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"Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made" (Psalm 145:13). "See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven? At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, 'Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.' The words 'once more' indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe" (Hebrews 12:25-28).

Yesterday I received a prayer request from Jim, a friend whose world is suddenly shaking. His daughter had a fall and injured her head. While in the hospital her liver shut-down and is not functioning. He and his wife were headed to a distant city to be with her, uncertain of all that is taking place right now. How quickly life can move from routine to crisis!

I have another friend who has an interesting perspective in describing encouragement. After a brief visit he stated that our conversation had been like a daily vitamin!

Vitamins are often considered supplements. That is, they supplement our main diet. However, regardless of the quality of our supplements they do not replace a good overall diet. We would be foolish expecting a daily vitamin to sustain all our dietary needs. We would also be very hungry!

It's that way for our spiritual being as well. We are blessed with many spiritual supplements such as devotionals, music, quality radio programs and material on the internet. We hope our daily encouragement messages are like vitamin supplements to encourage and instruct you each weekday, by providing some vitamins and supplements for your soul. Vitamins, although in some cases therapeutic in nature, are generally intended to be more preventive and have the effect of strengthening us even when we are in good health and doing well.

One of the greatest perspectives we can have is a daily recognition of God's faithful and abundant blessings and the absolute veracity of God's promises. In the physical realm these blessings vary greatly among us. Some have better health than others, others more of this world's goods, and there are those who have greater or more frequent heartaches. We especially consider those who deal with chronic matters such as a reader we periodically hear from who has two special needs adult children she cares for and others who have chronic and critical illnesses.

We also consider this in regard to our religious freedoms. Some may practice their faith with almost complete freedom, unhindered by any government restrictions. But others pay a great cost in practicing their faith with persecution their lot in life.

Because we live in the physical realm we inevitably tend to place our focus on the physical. Nevertheless, how quickly these things can change! Any security we have in the physical world is very tenuous.

We all know that the "steady" job can quickly vanish. An unfaithful spouse, a tragic accident or medical diagnosis can alter our present and future plans instantly.

Then we consider world conditions! This much is sure, we really have no guarantees of security in regard to the physical realm.

But in the spiritual realm our security is absolute with no deficiency whatsoever. These blessings are safe and abundantly adequate regardless of where we live or how "blessed" we happen to be in the physical realm.  My Christian brother or sister reading this in Africa, India or anywhere else on this planet is equally blessed with me in the spiritual realm. Just consider the horrific physical conditions of Christians in Syria and Iraq.

What a tremendously assuring truth is expressed in our daily verse. These are 3,000 year old words written by King David: "Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made" (Psalm 145:13). The first part of the verse is classic Hebrew parallelism, a great reinforcement of the reality of God's eternal Kingdom.

•  Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
•  Your dominion endures through all generations.

The second part has two complimentary truths.

•  The LORD is faithful to all His promises.
•  The Lord is loving toward all He has made.

These statements may not always appear to be true in regard to our own experiences. But they are absolutely true in the spiritual realm and equally so regardless of the extent of our physical and material blessing or lack thereof.

For those like our friend Jim who are presently encountering a shaking that reveals the insecurity of this present world, we pray that today's daily encouragement vitamin has a therapeutic impact. For those living in relative peace and security may it have a preventive impact, for a drastic shaking may come at any time.

Let us consider the altogether abundant blessings and promises of God: "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all--how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).

Declare with us today, "We will stand on every promise of God's Word!"



Be encouraged today,


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures through all generations right down to our own. You are faithful to all Your promises and loving toward all that You have made so we rely on Your faithfulness and love to guide us and hold us firm when the world around us is shaking. When fear and doubt preoccupy our thoughts turn our minds instead to Scripture that speaks of Your many promises reminding us that You will never fail us and You will never forsake us but You will graciously give us all things to build us up and grow us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For spiritual nurturing we feed daily on Your Word. And for vitamins we enjoy many other godly sources that strengthen our Christian sojourn here below. In the name of Jesus we thank You for all that You provide. Amen.

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