Morning Encouragement

Strangers and Citizens: God’s Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 18 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! When the risen Jesus stood on a hillside in Galilee and looked into the faces of His disciples, He didn’t give them a political strategy. He didn’t hand them a policy platform. He didn’t commission them to fix the Roman Empire. He said this:

Strangers and Citizens: God’s Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 17 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! When Daniel was taken captive to Babylon, he didn’t withdraw from public life. He didn’t rage against the system. He served faithfully within a pagan government—rising to one of the highest positions in the empire—while never compromising his faithfulness to God.

Strangers and Citizens: God’s Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 16 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, the devil didn’t come at Him with obvious lies. He came with Scripture. Three times Satan quoted God’s own Word—but twisted it, taken out of context, bent to serve an agenda that had nothing to do with God’s purposes (Matthew 4:1-11). And three times Jesus responded the same way: “It is written.” He didn’t argue from emotion. He didn’t appeal to what felt right or what the culture around Him was saying. He took the devil’s distorted framework and measured it against the full truth of God’s Word. And the distortion crumbled.

Strangers and Citizens: God’s Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 15 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! Yesterday we talked about the sin of bearing false witness—weaponizing words against people. Today we face a different but related question: What do we do when the world around us starts calling evil good and good evil? Do we stay silent? Do we go along to keep the peace? Or does God call us to something harder and holier?

Strangers and Citizens: God’s Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 14 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! There’s a story in 1 Kings chapter 21—the account of Naboth’s vineyard. It’s a powerful reminder that destruction doesn’t always begin with a sword. Sometimes it begins with words.

 Strangers and Citizens: God’s Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 13 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! Have we ever stopped to consider how Jesus treated someone everyone else had already written off? In John chapter four, Jesus sat down at a well in Samaria. No respectable Jewish teacher would have been there. The Jews despised the Samaritans as a group—they were considered half-breeds, heretics, unclean. Centuries of hatred had built walls so high that “Jews do not associate with Samaritans” (John 4:9, NIV). The entire group was dismissed. Rejected. Labeled.

Strangers and Citizens: God’s Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 12 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! Today we turn our attention to a group of people at the center of the immigration conversation who are rarely spoken about with the compassion and respect they deserve—the men and women in law enforcement who carry out the difficult, dangerous, and often thankless work of maintaining order in our communities.

Strangers and Citizens: God’s Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 11 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! Today we pause to address something that affects every one of us—not just in the immigration conversation, but in how we navigate an increasingly confusing world.

Strangers and Citizens: God's Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 10 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! As we've walked through this series, we've seen God's design for government authority, the importance of obeying law, and the consequences of violating it. Today we turn to a question many Christians wrestle with: Can God work redemptively even in situations involving human sin and disobedience?

Strangers and Citizens: God's Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 9 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! As we continue navigating these challenging immigration conversations, today we pause to look at something that transcends policy debates and political positions. We're looking at people—real human beings created in God's image, souls for whom Christ died. Lost souls are everywhere in this debate. On every side. In every camp. In every position.

Strangers and Citizens: God's Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 8 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! Today we explore one of the most fundamental truths in all of Scripture—that every single one of us, regardless of where we were born or how we arrived where we are, desperately needs the solid foundation that only Jesus Christ provides.

Strangers and Citizens: God's Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 7 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! Yesterday we looked in the mirror and saw the plank in our own eye—those sins we so easily overlook while we're quick to notice the sawdust in someone else's. Today, we're wrestling with how we view different kinds of lawbreaking, and what our response should be as followers of Jesus.

Strangers and Citizens: God's Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 6 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! Today, we want to address something we sometimes hear: people comparing illegal immigration to the Exodus—God leading His people from Egypt to the Promised Land. "Didn't God support migration?" they ask. It's an honest question that deserves a thoughtful, biblical answer.

Strangers and Citizens: God's Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 5 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! Today we address a deeply personal question: When facing poverty or hardship, do we humbly trust God's providence, or do we pridefully decide we must fix our circumstances ourselves—even if it means violating His ordained authorities?

Strangers and Citizens: God's Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 4 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! Immigration has become one of the most divisive issues of our time. Families are torn apart over disagreements. Friendships fracture. Church members clash. One side demands compassion and open borders. The other demands security and closed ranks. Social media amplifies the worst voices. Politicians use immigration as a wedge issue. And many Christians are asking: Where do we turn? What do we believe?

Strangers and Citizens: God's Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 3 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! Today we tackle something that creates genuine struggle in many Christian hearts—how do we hold together God's obvious compassion for the vulnerable with His clear design for lawful authority?

Strangers and Citizens: God's Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 2 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! As we continue our journey through "Strangers and Citizens," we pause today to consider something many people assume is merely a human invention—national boundaries. Maps with their colored borders, passport checkpoints, immigration policies—are these just political constructs, or is there something deeper at work? Today, we discover that the nations themselves, and the boundaries that define them, are part of God's intentional design for humanity.

Strangers and Citizens: God's Heart for Justice and Mercy | Day 1 Good morning, beloved friends in Christ! What a privilege it is to gather together in God's Word on this beautiful day He has made. As we begin a new journey through Scripture together, we're stepping into territory that touches all our lives—a topic that stirs deep emotions, divides families, and challenges our faith in ways few issues do. Immigration. Borders. Nations. Law and order. Compassion and justice.