Texts, Troubles, and Triumphs

Hey, my friend. Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. The devotional for today, titled Texts, Troubles, and Triumphs, was written by Arthur Jackson.

Jimmy hadn't allowed the reality of social unrest, danger, and discomfort to keep him from traveling to one of the poorest countries in the world to encourage ministry couples. The steady stream of text messages to our team back home revealed the challenges he encountered. Okay, boys, activate the prayer line. We've gone 10 miles in the last two hours.

Carr has overheated a dozen times. Transportation setbacks meant that he arrived just before midnight to preach to those who waited for five hours. Later, we received a text with a different tone. Amazing sweet time of fellowship. About a dozen people came forward for prayer.

It was a powerful night. Faithfully serving God can be challenging. The exemplars of faith listed in Hebrews 11 would agree. Compelled by their faith in God, ordinary men and women faced uncomfortable and unfathomable circumstances. Some faced jeers and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. Their faith compelled them to take risks and rely on God for the outcome.

The same is true for us. Living out our faith may not take us to risky places far away, but it may well take us across the street or across the campus or to an empty seat in a lunchroom or boardroom. Risky? Perhaps, but the rewards, now or later, will be well worth the risks as God helps us. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Hebrews chapter 11 verse 32 and verses 35 through 40. And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning. They were sawed in two. They were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them.

They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us, so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Let's pray. Dear Father, please give us strength and courage to let go of our life and entrust it to you. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name that we pray and surrender. Amen. Thanks for listening today. My name is Wes Ward, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.