Category: Encouragement and Inspiration

John 13:34(NLT)
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”

Everybody will need somebody at some point. It’s a fact of life, and it is how God designed life to work. We need Him, that’s a truth that can’t be denied, but to enjoy our earth experience to the fullest, we also need other people. Our Heavenly Father has specific standards and guidelines in His Word, and these govern how He says we ought to treat and value one another. He said in Ephesians 4:31-32(NLT), “31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” This will ensure that our hearts are like a magnet, drawing the love and company of those who love the Lord as we do, and having an attitude of forgiveness is one that sets all this in motion.

Having an attitude of forgiveness is also a struggle for some people. For whatever reason, holding onto resentment and grudges for those that have wronged them becomes their way of facing life each day, but this isn’t what our Heavenly Father wants. It’s a difficult, demanding, and cold world we live in, and frustrating things are happening all the time. Our Lord and Savior didn’t keep this a secret from us. He told the disciples in John 16:33(NLT), “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Over two thousand years later, this is still very much the case. The trouble that our Lord and Savior pointed to is still with us, but we can’t forget the Good News that he also shares with us. He gives us a peace that passes all understanding, and by leaning totally on him in faith and walking in his Spirit, we are victorious on every hand.

With this kind of victory, our hearts should be filled to overflowing with love for God and everyone else. We know this, but when people injure us deeply, we sometimes find it hard to forget the sting of the pain they’ve caused. They were selfish, thoughtless, and irritated us beyond what we could tolerate. It touched that place inside that we don’t want touched. Rather than love and forgive them, some of us have used anger and bitterness to seal up the walls of our hearts because of the damage this person has done.

God tells us in Ephesians 4:31(NLT), “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.” There are tons of reasons why we choose to harbor feelings that prompt the wrong behaviors. The important thing for us to know is that these behaviors and feelings can keep people away from us. We can become so full of fear from the pain we’ve experienced that we won’t let anyone in.

I know more than a few people that have done this. They want so desperately to meet the Godly person that He sends to walk with them through life, but they are terrified to allow themselves to love fully because of the fear of being hurt.

Everybody needs somebody, and we never know when we’re going to need somebody the most. We need to keep a heart that is open so that we can be a blessing to others, and they can be a blessing to us. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5:8(NLT), “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.” Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has freed us from every kind of prison, and we shouldn’t let anything in this world cause us to put chains around our hearts ever again. We can’t live from a place of fear or bitterness and have the kind of life that God wants us to live. We need to lay down those things and keep our hearts open with love for God and a tenderhearted, compassionate, and forgiving love for others.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Everybody Needs Somebody”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2026. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

After a friend went MIA for a little over a month, she shared with me that she had decided to make some changes to her physical appearance. As women that have been praying a long time to meet the man that God will send, we often place ourselves under a lot of scrutiny. We might begin to find fault with our appearance and think that our flaws are impeding our progress towards the intended goal. I had no idea that my friend was feeling insecure in any way. She’s a very accomplished person and always seems to be so confident in herself. I was surprised to hear that she wasn’t happy with what she sees in the mirror. She decided to have surgery, and said to me, “This change is exactly what I needed, and I’m so glad I did it.”

Many of us want to be thinner, smarter, more attractive, or richer. In our modern times, for a fee, there are several avenues available to make just about any change that we want to ourselves. Likewise, there are also varying motivations behind a person’s desire to make these changes in their lives, but often they find that changing the outside doesn’t change the inside. Whatever a person’s motive may be, real transformation starts with renewing our minds to the Word of God. His wisdom teaches us that transformation will always begin from the inside out.

There are tons of God’s people that are not happy with their lives, and it is usually because becoming more like Christ is not their highest priority. In some cases, it’s the furthest thing from their minds. They want their lives to completely change from what it’s been. They want to leave the old behind and embark on a new chapter, but the only way to do this is to turn our focus away from ourselves and onto God through the Lord Jesus Christ. We must allow for the possibility that what needs to change is our attitude and commitment towards the Father.

We must be ever so careful that our desires do not blind our eyes to the greatness of what God has revealed to us in Christ. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT) says, “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” God wants us to become more like Jesus Christ with each passing day. We are right that change is necessary to bring about a change in our circumstances. Change is necessary to take us to the next level of blessings, but that change must occur in our minds and hearts first, and then everything else follows.

In Isaiah 43:15-19 (NLT), God said, “15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator and King. 16 I am the LORD, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. 17 I called forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses. I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick. 18 “But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. 19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”

God has begun a new work within us through Jesus Christ, and He is sure to finish what He started. Let’s not make the mistake of overlooking the obvious. We must be extremely thankful for what God has already done for us in our lives, but sometimes we lack the level of gratitude for Him that we should have. Instead of growing deeper in our relationship with our Heavenly Father, we seek other things. If we want a meaningful and fulfilling existence, we have to change this. Real change begins when our way of living, behaving, thinking and being is drenched and running over with our love for God and our willingness to please Him. When this is our aim, our hearts will be transformed, and our lives will follow. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“I Have to Make a Change”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2026. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

After a friend said that Valentine’s Day was a complete disappointment for her, she is feeling defeated and sad. She doubts that God will ever bless her with a husband and wants to give up on this desire. She told me that she realizes her standards are very high and that she is very picky. She also admits to being judgmental, but said, “I just want the best, and I thought that God wanted me to have the best too. I don’t understand why I have to continue being single year after year!”

God answers prayers, and when we pray to Him for the great desires of our hearts, He also tells us what He requires of us. Many of us are in denial about this, but God and His blessing plan are not flawed. Everything that He does is perfect and according to His Will and purpose. In the Old Testament, God had given His people the extraordinary promise of having a land to call their own, and it wasn’t just any land, it was the best land, but with this promise, there was a condition—a requirement—that needed to be met. In Deuteronomy 30:16(ESV), through His servant, Moses, God told them, “If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.”

So, indeed my friend is correct, God wants us to have the best, and only He can give us the best, but we, as His sons and daughters, have a responsibility to know and live according to His truth. John 3:16(ESV) tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Our Heavenly Father gave us the life of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. This is a treasure so enormous that it will take us an eternity to live it out.

God has already given us the best, and everything that you and I do in this life is a response to what He has done. Most people respond to this enormous treasure of the sacrifice of Christ by neglecting, ignoring, or downplaying its vast and rich wealth. Others deny its bounty and follow certain aspects of the example of Christ only to the extent that it serves their personal agendas. But a small minority will passionately cling to the example of Christ. A small minority of us will make it our priority to live, give, share, and love according to the bounty of what we have received through Christ.

In Romans 12:1-2(NLT), God tells us, “1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” God is lovingly appealing to us to give our whole hearts, minds, souls, and strength to Him as a living sacrifice; not a dead one full of darkness, destruction, and death, but a living sacrifice that is full of love, devotion, and passion for Him. He commands us not to be conformed to this world, which is full of selfishness, arrogance, and wickedness. Instead, we must change the way that we think so that our minds line up with the mind of Christ, and our lives will be pleasing to our Heavenly Father.

Many single women have gone on an expedition of finding and owning their self-worth. They’ve been of the mindset that they are a treasure and therefore deserve a treasure. The truth is that only God can define what a treasure is or isn’t, and He has established that the treasure in us is the Spirit of Christ who lives within. 2Corinthians 4:7(NLT), “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” Our motivation should always and forever be to find the treasure of Christ in us and learn to love through him increasingly with each day. When this is our great goal and ambition, God will send a man who is deserving of the love of Christ that is in our hearts. ■

English Standard Version (ESV), The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Finding the Treasure in You”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2026. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Psalm 37:4(NLT)
“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.”

In Matthew 25:1-13, Jesus Christ teaches us about our readiness for his coming through a parable regarding 10 bridesmaids and their bridegroom. It is of course spiritually significant to all of us, but we should also pick up on the reality that he used the marital union to teach us about the intimacy we should have with him. In his parable, these ten virgins were going out to meet their bridegroom at a wedding ceremony, and there, they would need to wait for his arrival. Jesus tells us that five of these bridesmaids were foolish, and the reason for this unfortunate distinction is that they neglected to adequately prepare for the bridegroom’s arrival. They missed the mark on the mind and heart that would have locked in the right actions and secured the right outcome for them all.

Our precious and powerful Lord and Savior is the bridegroom in this parable, and the ten bridesmaids represent two groups, those that are diligently preparing for his coming and those that are not. The five foolish bridesmaids are those that are not following his example, and they are not Spirit-filled, or Spirit led. The five foolish bridesmaids looked the part but looking the part will never be enough. We should also learn from this parable that the oil is symbolic of the purification of our hearts and minds through God’s Word. If we don’t have it, no matter how much we beg and plead, we can’t squeak by without it.

In the Old Testament, oil was placed on the heads of those appointed for God’s purpose. Samuel, God’s prophet, was instructed by our Heavenly Father to anoint David with oil as the next King of Israel. When he did this, the Holy Spirit came on David. The oil is a representation of the work of the Holy Spirit, but in the Old Testament, the Spirit did not come to live within God’s people that were living during that period. They could not be His children and could only have the Spirit on them. Through his life, sacrifice, and resurrection, Jesus Christ ushered in the new covenant we have with God. Because of this, we can live with Holy Spirit power! We can have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside us and become God’s adopted children.

This is what happens when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is God’s seed, and we receive him when we become born again through Christ. This makes all the difference in our lives, but many people miss out because they either don’t believe or recognize the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ tells us in John 16:13(NLT), “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” We need to pray and ask for his guidance continually, in every area of our lives. This is especially true when it comes to relationships.

James 5:14(NLT) says, “Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.” It’s very spiritually significant when two people come together and become one in the eyesight of our Heavenly Father. When their union is anointed by the Holy Spirit, the couple is empowered with his strength and can greatly encourage and uplift one another in Christ. They can anoint one another when needed and keep their union strong despite any dart the enemy throws their way. Because he lives within and has anointed us, we can manifest the power of the Holy Spirit in miraculous ways. Without his anointing, things can start out on the wrong foot and continue to go horribly wrong.

I attended a wedding once, and the bride and groom were so late to their reception that many of their guests left without eating. The newlywed couple decided to take pictures after the ceremony, and it took so long that the guests were murmuring amongst themselves and many were offended. It should have been a joyous occasion, but the ceremony was late and long, and it was sad that instead of joy, many left hungry. That’s the state of anyone that doesn’t have the oil. Things just do not go as planned, and even our best intentions can leave us dissatisfied and depleted. This isn’t what God wants. He wants us to be joyous, and through Christ, He’s equipped us with all that we need to remain in a perpetual state of joy and harmony, but we must follow the Spirit.

Galatians 6:8-9(NLT) says, “Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Many singles have an insatiable appetite for matrimony. They’ve gone to God repeatedly in prayer, but they are not willing to spiritually prepare for marriage by following the example of Jesus Christ in a greater way. God’s blessings are not in short supply. He has plenty to go around, but we must be hungry for Him and His Word. If we aren’t, we must pray that He will place this hunger in our hearts so that we can delight in Him. When we do, our desires will manifest. Our relationship with God will deepen and our faith in Him will continue to grow.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“They Left Hungry”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Isaiah 10:27(NLT)
“In that day the LORD will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders.”

A revolving door goes around repeatedly, allowing people to both go in and go out. A revolving door relationship is one that is constantly ending and starting up again, continually giving a person access to walk in and out of our lives. Many people underestimate how dangerous these types of relationships can be. Robbing an individual of stability, joy, and peace, they can also be abusive and violent. Sometimes we don’t recognize the emotional damage this causes to our well-being until we’re challenged by the reality of completely letting the person go and cutting off the relationship for good.

1John 4:8(NLT) tells us, “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” We tend to think of romantic love as an all-encompassing one that checks off all the boxes of good human behavior. Romantic love is wonderful when we have honorable and right motives, but it isn’t nearly enough to sustain a healthy quality relationship that is beneficial for both partners. The love of God is the kind of love that He places in our hearts when we are committed to love Him through Jesus Christ. 1John 4:10(NLT) says, “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” God’s love is real love, and it is the foundation on which all love is genuinely given and received.

1John 4:16(NLT) says, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” The greatest thing that any living being can do is to love God and to love others through Him. This is an eternal truth. Because God lives in us, loving Him becomes the most powerful and satisfying way to love ourselves.

Ending an abusive relationship, then repeatedly allowing an abuser access to our lives signals that we have more lessons to learn about our Christ identity and self-worth. Galatians 6:9(NLT) “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Our goal should be to honor our lives the way that God does. So, don’t give up on praying and increasing your faith towards the good work of loving yourself through the love of God. Part of practicing this Godly self-love is guarding our hearts and opening doors to only those opportunities that reflect and promote His goodness.

God’s Will is for us to be victorious and to live free from bondage or slavery of any kind, and He’s made this possible for us through the sacrifice and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. All of God’s Children are free, and we can live a quiet life with godliness and dignity when we make Him and His love our greatest priority. If you’re struggling to close the door to an unhealthy revolving door relationship, have faith that you can be released from this. Continue to pray for God’s help. He hears your prayers, and He invites you to lean on His strength and believe in His power as you trust Him and move forward in His Will for your life. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“If We Don’t Give Up”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Malachi 3:8 (NLT)
“Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.”

When we were at our worst, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to save us, and we desperately needed to be saved. God showed us His exceedingly great mercy and grace, and through it, He also demonstrated to us how important the practice of giving is. Giving to God and to others is a spiritual discipline and practice. One of the reasons it’s so incredibly important is that it opens our hearts and lives to receive from Heavenly Father. Giving produces a spiritual outcome that nullifies plots and tricks of the enemy to steal our blessings. In Malachi 3:10(NLT), our Heavenly Father declared that if we tithe into His Kingdom, He will “open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in!” He then tells us to put Him to the test, and we’ll see that He will back His Word every time.

Proverbs 4:23(NLT) tells us, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” To guard our hearts is to be careful not to allow the wrong thing to rule them. We must be particularly cautious not to let money rule our hearts and keep us from obeying the Word of God. 1Timothy 6:10(NLT) warns, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” When money rules our hearts, we allow our allegiance to it to dictate what, how, when, and if we give. Proverbs 4:23 informs us that our failure to honor God in our giving will determine the trajectory of our lives, and we will be doomed to sorrow, worry, disappointment, and darkness.

Money, and the lack of it, can change a person that is humble towards God into one that is arrogant towards God. When humans cling to their pocketbooks and wallets for dear life, they typically have more faith in money than they do God. This is not life in the Spirit, but life in the flesh. It’s one of the reasons that Jesus Christ said in Matthew 19:24(NLT), “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” It’s not a money or wealth issue, but a humility and faith issue. Our loving Savior said in Matthew 18:3 that unless we change and become humble like little children, we will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. There are many that say they are followers of Christ yet deny the truth he spoke in Matthew 18:3.

Our attitude about money and our refusal to practice the discipline of giving and sowing as God commands keeps us separated from many of His blessings. Numerous believers refute this by saying, “Oh, that’s Old Testament law. It doesn’t apply to us.” Jesus Christ said in Luke 12:48(NLT), “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.” As New Testament believers, we have received greater revelation and blessings, because we have received the unfathomably generous gift of Jesus Christ and the salvation God made available through him. This means we have a greater responsibility to give and share. We are obligated to do more, not less.

We rob God when we take ourselves out of the cycle of giving and receiving that He has decreed for earth and its citizens. Our Heavenly Father said in Galatians 6:7-10(NLT), “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone–especially to those in the family of faith.” As God’s children, we are obligated to give and be a blessing to Him and to the body of Christ. We should never want stinginess or unkindness towards God to determine the course of our lives. That’s a bad course for sure. We can avoid this, and we should.

God set up His spiritual economy to operate in such a way that blessings go where they are welcome, and they are certainly not made comfortable in the heart of a person that will not obey our Heavenly Father and give and sow generously. 2Corinthians 9:7 tells us that God loves a cheerful giver. When our hearts are motivated to give, 2Corinthians 9:10 says “he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.” God is the One that provides increase. He will multiply us when we change our hearts and tithe and give out of a heart that is bountiful with gratitude towards Him.

When we pray for blessings that appear to be delayed, there is always a reason for it. God isn’t withholding His blessings from us. Sometimes we withhold them from ourselves when we make excuses not to meet His requirements. When our hearts are open to God in a generous and humble way, our faith is activated to achieve wonderful results. We may need to consider the possibility that we’re blocking this from occurring in our lives. God invites us to put His Word to the test, because His Word never fails. We will always reap what we sow, and our giving towards God’s Kingdom will always yield a harvest that is pleasing to God and fulfilling to us as well. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Determining the Course of Your Life”, written for findchristianman.wordpress.com. Copyright©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.