Skip to main content

Our Daily Bread: The Swagger

By


Our Daily Bread Devotional Wednesday 17th August 2016

Encourage one another and build each other up. 
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11

In the summer of 2015, Hunter (aged 15) carried his brother Braden (8) for a fifty-seven-mile walk to raise awareness of the needs of people with cerebral palsy. Braden weighs sixty pounds, so Hunter needed frequent rest stops where others helped him stretch his muscles, and he wore special harnesses to disperse Braden’s weight. Hunter says that while the harnesses helped with the physical discomfort, what helped him most were the people along the way. “If it weren’t for everyone cheering and walking with us, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. . . . My legs were sore, but my friends picked me up and I made it through . . . .” His mom named the arduous trek “The Cerebral Palsy Swagger.”

The apostle Paul, who we think of as strong and courageous, also needed to be “picked up.” In Romans 16 he lists a number of people who did just that for him. They served alongside him, encouraged him, met his needs, and prayed for him. He mentions Phoebe; Priscilla and Aquila, who were co-workers; Rufus’s mother, who had been like a mother to him as well; Gaius, who showed him hospitality; and many more.

We all need friends who pick us up, and we all know of others who need our encouragement. As Jesus helps and carries us, let us help one another. —Anne Cetas

Lord, in Your wisdom You established Your church as a place for us to love and care for each other. Help me to extend the grace I’ve received to others.

Read: Romans 16:1-4,13,21-23
Bible in a Year: Psalms 97-99; Romans 16

Encouragers pick others up when troubles weigh them down.

INSIGHT: The letter to the Romans is arguably Paul’s most intensely theological letter. Yet in Romans 16, he issues more personal greetings than in any other letter—twenty-seven! These personal greetings, included at the close of a theological letter about the nature of the gospel, serve as a significant reminder. The message of the death and resurrection of Jesus is not merely a piece of intellectual information. The doctrines that form the foundation for our rescue in Christ are not an academic exercise. These truths describe the love of God for human beings who have names and faces and struggles and victories. The gospel is the story of God’s unfailing love for people—people like those listed here. People like you and me. Bill Crowder
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

You've been blessed through this reading share with Others. Share the DO's and the DON'T.

Popular posts from this blog

Dominion Mandate Daily Devotional February 26, 2016

By
THEME: RETREAT TO REFRESH READ: Matt. 11:25-30 When some musicians want to release great songs, they retreat to secluded places where they can reflect, meditate and create. Some choose places overlooking the vast oceans, some choose where there are waterfalls, and some choose places with thick forestations.  As they observe the beauty of nature, the swift moves and songs of the soaring birds, the colourful flowering vegetations, the serene beaches and the unending waves of the nearby waters, they capture inspiration that helps them develop the hit songs they have been longing for. I met one of the world’s renowned musicians in Atlanta, USA a few years ago where journalist surrounded him and were asking what he had come to do and why his beards had grown so much. He said that his last album did not perform well enough and he was incubating another one he wanted to release that would perform better. He said that he needed to pull away from the Noise of New York and California and
Post a Comment
Read more

A NEW MONTH OF DIVINE ANNOUNCEMENT

By
But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. Luke 1:13 The Bible is replete of records on how God announced some events before they finally happened. Because you made it into the new Month, God will specially announce you in Jesus name.  Whenever God want to do something unusual, He first of all announce it, for instance, when He wanted to delivered the children of Israelite from the hand of the philistine whom He has delivered them to, He sent an angel to break the new to the parent of the deliverer - Samson. Judges 13.  When God wanted to turn the hearts of men back to Himself, He sent angel Gabriel to announced the birth of John the Baptist to his father, Zacharias. Also when God was fully ready for the redemption of man, He first announced it to the one whose body His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ will pass through to the earth. Luke 1:26-38. That was their time b
Post a Comment
Read more

A Hidden Treasure

By
The sower soweth the word. (Mark 4:14) Right now, at this very moment, you have hidden within you a treasure that can change the world. A treasure that can change a man's eternal destiny, that can take him to heaven and save him from hell. A treasure that can turn a person's poverty into prosperity, his sickness into health, his sorrow into joy. You have within you the all-powerful Word of God. Don't keep it to yourself. Plant it wherever you go! Sow it into the hearts of those you meet. Share it at every opportunity. "But I don't know how!" you may say. Then start learning. Let these three steps help guide the way. 1: Make a decision. Make up your mind and heart today that you are going to share the Word with others no matter what! Determine right now that it's the most important thing you'll ever do. Commit to it. Once you've done that, you'll find the rest is easy. 2: Prepare yourself. Spend time meditating in the Word each
1 comment
Read more