Tag: Encouragement

Thought for Today – In The Morning

Thought for Today

In the morning…

“But when the morning was now come,
Jesus stood on the shore.”
John 21:4

The long night seasons of life with its discouragement and shattered dreams lay heavy upon the souls of His disciples. Each in their own way had failed to stand in the great testing and trial of the crucifixion of Jesus. Each one fled in the face of the fury and hatred of the moment. No one had felt the bitter sting more than Peter whose grandiose confession seemed to be so genuine and bold just a few short days before.

In their discouragement they had returned to their former occupation with an inner desolation and a sense of hopelessness. It is here that Jesus appears and meets them in the morning hours. It is here, though at first hidden from their eyes, He first comes to bring the power and hope of His resurrection. It is in His resurrection we have hope to arise from the fresh failures of life. It is in His resurrection we can feel Him invigorating our hearts and our hopes, moving us forward unto a greater sense of His purpose in our lives.

Though the nights be long, our efforts seem futile, and the world about seems not to even notice the starless sky, Jesus will come in the morning; and in His coming the fires of our hearts are rekindled. Rest assured He keeps His own. He watches over the objects of His Love even though the night is dark and the way seems uncertain, He will come with the wonder of His presence and, though we may not recognize Him at first, the truth will dawn and joy will break over our hearts as the morning sun upon the mountains.

“…weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning”
Psalm 30:5

Brian Troxel

Thought for Today – Unbelief and the Good News

Thought for Today

Unbelief and the Good News

“Why could not we cast him out?
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief”
Matthew 17:19

God’s movings and the shining forth of His salvation are proportional to our faith. It is in the crucible of the realities of life that the true condition of the church is revealed. Truth is the vehicle and the means whereby His thoughts concerning us are expressed. We often speak of truth in terms of His love for us, in terms of His promises and His plans and purposes; but Jesus is always “laying the axe to the root” of our lives. His words can be sharp and to the point. We must see that these words in truth are also the proof of His love.

“Because of our unbelief”

This child would have gone on in the condition in which he came. The agony of his father would have remained unchanged, the situation unaffected by the prayers of the unbelieving disciples. It is here that Jesus presented the truth of the matter. It was not a word given to condemn; it was given to them to arise from where they were into where He had called them to be.

Unbelief is not something about which we should feel condemned. It is His desire that we face our unbelief with the certainty that He has something better, fuller and more blessed concerning our walk in Him. His sharp word spoken to our unbelief is filled with the heart of One who is calling us to better things. It is our response to His word wherein lies the crisis. Do we turn a deaf ear to this reproof or do we acknowledge it. The truth is that the our powerlessness is in the condition of our heart and not in His power? Are we offended by this word or do we feel the promise pulsating within it?

There is always a cure for unbelief, but there is no cure for a heart that refuses the verdict of Jesus. His exhortations are always given to us in order that we may lay these things to heart and not make excuses; to let His words cut asunder our hardness of heart and turn to Him for the fuller measure of all that He is.

“Ye have sown much, and bring in little…
Thus saith the Lord of hosts;
Consider your ways”
Haggai 1:6-7

We must consider our ways for unbelief is the fruit of how we walk, how we think and how we live. Let us hear these words of exhortation and count them as promises of greater things. His heart is full and His call goes out to any who would hear.

“Unto you first God,
having raised up his Son Jesus,
sent him to bless you,
in turning away every one of you from his iniquities”
Acts 3:26

It is called the Good News for in turning from our ways we will find His!

“Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness
and forbearance and long-suffering;
not knowing that the goodness of God
leadeth thee to repentance?”
Romans 2:4

Brian Troxel

Thought for Today – Psalm 34:5

Thought for Today

“They looked unto him, and were lightened:
and their faces were not ashamed”
Psalm 34:5

There is light in none other. It is the Light of God shining forth in the face of Jesus Christ whereby men and women are enlightened. The light of His life is what causes His people to arise out of the clutches of this world; its darkness, its ways, its offerings and temptations. In seeing Him, in beholding His countenance, we are lifted into heavenly places; the veil is parted and we behold His Glory.

“…unto them that look for him shall he appear”
Hebrews 9:28

Looking implies dependence; the eyes are guided by that which one desires. We look for Him for He is our salvation. He is our comforter. He is the hope which makes us not ashamed to declare Him to the world and more importantly to one another. In the seeing of Him the offenses and rejection of friends and foes are dissipated. “Their faces were not ashamed”; their hopes of life and godliness renewed. The ability to rise up from every circumstance and every failure is invigorated by His light of pure wonder. Let us not shrink back because of disappointments in life. Let us ever be renewed in the beauty and power of the light that beckons us to higher and deeper things.

“Looking unto Jesus
the author and finisher of our faith”
Hebrews 12:2

Brian Troxel

Thought for Today – Come as You Are

Thought for Today

Come As You Are

Come to Him as you are,
Tired, discouraged and alone.
Come to Him who is never far.
Come to Him with heart of stone.
Come to Him who can atone,

Hear His beckon with love and care
“Come to me all who are weary,
weighed down and in despair…
Take my yoke and learn of me
to find my rest abiding in thee.”
– Brian Troxel

“That man is perfect in faith who can come to God in the utter dearth of his feelings and desires, without a glow or an aspiration, with the weight of low thoughts, failures, neglects, and wandering forgetfulness, and say to Him, ‘Thou art my refuge.'”
– George MacDonald

The Present Truth – Part Five

The Present Truth

Part Five

“…be established in the present truth”
2 Peter 1:12

Today!

The great exhortation to the people of God in the Book of Hebrews is as true and valid today as ever “and so much more as we see the DAY approaching”.

“Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith,
TODAY if ye will hear his voice,
Harden not your hearts…)”
Hebrews 3:7

The Word of God is ever TODAY! Many declare there is a word coming, there is a day coming. This is true but if the WORD today is not mingled with the obedience of faith the word tomorrow will be of no profit.

“For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them:
but the word preached did not profit them,
not being mixed with faith in them that heard it”
Hebrews 4:2

It is not in our hearing/knowing the truth preached but in our doing of it that we benefit by the power of His Life within us (see James 1:23-25). The Scribes and the Pharisees had knowledge of the day of the Messiah yet they could not “see” Him standing, speaking and doing the works of God in their midst.

“But exhort one another DAILY,
while it is called TODAY;
lest any of you be hardened…”
Hebrews 3:13

“And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,
as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another:
and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching”
Hebrews 10:24-25

The “present truth” of the living Christ carries the strong exhortation “while it is called today”! The deception and folly of religion today is the absence of strong exhortation. People only want to hear good and pleasant things; things that make them feel comfortable in their relationship with God. We want to hear His promises without the corresponding obedience by which the confidence in God becomes ours. This is a generation who wants constant affirmation of their standing in God, but it is only through the medium of obedience that the true confidence of knowing Him is experienced.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing”
James 1:23-25

Whenever and wherever the people of God distance themselves from the daily exhortation to walk and be established in the present truth of God know that deception, hardness of heart and the folly of religion has replaced the fire of God burning within the human heart.

Let us give all diligence to walk in the present truth of growing and exhorting one another unto “love and good works”.

“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things,
be diligent that ye may be found of him
in peace, without spot, and blameless.”
Colossians 3:4

Ω

“Now is the dwelling place of God himself”
— Thomas Raymond Kelly

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Note: The Present Truth Parts 3 – 5 were written as one writing and are best read as such. The last three parts were divided for the sake of brevity only.

Brian Troxel

Thought for Today – Obstacles –

Thought for Today

Obstacles

“As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the children of Judah could not drive them out:
but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah
at Jerusalem unto this day”
Joshua 15:13

Though the Land of Promise had been given, it was the responsibility of His people to take the land and possess it. Within every promise given to us by God there remains a warfare and a battle of faith to make it our own.

“This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child,
in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you,
that by them you may wage the good warfare”
1 Timothy 1:18

It is in the receiving of God’s promises and embracing His call upon our lives that we contend in faith to see them come to pass. There is no victory without the battle, no crown without the fight and no overcoming without the exercising of our faith.

It has taken me years to appreciate that every obstacle in my life is for my own good and learning. It is in these things we discover the true value of Grace and Mercy. If the victory in these things were easy and within the realm of our own strength, then we would be a poor example of what HE has intended for us. If we do not engage in the warfare, our walk will never be able to show forth His victory in our lives and we will live a life of compromise with our enemies…

“By little and little I will drive them out from before thee,
until thou be increased, and inherit the land”
Exodus 23:30

God has a purpose in the obstacles which stand between us and His promises… it is to the “increase’ of our faith and our strength. He has purposed us to become strong, He has intended us to be persistent and determined in the apprehending of the promises given to us. It is in these things we grow strong in our God for we have learned that our God is strong!

Brian Troxel
www.aword.info

 

Thought for Today – God’s Heart

Thought for Today

God’s Heart

“A bruised reed shall He not break…”
Isaiah 42:3

God’s heart is ever seeking and desiring to fill the low places within all of humanity. His grace, like water, naturally flows to the lowest place filling the void of the human heart. It is to the bruised ones the Good News of the Gospel is proclaimed in power clothed in the garments of His mercies.

The self-righteous wanted to stone to death the woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus saw the more grievous evil; self-righteousness clothed in the conceit of the religious.

“A bruised reed shall He not break…”

It was the religious priest and the Levite who passed by the wounded in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. It was the disciples who could not see the heart of the woman who broke the alabaster box and poured the precious ointment upon Jesus. They could not see the brokenness of heart from which the act was inspired. God sees the heart while men behold the vessel. To know the flow of this grace through our own lives we must know His heart.

“A bruised reed shall He not break…”

He comes to speak encouragement to all who struggle within the isolated and seemingly hopeless grip of sin, depression, loneliness, cruelty and oppression of the world. He is never far from those who call upon His name in sincerity and in truth.

“I will not leave you comfortless:
I will come to you”
John 14:18

Brian Troxel
www.aword.info

Forgiveness and Sin

Thought for Today

Forgiveness and Sin

“Neither do I condemn thee:
go, and sin no more”
John 8:11

Forgiveness is the means to God’s end not the end in itself. Forgiveness is not for the purpose of continuing in sin; it is the respite required to free us from sin.

The goldsmith does not abandon the gold in the fire because of the dross. He has patience in the process to realize his desired vessel. Justification is not the conclusion of God’s work; it is the vehicle by which we fulfill His purpose.

“…and whom he justified, them he also glorified”
Romans 8:30

The true glory is freedom from sin.

“Whereunto he called you by our gospel,
to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”
2 Thessalonians 2:14

Brian Troxel
www.aword.info

BE VIGILANT

BE VIGILANT

“And it came to pass…
at the time when kings go forth to battle,
that David sent Joab, and his servants with him,
and all Israel;
and they destroyed the children of Ammon,
and besieged Rabbah.
But David tarried still at Jerusalem“
2Samuel 11:3

This is the prelude to a very dark time in David’s life. Sin does not suddenly overtake a man; it is usually a result of neglect of our own vigilance to “keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 1:21). These things occur when we take our eyes off Jesus. We turn aside from the daily warfare and we seek rest and comfort for ourselves. David was to have been out battling against the enemies of God. Instead he sent Joab and others out while he “tarried” at home. While he “tarried” he encountered temptation in the form of Bathsheba and he fell. The repercussions of this incident impacted him for the rest of his life. These things are written for our instruction whereby we are warned to be sober and alert that we may finish our days in the victory of His Life in us. We dare not relax from vigilance for our enemy is always seeking those whom he may entice and draw away from the life of faith.

”Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”
1Peter 5:8

We must keep our eyes upon Jesus and seek out true and living fellowship with others in order to exhort one another to live Godly lives in Christ Jesus. The life of a true child of God is one of being a soldier in His army, constantly on duty, never taking leave of our post in the course of daily life. The call is high, the prize is great and our enemy is ever seeking our downfall. How easy it is to “tarry” from the battle, to become lax in the call to diligence and discipline. We all know from experience that a little “leaven” in our lives will contaminate the very manna of God. Our lives become compromised in lukewarm living where we go through the motions of a religion but in reality are denying the power of God to bring His Light into the world in which we live. A compromised life is an impotent life. It is a life with right words but powerless to bring change into the lives around us.

It is to the vigilant that the promises of God come. It is in standing at our post fully engaged in the “fight of faith” that we reap the rewards from Him. We must stand faithful even in the night watches. The monotony of life tends to lull us to slumber and voices that speak of futility allow the sleep of death to overtake us. It is in the morning watch of each day, where we rise up to drink in of His life, to touch His heart and remain alive unto the things of the Spirit, that we find grace to remain faithful. Faithfulness is simply being full of faith for the task to which we have been called. Blessed are they who find themselves filled with the same heart that beat in the Son:

”…wist ye not that
I must be about my Father’s business?”
Luke 2:49

Even at the age of twelve Jesus was singular in the life that he lived. His Father’s business was the preoccupation of his heart. If He is alive and dwelling in us that same heart beats within us as well.

Let us trim the lamps of our hearts to keep the life we live simple and confined to the one great purpose, to do His Will. We must remain vigilant against the subtleties of this temporal life to be about our Father’s business.

Brian Troxel
www.aword.info