The RX For Discouragement

May 3, 2022 Gracie

The RX For Discouragement

When you’re feeling sick, the prescription that the doctor writes for you is of utmost importance.

Depending on what you’re suffering from, that prescription can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.

We just want to feel better, right?

So what about suffering from Discouragement?

Is there a prescription for that?

Let’s face it.

There’s a lot to be discouraged about these days.

I cringe when I hear about the latest attacks on the family.

Clearly, we’re sinking into a moral decline that, guaranteed, will have devastating effects on the next generation.

No wonder so many parents are feeling discouraged and helpless.

What is the RX for Discouragement?

Is there any relief out there at all?

No question, if you’re suffering from extreme anxiety or depression or have suicidal thoughts, please never feel ashamed about seeking help from a qualified Christian counselor. There are plenty of therapists available on the local level to help you with your struggle.

What if, on the other hand, you’re suffering from “spiritual” discouragement?

Please know that you’re not alone with that struggle either.

If anyone could identify with the discouragement we feel in our lives, He is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We read in the Bible about His suffering on the Cross.

The betrayal from Judas and the insults and beatings that our Lord suffered at the hands of His evil captors.

All that Jesus went through was predestined so that He would eternally save believers from a demonic world.

the RX for discouragement

The RX for spiritual discouragement is Jesus.

Satan can attack with a vengeance, but through prayer and support from Christian friends, you can receive comfort and strength.

What did Jesus do in the Garden of Gethsemane as the moments drew near for His unbearable physical and spiritual suffering on the Cross?

He prayed.

Know that we are, most assuredly, not alone.

He cares about us and completely understands our deepest fears and emotions.

Who is our Matchless King set to rescue us at the time appointed by God Himself?

Jesus is.

I believe the following poem is a great reminder of why it’s important to trust God through all of our circumstances.

He Is!

When you are the neediest, He is the most sufficient.

When you are completely helpless, He is most able.

When you feel totally dependent, He is absolutely dependable.

When you are the weakest, He is the most able.

When you are the most alone, He is intimately present.

When you feel you are the least, He is the greatest!

When you feel the most useless, He is preparing you.

When it is darkest, He is the only Light you need.

When you feel the least secure, He is your Rock and Fortress.

When you are the most humble, He is most gracious.

When you say that you cannot, remember that He can!

– Author Unknown

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Our Exceptional God

The Cards You’ve Been Dealt

April 26, 2022 Gracie

Trusting God With The Cards You’ve Been Dealt

cards you've been dealt

Are you happy with the cards you’ve been dealt?

Is your life right now going “exactly” as you’d planned it?

Odds are, if you’re like many other people, your answer is probably “no.”

No one would ever wish for a debilitating illness, a contentious divorce, or their child addicted to drugs.

Those are just a few of the gut-wrenching challenges that can touch our lives and lead us down a path towards depression and anxiety.

Statistics for 2022 show that anxiety disorders of various types affect over 284 million people worldwide.

That huge number is close to the population of Indonesia, the 4th largest country in the world.

In other words, a lot of people are suffering, and you’re not alone.

Those childhood dreams we used to have of a perfect existence?

They quickly fade once harsh realities and the demands of this life darken those once, rose-colored, glasses.

Life is hard, and it’s getting harder.

Please, where’s that refresh button?

Are the difficult cards you’ve been dealt for a purpose?

That’s a hard question, especially for people of faith who think God has forgotten them in their troubles.

God Has Not Forgotten About You

God does not forget about us.

In fact, He cares more than we could ever imagine.

There is a peace that only He can give and when our hope becomes assurance – it’s grace.

Until man bows in humility and recognizes that God orders the sun to shine and the rain to fall and the stars in place and the planets in order and recognizes that a God who can control the whole universe is interested in the details of his life. Until a man or a woman bows in that posture of humility, there is ultimately no hope for their neurotic anxiety-filled lives.- Alistair Begg, Christian pastor and author.¹

Recently, I watched a video from The Skit Guys that is really touching. If it can provide you with any encouragement at all, then I am thankful.

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¹Alistair Begg quotation courtesy of truthforlife.org. From “A Biblical Approach To Anxiety – From Standing Firm in Shaky Times, Volume 3.” Podcast, [31:22-31:53]. October 21, 1990, Web. Accessed April 25, 2022. Retrieved from https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/a-biblical-approach-to-anxiety/

Our Exceptional God

Not Perfect But Redeemed By Grace

April 19, 2022 Gracie

No, Not Perfect, But Redeemed

Nobody is perfect

Don’t you love how, in the Bible, the great men and women of faith whom God used for His glory were not perfect people?

Moses was a murderer

David was an adulterer

Rahab was a harlot

Jonah was angry and a flight risk

Thomas was full of doubt

See? There’s hope for you and me. (Just kidding)

The idea that Christians have always led “perfect lives” is a misconception.

We are all sinful, and responsible for owning up to our failings.

Salvation is a free gift, but not a free pass to boldly continue to purposely sin.

Perfect? Hardly.

There is only one who is perfect, and He is Jesus.

Jesus alone.

The Apostle Paul – Not Perfect But Redeemed

Take the apostle Paul (formerly Saul) as another example.

His beautiful letters to the churches reflect God’s grace over his changed life.

But, until his dramatic conversion, he was a legalistic pharisee who was actually in favor of the persecution of Christians. There’s an accounting in the Book of Acts that Saul was in the crowd for the stoning of Stephen.

Even more disturbing, he guarded the cloaks of those doing the actual stoning.

What, then, caused Paul to become a man of faith and a follower of Jesus rather than a hater?

More like who.

Jesus.

Only Jesus saves.

Not perfect but redeemed

God’s Great Love

Like the apostle Paul, we all have sinful practices to be ashamed of, but we can take that shame and lay it at the foot of the Cross.

Here is an excerpt Paul wrote while in prison for preaching the gospel.

⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,⁷so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. – Ephesians 2: 4-7, (NASB).¹

We may feel like a failure at times, but God can use us.

Pastor Alan Redpath (1907-1989), has this thought-provoking encouragement that rings true to this day:

The Bible NEVER flatters its heroes. It tells us the truth about each one of them in order that against the background of human breakdown and failure we may magnify the grace of God and recognize that it is the delight of the Spirit of God to work upon the platform of human impossibilities. – Alan Redpath, pastor, author, and theologian.²

To God be the Glory!

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²Quotation courtesy of Alan Redpath, former pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, as quoted from https://quotefancy.com/alan-redpath-quotes

Our Exceptional God

Happy Easter 2022

April 13, 2022 Gracie

Happy Easter 2022

He is Risen!

He is Risen indeed!

Every time I hear those words, whether it’s in church or being said among friends, I get goosebumps.

We have a risen Savior!

Recently, I saw a short video that was filmed in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Could it be any better than this?Wishing You A Happy Easter 2022

Tell the world we have good news.

Our Light of the World, Jesus, is Risen!

May the wondrous Resurrection of our Savior be an encouraging reminder to all of us of His love and grace and promise of eternal life.

On behalf of Delight-in-God.com,

we wish you and your loved ones a very

Happy Easter 2022!

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Our Exceptional God

Do You Hear What I Hear?

April 5, 2022 Gracie

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Listen . . .

Do you hear what I hear?

I’m talking about that beautiful sound in your soul that rises above all the noise of this world – a sound straight from Heaven.

It’s the sound of God calling you to trust Him, no matter what happens.

As the Apostle Paul assured the Corinthian church in his letter, God is faithful.

God is faithful

God “is” faithful.

If you love Him completely, have a repentant heart, and trust that your salvation comes through His Son, Jesus Christ, you are saved.

All glory to God!

Can we even fathom how amazing that is?

do you hear what I hear

Known and Loved

What is man that You think of him,
And a son of man that You are concerned about him? – Psalm 8:4, (NASB).²

The Almighty knows yours and my name.

We have countless reasons to let our lights shine – a reflection of His goodness.

Those that wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ will be kept by him, and confirmed to the end; and those that are so will be blameless in the day of Christ: not upon the principle of strict justice, but gracious absolution; not in rigour of law, but from rich and free grace. How desirable is it to be confirmed and kept of Christ for such a purpose as this! How glorious are the hopes of such a privilege, whether for ourselves or others! To be kept by the power of Christ from the power of our own corruption and Satan’s temptation, that we may appear without blame in the great day! O glorious expectation, especially when the faithfulness of God comes in to support our hopes! – Matthew Henry, Christian minister and author.³

Do you hear what I hear?

It’s God’s call for His children to come to Him.

We can’t earn our salvation through our deeds.

We simply need to open our hearts and respond to His amazing free gift of grace.

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³ Matthew Henry quotation, “Bible Commentaries”. [1706.] Courtesy of Studylight.org., https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhm/1-corinthians-1.html, n.d. para. 6. Public Domain. Web. Accessed 29 March, 2022.

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