I’m proud of you.
Rarely, if at all, do we get a glimpse into the heavenly realm, but our failures make the demons howl. The “Gotcha your kid again!” of the demons is ever before our Father (Revelation 12:10). I know this doesn’t bring a smile to our Dad’s face, but our victories sure do!
The hard truth is that this side of heaven, we don’t get to see His smile or hear His words, “I am proud of you,” as Jesus did. As a human being, He needed it. Don’t we?
We do and our Heavenly Father wants to use us to do it! Hebrews 3:13 instructs us to encourage each other on a daily basis to keep us from getting so down that we want to quit walking with Jesus. I find it interesting that the word for encourage comes from the same word used to be church – helping each other move toward Jesus.
We can’t see our Father’s smile, but we can see the one He puts on our faces. We may not verbally hear from Him, “I’m proud of you,” but He can say those same words through you. Stop going to church and be the church!
Take a step of faith empowered by the Spirit to overcome the “I need a smile” to reflect the Father. Let the Spirit use you today to smile your Father’s smile and to tell someone those four special words.
You will not only encouraged them, but their return smile or tears of joy will encourage you as well!