The Lord's Encouragement

 All believers need the encouragement of the Lord to be faithful witnesses for Him in all we say and do. The great thing is that Jesus is eager to give us His encouragement in every situation. This is especially true when we are faithful in sharing our testimony and the Good News of the Gospel with others in difficult circumstances. We need to have the assurance that Jesus stands with us to give us all we need to be good ambassadors for Him. That is what He did for Paul after Paul shared his testimony and the truth of the gospel with an angry mob in Jerusalem. (Acts 23:11) Paul was put in custody by the Romans to keep him safe from the crowds. Then, the every next night the Lord Jesus appeared Paul, standing at his side. He told Paul to take courage. Then, He assured Paul that in the same way he had witnessed to Jesus' cause in Jerusalem, he would surely witness for Him in Rome, also. What a wonderful Lord we serve!

We may never have Jesus appear directly to us, as He did to Paul, but we can sense His presence at our side as we draw near to Him. Jesus is always praying for us, interceding to the Father for our needs. However, He also knows that we are frail. He knows we have the tendency to be fearful, because our flesh cries out to us against being harmed in any way, physically or emotionally. Therefore, Jesus comes to us, and He says just the right thing at the right time to give us the courage we need to go forward. At times, He will even assure us that He still has plans for us, and He can be very specific like He was with Paul. In all of this we see the heart of the Lord Jesus. He cares so much for each of His followers, and He wants to use us to tell others about Him. That is why He never misses an opportunity to encourage us in just the right way. Then, we can move forward with the Gospel message, as Paul did.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Acts 24-26.