Blessed be Thy mercy, O my God, which
pitieth me in my misery. As a father
pitieth his children in the extremity of their
pain, so hast Thou pitied me. Lord, my
soul shall love Thee, and sing of Thy mercy.
In my distress I will always trust in Thee,
and not be afraid; for Thou art our Strength
while we suffer, and our merciful Deliverer
when we can endure no more. To Thee be
glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
So many times I’ve seen men, particularly younger guys, act as if real leadership is shown in correcting others. That’s why young men’s sermons often scold. What they haven’t figured out is that you can often accomplish more by encouragement. There are times to scold. But 80 to 90 percent of what you hope to correct can be accomplished through encouragement. If you look back at your life and consider who influenced you the most, you will probably find that it’s the people who believed in you.
Mark Dever