We should always be quick to share a word of encouragement and affirmation
towards those who doubt their ability or are not confident that they will
succeed. We must remember that there are many people who are quick to 
judge themselves unworthy and do not believe in their ability as they 
should. It is for this reason that as believers in Christ and followers of
His command that we're to build one another up and give them the motivation 
and encouragement they need to believe in themselves and know that God 
created them with a purpose and plan in mind that only they can fulfill.

Be encouraged to be one who changes lives for the better by sharing words
and actions of affirmation cheering on those who are discouraged and 
letting them know that they have greatness within them that only needs to
mature and thrive and accomplish that which the Lord has intended. If you
truly want to be a world changer, then pay close attention to those who are
coming up now. Encourage them now so that they may encourage multitudes 
later. (Exodus 4:10-17) (John 15:9-17) (Jeremiah 29:11) (Hebrews 10:23-25)

I hope this message encourages your heart to see what great results there
are in investing words of encouragement in the lives of those who don't 
believe in themselves wholeheartedly as they should.


NUMBER 111

“You haven’t changed a bit,” I said as I pulled the old burgundy colored 
hymnbook from the shelf. I’m not in the habit of talking to books but it
might be interesting if this particular hymnbook could talk back to me.

I have a collection of old hymnbooks that friends have given me or I have
gathered from various places over the years, but this hymnbook was special.
The old hymnbook with an arched church window etched on the front and the
words “Tabernacle Hymns” looked quite the same as it did the first time I
saw it. An edge or two was frayed, but it was still in good condition. 

I opened it up and inside the cover was the date, 1957, so it would have
been fairly new when it was given to me. I remembered this hymnbook well 
because it was the very first one that I had used as I learned to play the
piano. Tucked away in the back of that old hymnbook I found the numbers 
that I had written down and titles that I had underlined as I learned to 
play those hymns.

I was just a little girl about eleven years old and I was just beginning to
learn to play the piano when Willie Slocum, the Sunday School 
Superintendent, came up to me after church and asked me to accompany the 
congregation for the opening of Sunday school that next week. I thought 
the idea was exciting but really scary. 

I told him that I didn’t know very many songs yet, but he assured me that 
it would be fine. He said that I would learn and he asked me what I could 
already play. Mostly I had played from my piano lesson books but I told 
him I could play number 111 in the hymnbook, At Calvary, pretty well 
because it was written in the key of C and had no flats or sharps. Without 
hesitation, Willie said that would be a great song to play next Sunday morning.

I immediately went home and began practicing number 111 all week long until
my family probably heard it in their sleep. I practiced it slow, I 
practiced it fast, I practiced it while singing, and I practiced it while
Momma or Daddy sang it for me so I could get the feel of accompanying 
someone else.

The next Sunday came and I played number 111 and got through it just fine.
Willie seemed pleased and told me to write down a list of songs that I 
could play and he would choose from them when he picked the hymns for 
Sunday school opening.

As time went on, I worked hard to learn more hymns to add to the list. I
knew number 111 well by then and so did the congregation!

By the time I was a teenager, I was often playing for the worship service
as well as for Sunday school. I am thankful for Willie, a Sunday school 
Superintendent, who believed in a little girl who he had never heard play a
note. It probably wasn’t so unusual for Willie who had lived by faith for
many years.

Although it was written in 1895, by William R. Newell, it’s melody and 
message is timeless and as needed today as much as ever. The refrain 
still plays in my mind as I often go back to number 111, back “At Calvary”
where “Mercy there was great and grace was free”.

As Willie would say, “Take your hymnbooks and turn with me to Number 111.”

By Pamela Perry Blaine


Read and meditate on these scriptures:

Acts 20:35 “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to 
support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, 
It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Psalm 119:103-105 “How sweet are Thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter 
than honey to my mouth! Through Thy precepts I get understanding: therefore 
I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto 
my path.”

John 13:34-35 Jesus declares “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye 
love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By 
this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to 
another.”

1 Peter 3:8-11 “Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of 
another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for 
evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye 
are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will 
love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his 
lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him 
seek peace, and ensue it.”

All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.


Today’s Selected Hymn/Poem: AT CALVARY
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem191.htm

Today’s Selected Testimony: MY SALVATION STORY
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony120.htm


In Christ’s Service,

Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry