Day 23 - Issue 23
Hebrews 12:1 NLT
'Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.'
Encouragement is perhaps the most underused tool for affirming and motivating people. It takes little effort and reaps tremendous rewards. My own daughter rises to challenges under encouragement. Throughout her school life, those teachers who identified where improvement might be made saw little resulting progress. However, those who encouraged her and suggested how she might accomplish even more saw huge improvements. Both sets of teachers were seeking to enable her to do her best, yet two distinct styles brought about two different outcomes.
I have worked with many individuals who felt they were failures for they had emerged from school without any real qualifications. Those who had failed to achieve good GCSE grades or pass other exams believed they were failures and not simply that on this occasion they’d failed to pass an examination. Yet, once some self-confidence grows and with someone to encourage them, even what they had initially decided was impossible becomes possible. These ‘glass ceilings’ are glass because we can see what lies beyond, but we don’t believe we have the power to smash through them, and so they are a curse. They reveal what is possible, while the individual peering through can see it’s possible for everyone else but not them.
So, since we’re used to commemorating certain people on specific days throughout the year, 1st November, All Saints’ Day, is the day for those who have written themselves off and who need an encourager to come alongside and work with them to break through their glass ceiling. The great news is that we are surrounded by saints who have gone before us. Knowing that they are applauding our efforts and encouraging us every step of the way, it becomes our responsibility to remove obstacles to our development. With the sound of their support ringing in our ears, we are to take a hammer and smash the glass ceiling that has constrained us for too long.
QUESTION: How do you react within when you call yourself a saint?
PRAYER: Righteous Father, thank you for the sacrifice of your Son through whom I have been made clean and holy, one of your saints.
