Read Acts 2

And the Lord added to the church daily
those who were being saved.
(Acts 2:47)

Thoughts… I hope you don’t think I am being irreverent, but when churches don’t have the A2 Sauce—you know, the Acts 2 infilling of the Holy Spirit—they have to resort to smoke and mirrors to get the job done.

That’s why churches these days devote inordinate amounts of time, energy and resources trying to figure out who they should be, what they should look like, and how they should go about attracting their community to Christ. In an effort to reach lost people, they stress over what constitutes the perfect worship style, the best ministry philosophy, and the most effective structure for church growth.

Pardon me, but when I read about the first church in here in Acts 2:42-47, I don’t see any of that. Perhaps this is an unfair and oversimplification of things, but I think all they were concerned with was being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

When it comes to church, I am not sure there is such a thing as “perfect” or “best” or “most”. Frankly, there are not only a thousand ways to skin a cat, but to do church as well. I can take you to congregations all over the world that violate every single best practice for doing church well, yet they are thriving, impacting, God-pleasing outposts of Kingdom expansion in their communities. Without buildings, without resources, without training, without a cultural “cool factor”, they are flat out getting the job done.

What is their secret? It’s the A2 Sauce—the indwelling and empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.

The secret to church growth, health and impact is not to be found in a technique or a philosophy or a style. It is found in a relationship. It is found a vital connection with the Holy Spirit. Churches that thrive under the least conducive environments do so because they flow in and overflow with the lifeblood of the Spirit.

When a church begins to stress out over style, fight over philosophy, drain resources fixing its facilities and care more about cultural relevance than connection with the Spirit, it ceases to be God pleasing. What churches need more than anything these days is a little bit more of, pardon the irreverence, the A2 Sauce.

When that happens, God will add to the church daily those who are being saved!

Prayer… Holy Spirit, come and fill your church once again as you did on the day of Pentecost. Form us, empower us, and equip us to be the same kind of high impact church we read about in Acts 2. Make us an A2 church!

One More Thing… “How little chance the Holy Spirit has nowadays…churches have so bound Him…that they practically ask Him to sit in a corner while they do the work themselves.” —Charles Thomas Studd

Read Acts 1

When they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord,
will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He
said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons
which the Father has put in His own authority. But
you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you; and you shall be witnesses
to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
(Acts 1:6-8)

Thoughts… One of the most popular songs in 1965 was Burt Bacharach’s, “What The Word Needs Now Is Love.” If you were alive and interested in music at that time, the syrupy music and lyrics are probably running through your head right now. You might even find yourself quietly singing the song throughout the day: “What the world needs now is love, sweet love…” Sorry about that!

It seems to me that many in the modern American church would change those lyrics to, “what the world needs now…is a political party that represents our Christian values.” It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but that’s the way a lot of believers think these days. That is unfortunate!

The disciples were thinking that way too. After Jesus rose from the tomb as the victor over death, these followers were thinking that the Roman Empire was next in line for conquest. Perhaps the current Jewish religious regime could be dealt with at the same time. Finally, the kingdom of God would rule the earth in power and glory!

Did you notice how Jesus distanced himself from that line of thought? He pointed out that political domination was not high on his list. What the world needed, Jesus said, was not political power, but a good dose of spiritual power being exercised through his people.

The kingdom of God was coming, all right, but it wouldn’t be through political persuasion or military conquest or social reformation. It would come when the Holy Spirit baptized believers with power, enabling them to do the works, speak the words and live the witness of Jesus before a watching world.

Things haven’t changed, you know. Two thousand years later, that is still Christ’s plan for world domination. The Holy Spirit is still available to all believers (Acts 2:38-39). He will fill those who yield, empowering ready vessels to extend the kingdom of God to a lost world, not in their own strength, but in the glorious might and supernatural power of God himself.

What the world needs now is power—sweet Holy Spirit power.

The Father’s gift of the Holy Spirit is still available. All you’ve got to do is ask and receive. I think I am going to ask today! Want to join me?

Prayer… Father, baptize me in the Holy Spirit at this moment! Cause a fresh wave of the Spirit’s presence and power to wash over me. Enable me to do your works, speak your words, and live your witness before a watching world.

One More Thing… “There is no better evangelist in the world than the Holy Spirit.” —D.L. Moody

“Paul was preaching, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight…Paul continued talking until dawn, then he left.” (Acts 20:7 & 11)

Food For Thought: I used to be a big fan of the twenty-minute sermon. I still am, in fact, when someone else is preaching. But the longer I preach, the longer I preach, if you get my drift. After many years of pastoral ministry, now twenty-minutes is just a good introduction. I’m joking of course—my intros are no more than eighteen minutes:-)

Few aspects of the preacher’s preaching are more prominently discussed than the length of his sermons. In seminary, we’re taught how to “get ‘er done” in fifteen minutes or so, twenty minutes at the most, and violating that rule of thumb was a good indication that your preparation had been sloppy. A friend of my says if you want to preach a twenty-minute sermon, prepare twenty hours; a forty-minute message will take you ten hours of prep time, and an hour-long sermon means you’ve spent about twenty minutes preparing.

In my earlier pastoral ministry I worked years with a phenomenal preacher. But he was an hour-long kind of guy. He had great stuff, he just didn’t know how to bring the plane in for a landing, so to speak. He’d get to the end of his message, and he’d just circle the airport looking for a spot to bring ‘er down. I swear, he could have cut that hour in half and the sermon would have gone from phenomenal to inter-galactic. His preaching kind of reminds of the story I heard about a man who went to the dentist to have a tooth removed. He ask the dentist what the cost for removing his tooth would be, and the dentist told him it would be $150. The guy told the dentist that 150 bucks seemed like a lot of money for a few seconds work. The dentist said, “If it’d make you feel better, I can pull the tooth out real slow!”

Well, I am here to defend the long-winded sermon—since I now qualify as long-winded. Hey, it’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it. And I am in good company. Paul, the greatest theologian in the New Testament, perhaps in human history, preached so long that one young man named Eutychus, fell asleep while sitting on a window seal and fell three stories to his death. Amazingly, that didn’t put a damper on the service. Paul, without skipping a beat, went downstairs, healed the man, then came back upstairs and talked from midnight until dawn. You go Paul!

Here’s the deal: It’s not the length of the sermon that makes it good or bad, it’s the content of the message…it’s the passion of the preacher…it’s the heart of the shepherd out of which the sermon flows that makes it effective or not. If you read this entire passage in Acts 20, you get some great insights into the heart of Paul, the long-winded preacher:

• Paul was full of faith and confidence in the Lord—“don’t worry, he’s alive…and the young man was taken home unhurt.” (vv. 11-12)
• Paul earned people’s respect through his suffering for the Gospel—“I have endured the trials that came to me…” (v. 19)
• Paul was fearless in his preaching—“I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear.” (v. 20)
• Paul was Christ-centered and cross-focused—“I have had one message…repent from sin and turn to God…the work of telling others the Good news about the wonderful grace of God.” (vv. 21 & 24)
• Paul was purpose driven—“My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work the Lord Jesus assigned to me.” (v. 24)
• Paul was faithful to God—“I declare today that I have been faithful.” (v. 26)
• Paul passionately protected his flock from danger—“Guard God’s people and feed and shepherd God’s flock…watch out…” (vv. 28 & 31)
• Paul was pure in his motives—“I have never coveted anyone’s silver or gold or fine clothes…I have worked with my own hands to supply my own needs.” (vv. 33-34)
• Paul practiced what he preached—“I have been a constant example…” (v. 35)
• Paul was selfless—“I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard.” (v. 35)

It’s no wonder that when he had finished speaking and was getting ready to leave, “they all cried as they embraced and kissed him good-bye.” (v. 37)

“How long is the perfect sermon?” you wonder. When the preacher exhibits the same qualities that we see in Paul, his sermon can be a long as it takes!

Prayer: Lord, as a preacher, help me to live the Good News so authentically that my preaching is simply the overflow of my life. And may every word I preach point people to a Savior who has purchased them with his own blood. As a listener of sermons, may I be so truly in love with you, Lord, that I will willingly to listen your Word proclaimed, no matter how long it takes. Amen.

One More Thing… The Puritan pastor Richard Baxter once remarked, “I preach as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.” The next time you are listening to your pastor preach, realize that for him, he carries into the pulpit a heavy awareness that eternity hangs in the balance.

“These men you’ve dragged in here have done nothing to harm either our temple or our goddess.” (Acts 19:37, The Message)

Food For Thought: Paul and his companions had come to the city of Ephesus, which housed the magnificent temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Diana, or Artemis as she was also known, was the goddess, of among other things, fertility. The carved image of the many-breasted Diana that resided in the temple was said to have come down from heaven. The festivals in her honor in-volved wanton sexual immorality. Much of the city’s commerce (from the selling of silver shrines and icons) and culture centered around the worship of Diana.

So when the message of Christ that Paul and his associates brought to Ephesus began to disrupt the god-making economy and the reputation of Diana, the town-folk were obviously upset. A couple of Paul’s people were dragged into the city arena before a hostile crowed where near riot conditions carried on for a couple of hours. Finally, the mayor of the city calmed everybody down with these words in Acts 19:37,

“You have brought these men here, though they have neither
robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess.”

I think there is a great deal we can learn from Paul’s evangelistic approach in Ephesus for our day. We live in a culture that is increasingly hostile to Christianity, and is increasingly immoral and outright disgusting to those of us who follow Christ. There has never been a time in America when our values are colliding with our culture’s values like today. But the response of some believers has been to become hostile, aggressive, shrill and obnoxious in their defense of Christ, and increasingly mean-spirited in their attacks on falsehood.

Did you notice that Paul never once attacked the Ephesians’ way of worship or put down their goddess in order to build up Christ? His enemies could accuse Paul of any number of things, but not that! Paul and his team simply told the truth by exalting Christ and Christ alone. And as they did, the light of Christ exposed the darkness and made the distinction between truth and falsehood, between wisdom and foolishness, between life and death plainly and painfully obvious to the people of Ephesus.

There is a profound proverb attributed to the Chinese that says, “It is better to light a candle that to curse the darkness.” Perhaps the world we’re trying to win to Jesus these days would not think we’re so mean-spirited, angry, intolerant, and close-minded (and those are the nicer things they have to say about us), if we were to simply hold up the Real Deal rather than spending so much time and energy trying to destroy all the foolish things people believe—things that are built on garbage anyway, and are likely to crumble under their own weight in the presence of the Truth.

I’ve been told that when U.S. treasury agents are trained to spot counterfeit money, they don’t spend their time looking at phony bills. They study the real deal. They become so familiar with the truth that the lie becomes readily apparent.

That’s a great example for believers. Hold up the Truth. Speak of the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Let your life—your thoughts, your words and your actions—be proof of the Real Deal, Jesus Christ. Don’t spend too much time and expend too much energy trying to destroy that which is false; just lift up Jesus and his light will penetrate the darkness.

Light the candle—that’s your calling anyway. It’s far better than cursing the darkness.

Prayer: Lord, you’ve called me to be salt and light…to be living proof of a loving God…to lift up the name of Jesus so that all will see the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It is such a temptation to get caught up in the angry, contentious voices that think they win if they can out shout their opponents. Lord, keep me from that. Help me to be one of those who lights the candle instead of curses the darkness. God, make me an effective defender of the faith in a time when my faith in you is under fire in a way that brings honor to you and attracts people who deep inside are desperately crying out for someone to show them the way to you. Amen.

One More Thing… Francis of Assisi reminds us, “Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words.”

Great Cloud of Witnesses: On June 29, 1757, hymn-writer John Newton wrote, “Whatever we may undertake with a sincere desire to promote His glory, we may comfortably pursue. Nothing is trivial that is done for Him.”

“Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11)

Food For Thought: What a great congregation the new believers in Berea made. They were a pastor’s delight. They were driven by an eagerness to know God’s truth, yet their eagerness was no gullibility. Rather, it was a spiritual eagerness counterbalanced by an intellectual inquisitiveness. They were investigative by nature. Though they sensed what Paul was teaching was truth, they didn’t just swallow it hook, line and sinker; they went back to the Scriptures (in this case, the Old Testament) to see if Paul’s theology was spot on.

Luke, the writer of Acts, affirms the Berean believers as of noble character. In fact, he offers that affirmation in comparison to another group—the Thessalonica. They were anything but noble. They were not eager, nor were they inquisitive. They didn’t like what Paul was saying; they were intimidated by his scriptural logic; they were reactionary. Rather than digging into the scripture, they simply rejected Paul’s words and rioted, causing a great uproar in their city.

I wonder how Luke would describe American congregations today? Would he see Berean-type believers for the most part—churches that eagerly search for truth and investigate teaching to see if it aligns with Scripture? Or would he find Thessalonian-type churches—churches that are either closed off to spiritual revelation altogether on the one extreme, or on the other, churches full of gullible Christians who swallow the latest doctrinal fad hook, line and sinker?

For that matter, how would Luke describe you? Are you Berean-like? Are you eager and open to truth but ready to search it out and test it in Scripture? Or are you more of a Thessalonian? Are you so doctrinally set in your ways that you have never really gone back to the Bible to see what you believe for yourself? Do you receive teaching with eagerness, or do you think you already know it all? Or, on the other hand, when the latest doctrinal fad hits town (and like clockwork, a new doctrinal fad will be coming to a church near you), do you jump on the bandwagon without any scriptural hesitation?

I have a sense that most American churches and a significant percentage of Christians would fall into the Thessalonian camp these days. I don’t know about you, but I would rather be labeled a Berean. I want to be open-mind to the proclamation of God’s truth, yet ready to challenge what I hear by making it align with orthodox theology.

I hope to be a more noble believer! How about you?

By the way, I think preachers would preach better and churches would church better if there was more eager inquisitiveness in the pews!

Prayer: Lord, how blessed I am to have your Word. So many things compete for my attention these days, but on this day I reaffirm my commitment to be in the Bible every day. Before I allow anything else to fill my mind, I will meditate on Scripture; I will memorize it; I will allow it to thoroughly master me. So God, as I honor that commitment, I ask you to honor me by causing my mind to be saturated with your truth. And I also pray that you will give me a hunger for your Word that will grow stronger every day. May zeal for your Word consume me. Lord, may it be said of me that because of my eager inquisitive for the Word of God that I am of a more noble character.

One More Thing… “The Bible is meant to be bread for our daily use, not just cake for special occasions.” —Phillip Brooks

Great Cloud of Witnesses: On June 26, 1839, Scottish clergyman and missionary Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter, “Joy is increased by spreading it to others.”

“Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.” (Acts 16:25)

Food For Thought: If you’ve read much of the Bible, the story of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail has to be one of the most memorable. They’re in prison, but they’re praising God. Huh? How can that be?

I wonder what the outcome of this story would have been if Paul and Silas had be grouchy instead of grateful. Would there have been a divinely appointed midnight earthquake? Would their chains have miraculously fallen off? Would the other prisoners, who had been listening to their two cell-mates worshipping God, have staid put when this would have been the perfect time for a jailbreak? Would the suicidal jailer have been marvelously converted? Would the man’s entire family have come to know Christ? Would the church at Philippi have been established? Would we even have the wonderful book of Philippians to enjoy today?

Paul and Silas certainly would have been justified in complaining. They have been brought up on trumped up charges, stripped and beaten with wooden rods, thrown in jail like common criminals, and if that weren’t enough, put in a dank inner dungeon and clamped in stocks. God had sent them to Philippi as preachers, now they were prisoners.

Quick time out: How would you have responded? If you’re like me, you probably would have questioned why God would have allowed such horrible things to happen when you were simply trying to follow his will. You probably would have let a couple of gripes escape your mouth. Am I right?

Yet Paul and Silas saw this detour to a dungeon as an open door to present the Gospel in an unexpected way. Do you realize that every detour in your life is really an open door to a new opportunity you otherwise would have missed to fulfill God’s purposes?

God likes detours, doesn’t he? A jail for Joseph, a demotion for Moses, a giant-sized Goliath for pint-sized David, a den for Daniel…And it was a prison for Paul and his partner, Silas. But they were not constrained by their chains from proclaiming Jesus. Many years latter, in II Timothy 2:9, Paul revealed his attitude toward what seemed to be a regular occurrence in his ministry path—jail: “I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.”

Author Warren Wiersby wrote about his recovery from a serious auto accident. In the hospital, he began receiving letters of encouragement from a man he’d never met. Later, when he met him, he was shocked that his encourager was blind, a severe diabetic, and an amputee who lived with and cared for his elderly mother. And in his spare time, he found a way to share his faith as a motivational speaker in high school assemblies, civic clubs, and with business groups.

This man had a mission—and circumstances weren’t only not going to stop him, they were going to help him advance the Gospel. He was a modern day Paul.

How about you? I’ll bet you’ve got some chains… not be as dramatic or as difficult as this man’s physical challenges, or Paul’s imprisonment, but you’ve got some. Is there any reason why you can’t allow God to use them? God wants you to turn all your obstacles into opportunities to glorify him. Your troubles today are the main ingredients for tomorrow’s testimony! That’s a different way to look at life, isn’t it?

Famed Scottish theologian and hymn-writer George Matheson once prayed, “My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorns. I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorns. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross: but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross: teach me the value of my thorn. Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.”

By the way, Matheson went totally blind when he was 20.

Why not take advantage of your disadvantage to talk about Jesus this week. If you are suffering an incurable disease, God may want to use your joy to give the hope of eternity to another sufferer in the hospital…If you are facing a financial crisis, your faithfulness may teach your kids how to trust God in tight times…If you are going through a divorce, God may want to use your calm and compassionate spirit to show others how to release the bitterness and forgive like Jesus….if you are in the waiting room of life right now, your joy will inspire someone to stay faithful in their own holding pattern.

If you find yourself beaten by life’s circumstance this week and dumped into a dungeon of despair, keep you eyes on God, he’s up to something. Paul wrote from another prison cell profound words found in Philippians 1:6

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

“Being confident” comes by exerting trust in God in every moment—good or bad. It means practicing the presence of God in your current circumstances—good or bad. It means declaring his sovereign control over each detail of your life—good or bad.

In other words, when you know in your knower and confess with your confessor that God is sovereignly controlling the events of life for your good and for his glory, then you are ready to take advantage of everything that happens in your life for God’s glory. Like Paul in Romans 8:28, your faith declaration in harmful circumstances can be, “All things work for my good.” Like Joseph in Genesis 50:20, your faith declaration to hurtful people can be, “what you meant for evil, God has turned for good.”

You may not like all of the stuff that happens to you, but the good news is, as a Christian you’re guaranteed that God will use it all to continue his good work in you and bring it to completion. So don’t mind the detours!

Prayer: Lord, I want to know you in the power of your resurrection, and in the fellowship of your suffering. I want to learn the secret of contentment in every situation. I want to rejoice in the Lord always. I want to develop a greater trust that you will complete the work you’ve begun in me, even if my circumstances might say otherwise. I want to turn every disadvantage into an opportunity to proclaim your glory in my attitude and by my actions. Come what may, I want to be living proof of a loving God. Lord on this day, let me bring praise and honor to you—even if I get dumped into a dungeon!

One More Thing… “Bad things happen to me so that good things can happen in me so that eternal things can happen through me.” —Unknown

Great Cloud of Witnesses: On June 25, 1865, English missionary Hudson Taylor founded the China Inland Mission, now called Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF). Hudson Taylor once observed, “Many Christians estimate difficulties in the light of their own resources, and thus attempt little and often fail in the little they attempt.” Hudson went on to say, “God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.

“When Saul came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.” (Acts 9:26-27)

Food For Thought: “But Barnabas…” Don’t skip over those two words so quickly, because they have affected you more than you realize. You see, those two powerful words not only impacted the life of a man named Saul, they dramatically impacted the future of Christianity—and that would include you and me.

“But Barnabas…” and history was made!

Saul of Tarsus had been one of early Christianity’s most feared persecutors, but his amazing Damascus Road conversion had transformed him into Christianity’s most effective proponent. Ultimately, Paul became the greatest single instrument for the spread of Christianity in the first century, a church-planter extraordinaire, author of most of the New Testament’s theology, and was elevated to the rare status of Apostle along with Peter, John and the other disciples of Jesus.

However, Saul, now called Paul, didn’t find immediate acceptance from the church in the days following his spiritual rebirth, and understandably so. The believers were wary of Paul—only days before he had hunted them down, imprisoned them, and was not above having them executed for their belief in Jesus. So extending a warm embrace to him was not their first response. Actually, they avoided Paul like the plague.

“But Barnabas…” What a great phrase! “But Barnabas…”

Barnabas, always the encourager (which is what his name means), took Paul under his wings, vouched for him in the presence of the apostles, and began introducing him to the believers. In fact, for the next few years, it was Barnabas who discipled Paul, and then took the lead in their initial missionary expeditions until Paul was ready to take the lead. Once Paul had been spiritually seasoned Barnabas graciously took a lesser role and allowed this rising star to shine. And then, as quickly as Barnabas appears in Scripture, he disappears. Thank God for Barnabas!

“But Barnabas…”

I wonder what would have happened to Paul were it not for that phrase, “but Barnabas…” Perhaps the great theological treatise we know as Romans would never have been penned; maybe we would have never been inspired by the wonderfully uplifting letter of Philippians; it’s possible we would never have been instructed by the pastoral epistles of Timothy and Titus. “But Barnabas…” stepped up to the plate, took a risk with a high-risk convert, and Paul was turned loose to turn the world upside for Jesus Christ. That’s the power of encouragement!

The truth is, everyone needs a Barnabas in their life. Everyone needs someone to take a chance with them. Everyone needs someone to believe in them. Everyone needs appreciation for their efforts, acknowledgment for accomplishments, and affirmation of their potential. We all desperately need encouragement. That, to paraphrase psychologist William James, is possibly every human being’s deepest need.

But not only do we need a Barnabas in our lives, we need to be a Barnabas to someone. God has made sure that each of us knows at least one person who has planted within them the seeds of greatness just waiting to be released through our showers of encouragement.

Who might that be for you? For whom has God called you to be a Barnabas? Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds…let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

So before this day is out, give some consideration to how you can be a Barnabas. Get intentional and strategic about expressing genuine encouragement to that Saul in your life. Be their Barnabas…it may change their life…it may make history. And it won’t cost you a thing!

Bonne Steffen, the editor of Christian Reader tells the true story from a Florida Christian school of a boy who was always in trouble at school, so when the parents of this junior higher received one more call to come in and meet with his teacher and the principal, they knew what was coming.

Or so they thought. The teacher sat down with the boy’s father and said, “Thanks for coming. I wanted you to hear what I have to say.”

The father crossed his arms and waited, thinking what defense he could use this time. The teacher proceeded to go down a list of ten things—ten positive affirmations of the junior high “troublemaker.” When she finished, the father said, “And what else? Let’s hear the bad things.”

“That’s all I wanted to say,” she said.

That night when the father got home, he repeated the conversation to his son. And not surprisingly, almost overnight, the troublemaker’s attitude and behavior changed dramatically.

That’s the power of encouragement!

Prayer: Dear Father, help me to be a Barnabas to someone today. Show me that person who needs a life-changing encounter with my words of encouragement. Make me sensitive to the efforts of others so that I may take the time to appreciate them. Help me to recognize the contributions of another so that I can publicly acknowledge them. Show me that person who is dying for me to affirm their value. Give me special insight into someone’s life so that I may paint a picture of the bright future you have in mind for them. Allow me this day to speak words of life into the spirit of another. Make me a true son of encouragement. In Jesus name, amen.

The Power of Encouragement: Mark Twain once said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.”