Author: Kristi Wilson

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Real Encouragement

I am overwhelmed when I stop to think of the friends I have been blessed with through the years. Their love and encouragement is priceless!

Encouragement.

In it’s simplest form encouragement is the act of infusing with courage. By definition it means “the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope”. Encouragement is something friends give to one another.

Encouragement is a light in our darkness and a warm blanket of comfort. It provides us with strength to move forward and hope in future.

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8 NLT

The Bible tells us we are blessed when we turn to the Lord for encouragement. In Him, we find hope and confidence. In Him, we flourish like a well watered tree. In Him, we produce good fruit.

Christ gives us courage and infuses us with encouragement. That’s what the Bible is all about – written words of encouragement and our friends are used by God to remind us that we can always trust in Him and depend on them.

Today, we are ending our quick study through the book of Colossians. I hope you have found it encouraging. In the last eleven verses of this book Paul mentions eight people who have worked with him, encouraged him while he has been imprisoned and who are now offering encouragement to these Christians.

The book started out with Paul’s greeting to be filled with grace and peace and ends with him urging us to encourage others in their faith. Some skip over these closing words, thinking they are insignficant. However, every word in the Bible has significance.

These final thoughts express appreciation for those who have worked with Paul to deliver the message of new life in Christ. It calls by name those who have worked closely with him, it validates them. And it reminds us to express appreciation for those who have walked with us in our trying times.

“Tychicus is my dear brother in Christ. He is a faithful helper and he serves the Lord with me. He will tell you everything that is happening with me. 8 That is why I am sending him. I want you to know how we are, and I am sending him to encourage you. 9 I am sending him with Onesimus, the faithful and dear brother from your group. They will tell you everything that has happened here…Epaphras, another servant of Jesus Christ from your group, sends his greetings. He constantly struggles for you in prayer. He prays that you will grow to be spiritually mature and have everything that God wants for you.” Colossians 4:7-9, 12 ERV

Give encouragement!

Let’s follow Paul’s example. I urge you to make a mental, better yet, a physical list of those who have been an encouragement to you. Pray for them, send them a greeting and thank them for the role they have played in your life. I guarantee your greeting will be an encouragement to them.

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Never Stop!

This has been a wonderful week. I’ve already shared with you that our youngest daughter and family were with us at the beginning of the week and now, we have our oldest granddaughter and her family here at the end of it. Our home has been blessed with fullness.

Our youngest granddaughter and our great granddaughter are just a few months apart in age, both are less than eighteen months old and they never stop exploring throughout the day. They are on the go and experiencing all that life has to offer them in this world called “Pappy & Besta’s House”.

At day’s end there are four tired adults crawling into bed and one toddler sleeping peacefully. The opportunity to expand their boundaries and their learning never stops. It just takes a brief interlude to recharge.

Watching these little two ones, and the 3 & 5 year old , increases my dedication to prayer. Prayers for their protection, good health and joy and prayers for their parents’ wisdom, strength and reliance on the Lord.

Never stop praying!

The Apostle Paul writes these words as he closes out this letter to the Christians in Colossae.

“Never stop praying. Be ready for anything by praying and being thankful. 3 Also pray for us. Pray that God will give us an opportunity to tell people his message. I am in prison for doing this. But pray that we can continue to tell people the secret truth that God has made known about Christ. 4 Pray that I will say what is necessary to make this truth clear to everyone.

5 Be wise in the way you act with those who are not believers. Use your time in the best way you can. 6 When you talk, you should always be kind and wise. Then you will be able to answer everyone in the way you should.” Colossians 4:2-6 ERV

Never stop!

It’s imperative that we fill our days with prayer. Prayer prepares us for the seen and unseen circumstances of our day. Prayer will fill our hearts with gratitude, a knowing that we aren’t in this life alone and a thankfulness that our Father walks each step of our journey with us.

I recently read an account of a man who was thankful for unseen blessings. He gave thanks for the times when a delay in traffic kept him from an auto accident; thankful for the noisy neighborhood dog that bark incessantly and kept his car from being vandelized in the drive way. He was thankful for the co-worker that missed the big meeting and he was shielded from exposure to COVID. All of these little circumstances could have been an annoyance, a reason to grumble and complain, but he chose to see the blessings in the interruption.

He was being wise in the way he acted. Using his time in the best way possible and being kind in his thoughts and actions. He was living out the instruction above without realizing it. He never stopped being thankful in prayer.

May we all never stop praying!

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I Love My Job

Years ago I heard a story and it goes something like this:

“One morning a man got up and told his wife ‘I’m not going to work today. I just want to stay home’. To which she replied ‘You have to go, everyone’s counting on you’. The man muttered and said ‘No one there likes me, they criticize everything I say and do’. The wife tried to be encouraging ‘You have to learn to turn the other cheek. You really have to go, you’re the pastor.'”

I think we all have days like that. We get up and just don’t want to go to work and we need to find motivation to help us have a good attitude about what we do and who we work with. I have enjoyed most of the positions I have worked at but there was one that was a real struggle.

I didn’t handle it well. I complained alot; in fact, I did more complaining about my job than I did praying about it. Just being honest here. And then the Lord reminded me of these words.

“Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work.” Colossians 3:22-25 MSG

I needed to do my job as if the Lord was my boss. My responsibility was to please Him and to be an encouragement to those around me. I was to use the talents and skills I had to be the best employee I could be. Less complaining, more praying. It was hard!!

Eventually the Lord opened the door to another position and I was able to quit. I learned a couple things during that time, 1) Pray before taking any position no matter how good it seems, 2) Each day seek to serve the Lord and you can be at peace anywhere and 3)Always, always do your best.

When I think of people who had tough work conditions I think of Joseph. His working conditions were far from perfect. In his first position he went from house servant to overseer of the whole operation but was falsely accused of rape and ended up going to prison. In prison he was the model prisoner and excelled in all he did. He served there for a number of years before he was brought before the pharoah to serve in his court. All along the way Joseph kept his heart free from bitterness and served each master with a pure heart.

“So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God has shown you all this, there is no one as understanding and wise as you are. 40 My house will be put in your care. And all my people will do as you say. Only on the throne will I be greater than you.” Genesis 41:39-40 NLV

The Lord exalted Joseph. He went from slave boy to the highest ranking official in the pharaoh’s kingdom.

Wherever we are and whatever we do we need to stay focused on serving the Lord. He can be trusted to change circumstances for our good.

Learn to love the job the Lord has given you. Afterall, we’re working for Him!

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Do It Again!

For the past several days Dave and I had been blessed to have our youngest daughter, son-in-love, and three small grandchildren visit. Our home has been filled with happy times!

After they left, we talked about all the fun things we did while they were here and are hoping to do it again as soon as possible. We hadn’t had this much time with them in over a year.

The house was filled with laughter and joy! There were a few tears and squabbles but those were minimal. Art projects were created, stories were read, games were played, swings were swung, meals were shared and bedtime prayers were said. (Thank God for bedtime, I needed to recharge.)

A happy home!

Yesterday morning when I was reading my Bible I saw plainly that a “happy home” is God’s plan for us and it’s spelled out for us in several places. One of those is right here in Colossians.

“Wives, be willing to serve your husbands. This is the right thing to do in following the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and be gentle to them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything. This pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, don’t upset your children. If you are too hard to please, they might want to stop trying.” Colossians 3:18-21 ERV

These are basic, simple instructions, instructions that create a happy home!

Wives are to submit to our husbands. It’s the right thing to do. There can only be one head in a home and God has vested that authority to our husbands. They, in turn, are answerable to God for making the right decisions for their familes. We are given the responsibility of being “keepers of the home”. It’s a high calling!

Husbands are instructed to love us and to be gentle with us. They are to be our protectors and providers. That’s a big responsibility. They need our prayers and our support. They are to love and care for us in the same way that Christ does.

Children are instructed to be obedient. If they learn this lesson in the home they will be respectful of the other authority figures in their lives, i.e. teachers, employers, elders, law enforcement, the Lord. This goes back to what I was saying yesterday. We taught our children there was one rule at home, be obedient.

Parents…for me, this is the hard one. There’s a fine line between being too strict or harsh and teaching our children discipline and respect. If we are constantly correcting, it becomes nagging, and it can create a child with low self-esteem. God doesn’t want that for our children, He wants them to realize how deeply loved they are by Him and by us.

“Fathers, do not be so hard on your children that they will give up trying to do what is right.” Colossians 3:21 NLV

I realized I was doing this to our kids when they did their household chores. I was pushing them to my standard of perfection and not realizing that they didn’t see things the same way I did. I needed to praise them for their effort and help them see the things they were deficient with.

Our kids are not just our kids. They are also sons and daughters of God and we should be raising them the way He instructs. Will there be times when correction and discipline are necessary? Absolutely. Will there be occasions of defiance and rebellion? Possibly. It’s up to us as parents to bring our children, individually, to the Lord in prayer and get His insight on their upbringing.

A happy home is built on a foundation of God’s love. His word is infallible, we can trust Him!

We keep doing the right thing because it’s right and then we do it again!

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Do It Right

Growing up there was a saying I heard in our home frequently. “A job worth doing is worth doing well”.

We didn’t take short cuts just to get the job done. I was taught to do things right but if I hurried through and didn’t do it correctly, I would have to do it again. This applied to everything from music scales on the piano, to baking, cleaning my room and homework.

Life lesson learned. Do it right.

But it really was so much more than that. It wasn’t just a philosophy to help me live better; I came to understand that it was the bedrock that I built my life upon.

Do it right!

“God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So your new life should be like this: Show mercy to others. Be kind, humble, gentle, and patient. 13 Don’t be angry with each other, but forgive each other. If you feel someone has wronged you, forgive them. Forgive others because the Lord forgave you. 14 Together with these things, the most important part of your new life is to love each other. Love is what holds everything together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking. It is for peace that you were chosen to be together in one body. And always be thankful.

16 Let the teaching of Christ live inside you richly. Use all wisdom to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Everything you say and everything you do should be done for Jesus your Lord. And in all you do, give thanks to God the Father through Jesus.” Colossians 3:12-17 ERV

A few days ago I shared how we should avoid the list of don’ts that the world tries to impose on us. These verses above give us a list of things we can and should be doing which are good and beneficial. I’ve even highlighted a few of them.

God used the Apostle Paul to give this instruction to young Christians. This teaching was the bedrock for their relationship in Christ. It was an amplification of the teaching that Jesus gave to his disciples when he said “by this will all men know that you are my disciples if you love one another”.

The verses above give explanation to how love acts: love is merciful, kind, humble, gentle patient, forgiving and thankful. Love seeks peace, not turmoil.

Do what’s right.

Everytime I read verse seventeen I am reminded of what we told our kids when they were little. “You have one rule, obey what we say”. Paul is saying the same thing here: Everything you say and do should be done for Jesus.

In other words, be obedient. Do it right!

A few years back a whole lot of folks were wearing those rubberized bands on their wrist – WWJD, that thought puts the verses above in a nutshell.

When there are areas where we’ve missed it, God’s love grants us a do over. If that’s where you are today, begin again and do it right.

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Be Focused & Aim High

On a number of occasions Dave and I have gone out to the desert to do some target practice. He is the skilled marksman, I am not. I have heard him say, on several occasions, “Kris, you need to focus and aim higher”.

That’s always good advice!

“You were raised from death with Christ. So live for what is in heaven, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Think only about what is up there, not what is here on earth. 3 Your old self has died, and your new life is kept with Christ in God. 4 Yes, Christ is now your life, and when he comes again, you will share in his glory.” Colossians 3:1-4 ERV

Focus. Aim High.

When we follow Christ we are given a new life. This life is higher than anything we could acheive on our own. We are empowered by the Spirit of God who lives within us. Our goal is not to look down on ourselves or others; it is to look up to the One who is our example.

In yesterday’s blog we looked at some of the man-made rules of religion, those that are always telling us the things we can’t do. But when we look to Christ, when we raise our aim and focus on Him, we gain a greater perspective.

  • Jesus loved the Father and His neighbor.
  • Jesus was forgiving and kind.
  • Jesus helped those who were in need.
  • Jesus elevated the outcasts and downtrodden.
  • Jesus sacrficed His own comfort to minister to others.
  • Jesus always spoke the truth.
  • Jesus always saw the best in others.

Who better to focus on than the One who gave His all for us!

Do I miss the mark? Absolutely!

There are days when my thoughts, and my actions, are self-serving. Sometimes I repent immediately and there are other times I wallow in my selfishness for a while. It’s then I hear that still small voice in my heart telling me “lift your gaze, look up, you’re missing the mark”.

“But now put these things out of your life: anger, losing your temper, doing or saying things to hurt others, and saying shameful things. 9 Don’t lie to each other. You have taken off those old clothes—the person you once were and the bad things you did then. 10 Now you are wearing a new life, a life that is new every day. You are growing in your understanding of the one who made you. You are becoming more and more like him. 11 In this new life it doesn’t matter if you are a Greek or a Jew, circumcised or not. It doesn’t matter if you speak a different language or even if you are a Scythian. It doesn’t matter if you are a slave or free. Christ is all that matters, and he is in all of you.” Colossians 3:8-11 ERV

Focus. Aim High.

We’ve been given a new life; every day we should become more like Him. Christ is all that matters and He lives in us!

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Too Many Don’ts

When I grew up there were a lot of don’ts. Don’t do this and don’t do that. Some were for my own protection, i.e. don’t touch the stove, it’s hot, while other’s were rules set up by religion, i.e. we don’t go to dances or movies.

There was a whole list of them and they outnumbered the things that we could do. The emphasis was more on the negative aspects than it was on the positive.

The college I went too was very strict. As in-coming students we had a list of things we could and couldn’t do.

But this list of what was acceptable and unacceptable behavior wasn’t just limited to the religious world in the United States. I was shocked to learn that at one time in the Middle European countries it was considered shameful for Christians to drink coffee but perfectly acceptable for them to drink beer and wine.

No wonderful so many people think if you claim to be a Christian you can’t have any fun!

There are God-given instructions for our well being and then there are those that men have added on because of religious piety. The Bible has something to say about these add-ons.

“Don’t let anyone tell you what you must eat or drink. Don’t let them say that you must celebrate the New Moon festival, the Sabbath, or any other festival. 17 These things are only a shadow of what was to come. But Christ is real…20 You died with Christ. Now the forces of the universe don’t have any power over you. Why do you live as if you had to obey such rules as, 21 “Don’t handle this. Don’t taste that. Don’t touch this.”? 22 After these things are used, they are no longer good for anything. So why be bothered with the rules that humans have made up? 23 Obeying these rules may seem to be the smart thing to do. They appear to make you love God more and to be very humble and to have control over your body. But they don’t really have any power over our desires.” Colossians 2:16-23 CEV

The list of man-made don’ts cause us to focus on ourselves. We develop a type of tunnel vision. “I can’t do this, I can’t do that, I can go here or there”. We become Rule-Centered instead of being Christ-Centered. As the verses above point out, we should be looking at Christ and the reality He brings to our lives.

It was life-changing when I realized there was a different list for my life in the Bible – it is a list of “do’s”. We’ll cover some of those tomorrow. It’s time to evaluate our actions or, in some cases, lack of action to man-made rules.

Our relationship with the Lord sets us free to do good works. Let’s get started!

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No Data Found!

If you’re like me most of your computer knowledge comes from trial and error. Lots and lots of error!!

In the early days of my computer ownership I had a dear friend help me with some inputting and formatting I was trying to do. He gave me some advice I still use. “When working in a document or on a page, play around as much as you want but if you don’t like the result, close the file but don’t save. Everything will revert back to the previous version.” Words to live by for sure. It has saved me tears and frustration, not to mention many hours of trying to recreate something that I had messed up.

However, there are circumstances when I’ve been glad to hit delete and see everything on the screen or in the file completely disappear. No longer can it be found. This takes intentional thought – it’s gone with no way to retrieve the information.

I can hear someone say “perish the thought, that would be horrible”. In many cases that would be true. Yet, I would like to relate a situation where this is amazingly welcomed.

“You were dead, because you were sinful and were not God’s people. But God let Christ make you alive, when he forgave all our sins. 14 God wiped out the charges that were against us for disobeying the Law of Moses. He took them away and nailed them to the cross. 15 There Christ defeated all powers and forces. He let the whole world see them being led away as prisoners when he celebrated his victory.” Colossians 2:13-15 CEV

Before we come to Christ our lives are spiritually dead. Our sins separate us from a life with God. But when we come to Christ He gives us life by forgiving all our sins. It’s then that God, the Father, hits the delete button on the file with all our transgressions and failures – they are wiped out! No search will find them, they are gone, vanished as if they never existed.

How great is that!

The greatest system failure of all time is for our benefit! In place of our failures and sins there’s a new file with a one word name – “Forgiven”!

But He doesn’t stop there, although that would certainly be enough. Christ goes on to defeat all the powers and forces that would like to defeat us and hold us captive to our past. Then He puts them on display, for all to see, they are defeated.

We are now alive in Christ, totally forgiven and the list of sins, the charges against us, are wiped out!

Praise God! There is no data found.

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Don’t Be Fooled!

Have you ever had someone mislead you? Perhaps their actions were an intentional misrepresentation to get a desired end that would benefit them, perhaps not. It’s never a good feeling when you realize you have been duped.

Thoughts of “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve” have plagued me. The “what-if’s” and “if only’s” have played out in my thinking more times than I would like to admit.

Why am I telling you this? It’s something the Apostle Paul told the young Christians in Colossae and I wish I had known this teaching all those years ago.

“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. 9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” Colossians 2:8-10 NLT

Don’t let anyone capture you with philosophies and nonsense that comes from human thinking.

This is sound advice for all of us. I know that Paul was talking about our Christian faith and teachings involving our walk with Christ. But I also believe that it pertains to our everyday lives. There are all sorts of opinions and beliefs that go contrary to the Word of God and we need to be on guard so we aren’t deceived or drawn astray.

Paul repeats a major truth that we all need to completely saturated with, we are complete in Christ!

Just as Christ was complete because of His relationship with the Father, we are complete because of our relationship with the Son. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to lead and guide us. It is imperative that we listen to that still, small, inner voice for direction and peace.

“But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth. He will not speak his own words. He will speak only what he hears and will tell you what will happen in the future.” John 16:13 ERV

“Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking. It is for peace that you were chosen to be together in one body. And always be thankful. 16 Let the teaching of Christ live inside you richly. Use all wisdom to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:15-16 ERV

The best way I know to keep from being fooled into wrong thinking and wrong actions is to let the peace of God rule in our hearts! Let it become the final authority. It will either give us a red light or a green light for the things before us.

Have I been perfect in this? Heaven’s no! But I’m a much better listener now to God’s prompting of peace than I have been in the past.

Good advice for daily life is “Don’t be fooled”!

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Discovering Your Roots

A few years ago we took our young grandson camping with us. We took a couple of “nature walks” around the campground.

He was excited to find different kinds of wild flowers (which he picked for his Mom), pine cones of every size, a hollowed out log, a downed tree which was wide enough to walk on and a tree stump which had been up rooted.

He was amazed to see how big the exposed roots were and fascinated by the rocks that were tangled in these large tenacles beneath the earth’s surface. We explained to him, as best you can to a three year old, that these roots were what helped the trees stand tall and not fall over when the wind blew hard or the snow was deep.

What was a fun adventure for a kid was also a great reminder for us as adults.

So many times I find myself drawing on things I learned or experiences I have had as a child. My parents taught me honesty, to be respectful, how to handle hardship, to be a gracious winner, to have a good work ethic and to be loving and friendly to all people. Those roots have supported me throughout my life.

In the last blog we saw that God had kept a mystery hidden through the ages and that mystery was Jesus. Like the lessons my parents taught me, the Apostle Paul is teaching us to have our roots in anchored in the wisdom and knowledge of God.

“I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. 3 In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:2-3 NLT

There have been times when I have been tested to stand strong. Hard winds of adversity have tried to blow me over. Sometimes I have swayed dramatically with their force and have almost been completely devastated. But when the winds subsided I was standing, thankfully standing, because my roots were firmly planted in my faith in Christ.

“As you have put your trust in Christ Jesus the Lord to save you from the punishment of sin, now let Him lead you in every step. 7 Have your roots planted deep in Christ. Grow in Him. Get your strength from Him. Let Him make you strong in the faith as you have been taught. Your life should be full of thanks to Him.” Colossians 2:6-7 NLV

My faith in Christ is what has been my anchor. He is the one who holds my roots secure. Without Him in my life I would fail to stand, I would be completely uprooted during the storms.

I am so thankful that my roots are deeply planted in Christ and that I am growing stronger in Him with each passing day.

May I encourage you to discover your roots. Let them go deep – it will keep you from falling.

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