“He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great.” Psalm 18:34-35 NIV
My prayer for you today is that you would know His love as He pours His strength into you. That you would know His peace as you lean on Him. That you would rest in God’s grace as you walk by His guidance. That you would trust Him with the future and focus simply on the task before you. That you would be released from the restlessness within you as you receive a new determination to go forward in faith.
God will give you what you need right now to fight the battle before you.
You are stronger than you know because your strength comes from Jesus and His right hand sustains you.
Don’t give up, you are sustained and trained through the power of His love.
“But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you. He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right—everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.” Isaiah 30:18
When the boys were in elementary school they got out at 2:20 pm and I would try to get to the school at the latest by 2:00 pm so I could get a good spot in the pickup line. If you have ever experienced the stress of picking your child up in the craziness that is the end of an Elementary school day, you know how important this is.
One day I had to pick them up early from school and as we walked from classrooms to the car, Kyle looked at all the cars waiting in line and said: “Oh, they are already here?” Then he said, “I thought you just got here right when school is out”. I said, “Nope, if I waited until then I’d be way in the back of the line, so I get here early so I can be right on time for you.”
As I pulled in to wait in the pickup line the next day, I thought about Kyle’s perception, “I thought you just got here right when school was out.”
We forget that most things are not always as they seem but only as we see them. Just as I made a point to be at the school early so that I could be “on time” for the boys, so God is working in ways we can’t see and don’t know about in our lives.
The verse above was fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus God’s will can be fulfilled in your life.
God is not finished with you.
He is going ahead of you and preparing the way for you.
His grace and power are ready to be right on time when you need it.
“Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.” Ephesians. 5:2 Message Version
The Scripture above doesn’t say: Mostly what God does is judge us. Mostly what God does is condemn us. Mostly what God does is punish us. Mostly what God does is give up on us.
No, mostly what God does is love us.
He holds nothing back but gives us more and more and more. He loves us whether we feel it or not. He loves us when we are doing good or not. Can’t earn it. Don’t deserve it, nonetheless…what God mostly does is love us.
It reminds me of a phrase from the book, The Shack by William P. Young: “The nature of love is that it is freely given and received freely. God loves the lost and saved the same. He loves, period.”
What do you think of when you think of having peace?
Do you think of a day without conflict or one without suffering?
I often think that having peace means a day without external noise or internal worry.
“And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!” – John 16:33 TPT
Peace isn’t found in the absence of problems, it is found in the presence of Jesus.
Peace isn’t found in the hope that the world will get it right, it is found in the promise that Jesus already did.
As I write this, the words of an old hymn comes to mind:
“My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame But wholly lean on Jesus’ name
On Christ the solid Rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand
When darkness hides His lovely face I rest on His unchanging grace In every high and stormy gale My anchor holds within the veil
On Christ the solid Rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand
His oath, His covenant, His blood Support me in the whelming flood When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay
On Christ the solid Rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand
When He shall come with trumpet sound Oh, may I then in Him be found Dressed in His righteousness alone Faultless to stand before the throne’
On Christ the solid Rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand
by Edward Mote, 1834
My friend, no matter what you are facing this Christmas, my prayer for you is that Jesus would be the rock you stand on.
There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.”
Matthew 6:25, 26 MSG
Life with God is about being filled with His love and then pouring it out on all those around you.
It is worshipping Him when we wake, when we walk, when we clean, when we work, when we eat, when we get dressed.
It is knowing you are saved by grace and reconciled to Him because of the sacrifice of Jesus.
It is knowing He loves you because you are His kid and He enjoys spending time with you.
My friend, you are a child of God who is cherished, chosen and provided for.
Live in the freedom of His love.
Live care-less in the care of God.
Live more in this truth and less in the lie that you are valued because of what you look like, eat, wear or do.
This life, this love, this security comes from Jesus and is unshakable.
Motivation quote: “Be stubborn about your goal, and flexible about your methods.” – GnomeAngel.com
Change doesn’t occur without courage.
It takes a special kind of stubbornness to start a new thing in your life and to change the course of it.
It is a stubbornness to keep going against the odds and swim against the current.
Life in Christ means that you are being called upon to be a pioneer. He is calling you to be the first in your family to stay married, to break the cycle of unhealthy habits or to break the cycle of emotional or physical abuse.
“But you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion. It won’t be long now, he’s on the way; he’ll show up most any minute. But anyone who is right with me thrives on loyal trust; if he cuts and runs, I won’t be very happy. But we’re not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We’ll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way.”
Hebrews 10:32-39 MSG
God is asking you to be a change-maker and to be stubborn about it.
Be stubborn about your goals but flexible about your methods.
Jesus never did the same miracle twice.
Each one was different and unique.
Be creative, use what God has given you and fight for change.
Jesus had a teaching moment with His disciples that is easy to miss and easy to misunderstand.
On His was to cleanse the Temple, Jesus spoke these words to a fig tree: “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” (Mark 11:14)
You see, the tree was advertising that it had fruit with its full leaves. When He checked it, the tree had none and Jesus is not a fan of false advertising.
On their way back, they saw that it had withered to its roots and was utterly dead.
The world says fake it until you make it but God is never okay with us pretending that everything is okay when it is not.
He would rather that we would be honest and say to Him, “I’ve got nothing today and I need help.”
My friend, you do not ever have to “fake it until you make it” with God. Be honest with Him today knowing that He is ready to give you what you need.
One of the most amazing things about receiving God’s love (and I mean really receiving it- taking it in, letting it sink into your soul, walking in the truth of it, living loved) is that it gives you courage.
Courage to step out of your comfort zone.
Courage to change the way you talk to yourself and to others.
Courage to not give in to old habits, coping mechanisms or escape tactics.
Courage to face your feelings and issues.
“My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.”
1 John 3:18-20 MSG
When anxiety is stealing your joy, you can bet it is also stealing your ability to love fearlessly as well. Put your worries in God’s capable hands and get busy loving the people He has placed in your life.
This faith journey with Jesus is just that, a faith journey.
It is not a fear journey.
Faith and fear are both ways to walk into the unknown and I have a secret to tell you – every new day is unknown. You don’t know what will happen. It could go as planned or go completely different. Sometimes better different, sometimes not so much.
Fear holds you back, faith releases you forward.
I’m not suggesting that you ignore your fear or be in denial of it. I’m encouraging you to not let feardecide what you do or don’t do.
Give Jesus all your unknowns and allow Him full access to the places in your heart that are ruled by fear.
Let His love flood in and wash away the fears that are holding you back today.
