A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation.
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Note:
We have
company coming
over for a
meal this
evening
(although they
will not stay
till midnight)
and a
projected busy
day tomorrow
on New Years
Day so this
message will
be for both
days!
Message summary: Let us hold fast to the hope set before us. Our hope in Christ is an altogether sufficient anchor for all the unknowns we will face in the new year.
Listen
to our message
on your audio
player.
"I will say
of the LORD,
'He is my
refuge and my
fortress, my
God, in whom I
trust'" (Psalm
91:2). "So
when God
desired to
show more
convincingly
to the heirs
of the promise
the
unchangeable
character of
His purpose,
He guaranteed
it with an
oath, so that
by two
unchangeable
things, in
which it is
impossible for
God to lie, we
who have fled
for refuge
might have
strong
encouragement
to hold fast
to the hope
set before us.
We have this
as a sure and
steadfast
anchor of the
soul" (Hebrews
6:17-19).
As we share
our final
message in
2025 we ask
you to
consider a
truth that all
who have
placed their
trust in God
can declare, "I
will say of
the LORD, "He
is my refuge
and my
fortress, my
God, in whom I
trust"
(Psalm 91:2).
Another year
is passing and
we wonder,
"What will the
year 2026
hold?" We
simply don't
know the
specifics in
regard to the
world
situation or
in our own
lives. A verse
from an old
hymn comes to
mind, "I know
not what of
good or ill
may be
reserved for
me, of weary
ways or golden
days, before
His face I
see."
Whatever
happens, the
daily
Scripture
portions are a
great source
of assurance
and
encouragement
for every
believer.
Throughout the
Old Testament
there are many
verses dealing
with the image
of the refuge
as a source of
assurance,
many in the
Psalms. Our
first daily
text is one of
them.
But in the New
Testament our
second daily
text is the
only reference
to refuge. "We
who have fled
for refuge
might have
strong
encouragement
to hold fast
to the hope
set before us.
We have this
as a sure and
steadfast
anchor of the
soul"
(Hebrews
6:18b,19a).
Read it again
slowly and
thoughtfully
and allow its
powerful words
to impact your
life. Perhaps
you will
choose to
memorize it.
Hope, as used
in the Bible,
is not a
wishful
thought but a
confident
expectation of
an absolute
certainty. The
Holman Bible
Dictionary
offers this:
"Hope is the
confidence
that what God
has done for
us in the past
guarantees our
participation
in what God
will do in the
future."
"We who
have fled for
refuge might
have strong
encouragement
to hold fast
to the hope
set before
us." We
have fled for
refuge from
the worldly
sources of
temporary and
falsely placed
hope to the
only true and
lasting source
of hope. This
Hebrews phrase
gives the
sense of one
fleeing a
shipwreck who
has finally
reached
safety, or one
who is caught
in a pelting
hailstorm but
flees to a
dry,
impenetrable
fortress
finally safe
from the
assault. Once
we firmly take
hold of this
hope which is
graciously
offered to us
we
indeed "have
strong
encouragement"
and declare
along with the
Psalmist, "On
God rests my
salvation and
my glory; my
mighty rock,
my refuge is
God" (Psalm
62:7).
"We
have this
(hope) as a
sure and
steadfast
anchor of the
soul."
What a
powerful,
powerful
metaphor! I
want my life
to be anchored
solidly in the
hope God
offers as a
refuge. When I
place my hope
in the
temporal
circumstances
at some point
I am sure to
be
disappointed,
emotionally
unstable or
even led
astray.
There are many
circumstances
that bring
fear, despair
or
hopelessness.
Scores of
people are
presently
dealing with
these emotions
including many
of our
readers. And
realistically
I expect to
have occasions
in the coming
year when I
will battle
with these
emotions.
When I do so,
I pray that
God will bring
today's
Scripture text
to my spirit
reminding me
of the hope I
have in Christ
which is
steadfast and
sure. This
day, as we
experience the
transition
into a new
year, let us
continue to
place our hope
in our
ever-faithful,
ever-dependable
God who is our
present and
eternal
refuge!
Our hope in
Christ is a
sufficient
anchor for the
new year.
And I will follow You all of my days
And I will follow You all of my days
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days
Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father,
inevitably in
one way or
another we
have been and
will continue
to be tossed
about in the
tempest sea of
life. We will
stay afloat as
we hold onto
the hope
secured
through Your
promises in
the Holy
Scriptures.
When doubts
and fears
begin to
consume our
thoughts help
us to cling
tightly to our
soul's anchor,
Jesus Christ.
He is our
eternal
refuge, our
hope and our
stay. We are
thankful for
the year past
and look
forward to
2026 as we
walk in step
with You.
Amen.
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"We
Have Hope"
Watch
on YouTube
Anchor Hymns
and Paul
Baloche
This morning we received news that 18 year old Andrew, grandson of our longtime friends Mike and Kathy Matangelo, went to be with the Lord at 1 am this morning after a long battle with cancer. Andrew, though extremely weak in body, celebrated his 18th birthday just yesterday with those who loved him most. His father, Doug, who grew up in the church we served in northern PA, along with his wife, Anna, have demonstrated remarkable faith through this most difficult time. We dedicate this song to Andrew's family:
We cry tears
We grieve the loss
We don’t understand
It breaks our hearts
But God is near
He’s always been
We believe
the end is not the end
It’s not the end
We have hope there is life beyond the grave
Heaven waits, Our Savior made a way
Raised with him, we will live forevermore
We have hope in Jesus Christ, our Lord
Actually
we feel this
song would be
a blessing to
all who have
recently lost
a loved one or
even not so
recently. What
a powerful
reminder of
truth.
"Step
By Step"
Watch
on YouTube
Todd Fields
"Anchor
of Hope"
Watch
on YouTube
The Village
Chapel Worship
Regular readers know that we generally keep the administration of this ministry behind the scenes but feel this overview may be of some value, especially to newer readers.
We are grateful for the strength and vision God provided for us to continue our ministry during 2025 and for the opportunity to provide a small, daily dose of encouragement and Bible teaching to many readers and podcast listeners around the world.
In 2026 we will celebrate our thirtieth year of publishing these daily encouragement messages (most weekdays) and will also celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary! Daily encouragement began in October 1996 with a very short email to two people in the church we served at the time, who are still receiving our messages. It grew into a small hand managed list, then a simple website over the next several years.
Our practice is to write these devotionals early each weekday morning or the night before (often it’s begun at night and finished up the next morning). The goal from the very beginning is based on a verse from Hebrews 3 stating that we are to “encourage one another daily” (Hebrews 3:13). That’s an easy verse to understand but harder to put into practice. For us it includes writing and sharing these messages.
Foundationally one of the main things we want to convey in each devotional is the daily outlook of two ordinary believers seeking to live another day faithfully for Christ. We seek to offer a spiritual perspective which remains our primary objective.
Each devotional is based on a commitment to Christ and His Word. We share glimpses of our own family life or that of others. We often use an illustrative or humorous story but we always want the major focus to be on our Lord Jesus along with a brief exposition of the daily Scripture texts.
For the first several years this was a supplemental aspect of my pastoral ministry in New England and then I continued it in an abbreviated way (a short text email only) when I worked full-time as a divisional manager for Marketplace Chaplains, a national company providing chaplain services from 2001-2004. Brooksyne served as a part-time chaplain at several locations during that time as well.
In late 2004 we resigned from Marketplace Chaplains with a vision of having an independent ministry comprised of half daily encouragement and eventually the other half working directly for companies (not through an agency) in providing chaplain care. Over time this developed quite smoothly for which we give God thanks. During the first several years we also did interim pastoral service as well and whatever else was needed to keep things afloat such as being an Amish driver.
Beginning in 2005 I poured effort into better developing daily encouragement, learning how to build the website on my own, using email lists with html (the formatted style with photos we have used for many years), blogging and podcasting. I learned this on my own mostly using the “Dummies” series of self-help books! Also during this time Brooksyne and I provided care for my mom, whose health needs were extensive before she passed away in November of that year.
Even before our marriage in 1976 Brooksyne has served alongside me since we ministered together during our Bible College years and then in full time pastoral ministry for 25 years. In the early days of Daily Encouragement she would periodically edit a message but that was basically the extent of her involvement. That changed in 2005 when we began to work on each message together. Normally I start the writing and she edits and often adds further insight and notes. We usually read the podcast together. However I do the administrative and technical work, while she is more active in following up on comments and prayer requests we receive from all over the world.
From the beginning this ministry has been updated on a weekday basis. We purposefully do not prepare devotionals for Saturday or Sunday, hoping that each of you are active in a local church where the Bible is faithfully preached. The concept of a “cyber or internet church” when one is physically able to connect with the local body of Christ troubles us. Cyber-church and some televised church broadcasts call for believers to essentially forsake the real life fellowship of a local church and be in “virtual” association with their “church” via internet or television.
We believe God calls us all to be in regular fellowship with fellow believers in a local church congregation, if physically possible, making a positive and spiritual difference in our own community. We affirm the ministry of each local pastor as he fulfills his somber calling to “Watch for your souls, as they that must give account” (Hebrews 13:17).
There are several components to our labor in producing each message:
1) Of course we want the main focus to be a well-written message that encourages and provides Bible teaching. This is the most time-consuming effort since we write these messages using our own study and thoughts. This is not AI! We do use quotes from other sources such as commentators, giving proper attribution and many times a link for further study. At times we do work from a previously written message from years earlier and revise and refresh them. But we do not copy and paste a previous message without refreshing it with new thoughts and study. We have a single Word file of every message from the very first one which now has nearly 6 million words. It sure took me a long time to count that many words (just kidding). Sometimes when we know we have a long day of chaplaincy work we prepare the night before and schedule the message for delivery.
2) We both take photos and enjoy sharing them with our readers. We now have many thousands of photos which are on the site (this is not an exaggeration)! Ester contributes photos as she continues to expand her photography skills. We also have used many photos taken by readers who are pleased to share them. Additionally, a Scripture photo such as at the top of today's message or many of the smaller context photos that we place within the message are found using search engines).
3) We post links to other materials that supplement our message including articles and music (usually a video on YouTube or Vimeo). This takes time as I look for well-produced videos and materials that truly relate to our message. We have periodically posted our own videos as wells. Sometimes we may post an unrelated but uplifting video to brighten your day.
4) We record each message and post as an audio file (podcasting). This audio file is accessible from each message at the beginning. We pray together just before recording the podcast asking the Lord to bless our efforts and use our materials to bless, encourage and challenge each reader and listener. The podcast reading also serves as our final edit and we often further sharpen the message after the recording so don’t be surprised if the text and words in the recording don’t always match! We also add extemporaneous thoughts to the podcast and occasionally Brooksyne just might sing a segment of a featured song (though that's rare with her aging voice she'd be the first to admit). You can hear us laugh together and if we make a blunder we probably won’t start over! By this time we are often tired and I still have quite a bit of time in administrative work before we’re finished.
5) Admin work following the podcast recording includes preparing the mp3, posting to the podcast site, preparing website and email versions (both text and html) and using ftp to upload our new message to the website and listserve software to send email to mailing list. We also post to Wordpress both the message and just the prayer. Additional admin work includes fixing stuff that goes wrong (almost always me), responding to email and prayer requests (usually Brooksyne) and financial accounting (always me).
Regarding the delivery schedule, we normally try to get it out around Noon (Eastern Time), but a phone call, schedule conflict, technical problem or other interruptions may hinder our good intentions!
Administratively we want to be accessible if there are comments, prayer requests or problems. If you have feedback you can use the “Contact Us” page. However please use this and our email address only for personal, specific feedback. We value brief notes regarding how this ministry or particular message spoke to you, prayer requests or comments prompted by a specific message or even a needed correction. Due to time restraints we are not always able to respond, but do so when possible.
Since most subscriptions are anonymous we have little information regarding the background of the vast majority of our readers. As our ministry has grown we know only a minority of our readers personally and of course this percentage gets smaller as time goes on. We are grateful that our messages go all around the world and we do enjoy hearing from our international readers.
For those who have subscribed to the email list we want the email to be easy to “unsubscribe” if you prefer to be removed from the mailing list. Just use the automatically inserted link below the footers for automated removal.
A weekly version is available with Friday’s message sent out along with the link to previous messages. This may be a preferable subscription for those who check their email infrequently. I especially appeal to those who know us personally to consider the weekly list if frequency is a motive for unsubscribing. We are so thankful for the hundreds of people we have maintained contact with through the years who are on this list and would hate to lose contact!
The daily mailing and all the content of our website and other resources are offered as a ministry without any cost whatsoever. We do not have anything behind a "paywall". We do not use any advertising since, in our opinion, this would clutter and possibly confuse our message.
We merely rely on the Lord to provide for our needs and meet our family living expenses as well as the unique expenses of this ministry as He leads people, such as many of our readers, to support us. For any desiring information on support please see here. You can give online using a credit card, through PayPal and of course we receive checks.
We truly hope the daily encouragement devotional has been a blessing through 2025 and continues to be a blessing and source of spiritual strength and hope to each reader and listener in 2026! Our desire is that each of you are committed to Jesus Christ, that you stay faithful, and that you impact many others for Christ.
To donate
directly
online click
here.
(This will
open to a page
that
designates the
offering to:
Stephen and
Brooksyne
Weber -
700001-237376
serving in
specialized
chaplaincy
(Daily
Encouragement
is our
endorsed
special
chaplaincy
ministry).
In considering support we are so pleased when we hear from you, our readers, that our messages are a source of teaching and encouragement to you. We also urge you to consider the mission aspect of these daily teachings that are freely available and read by many all over the world.
Stephen & Brooksyne
Daily Encouragement on:
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radioPermissions: Please feel free to pass on, reproduce and distribute any material on Daily Encouragement Net, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this material, not protect or restrict it. We do request that you keep the contact, copyright and subscription information intact.
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version and a variety of other versions.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
© Copyright 2025 Stephen C. & Brooksyne Weber - All Rights Reserved
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA