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Category Archives: Encouragement

You are Better than a Tree

26 Dec

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist.  Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”
Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath.  Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.
Isaiah 44:22-23

On Christmas Day – at least in my part of the world – I woke up to snow in the air.  It was a beautiful sight to see a new blanket of white on the frozen ground.  I was then blessed to spend the morning opening presents with my wife and children.  God is so good!

Sometimes it just seems like everything is right with the world.  “The hills are alive with the sound of music.”  We look around, and all of nature seems to be singing God’s praise.  Actually, this is a product of our attitude.  It happens when we start the day meditating on what God has done for us.

At least for believers, that should be an easy thing this time of year.  We are reminded of all the Lord has done for us.  Taking on our humanity and living among us was truly a special gift.  Then, bearing our sins to the cross and rising for our salvation was something we couldn’t have even imagined that God would be willing to accomplish for us.

What an incredible thing!  To have your sins forgiven.  To know that the blood of Christ washes you clean.  To be able to approach His holy presence without fear of condemnation.  It’s no wonder that Isaiah felt like all creation was bursting into song before him.

The privilege is ours now to run into His majestic presence.  Don’t start the day without spending time with Him.  Commit the day ahead to His care.  Let Him establish and maintain you.  Bring praise and worship before Him.  Don’t you dare let the forests and mountains outdo you in the praise of His glorious name!

Question: Is there something you would like to praise God for right now?

© Nick Zaccardi 2012

 
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Posted by on December 26, 2012 in Encouragement, Worship

 

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Birth of Christ…A Sign of Things to Come

24 Dec

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s Christmas Eve.  Our thoughts turn to the Child born in a stable in Bethlehem.

This is the day everything changed.  Christ was born.  God made flesh.

And yet, many people miss the significance of the events that occurred that day.  Sometimes the smallest detail can make a world of difference.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:8-12

At night in Bethlehem, everyone was asleep in their beds.  Well, not everyone.  There was a group of people who couldn’t sleep.  They had a job to accomplish.  They were shepherds watching over a flock of sheep.

Suddenly the unexpected occurred.  They had a supernatural encounter.  An angel showed up with an important message for them.  The Christ was born.

But more than that – there was a sign.  That means there was a special thing they were to look for to prove they were in the right place.  A baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.

This sign to the shepherds was more than just proof for them.  It was a sign of things to come.  This baby was placed in a manger – not a crib or cradle.  A manger is a fancy way of saying a feeding trough for livestock.  It’s a place for animal food, not babies.

Yet this was the “Bread of Heaven” who came down to give us life.  So for Christ, this was an appropriate resting place for Him.  The Bread of Life lying in a feeding trough.

The strips of cloth were another sign. It wasn’t the normal kind of baby clothes of that day.  Strips of cloth were used to clothe the dead, not the living.  This baby was dressed as a corpse.  Again – it was a sign of things to come.

Here was the Lamb of God.  He has come to take our place on the cross.  Even as a baby, His calling was revealed.  Death, burial, resurrection and ascension – all for our sakes.

On this great day, amid all the activities and excitement you may find around you, don’t lose sight of the signs.  This child we celebrate is no longer a baby.  He is King of kings and Lord of lords.  He is our Life and Light.  This season is all about Him.

Have a Blessed and Wondrous Christmas!

© Nick Zaccardi 2012

 
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Posted by on December 24, 2012 in Encouragement, Worship

 

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Are You Living a Dehydrated Life?

03 Dec

Stream 2Do you find yourself feeling dry – spiritually speaking?  Do you even know what this means?  In the same way we try to keep our body healthy, we need to tend to our soul.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God?
Psalm 42:1-2

I enjoy hiking on the Appalachian Trail.  I remember a trip I once took up Holt’s Ledge in New Hampshire.  It wasn’t very high – under 3000 feet.  But, because of poor planning on my part, I ran out of water.  To make matters worse, there were no springs ahead on the trail until I went up and over to the other side of the ledge.

It’s an awful thing when you know that you’re dehydrating.  First you start to get light-headed.  Then, every muscle in your body begins to cramp up.  Just putting one foot in front of the other becomes agony.

In that situation there was only one thing I could do.  I walked on with the realization that if I was going to survive, I must get to water.  It was tough, but I eventually made it to a water source.  I drank my fill, resupplied, and started to feel normal.  Later, I vowed never to let that happen again.

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
John 7:37-38

This is a great promise to us.  Jesus said that those who trust Him will have streams of living water on the inside.  We have access to that life-giving river all the time.  The question is, do we draw from it?

Many Christians foolishly live in spiritual “dehydration” every day of their life.  They ignore the presence of God and wonder why their spiritual life is so cramped up.  Why is every step so hard to take?

We need to keep our souls healthy.  This requires the same daily care that we give to our bodies.  Make sure that you don’t suffer from spiritual dehydration – run to the stream of the Lord each day for refreshment.

Refresh yourself right now by spending time in His presence.  Fill your soul with the living water only Christ can provide.

Question: Have you ever gone through a dry spiritual season?  What did you do to overcome it?

© Nick Zaccardi 2012

 
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Posted by on December 3, 2012 in Encouragement, Prayer, Revival

 

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Do You Know the Two Anointings of Music?

30 Nov

Did you know that the Bible speaks about how we should aim our singing?  There are two goals we should direct our music toward.

Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Psalms 96:1-2

The first should be pretty obvious.

Our music can be directed toward God in the praise of His glory.  This is an important part of our relationship with the Lord.  Singing His praises transports us into His presence.

I get so upset when believers view the praise and worship time as merely the “warm-up act” for the pastor’s preaching.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  As we sing praise and thanksgiving to God, we are brought into a deeper spiritual place.  We become more open to the move of the Holy Spirit.

Praising God in song is an important part of a spiritual walk.

The second aim of music may surprise some of you.

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord…
Ephesians 5:19

Our music can be directed toward each other.  There are many people (and I used to be one of them) that dislike the use of songs that are not directed toward God.  This verse clearly shows the necessity of both types of music.

There are times when we need to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to one another.  Why is that so important?

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16

It’s through music that the Word of Christ can live richly in you.  Singing music that’s directed at each other is a form of teaching and admonishing.  As we sing, we learn.

This is an incredible truth.  When my children were small, they learned all the states and their capitals because they were put to music. How much more important is it to get the Word into our hearts?

Through music, the Word of Christ can enter our lives and stay with us.  That’s why I’m so adamant about not singing songs that contain bad doctrine.  Too many Christians believe error because they learned it in their music.

We give praise to our God.  We teach and admonish each other.  Both of these can and should be done through the music of God’s people.

Question: Is there a song that opened up your eyes to a spiritual truth?

© Nick Zaccardi 2012

 
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Posted by on November 30, 2012 in Encouragement, Music, The Church, Word of God

 

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Are You Truly Thankful?

22 Nov

These thoughts on Thanksgiving come from reading Luke 17:11-19.  In this section of Scripture we see an interesting event in the life of Christ.  It caused me to ask myself if I am truly thankful for all God has done for me.

This story from the life of Christ surrounds ten lepers.  These were men who had an incurable skin disease.  They came to Jesus for a miracle and were not disappointed.

In these verses, we see everything needed for obtaining the blessing of God.  There’s faith, obedience, and expectancy.  Jesus’ response to them is simple.

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
Luke 17:14

There was no special religious display.  The Lord didn’t touch them or even pray over them.  He simply gave them a task to complete.

Then, something unexpected happened.  As they were on their way to the priests, their healing was completed.  By the time they got there, the leprosy was totally gone.

But that wasn’t the only unexpected occurrence that day.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
Luke 17:15

On the way to the priests, one of the men sees what’s happening to him.  As he experiences his healing, he turns around.   He begins to make his way back to Jesus.

As he does so, he starts yelling.  The literal Greek uses the words mega-phone.  This was not a quiet thankfulness of the heart.  His actions must have attracted attention.  And what’s more, he didn’t even care who heard him.  He wanted to praise God because of His blessing.

What this passage taught me is that thankful people live out loud for the Lord.  This is not just a church thing, but a lifestyle of praise to God.

That’s why I believe Thanksgiving is more than just “Turkey Day” or “Football Day.”  It’s about what God has done for us.  Even the disciples of Christ caught hold of this.

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen…
Luke 19:37

This is a normal response to the hand of God at work.  It doesn’t mean you have to yell all the time.  What it does mean, is that God’s work should be abundantly evident in your life.

Question: What are you thankful to God for? Are you willing to let people know about it?

© Nick Zaccardi 2012

 
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Posted by on November 22, 2012 in Encouragement

 

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Why You Need to Keep a Spiritual Journal

09 Nov

Journal 2

Spending time in God’s presence is not an option, if we want to hear from God.  As we quiet ourselves in His presence we can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly.

The question is, what happens when you leave the place of prayer?  Do you remember what you heard in the Lord’s presence a week later?  How about a month or even a year later?  How can you thank God for fulfilling His word to you, if you don’t remember what He’s said?

As you seek the Lord’s presence, you’ll find more and more that He wants to speak to you.  He wants us to be a people who hear His voice.

Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.”
Habakkuk 2:2

It’s God’s desire to reveal Himself to all believers.  If you’re listening, you may receive a word from Him concerning your personal walk, your home life, your ministry, or your career.  The Holy Spirit may speak to you about new ventures to launch or old things to cut out of your life.  The point is, whenever you hear from God for your life, write it down!

It doesn’t matter if you’re sure it was God’s voice, or if it was only a slight impression.  Maybe your heart was stirred over a certain passage of Scripture.  Perhaps you feel a leading to do something new for God.  It doesn’t matter how weak or strong the feeling is – it needs to be recorded.

So often we miss out on God’s best because we forget what we heard, or we alter it along the way.  It’s good to be able to look back in a journal and see the conversations we’ve had with the Lord.  Make it a point to bring a journal along with you in your prayer times  – and use it to record what you’ve learned.

Very often, I look back through my journals.  It gives me encouragement as well as insight onto the path God has me on.  I need to review the things I’ve learned in the presence of God.

Keep your eyes and ears open.  God will speak to someone who is prepared to listen.  Keeping a journal shows that you value the voice of the Lord.  Begin today recording what you learn in your private times with Him.

Question: Do you keep a spiritual journal?  How has it helped you?

© Nick Zaccardi 2012

 
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Posted by on November 9, 2012 in Encouragement, Prayer, Word of God

 

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Give Your Life a Solid Foundation

31 Oct

In my last post, I talked about true Biblical faith.  We learned that you can’t just “set it and forget it”.  Instead, it’s a process that must be walked out on a daily basis.  Here is an illustration that Paul used to describe it.

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Ephesians 6:16

Think about faith like a huge wooden shield, big enough for you to hide behind in the raging battle.  What is it protecting you from?  Paul says that it’s the flaming arrows of the enemy.

What does flame do to wood?  We all know that wood is a fuel.  As the weapons of the enemy hit it, the shield begins to wear away.  If you just stand still in your Christian walk, you begin to lose ground.  What you believed last year, you may not believe this year.  Your faith begins to fade.

Scripture tells us that we must continually maintain our faith.  That’s why prayer, reading the word, and fellowship with other believers are so vital to our walk with the Lord.

We need to continue in all of those things just to stand still.  If that’s the case, then I really need to build my faith for moving forward in God.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1

The words being sure in this verse literally mean setting under.  The scriptural definition for hope is our expectation of what God is going to work out in our lives.  So, in actuality, what this verse says is that faith is our support or foundation.

Faith is a support for our expectations.  How can I continue to expect God’s best in the middle of the struggles of life?  My expectations must be supported.  It’s only through faith in what God has said that I can have this kind of foundation.

We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
Hebrews 3:14

This is really what we want from God.  We want to share in what Christ has provided for us.  The only way this will take place is if we hold firmly to our support.  That’s why we need the shield.

If faith is not held firmly, it can be knocked out of our hands.  Make sure that you are maintaining your faith.  It’s what you need to support you through the rough times.

Question: How has your faith in God supported you in the past?

© Nick Zaccardi 2012

 
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Posted by on October 31, 2012 in Encouragement, Faith, Spiritual Warfare

 

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