Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. – 1 Thessalonians 5:11

You can find Ten Easy Steps for building your own home on the internet. As you read the steps, you may not realize the importance of the very first one: “prepare the site and pour the foundation.” Every true builder will tell you that first step is crucial. The life and value of the entire project rest, literally, on getting the foundation right.

The same is true in your spiritual life; you can only build a quality structure on solid faith. Truth cannot stand on error, and hope does not result from fear. In order to provide encouragement to others in these days of worldly chaos and distress, you must first receive it from the heavenly realm.

Unlike a building’s poured concrete foundation that is difficult to repair, your heavenly Father knows precisely how to make irregular and uneven places in your spiritual foundation plumb and level. The Spirit of God can heal your wounded, broken heart, filling in any cracks, and make you whole. When God corrects your foundation, you have true joy, true peace, and true encouragement to share.

Pray this psalm as a personal invitation for God to do a bit of construction work in your life today: “Search me O God and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! See if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24). Ask God to bless America with people of faith standing on the firm foundation of their hope in Christ.