Dangerous Encouragement
By Mike Rule

God continually brings explosions into my life that blow away my false belief structures and leave me reeling in the awareness of His awesome presence. Negative circumstances are a wonderful privilege and opportunity to see Christ revealed. I have to admit that they are not always fun and I don't always appreciate them at the time, but God is faithful to keep me through all things.

Last week, as I prepared the messages for Sunday's services, my whole family was sick with a respiratory virus. I felt gross and contaminated most of the time I was home. I knew I should rest and trust Christ through it all, but my mind kept telling me to stay away. I did not want to get sick. I was not willing to yield and embrace Him in it. God showed me my weakness and revealed how desperately I need Him to keep me focused on Him. This was a struggle all week. I knew the enemy was attacking to present opposition and keep me distracted from Jesus. Yet, deep inside I also knew all this had come from the hand of God. Every bit of it drove me to the feet of Jesus. I knew if God did not want me there Sunday, I would not be there.

Sunday came and I preached both services but I never dreamed what the following week would look like. Encouraging words and praises have been coming almost every day. People have been sharing how God touched them through the messages and how they have found challenge and encouragement. This has left me very uncomfortable. I can easily get addicted to encouragement. Then other sources unrelated to Sunday brought encouragement and thanks to me. I really began to get scared. I know I am so unsafe to receive affirmations. If I am given a chance I will steal God's glory and start to think I am something special. I am so glad that Jesus does not leave us without hope.

The life of Christ is not to flow one way. It does not only flow out from the inside but it also flows in from the outside. Jesus does not have a problem receiving praise; why do I? He revealed how my inability to receive praise is a backdoor way of calling more attention to myself. If someone tells me that they really appreciated what I had to say in a message, I tend to want to say, "Thank you, but it wasn't me. That was Jesus speaking to you." I am subtly calling attention to myself by saying it was Him and not me. The underlying message is, "See how humble I am?" The person doesn't walk away seeing Jesus; they walk away seeing me.

The issue is in the heart. If we receive and hold on to praise, we steal His glory. If we verbally deny acceptance by saying, "Not I," we distract from Him. If we allow Him to flow freely in and out, it calls attention to Him. The most humbling thing for me is to receive with gratefulness and let it flow on to Him. Only then am I free to take my eyes off myself and rejoice in all that God has done. Praise God for His faithfulness!