Unanswered Letters: A Lesson on Handling Discouragement

 

This is a true story that teaches us a lesson about how to handle discouragement.

There are many times when we begin a certain task that God lays on our hearts and because we think our efforts are minimal or, perhaps, we are not making a difference, we quit the assignment that God told us to pursue.

The enemy loves to plant seeds of doubt in our mind and lure us into thinking that we are not capable of making a difference in this world. But with God’s help, we can overcome and fulfil our destiny.

If you are going through a situation of doubting the relevance of your efforts unto the Lord, perhaps this story will encourage you to never quit what God has laid on your heart because you may never know the lives you are touching.

There was a man who was involved in a tragic accident. He lost both legs and his left arm and only a finger and thumb remained on the right hand. But he still possessed a brilliant mind, enriched with good education and broadened with world travel.

At first, he thought there was nothing he could do but remain a helpless sufferer. Then a thought came to him. It was always nice to receive letters, but why not write them? He could still use his right hand with some difficulty. But to whom could he write? Was there anyone shut-in and incapacitated like he was who could be encouraged by his letters? He thought of men in prison – they did have some hope of release, whereas he had none – but it was worth a try.

He wrote to a Christian organization concerned with prison ministry. He was told that his letters could not be answered because it was against prison rules, but he still decided to commence this one-sided correspondence. He wrote twice a week, and it taxed his strength to the limit. But he poured his whole soul into the letters – all his experience, all his faith, all his wit, and all his Christian optimism.

Frequently he felt discouraged and was tempted to give it all up. But it was his one remaining activity, and he resolved to continue as long as he could. At last, he got a letter. It was very short and was written on prison stationery by the officer whose duty it was to censor the mail.

All it said was: “Please write on the best paper you can afford. Your letters are passed from cell to cell till they literally fall to pieces.”

No matter what your situation may be like, you still have the ability to encourage someone who is discouraged and lift up someone who is feeling low. Take this story as an encouragement to give your all for someone else and not worry about the results. No good work will go unseen and only God really knows the impact your life can have on someone else.

Let us not do our good works so that we may be praised, but let us do good works so that others may be lifted up and God be praised because of our intervention. The only thing that we can take with us into eternity is what we have done for the Lord. There are no bank accounts in heaven to show how much your net worth was on the earth, but there will be accounts in heaven of what you did to show your life as an example in leading others to Him.

— Author Unknown

Meditation: But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. – 2 Thessalonians 3:13

You will succeed in Jesus' Name!

Why You Should Pray for Religious Leaders

 

And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! – Matthew 26:63-65

The last set of authorities that require our fervent, sustained prayers and intercession are religious leaders. These people wield so much influence in our lives and they could be key to how we turn out, either well or badly.

Religious leaders exert great influence over their congregation and followers; what they say is often regarded as the counsel of God Himself, with the ability to spur the listeners to immediate action. So it is imperative they are upheld in prayer so that they are not overtaken by the spirit of deception and start to spill out falsehoods to their eager audience who could go to town with or take action based on such information.

In our reference passage, we see how Caiaphas a High Priest – the symbol of spirituality and devotion during his time – missed it big time concerning Jesus Christ. Firstly, he was ignorant of the identity of Jesus. Secondly, he led the whole nation of Israel astray by condemning Jesus, which provoked a violent reaction from the crowd and culminated in His crucifixion.

Perhaps, if he had known who Jesus truly was, things might have been different (1 Corinthians 2:8). But he was ignorant of His identity and he led the nation astray by renouncing Him and instigating them to do same. Such is the clout that our leaders have and the more reason we need to always pray for them so that they won’t lead us astray.

You will succeed in Jesus' Name!

Why You Should Pray for Religious Leaders

 

Why You Should Pray for Family Leaders

And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it…” Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. – Joshua 7:20-25

Family leaders are also another set of authorities that we must always uphold in prayer. Just like the other categories of leaders we have considered, the consequences of their decisions and actions may not be limited to them alone but could affect their family members as well.

From the above passage, Achan brought sudden destruction not just upon his own head but also upon the entire members of his household because of greed. And that was even after he had brought calamity upon the nation of Israel which was routed by a minnow settlement.

Achan could not control himself and went to take for personal use what God had explicitly forbidden the Israelites from touching. By the time he was found out, his wife, his children, his animals and all his possessions were destroyed because they had all become abominable through the misdeed of their patriarch.

Our family leaders, fathers and other family heads, deserve our sustained prayers and intercession, as their decisions, actions or inactions could have a significant impact on our own lives and well-being by virtue of our being under their authority. Always remember to pray for the head of your family.

You will succeed in Jesus' Name!

Why You Should Pray for Team Leaders

 Why You Should Pray for Team Leaders

So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Now it came to pass…that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians…and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty… and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it…Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea…Not so much as one of them remained. – Exodus 14:22-28

Another category of leaders we ought to continually uphold in prayer are organisational or team leaders. These people deserve our intercession for the fear of God and His counsel to guide them in whatever they do, as their moves could affect members of their team in a positive or negative way.

From the passage above, Pharaoh mobilised his army to embark on an expedition that was doomed to fail and loss of lives. Maybe if someone had been interceding for him before then, perhaps, things might have been different, and he wouldn’t have led the hundreds of thousands of men with him into an agonising death in the belly of the sea.

In most cases, team members may not have much choice as to whether to join their team leaders in a move that has been doomed to failure. So, they only need to set out to encounter the wrath that has been stored up to be unleashed on the leader. And, sadly, members of the setup who may be innocent usually suffer alongside the leader when he is facing the consequences of his/her action or disposition.

Another example of such fatal expedition in the Bible was the case of King Ahab who was exuberant about the idea of leading his army to go to a war that had been ordained to be his last (1 Kings 22:19-20). Even when he was warned about embarking on the expedition, he turned deaf ears to the prophet and went all the same. He did not return, and many lives were lost in the resultant rout the Israelites suffered at the battlefront.

On the other hand, Abraham and Moses were examples of divinely favoured leaders whose teams benefitted from their right standing with God. Abraham’s followers prospered off him, while the lives of Moses’ team members were often spared because of Moses. This underscores the importance of praying our leaders into right standing with God, so that they can attract fortune to us, not disaster.

You will succeed in Jesus' Name!

The Three Old Men

 

A woman came out of her house and saw three old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them.

She said, “I don’t think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat.”

“Is the man of the house home?” they asked.

“No,” she replied. “He’s out.”

“Then we cannot come in,” they replied.

In the evening when her husband returned home, she told him what had happened. “Go tell them I am home and invite them in!”

The woman went out and invited the men in. “We do not go into a House together,” they replied.

“Why is that?” she asked.

One of the old men explained, “His name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, “He is Success, and I am Love.” Then he added, “Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home.”

The woman went in and told her husband what they said. Her husband was overjoyed. “How nice!” He said. “Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!”

His wife disagreed. “My dear, why don’t we invite Success?”

Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: “Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!”

“Let us heed our daughter’s advice,” the husband said to his wife. “Go out and invite Love to be our guest.”

The woman went out and asked the three old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.”

Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other two also got up and followed him. Surprised, the woman asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love, why are you coming in?”

The old men replied together, “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!”

— Author Unknown

Meditation: And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:13

You will succeed in Jesus' Name!

The Story of the Lazy Bird

 

Once there was a rich man who bought two beautiful birds as pets for his garden. The birds were some of the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. He gave the precious birds to his gardener to be trained.

Many days passed, then one day the gardener informed the rich man that though one of the birds was flying beautifully, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its branch since the day it had arrived.

The rich man called in healers and magicians from all over the country to tend to the bird, but no one could make the bird fly. Then the rich man thought to himself, “Maybe I need someone more familiar with the countryside to understand the nature of this problem.” So he called out to his gardener, “Go and get a villager.”

In the morning, the rich man was thrilled to see the bird soaring high above the garden.

Then the rich man asked the villager, “How did you make the bird fly?”

With his head bowed, the villager said to the rich man, ”It was very easy, sir. I simply cut the branch where the bird was sitting.”

We are all made to fly and fulfil our incredible potential as human beings. But instead of doing that, we tend to sit on our branches, clinging to the things that are familiar to us. The possibilities are endless; but, for most of us, they remain undiscovered. We conform to the familiar, the comfortable, the mundane. So for the most part, our lives are mediocre instead of exciting, thrilling and fulfilling.

Let us destroy the branch of fear we cling to and free ourselves to the glory of flight.

— Author Unknown

Meditation: Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. – Hebrews 12:12-13

You will succeed in Jesus' Name!

Old Jack – A Story About Benevolence

This story encapsulates the virtue of benevolence or doing good at all times, in all places, no matter how inconvenient and hard it may be.

The man slowly looked up. This was a woman clearly accustomed to the finer things of life. Her coat was new. She looked like she had never missed a meal in her life.

His first thought was that she wanted to make fun of him like so many others had done before.

‘Leave me alone,’ he growled.

To his amazement, the woman continued standing. She was smiling – her even white teeth displayed in dazzling rows. ‘Are you hungry?’ she asked. ‘No,’ he answered sarcastically. ‘I’ve just come from dining with the President. Now go away.’

The woman’s smile became even broader. Suddenly the man felt a gentle hand under his arm.

‘What are you doing, lady?’ the man asked angrily. ‘I said to leave me alone!’

Just then a policeman came up. ‘Is there any problem, ma’am?’ he asked.

‘No problem here, officer,’ the woman answered. ‘I’m just trying to get this man to his feet. Will you help me?’

The officer scratched his head. ‘That’s old Jack. He’s been a fixture around here for a couple of years. What do you want with him?’

‘See that cafeteria over there?’ she asked. ‘I’m going to get him something to eat and get him out of the cold for a while.’

‘Are you crazy, lady?’ the homeless man resisted. ‘I don’t want to go in there!’ Then he felt strong hands grab his other arm and lift him up.

‘Let me go, officer. I didn’t do anything.’

‘This is a good deal for you, Jack,’ the officer answered. ‘Don’t blow it.’

Finally, and with some difficulty, the woman and the police officer got Jack into the cafeteria and sat him at a table in a remote corner. It was the middle of the morning, so most of the breakfast crowd had already left and the lunch bunch had not yet arrived. The manager strode across the cafeteria and stood by his table.

‘What’s going on here, officer?’ he asked. ‘What is all this. Is this man in trouble?’

‘This lady brought this man in here to be fed,’ the policeman answered.

‘Not in here!’ the manager replied angrily. ‘Having a person like that here is bad for business.’

Old Jack smiled a toothless grin. ‘See, lady. I told you so. Now if you’ll let me go. I didn’t want to come here in the first place.’

The woman turned to the cafeteria manager and smiled. ‘Sir, are you familiar with Eddy and Associates, the banking firm down the street?’

‘Of course, I am,’ the manager answered impatiently. ‘They hold their weekly meetings in one of my banquet rooms.’

‘And do you make a goodly amount of money providing food at these weekly meetings?’

‘What business is that of yours?’

‘I, sir, am Penelope Eddy, President and CEO of the company.’

‘Oh’

The woman smiled again. ‘I thought that might make a difference’ She glanced at the cop who was busy stifling a giggle. ‘Would you like to join us for a cup of coffee and a meal, officer?’

‘No thanks, ma’am,’ the officer replied. ‘I’m on duty.’

‘Then, perhaps, a cup of coffee to go?’

‘Yes, ma’am. That would be very nice.’

The cafeteria manager turned on his heel. ‘I’ll get your coffee for you right away, officer.’

The officer watched him walk away. ‘You certainly put him in his place,’ he said.

‘That was not my intent. Believe it or not, I have a reason for all this.’

She sat down at the table across from her amazed dinner guest. She stared at him intently. ‘Jack, do you remember me?’

Old Jack searched her face with his old, rheumy eyes, ‘I think so – I mean you do look familiar.’

‘I’m a little older perhaps,’ she said. ‘Maybe I’ve even filled out more than in my younger days when you worked here, and I came through that very door, cold and hungry.’

‘Ma’am?’ the officer said questioningly. He couldn’t believe that such a magnificently turned-out woman could ever have been hungry.

‘I was just out of college,’ the woman began. ‘I had come to the city looking for a job, but I couldn’t find anything. Finally, I was down to my last few cents and had been kicked out of my apartment. I walked the streets for days. It was February and I was cold and nearly starving. I saw this place and walked in on the off chance that I could get something to eat.’

Jack lit up with a smile. ‘Now I remember,’ he said. ‘I was behind the serving counter. You came up and asked me if you could work for something to eat. I said that it was against company policy.’

‘I know,’ the woman continued. ‘Then you made me the biggest roast beef sandwich that I had ever seen, gave me a cup of coffee, and told me to go over to a corner table and enjoy it. I was afraid that you would get into trouble. Then, when I looked over, I saw you put the price of my food in the cash register. I knew then that everything would be all right.’

‘So you started your own business?’ Old Jack said.

‘I got a job that very afternoon. I worked my way up. Eventually, I started my own business that, with the help of God, prospered.’ She opened her purse and pulled out a business card. ‘When you are finished here, I want you to pay a visit to a Mr. Lyons. He’s the personnel director of my company. I’ll go talk to him now and I’m certain he’ll find something for you to do around the office.’ She smiled. ‘I think he might even find the funds to give you a little advance so that you can buy some clothes and get a place to live until you get on your feet.

‘If you ever need anything, my door is always opened to you.’

There were tears in the old man’s eyes. ‘How can I ever thank you?’ he said.

‘Don’t thank me,’ the woman answered. ‘To God goes the glory. Thank Jesus. He led me to you.’

Outside the cafeteria, the officer and the woman paused at the entrance before going their separate ways. ‘Thank you for all your help, officer,’ she said.

‘On the contrary, Ms. Eddy,’ he answered. ‘Thank you. I saw a miracle today, something that I will never forget. And… And thank you for the coffee.’

– Author Unknown

Meditation: I know that nothing is better for them than…to do good in their lives. – Ecclesiastes 3:12

You will succeed in Jesus' Name!