Good morning, and welcome to His Encouragement Thursday! I don’t know about you, but Thursdays are my struggle day of the week. By Thursday, I have already been working hard at school and at home, and I just wish it would hurry up and be Friday already. LOL! I definitely need a little extra Jesus time on Thursdays.
Trisha, my blogger friend at Joy of Reading, and I decided on calling this post “His Encouragement” because our real source of peace, strength, and security can only come from Jesus Christ. He, and He alone, is our constant! We pray and hope that these Thursday posts become a real encouragement to you and help you end your week strong in God’s love and purpose for you. God bless!
Today’s Thursday Encouragement comes from:
Isaiah 53:3-5 (ESV)
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.
Chapter 53 in Isaiah is my most favorite chapter in all of Isaiah. It’s stunning. I could have quoted the entire thing, but limited myself to 3 of my favorite verses. Here’s a fascinating fact…Isaiah lived roughly 650 years before Jesus would take human form and walk this earth. 650 years prior to His birth, Isaiah wrote all about Jesus and His death. I find that completely remarkable. God is AMAZING!!!
Look at some of the words used to describe Jesus: despised, rejected, stricken, smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed, chastised. Isaiah also describes Jesus as a man of sorrows and one acquainted with grief. The Son of GOD came to earth so He could be the man of sorrows, so He could be punished severely so we could have peace and be healed. Why would anyone in His right mind do that? BECAUSE JESUS LOVES TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!
In the 2nd grade, a medical doctor came to my class and explained all the horrible things that happened to Jesus’s body the day He died. For those of you gasping in horror, I went to a Catholic school. They were really big on fear tactics. As you can imagine, what that doctor shared with my class made a GINORMOUS impact on me. I cannot read Isaiah 53:3-5 without remembering what that doctor taught us. It breaks my heart that I put Jesus through that horrific day. I feel awful. But, I also feel awe. Complete and total awe. Jesus loves me SO much that He took my punishment. He took God’s wrath upon Himself so I wouldn’t have to experience it. It blows my mind. Honestly, it makes me want to hug Jesus so hard. I’m so eternally grateful.
No matter what is happening, no matter how out of control my life feels, when I think about these three verses from Isaiah 53 and ponder all Jesus did for me the day He died, everything in my life falls into proper perspective. It’s all about Jesus. I have to live my life for Him because He so willingly gave up His life for me.
AND, the same is true for you, dear readers. Jesus LOVES you so much!!!
NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN!
WHAT BIBLICAL VERSE IS ENCOURAGING YOU TODAY?
Check out more Thursday Encouragement from my fellow blogger friends:
Trisha @ Joy of Reading
Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home
Jessica @ A Baker’s Perspective
Becca @ The Becca Files
Jenny @ Author Jenny Lynn
If you would like to join us: please contact Trisha or Nicole
The Christian Fiction Girl 
God’s love is amazing! Thank you, Nichole, for sharing these verses today! Everywhere we look in the Bible we can find God’s love for us. That He would leave heaven, and endure torture and death, to save us, boggles the mind! When we think of ALL He has given to us, how can we give Him anything less?
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Yes!!! I totally agree, Trisha. ❤
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Another wonderful His Encouragement Thursday. Thank you for posting.
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Aw! Thank you. 😃
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I remember last summer reading an article that explained all of the physical effects that someone who was being crucified would experience and how it’s one of the most painful ways someone can die. It’s hard enough to think of Jesus being beaten and scourged but then seeing all he would have experienced on the cross as well is impossible to even imagine. To love us enough to go through everything he did so that we can have eternal life in heaven is a love we can even begin to comprehend. THAT is AMAZING LOVE. Thanks for sharing today!
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You are welcome! ❤
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When I was a child, I did not understand why we bowed our heads when we prayed because my greatest wish and deepest desire was to look up into Jesus’ face and be hugged by Him. There was a song we sang as young children that went like this: “Heaven is a wonderful place, filled with glory and grace, and I’m gonna see my Savior’s face ‘cuz heaven is a wonderful place! (I wanna go there!)”
Granted, as I grew up, I eventually understood sin and the magnitude of Christ’ sacrifice for me. But I sometimes look back at the innocence of childhood, especially the enormous sense of awe and wonder that child have, and wonder what it would be like if we could all stay that innocence… No, even more innocent. Completely without sin, the way God had intended when He created Adam and Eve.
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I can’t wait to give Jesus a hug. To be with Him. To be safe and secure. To never be sad or scared again. I want that so badly.
One day, Jacquelyn, you’ll feel that way again. The way you felt when you were young. Before this world started hurting us so much!!! 😃❤
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