Unshakeable Hope

When TITANIC started its journey, all the crews including the captain, and the designer – Thomas Andrews – were confident that the ship will not sinked. Even when the side of the ship were ripped by an iceberg, they still believe that the ship will not sinked, because they put their trust on the skillfull designer and builder, as well as the components. Their confident was so high, that there were only a few life boats in the ship, not proportional with the numbers of the passengers on board. But when they realized that the ship was sinking, they tried to send out SOS message to the nearest ships to get help. But the nearest ship was still needed some hours to get into TITANIC’s location. Finally TITANIC was completely sinked, thousands of passangers and crews were killed.

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Encouragement Goes Straight to the Heart

The word “encourage” comes from a combination of the prefix “en” which means “to put into” and the Latin word “cor” which means heart. Knowing what a big difference encouragement makes in your own life, what can you do to help others “to take heart” as an act of Christian love?

1. Learn individuals’ “love language” – the special way in which they feel most valued. In his book, The Five Languages of Love, Gary Chapman explains that not everyone’s emotional needs are met in the same way and that it’s important to learn to speak others’ love language. The five love languages are: words of affirmation, spending quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service and physical touch.

2.When someone is discouraged or hurting, offer specific, practical help. If you ask, “How can I help?” the person might be at a loss to answer. It’s better to ask, “Would it help if I…(specific action) or say, “I would like to…(specific action)?

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Prayer of The Righteous

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. – James 5:16b

Are your prayers often not answered? The book of James teaches about powerful prayers. There are three things that must be met in order to pray effectively.

1. Prayer of the righteous
An effective prayer is a prayer done by the righteous. Who are the righteous? The Bible states that the righteous are those who are ”justified by faith in Jesus Christ” (Romans 3:26, 5:1). The righteous are those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, therefore they are justified. They are not by any means never sin, but they are justified because of their faith in Jesus. Are you among the righteous?

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