Luke 5:24 “But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

The Lord wants me to know and believe that He truly can forgive. He has that power and authority! May I claim that today. 

1 Thessalonians 5:14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 

I am called to be patient with EVERYONE…including the disruptive; not just fellow Christians who are on fire for God…but everyone. Lord, enable me to encourage the broken-hearted, those who are barely keeping the faith, those who have hit rock bottom…give me the strength and motivation to encourage them, Father; and to be patient while You work in their hearts to renew their spirit.

Luke 5:22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?

Lord, You know my heart. You know my thoughts. Deliver me from wrong thinking!

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. 

Lord, encourage me.

Luke 5:20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus worked in this man’s life because of the faith of his friends. May I trust the Lord on behalf of others. 

1 Thessalonians 3:7-8 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. 

In the midst of our trials and tribulations, the faith of our friends and fellow believers encourages and strengthens us.

Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Jesus kept His time with the Father a priority. 

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. 

Do I deal with fellow Christians as a father deals with his own children? Or, do I submit to anger, hatred, disgust, envy, and other sinful feelings toward fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Lord, please give me wisdom when dealing with others and make me as loving as You.

Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”

Recognition of our sinfulness can cause us to withdraw from Jesus. That is the natural response. The spiritual response is to seek His mercy, Grace, and forgiveness. Lord, help me to respond properly to You!

1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last. 

Those who “heap up their sins to the limit” will inevitably be “hostile to everyone” and suffer the wrath of God. May the Lord protect His children from the hostility that spews from those who displease him.