To Encourage You

Mark 4:10,13 “And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables . . . And he said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?’”

In Mark’s account of Jesus’ parable of the sower, it is revealed that Jesus explained the meaning of the parable not to the crowd to whom it was spoken, but to those who got alone with Him afterwards.  That’s the way it often works in comprehending the Word of God.  While we certainly can learn God’s Word when we hear sermons or teaching in a public setting such as in a church, it is often when we are alone with the Lord in a quiet time of study and prayer that He opens His Word to our understanding.  He wants us to be still with Him, to meditate on His word in one-on-one moments. If we are followers of Jesus Christ, God is our Father and He loves to spend intimate time with each one of us, just like we enjoy one-on-one moments with our own children. These times alone with Him are precious times and the things we learn at such times bring that much more value in those times when we are in fellowship with other believers.  It is at those times that we can have the joy of sharing what the Lord has been teaching us as individuals. What better things to share with others than the wisdom of God and the works of God as He shines his glorious light on our hearts. 

So are you looking for joy?  Two wonderful ways it is available to each one who knows Christ is to spend time alone with Him; joyful, intimate time in meditation with the Creator of the universe, and then to share in the joy of telling others what He has taught us and, likewise, hearing from our brothers and sisters in Christ what He is teaching them.  And such things are always available to us, for Paul (i.e., God Himself through Paul) was undoubtedly thinking of this when he implored us to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).