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:
2 Corinthians 6: 14-18 (ESV)
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial (the devil)? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me,” says the Lord Almighty.
Every year, I get nervous around Halloween time.
It’s the start of the holidays. I’m not good around the holidays. I do have divorced-kid baggage, but that’s not really why I don’t like the holidays. The reason why I don’t like the holidays is because they aren’t God’s holidays. They are man’s, and they make me uncomfortable.
This is NOT a popular notion, I know. I am often made fun of by my family and friends — many of whom claim to be Christians. I hear all the time, “What’s the big deal? I know they are Pagan festivals, but I don’t honor the devil. I just have fun.” Or, when it’s Christmas time I hear, “I know Christmas supplants the winter Pagan festivals, but so what? I am honoring Jesus. Get over yourself.”
It’s exceptionally hurtful to be told by those closest to you that you are weird or wrong for not being like everyone else. BUT, we are not called to be like everyone else.
In Deuteronomy 12:1-4 we are told, “These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.“
I’m not trying to show off that I’m the greatest Christian ever. I’m SO far from being the greatest anything! I am simply trying to follow God’s desires as described by Paul in 2 Corinthians 6. I want to have fun and celebrate like everyone else, but I don’t want to go before God one day and have Him look at me with big, sad God-eyes and ask, “Why did you worship other gods?” I don’t want to hurt my Lord and Savior who defeated the devil and death for me. And, this is why I don’t celebrate certain holidays no matter how weird this may make me to mankind.
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
The Christian Fiction Girl 
Thanks Nicole! We don’t celebrate Halloween but Reformation Day.
In this time of mid-term elections, I can’t help but think this verse would apply! Take Jesus into the voting booth! Could you vote for someone who says they don’t believe in abortion but supports a platform that embraces it? To me that is hypocritical. We cannot separate certain things. We are in the world not of the world. But it takes all of us standing up for the rights of those who cannot stand up for themselves. And we need to be informed voters. We need to know what the candidates stand for.
Sorry for the rant. Delete if you don’t think it is appropriate.
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I’m totally NOT deleting this Paula, and I don’t think this is a rant. I think you are spot on. The verses I chose to discuss today lend themselves to all avenues of life. We need to be firm in our faith no matter the setting (holidays, voting, at work, etc.), or we are hurting God and being hypocritical. I very much agree with you Paula. Thank you for sharing today!
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You bring up a good point. Each of us are at a different place along our walk with Christ (spiritual growth). What might seem ok for one person may not seem ok to another. We need to listen to our conscience, even if it is different from what everyone else around us is doing. We also should be understanding to those who may view something differently than we do.
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Yes! I mean no disrespect to anyone at any stage in their walk with Christ. We all start out in the same place spiritually — covered in sin! I just don’t understand why others have to be mean or hurtful, especially family and friends who claim to know Jesus. If God places something on someone’s heart, it’s imperative we follow through.
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This is actually something that I have spent a great deal thinking about over the last few years. I suspect, though I have no proof of this, that how people respond actually speaks volumes on what is going on in their lives and their personal walk with Christ. If someone responds negatively or meanly or hurtfully, then their own relationship with the Lord may be in a rocky place. Perhaps what we said or did is pricky their heart because it is an area the Holy Spirit has been prodding them to change.
Sometimes people may say things without even thinking because they just naturally assume that their opinion/view on an issue must be the correct one so everyone else, by default, is wrong… or it is something they never, ever considered so they dismiss it automatically; but both mindsets also show a serious character flaw: the lack empathy towards others.
After all, when we submit ourselves to the Lord and ask for Him to change us from our sinful selves into a reflection of His character, we will be kinder, more thoughtful, and more empathetic towards others. That includes thinking before we speak or react to others, trying to understand where the other person is coming from, etc. because these actions are representative of the Fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23, ESV)
Sorry. I have a headcold and I just rambled on…
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I love and agree with all of this. I feel the same about when others get mean that perhaps it’s because God has placed the conviction upon their hearts, but they may not be listening. Their reaction is more about them then about what I am saying or feeling.
I am sorry you have a cold. I will pray for speedy healing! ❤️
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Thank you for sharing these verses today and for sharing your heart. I’m sorry that you have been treated badly by other Christians because you are following what God has put on your heart. Stand strong! God has great plans for you my sweet friend! ((HUGS))
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Trisha, you are the best! Hugs back to you!
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YES!! This!! 1000 times this!!! I feel the same way and I’m surprised how many people even from church have an issue that I don’t take any part in it. The church I currently go to as well as my last church both do a “halloween alternative” but I feel convicted to stay away from those as well. I can understand different people have different convictions but I definitely want nothing to do with Halloween personally.
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I agree with you, Becca. There is nothing good about Halloween. It’s a celebration of death. I don’t want to celebrate death. I want to celebrate life. I appreciate that you stick to the convictions God placed on your heart! ❤️
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We celebrate All Saints at my church. I find it to be beautiful time of remembering those who have gone home to heaven. Thanks for sharing your Thursday Encouragement!
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Thank you for stopping by today. Sounds like you have a good church! 🙂
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