Don't miss the Treasure

When I was in my mid-twenties, I remember a time when I was living in North Phoenix in a house with two other young men from our church. We used our house as a gathering place for the single Christians in our church, as I was the assistant youth leader at that time.

Well, unfortunately I lost my job at that time and found myself with no money, no job, my car was broken down, and I sank into a depression, not knowing what to do or where to turn. Fortunately, I continued to pray about my situation every day. I even went out in the 100 plus degree heat going door to door offering to wash people's windows, but with little success.

Finally, in desperation, I took all the money I had, which was a coffee can full of change, brought it to church that Sunday, and put it all in the collection plate. I remember telling God, "I need a miracle, and so here is all I have." Of course, the weight of all that change in the offering plate weighed it down so much that people began laughing as they passed the plate with both hands from one person to another. I thought it was pretty funny too, even though the I was dead serious about the offering.

What happened after that truly was a miracle. Out of the blue a friend of mine flew into town from Alaska, where he had been working on a fishing boat. It was so good to see him, as we hadn't seen each other in a long time. He was the kind of friend who would just show up at my apartment in the middle of the night when I was living in Montana, and we would go to the restaurant and talk til the early hours of the morning about all our dreams and goals for the future. Next thing I know, he's kidnapping my car, which had broken down and I had no money to fix it, and taking it to the shop to get it fixed. He paid the entire tab for me, and I'll never forget that.

Almost immediately I got a job and before I knew it things were back to normal. I'm so thankful that God loves me. Even with all my failures in life, he has never let me go, has never abandoned me, has never disowned me. I am his child. He is my Father. I'm thankful he sent Jesus to die for my sins, and I'm going to shout it from the rooftops, and tell anyone who will listen about his love. My prayer is that when I breathe my last breath, the word "Jesus" will be on my lips.

Deuteronomy 31:8The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Hebrews 13:5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

God has a Plan

Every time I would pray and ask the Lord what he wanted me to do, I felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to write. "But Lord," I would respond, "I'm not a professional writer. I haven't gone to school to learn the writing skills necessary to write well." But the Lord has never given up on me, and has always continued to encourage me in my spirit. Spirit to spirit. But what shall I write? And every time I would sit down to actually do some writing, I could never get motivated. I would write a little bit and then get bored or run out of things to say. But it is true that I have a million stories running around inside my head. I just haven't had the discipline to put them in writing.

One day I was standing in church worshipping the Lord, and a man I never met before looked at me and said, "You are a writer. I can see it plain as day. You are supposed to write." Well, now there's double confirmation. The Lord witnessing to my spirit, and a prophecy from a man I only met once and never saw again. But still, the words did not come to me. Every time I would try to write something, something would stop me. It was as if something were blocking me or preventing me from moving forward. Have you ever felt like you were supposed to be doing something, but never could get motivated to do it? The opposition from the evil one will always try to keep us from the very thing that God wants for us. He will use distractions, discouragement, life situations, doubts, and everything else he can throw at us to keep us off the path of our anointing. What have you allowed the evil one to keep you from doing? What are you supposed to be doing? What has God spoken to you in your spirit? Are you running away from your calling? Believe me, I know what that's like. It's not easy, because you will be opposed. You just have to make up your mind. Kind of like quitting smoking, but just the opposite. Instead of quitting something, you're starting something. For me, it was starting a blog, something totally foreign to me. But, you have to start somewhere, right? I'm not going to go on for the rest of my life wondering what would have happened if I just tried writing. And now that I have made that first step, I'm extremely excited about the prospect of being able to encourage others through my writing.

Just remember, the greatest encouragement you can ever recieve is from the Lord, himself.
He will never give up on you, or your dream that he has placed within your heart.

Jeremiah 29:11For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God Bless--

Corey

Introduction

So many Christians today are struggling; struggling to stay positive in a negative world, struggling to stay strong in a time of weakness, struggling with sin, struggling with depression, struggling with discouragement, struggling in faith, struggling with finances, and the list goes on and on. I myself struggle with these things myself. I didn't start this blog as a way to provide people with all the answers, but rather as a way to encourage other Christians like myself, who struggle every day. The more life tries to beat me down, I will continue to pursue that which God has called me. My hope is that you might join me in this journey of encouragement.

Hebrews 3:13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. NIV

We all need enouragement, and scripture tells us to encourage one another daily. Why? Because life has a way of discouraging us. Will you make a decision to encourage at least one Christian every day? Make a list of your friends that you can pray for every day. My belief is that you will find this journey of encouragement to be rewarding and together we can make a difference in this world.

In Christ--
Corey J. Couturier