I recently bought a mug that many Christians wouldn't buy. I was browsing on Christianbook.com looking at the sales, and there it was for $3.99. A mug with THAT verse on, the verse so many people like to say doesn't apply to us, that we are using it wrong, etc. And it even came in a nice little box with the same verse on it.... I had to buy it.
I have blogged about this verse before, but people from the opposing viewpoint keep bringing it up, so why can't I?
The verse in question? Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."
I need hope. I need assurance that God is on my side and has my back..... and this verse is a reassurance of that.....so how can any Christian have an issue with that?
Look at the verse: "For I know the plans I have for you".....does God know the plans He has for me, or was that only the Israelites who He knew the plans He had for? Of course He knows the plans He has for me. "They are plans for good and not for disaster". Serving God doesn't mean we will never have problems, but I do believe God works good out of whatever comes my way. "To give you a future and a hope". I believe God wants Christians to have hope, and that He has a future for me, whatever it holds.
And the couple of following verses have also been a source of hope and encouragement to me:
12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14 I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”
I take serious issue with these naysayers who are constantly bringing up this verse and saying it doesn't apply to we modern day Christians. The older I get, and the further I go on this road I am traveling, the more convinced I am that we can find hope and encouragement all through the Bible. I am more convinced than ever that we need hope and encouragement. If I and many others find hope and encouragement in this verse, what right does anyone have to tell us the verse doesn't apply to us?
I, Mark Buzard, was a captive.... not in some foreign land, but still a captive. God listened when I prayed and ended my captivity. I do have a future and a hope, and God is prospering me in the ways and areas that matter..... not financially, but spiritually and emotionally.
So ignore that verse, skip over it, even cut it out of your Bible if you so desire..... but don't try to take away the hope and encouragement it gives me and many others.
Now excuse me as I go drink some tea out of my mug of hope.......
There are certain Bible verses we like to quote. We all love John 3:16, and with good reason. Another one that is very popular today and more loved than John 3:16 is "judge not". But then there are other verses that we don't tend to quote and forget about. Here are a couple of examples:
Matthew 5: 38-42 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’[f] 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
And similarly worded in Luke 6: 27-31 27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. 31 And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. How often do we think on these verses and apply them to our lives? Most likely the majority of us rarely or never do.
I can honestly say no one has ever asked me for my coat, or any of my clothes for that matter. Neither has anyone ever asked me to walk a mile with them. I'm not even sure under what circumstances the latter would occur. "Mark, could you walk a mile with me?" "Uh, how about I walk two with you instead....."
Though this seems mostly geared for our enemies, I am going a different direction that I believe also fits here:
What if people ask us for other things though. What if they ask us for our time? Wouldn't this Biblical principle apply to that scenario also?
I had the house to myself for a couple of hours Wednesday evening. Since I had a couple of book reviews I needed to do, I decided to knock them out. Just as I was finishing the last one, I got a message from a friend:
Him: hey Mark! how are you?
Me: hey bro, good here, How are you?
Him: doing pretty good!
you busy?
Me: nope, was just finishing a book review... it's done 🙂
Him: ok
you have time for a phone call?
if not don't worry about it...
My friend, who lives several states away, is married with a family. He also deals with the same issue I do.......same-sex attraction. He was away from home for a week, and staying in a motel..... and feeling tempted. I have read that when men spend time in a motel, they are often tempted sexually.... and my friend was. He did the smart thing and reached out. I am sure he could have found someone better than I, but hey, he reached out. :)
We chatted for about 30-35 minutes, and he thanked me saying I had helped and encouraged him. The feeling was mutual. I promised to pray for him, and hung up.
Now I could have done something else. I could have told him I was going to alphabetize my Christmas CDs...... I do have enough to do that, and I had actually done that last weekend. I could have had a book I was going to read, a movie I was going to watch..... but I knew he was alone in a motel room and most likely needed to talk..... plus, he's a cool guy. We chat often on messenger and occasionally on the phone.
We are too busy. It doesn't take much to encourage someone and be a friend. An email, card, gift card, taking someone out for coffee or lunch, a phone call, or just listen.. but most of us don't have the time, or we don't want to take the time.
In this day of modern technology and time saving devices, we seem to have less time than ever. We have hurting and lonely people all around us, and we never have time - or sometimes don't want to take the time - to help and encourage someone.
Someone I follow on Twitter shared this today, and it was another nudge for me to do this blog post:
And isn't that true? There are tons of self-help books, but there aren't that many books on helping others....and most of us wouldn't be too interested in that kind of book anyway.
A lot of us are truly too busy to do much, but we can all do something. There are things that would only take a few minutes, and could make a difference in someone's day, or even in their life. And if we appear too busy and uninterested, we might be the last person someone might consider asking for help if they need it.
Be there for others, even in small ways, and do more than they ask if they actually ask.
Walk Two
Verse 1
An old friend or a stranger stops you in the street
Or asked just that you'd listen to his cares
Jesus said “when you've done it for the least, you've done it for me”
Or could it be an angel unaware?
Chorus:
So if he asks you to walk a mile with him, walk two
If he asks you to lend an ear to him, listen the whole night through
And if he says “please, would you pray?”
Then call his name, night and day
And if he asks you to walk a mile, walk two, walk two
Verse 2
Jesus asked you to intercede for Him at the midnight hour
Or asked just that you'd listen to His voice
It's not always easy to obey or make the sacrifice
And count it an honor that you'd be His choice
Chorus:
So if he asks you to walk a mile with him, walk two
If he asks you to lend an ear to him, listen the whole night through
And if he says “please, would you pray?”
Then call his name, night and day
And if he asks you to walk a mile, walk two, walk two
The third, and last - I promise - "installment" on encouragement. Who to encourage. The possibilities truly are endless. Here are a few.....
1) Your pastor. No pastor is perfect. At least I haven't met one yet, but met many good ones. No matter, he needs encouragement too. He of all people, can't just openly let the world know if he is discouraged. One of my brothers-in-law is a pastor, and I know from talking to he and my sister, they truly appreciate all that their congregation does for them.
A. Attend services. It has got to be discouraging to a pastor when people miss services. It should be rare, and with good reason, even mid-week services
B. Compliment him on sermons. If he preaches a message that speaks to you and encourages you, tell him. I know when I had to speak in church, it made me feel good when someone would compliment me. Pastors appreciate it too.
C. Have the pastor and his family over to eat. Yes, I have actually done this a few times in my life. I can cook. :-)
D. Pray for him. Let him know. Yeah, point made already, but your pastor needs your prayers more than you will ever know.
E. Drop him a card or gift, not just on Pastor Appreciation Sunday.
F. Offer to help out where needed. And if he asks you to do a task, do so cheerfully, even if you aren't seen doing it.........
A note of caution: if your pastor asks you if you will help him, ask details before agreeing. I made the mistake of not doing that once, and ended up calling for VBS, a traumatic experience, especially since at the first house he sent me to on my own, I was accused of first being a salesman, and then a Jehovah Witness.
2) Your Sunday School teacher. Our class is different than some. We have someone in charge, who speaks more than others, but most of the year, we have different speakers take on different topics, sometimes a month at a time. Regardless of the set up, these people need encouragement.
A. Attend your class. One of my pet peeves is people who belong in a certain class and don't go. Or skip out entirely.
B. Pay attention and participate. I like it when there is class discussion, especially if it is something that pertains to me.
C. Drop them an encouraging note or email.
3) Your boss. We don't often think of it, but bosses can use encouragement also, especially if they have to answer to someone higher up the totem pole. Also, just being on time, and a hard worker is encouraging to them.
4) Your spouse. Yeah, they need encouragement, especially being married to you. :-) I am not married, but will toss out a few ideas. Of course I have some, even though I am a bachelor. Here are just a few....
Men:
A. Compliment your wife. Surely there is something. If she looks nice, tell her. If the meal was good, tell her. If it was a burnt sacrifice, tell her you love her sacrificial spirit.
B. Help. Of course you work to support the family, but she has her plate full. Run the vacuum once in awhile. Help clear the table and do the dishes. Watch the kids and let her have her night out without the kids and hubby.
C. Do things for her. Fill her car up with gas. Wash the car. Buy her flowers when you haven't done anything wrong. The possibilities are endless. Sure, they are ways to keep your marriage alive, but it can encourage her and make her day brighter.
Women: (ok, this could go badly.....) :-)
A. Compliment your husband. If he looks nice, tell him. If he does a good job supporting the family, tell him often.
B. Help him. The list of ways to help him may not be as long as how he can help you, but there are small ways to help him out.
C. Keep the house neat. It has got to help his mood to come home to a neat house, his clothes washed and supper on the table. Dream world? Maybe, but working isn't always fun - sometimes it brings rough days. Make the atmosphere he comes home to something that will left his spirits.
D. Buy him something. Most guys aren't into flowers, but they still like gifts.
E. Leave the toilet seat up for him occasionally.
OK, that wasn't too bad. Hope the women don't descend on me with wrath. :-)
5) Your parents. Yes, you can even encourage them. If they are Christians, and raised you right, one of the best ways to encourage them, is to serve God with all your might.
Then some of the others fall in: compliments, phone calls, hugs. Parents need it too, and siblings, and other relatives. We shouldn't just encourage those in our family, but neither should we neglect them and focus only on others.
6) Friends. I think we should focus on friends just about as much as our relatives, especially if they are single, divorced, widowed. Walking the road to Heaven alone is rough, even if one doesn't have some major trials. If your friends blog, comment. Post a cheery message on facebook - do something fairly often for them, if it is just an email or comment.
7) The mailman. The cashier. The people you run across as you go throughout your day. The woman ringing up your groceries could be a single mom struggling to keep things afloat. A smile and kind word could go a long way to making her day brighter.
I may have touched on this already, but we are too busy. We walk down the sidewalk, or through the store, rarely making eye contact or ex hanging smiles with a stranger. We have so many gadgets: computers, cell phones, Blackberrys, and yet we never have time for anyone.
We all need God foremost of all, but we need each other. Let's all slow down and look for ways to encourage others and make their burden a little lighter and their day a bit brighter. It's what we want people to do for us when we are down and discouraged, so let us do unto others as we would have them do to us: encourage.
A side note in ending these posts on encouragement: I did a goof with the notes when I was preparing to speak on it a few years ago. I had typed almost the whole service on my computer, and it died, so I lost them. Bought a new PC and started over, and the PC had an issue. Completely forgetting the notes were on it, I returned it, got a different PC, got home and realized what I had done. So for the third time, I started over with the notes. It was discouraging, which is ironic given the topic. :-)
Continuation of Encouragement 101, encouraging yourself. On the off-chance that someone might read these, I made them into 3 posts so I don't do one very long one.
Sometimes we have no idea who in our circle of friends & acquaintances may be discouraged. Some people hide it well. Others blog about it. :-) Seriously, we all have discouraging times, and if you never have, look out - your time is coming. I believe it is Biblical to exhort and encourage other Christians. We are in this together, and we need to take the time, make the time, to help others. Some things may only take a minute, others may take a little time & money, but everyone needs encouragement, even if they aren't discouraged, you just might make someone's day a little brighter.
1) Pray for them. And let them know. Sure, I know praying for people will help regardless, but knowing someone is praying is such a boost. After "I love you", "I'm praying for you" has got to be close the top of the most important words to say to someone.
2) Contact. With today's technology, the possibilities are endless. Phone call. Email. Card. Somewhere in storage, there are some cards and notes people sent to me that meant so much, I don't want to part with them. Even a email forward says you are thinking about them. The church I attended in Indiana did something I wish my church did: In their church directory, people could also put their email addresses, if they so desired. With so many people having blogs, facebook, etc, you can always leave positive notes on places like that. It can mean a lot. Don't just comment if what the person has said has royally ticked you off. :-)
3) Feed them. Food can do wonders, especially for men. Food is the way to a man's heart, after all. Take a dessert to someone, cookies, bread. It does more than feed the stomach - it says "I care". If you can afford it, take someone out to eat and just chat.
4) Invite someone over. Hospitality is becoming a lost art, and this is not a request for an invite. :-) I think Christians should hang out together more than just at church, but we are all too busy. Unfortunately, I cannot ask company over at this stage in my life, but hopefully the day will come soon that I can again. I enjoy entertaining, and miss doing so. It doesn't have to be an expensive affair, just a simple snack or meal, and games.
I have an invite to the Goodnows on Friday the 13th for Chinese food, home-cooked, and games. I am looking forward to it. I also have an invite in waiting to go for games to another house in the near future. For anyone interested, my favorite drink is caffeine free diet coke........
We do need Christian fellowship - it will encourage us all.
5) Live a life that encourages others:-Attend church, keep the standards, be in the service, etc. It encourages me to see people who hold true to their convictions, live a Christian life with integrity, and don't change.
This post is another recycled lesson I gave once. Deciding to re-do it some and post it here, came after a conversation with a friend of mine. I have a feeling this may be a two-parter. This post is in no way asking anyone to do these things for me, but just some ideas if you are like me, and think when the gifts of the Spirit were passed out, you got left out. This is one we can all do: Encourage.
The story is told that one day Satan was selling off some of his tools. All sizes and prices were available. There was one small tool that had an extremely high price on it. When asked why the high price for such a small tool, his reply was that it was his most often used, and most effective tool - the tool of discouragement.
Of course there never was such a sale, but discouragement is one of the devil’s best tools. It seems if he can get a Christian discouraged, they become in effective, and for a lot of Christians who give up and stumble, it is all started by discouragement.
So who do we encourage? First off........Yourself. Not a selfish thing - if you are discouraged, it is hard to encourage others. The Bible talks about David encouraging himself in the Lord - we all need to do that.
1) Prayer. Praying should be our first recourse when we are discouraged, and if we are constant with our praying, discouragement doesn't come quite so easily. It shouldn't be our last resort, but our first.
2) Bible. It helps to have favorite scriptures that mean a lot to turn to when you are discouraged. I tend to read Jeremiah 29: 10-12 a lot. And Psalm 23. And there is nothing wrong with that. If you are discouraged, you don't want to read Leviticus.
Along with the Bible, a promise book, where you can easily access God's promises, and a good devotional are a big help.
3) Church. Being around people of like-minded faith can be a boost to discouragement. I work with a woman who claims to be Christian, but never goes to church. She has church at home, and her reasons for not going are about as clear as mud. You can't stay home from church and stay encouraged. We all need people who believe as us. I have been to couple of presidential rallies - Bush, and McCain, and it gave me hope - hopes that were dashed this past election day, but being around other people who believed in that person for President was a boost, and got me excited.
4) Thanksgiving & Praise. It is hard to be discouraged if you are thanking & praising God for the good things in life, and there is always something good, if not just life itself, other things we overlook so easily. One of my very favorite songs, "Praise His Name" has a good message.........
When everything falls apart, praise His name When you have a broken heart, raise your hands and say “Lord you’re all I need, you’re everything to me” And He’ll take the pain away When it seems you’re all alone, praise His name When you feel you can’t go on, just raise your hands and say “Greater is He that is within me,” and you can praise the hurt away If you’ll just praise His name.
5) Music. Music can lift your spirits. There are many who despise Southern Gospel - some say it is too "wild" and prefer music with no drums or beat, others say it is too boring or "twangy", but there is one thing Southern Gospel has that other genres of Christian music doesn't: encouragement. Sure, there may be a song here and there in CCM or Praise & Worship that encourages, but there are tons of Southern Gospel songs that encourage. I could list many here, but won't. 6) Read. There are tons of encouraging books out there, on just about any subject you need. Even some fiction books can encourage - I can attest to that. 7) Do something for someone else. It is amazing how doing something for someone else can make you feel better - which brings me to my next point, and another blog post.
In today's whirlwind of working, getting ahead, trying to keep up with the Jones family, I fear we are losing the art of encouragement. Not everyone is, but in the busyness of life, are we taking the time to encourage those around us who can use some encouragement, or are we too busy, too focused on ourselves and getting through the work week so we can enjoy the week-end to take the time to encourage someone?
Everyone gets discouraged at times. Even when we aren't discouraged, it is nice to have someone do something to encourage us, to let us know we matter to them and that they care. I am thankful I have people in my life who do that. Sometimes it is a text or Facebook message. Sometimes it is someone wanting to get together to chat and eat. If you live and breathe, you need encouragement at some point. And when - not if - you get discouraged or are just feeling down, you know how it feels when someone does something to life your spirits. A phone call, a text, a small gift, a compliment, lunch..... the possibilities are endless.
And it is Biblical. There are many verses that talk about encouraging each other, bearing one another's burdens,
There is a man in the book of Acts that traveled with Paul some and is mentioned several times in the book of Acts. His name was Barnabas. The meaning of his name was "son of encouragement." The website Biblical Archaeology says this about him:
A noticeable trait of Barnabas, a prominent early church leader fondly nicknamed Son of Encouragement (Acts 4:37), is that he seeks out and assists others. The Biblical text highlights this twice with Saul/Paul (9:26-28; 11:25-26), once concerning the vibrant church in Antioch, Syria (11:19-30) and once in connection with his younger kinsman, John Mark (15:36-41). Often these other individuals and groups are believers in Jesus who, for whatever reason, run a bit against the grain of mainstream thought and action. Instead of ostracizing them, Barnabas not only deliberately encounters them, but also listens to them and welcomes them warmly.
There is more about him there and how he encouraged the early church, but it is too long to post it all here. But what a name....... I really wouldn't want to be called Barnabas, but it would be cool to have your name mean that, especially if you lived up to it. But we don't have to have the name of Barnabas to live up to the name. To live a life that supports and encourages our fellow Christian brothers and sisters..... that would be an awesome thing.
If we had time, and if we cared enough. And if we cared enough to make time.
I need to do it more. We all do. Maybe that would be a good resolution for 2015: encourage others.
Back in February of 2009, almost six years ago, I did three blog posts about encouragement. I am sure there is a lot more that could be added to them, but I will be posting them tomorrow. So if you're thinking it would be nice to encourage someone and need some ideas, I have a few. The list is far from complete, but it is a start. We all need it and want it, but we can't all sit back and wait for others to give it to us. We need to give. And it doesn't have to cost us anything other than a few minutes of our time at the very least.
Someone once said that some of the most encouraging words in the Bible are in the phrase "it came to pass." I did a search for the words in the King James Version of the Bible, and it showed 463 results. That is a lot of uses of the phrase, and that is a lot of things that came to pass. It is one of those things you don't really think about when you read it. I usually don't. But if you do think about it, it is encouraging.
No matter what we are going through in this life, it will pass. It won't always be in our timing, in fact it may rarely be in our timing, but it will come to pass. Some things may last a lifetime, but even then, they will come to pass.
I started my current job as a security officer in a hospital back in June. Since I started, I have been working 7am-3pm Friday-Monday. I wanted full time daylight, which I kept getting told would never happen. I had no seniority, and everyone wanted daylight.... if a daylight person were to quit, someone from another shift would want their place.
I also wanted Sundays off. I hate working Sundays. I believe Sundays are for rest and church. Not for working. But as I learned, sometimes you don't have a choice. I was also told to dream on about Sundays off.
A few weeks ago, someone from daylight quit. And sure enough, someone from another shift wanted their position on daylight, so I had no choice.
And then a new position opened up and was offered to a co-worker who works days and has Sundays and Mondays off. It looked like if she took it, I might finally have full time daylight....... but if she took it, another guard on daylight wanted her days off, so I would still work Sundays. However, if she turned down the new position, I could have it, and would have Sundays off.
So I prayed about it, and asked some others to pray about it.... and I got the new position. Starting March 10, I will work Tuesday-Saturday, full time, and will have Sundays and Mondays off. I am a bit nervous about the new position, but also excited about an answer to prayer, and excited about being able to be in church again on Sunday mornings.
I have been praying for quite some time about having Sundays off, and wondered if it would ever happen, but it is going to happen. It will come to pass.
That may not seem like a big deal to some, and yes, there are people dealing with much worse things than working every Sunday. I do not mean to trivialize the problems others face, but it is a big deal to me, and yet God worked it out. In His time, not mine. Maybe He had lessons for me to learn. I don't know why it took so many months, but I am thankful He answered my prayer.
There are other things in my life that I want to pass. And they will. We live in such a fast food type of world, that we almost expect God to work the same way. We zoom up to a speaker, yell our prayer into the speaker, pull up to the window and expect Him to have answered it.
But God doesn't work that way. He doesn't have a drive through for faster service. It doesn't matter how fast we want an answer, or how desperate we are. He will answer in His time, not ours. If you're like me, you hope that verse about a day being as a thousand years doesn't hold true for prayers you pray. Tell God you need something tomorrow and His tomorrow is a thousand tomorrows away.....
I doubt that holds true, but it is true that whatever we are going through is going to come to pass some day. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe a year or two from now. Maybe when we get to Heaven. Why He doesn't answer prayers faster, we may never know on this earth. But I do know one thing: He has a reason, and we have to trust Him. If we don't trust Him and give up, we will be worse off than if we hung in their and bore our burden or trial.
No matter what we are going through, we have a hope that it will be over some day. If not on this earth, then in Heaven. And Heaven will be worth it all. And in Heaven, everything we have ever gone through on earth will pass, never to be experienced again.
