His Encouragement #52

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!

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Today’s Thursday Encouragement comes from:

Leviticus 25:35-36 (ESV)

If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you.

Did you know that God keeps a journal?

He does. It’s called the Book of Remembrance. In this book, He writes down every time a person does or says something that shows that the person fears and esteems Him.

This is illustrated in Malachi 3:16 (ESV):

 

 

“Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a Book of Remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed His Name.”

 

 

So, why is my chosen verse from Leviticus? Because of that one phrase in verse 36 — BUT FEAR YOUR GOD. The rabbinic sages teach that God is always watching. When a person does something good for a stranger, foreigner, or neighbor God is watching. He sees and makes note of the deed or kind word. If you read between the lines in Leviticus 25:35-36, the idea is that we should automatically take care of our poor brothers, strangers, foreigners, etc. because it is good to do so AND because God is watching.

We all know that it is by God’s grace and mercy that we are saved. It is through the blood of Jesus that our sins are washed away. Our works will never be good enough to save us from the taint of sin and death. BUT, it is important to know that God keeps a diary of His kids. When we say and do things that esteem Him He writes our words and actions down in His remembrance book.

I just want to clarify — God is not watching our works and words per se. He is really watching our hearts when we say those words and do those things. Are our hearts esteeming Him? Are our hearts fearing Him? Actions and words can be so misleading and deceiving. I can look and act like a great Christian woman, but is it really in my heart?

Knowing that God is watching and recording shouldn’t make us feel paranoid. It should encourage us. God — the creator of everything, the Lord of all — loves us so much He’s keeping tabs. It’s how we know He can hear our prayers and our praise — because He is always watching. He is right there next to each of us. Too cool!

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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

Gina @ Stories by Gina!

If you would like to join us: please contact Trisha or Nicole