Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You are invited to come to the Wednesday evening prayer meeting and pray. (8:30 PM EST Wed., July 11, 2001)

The apostle Paul, speaking by the Holy Spirit, says, "Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked." Don't you know that God is ever present and that he knows everything that is going on all the time -- even your thoughts? You say, "Yes. I know that. Everyone knows that." If you know that, why do you sometimes act as though you think that if you don't say anything to God about what you are doing and maybe do it quietly, somehow he won't notice. It's because you are deceived. That is what Paul is warning us about. Do not be deceived.

God has ordained the way things will work and he cannot be mocked. What he says will happen will happen. If you sow (or make plans and do things) to please the sinful nature (flesh), you will reap destruction. But if you sow to please the Spirit (that is, to please God), you will reap eternal life. (Just a reminder: Eternal life is very important. Destruction is not a good thing.)

"Let us not become weary in doing good." This is really the heart of this passage. The whole point of all the rest of the passage is to encourage us in this one thing -- to not become weary in doing good. And Paul doesn't mean that we should be careful not to do too much good so that we don't become tired.

Do you get tired of doing good -- of bearing other people's burdens? This passage is meant to encourage you. God has a reward for you -- a harvest that you will receive at the proper time -- eternal life. The dead in Christ will rise and we who are still alive will be caught up together with them and meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with him forever.

But what should we do now? Paul says that we are to encourage each other with these words (1 Thess. 4:18). In the present passage he exhorts us not to give up. Remember Jesus, our Savior, who endured the cross for us -- for the joy set before him. Can't we rejoice to bear someone else's burden -- especially when we know that the one who loves us and died for us is pleased by it. Let us rejoice in the Lord. Praise be to Jesus.

I think we need to learn to encourage each other. Are there people you seek only for the purpose of unloading your struggles and complaints? How about spending more time encouraging than you spend complaining. Show me the passages where Jesus spent time complaining to his disciples about how burdensome his task was. Adjust your complaining and encouraging to be in the same proportions as it was for Jesus. We need to meet together two-by-two or in small groups or in any way that is possible and spend most of the time encouraging and praying for each other. Maybe the rule should be something like this: Allow 30 seconds for sharing you problem and the rest of the time for encouraging and praying.

In any case, "as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

Come and let's pray for each other as well as for the whole church. Come and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Love them.

Love in Christ,
Dean

PS: If you absolutely can't make it to the prayer meeting, send your prayer requests back to me by e-mail and we'll pray for them.