are used to help you understand yourself better, and hopefully use the information to improve yourself.

David writes in Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

He is asking God to assess him, both, his heart, those reflexive feelings, impulses, and preconceived ideas, and his thoughts. Then he is asking God to show him where he needs to work on himself to be a better follower.

We should have the same prayer, asking God to show us our shortcomings, and keep us on the right path.

Dear Lord, search our hearts and minds and show us where we are not following your will. Then help us make the improvements to stay on your path. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

For those of you with children, I imagine you have had this conversation when they were toddlers, “I love you this much” and spread your arms way out in each direction, then your toddler says, well “I love you this much” and spreads his or her arms out….and so on. The memories are wonderful.

In Ephesians Paul describes how God feels the same way about us. Ephesians 3:17-19, he writes “And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God himself.” TLB

What comfort it is for us to know that we can confront everything in life knowing we are the loved children of the Father and creator of everything.

Dear Lord, no matter how much we love others and love you, it doesn’t compare to the magnitude of your love for us. Help us have peace in this knowledge. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.