Your Encouraging 5 Minute Podcast

This particular scripture is filled with some great promises from God - that He is faithful, that He will strengthen you, the list goes on...but it's also a great example of how every single word in scripture matters. In this episode we'll look at the word "will," and how that single word can carry so much weight.

When you're riding shotgun on the struggle bus, who do you turn to? In Psalm we're told that God is our refuge and our strength, but how do we access that? What does it look like? Let's get into it!

As we enter the month of November, our thoughts tend to turn toward thankfulness - so let's dig into a verse that really highlights that from the book of James!

God's word calls us to give thanks in ALL things - and yes, that "ALL" is intentional. But sometimes it's hard to be thankful in the hard times, so how do we do that? How do we shift our perspective so that we can find gratitude in the daily grind?

Throughout our lives we are influenced by the world around us - by what we see, hear, and read. We can have some control over what we're allowing ourselves to take in, but there are also times when we may not be able to see the negative impact of something. Asking God to show us those areas in our lives where we need to do a little spot clean can go a long way to bring peace of mind.

Forgiveness is more easily received than offered, whether that's when you're dealing with forgiveness of others or yourself. Mike and Megan get into what forgiveness looks like, what are some of the obstacles we face with forgiveness, and how we can more easily forgive ourselves (which is sometimes the hardest thing to do).

In so many ways, God tells us through His word to not fear because He is with us. So many verses speak to this, in fact, it's almost like He's trying to make a point - we have NO reason to fear the world when we are walking with God.

Friends can have such an impact on our life - and choosing the right friends to spend our time with can determine whether that impact is positive or negative. 

When we are weary and burdened, God is calling us to come to Him with all our mess and let Him be there for us. So when you feel like you can't keep carrying the weight of the world...stop! Let's talk about it on this week's podcast.

When it comes to giving, many of us feel we don't have "enough." Whether it's time, resources, or financial we get caught in the trap of comparing our offering to those of others. But scriptures tells us that God expects to give of what we have, not what we don't have. So let's take a look at what this means in our lives, and how we can use it to bring that offering to God.

Author John Piper once said "God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them." In this week's episode we unpack that, and for those of us who tend to get frustrated by what feels like inaction on God's part, this is an incredible reminder that we have no idea all that God is up to in our lives.

REST - what a word, right? But it's one we have a complicated relationship...we have trouble finding time to rest, we may even feel guilty taking that time if we're usually "on the go." So perhaps it's time to redefine what rest looks like, and what we can do to make sure we're getting the rest we need?

Blazing our own trails in life can lead to...well, chaos. But when we let God go before us, to make those crooked paths straight, that's when the good stuff happens. What does it look like when we go off course, and how can we make sure we're letting God lead the way? Let's dive in!

This week we're digging into this statement: "You are as close to God as you want to be." On the surface it seems kind of like a dig...a little shade, maybe? But the encouragement in this, is that when we feel distant from God, WE have the power change that!

God didn't do that...people did. When we're hurt by people in the church, it can be difficult to separate that from our relationship with God. But the reality is we are ALL broken people, not one of us is perfect, and that means we have the capability to cause a lot of harm with our words and actions. 

Hard work is just that....hard work! BUT, the work is worth it. And in God's word, it tells us that the hard work is what brings the profit. Let's unpack that a bit for our own lives!

"Cast all your cares on Him" - we've likely all heard this phrase at one point or another in our lives, and maybe it's even become one of those things that we get but we don't get. The truth is God DOES want us to give those to Him - what does that look like, and how do we do it?

When Michaelangelo created the statue David, they say he saw the statue within the marble before it had been formed. It wasn't about adding paint to canvas, it was a process of discovering what was already there, waiting to be found. God is the same way with us - He will chisel and mold and shape until we are what He designed for us to be.