Day 120    God Gives Us A Fresh Start

2 Samuel 22:21-22  (The Message)

God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before Him.  When I cleaned up my act, He gave me a fresh start.

Notice what preceded the “fresh start.”  David had to place all the pieces of his life before God.  His life was a mess.  (Read all of II Samuel 22)  God had just saved him from all his enemies and from Saul, who was out to kill him.

Our lives can be in a mess too and God is waiting for us to bring our mess to Him.  I remember that day very well.  I was trying to do it on my own and nothing (I mean nothing) was working!!  Finally in sheer desperation, I laid my life with all its scattered and confused and frustrated pieces before God and said, “If You can do anything with this, You can have it.”  To my utter amazement, a peace rushed over me.  I had peace!  I had joy!  I felt refreshed and invigorated—ready to do things God’s way.  That’s what a “fresh start” is.  It’s like “a do over,” in a kid’s vernacular.  That’s exactly what I needed—only this time it was going to be God’s way—not mine!!  Let’s do this Your way God and not mine!!

God is willing to give us a fresh perspective, a fresh purpose and a fresh energy to do what pleases Him and not ourselves. 

As I read the Word of God, I see that God loves to give people a fresh start.  He sent Jesus to the cross to wipe out our past sins, our past failures and our wrong past experiences.  He loves to pick us up, clean us off and give us a fresh start.  Only God could do that!!

GPS  (Directions)

·         Read the following scriptures from your Message Bible and talk to God about starting some things over.

·          

(NOTE: If you don’t have The Message, you can access it online at www.biblegateway.com.)

Lamentations 5: 21  (The Message) “….a fresh start.”

Hosea 2: 14-15  (The Message)

“……start over again……”

 Zechariah 10: 6b  (The Message)

“They’ll get a fresh start….”

·         Make a list of some of the things in your life that need a “do-over”---the places where you need a fresh start.

Prayer Focus:

            Thank God for giving you a fresh start!

Day 118 and 119

Think on this scripture in regards to asking for answers:

Matthew 7:7-11 (New International Version)

    ⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

   ⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

God is saying to “ask” Him.  I love it!!

Read II Chronicles 1: 712 and realize that King Solomon was new at being the king.  God said that he could ask for anything and he would have it.  King Solomon knew what he needed the most—wisdom and understanding on how to lead the people.

Look at how God answered him.  The book of Proverbs is written by Solomon and look how much wisdom is available to us.  All that because Solomon asked!!

Read Proverbs 4:7.

God is the source of all answers and all wisdom and all understanding and guess what---He is available to us at every moment of every day---and night.

Now that is GOOD NEWS!!

Day 117    Just Ask God

James 1:5 (New International Version)

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

It is so easy to ask a friend, a spouse or someone close to us their advice on something that we need to know.

I think in times past, I did not ask God questions because I didn’t expect Him to answer me.  I had a kind of “why bother” attitude.  After having these daily “meetings with God,” I realize that I can ask Him anything and He will answer.  Remember, He always has a “good plan” for us.  (Jeremiah 29:11)  I don’t know about you but I want to know what the “good plan” is!!  He knows the answer to every question and I believe He wants us to know too.  (I Corinthians 2: 9-10,12)

I think God smiles when we talk to Him.  I know that I am always pleased when the people I love call me on the phone or stop in to say “hi.”   Why would God be any different?  He loves His family!

All through the Old Testament God spoke to His people.  We are “New Testament” people because of the cross of Christ and the Bible says  we  have a better covenant than theirs, based on better promises.  (Hebrews 8:6)  Now that’s something to talk to God about!!  If God provided it, I want it active and alive in my life, so that my life brings glory to Him.  How about you??

God wants us to ask!  Moses asked a question and God answered him.  I believe it’s a promise that we can embrace for our own.  Here’s his question regarding provision for the people he was in charge of:  “Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”   (Numbers 11:22)

Here’s the answer: “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”

God not only told Moses that they would have a supply of meat but He said that they would “see” it.

It’s time to ask God some questions because He wants to give you the answers!!

GPS  (Directions)

·         Go back over the scriptures here and talk to God about them.  Develop a “meeting” atmosphere with Him and wait for the answer.

·         Don’t be afraid to ask Him again during your day if you didn’t get an answer right away.

Prayer Focus:

Thank Him for meeting with you.

Day 116  Hearing The Voice of God

Hebrews 3:7-9 (New International Version)

 So, as the Holy Spirit says:  “Today, if you hear his voice…..

In reading this verse, we know that it is possible to hear the voice of God.  Actually I think God is speaking about my situation all the time.  Sometimes I step away from the cling and clatter of the world and tune into what He is saying, and sometimes I do not. 

Okay, as I was writing this I felt God give me a little “assignment.”  My husband and I have been looking forward to today because we were going on a little outing.  We woke up this morning and realized right away that the weather was going to cause us to change our plans.

I can be disappointed or I can say, “God, what would You have us do today?”  Immediately upon asking the question, a thought came to me.  It was a simple, but fun outing that the two of us could do together.

My question today was just a little thing.  Certainly it was not life or death.  If you are new to talking to God and hearing His voice,  I encourage you to start with the little things.  In this way, you will be gaining confidence in his faithfulness and dependability to answer you.  I think you will find out how easy it is to hear His answers to your questions.

God designed us to have conversations with Him.  He placed Adam and Eve in the beautiful Garden of Eden and it says in Genesis 3:8 that they “heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day….”

When sin entered this world, man no longer wanted to fellowship with God.  Their confidence waned because they felt separated from God because of their sin. 

At the cross, God restored this fellowship.  Our sin was forgiven  (removed) and we were given open access to His throne.  (Hebrews 4:16)  Isn’t that Good News??

GPS   (Directions)

·         Ask God a simple question today.  Write it down in your journal.  If you get an immediate answer, write down another one, etc.

·         If you don’t get an immediate answer, don’t be concerned.  An hour or so later, ask the same question again, expecting that you will hear His answer.

Prayer Focus:

Thank God for speaking to you! 

 I'd love to hear how God answered your question(s) today!

Day 115   I Will Trust And Not Be Afraid

Isaiah 12:2 (New International Version)

Surely God is my salvation;  I will trust and not be afraid.  The LORD, the LORD Himself, is my strength and my defense^; He has become my salvation.”

We have been talking about having “confidence” in God.  Confidence is something that we gain through experience.  We learn to trust someone or something over the course of time, which results in having confidence that they will do what they say they will do.

If I trust someone and they come through for me, I start to build confidence that that will always be the case.  After repeatedly experiencing good things, I don’t even question them because I know I can count of them.

The more we experience the good things of God, the more confidence we have in Him.  The rub comes when we call something bad---“God.”  God is incapable of bad.  He was all about “good” from the very beginning of time.  For example, in Exodus 15:26 He says, “I am the Lord who heals you.”  That’s just one example of His goodness.

The entire Old Testament points us to the Cross of Christ.  At the cross, God provided all the help we need for our right now lives.  He provided forgiveness of our sins and healing for our bodies.  He provided help with our finances and restoration of our relationships.  It’s like He deposited all that in our bank account 2000 years ago.  The reason we do not actually have it is that we have not accessed it. 

Every promise in the Word of God is “yes” and “amen.”  (2 Corinthians 1:20)  Our responsibility is to read the Word and embrace it as our own.  In doing so, it becomes ours.   As we meditate on the promise, our faith grows, our tenacity grows, and our victory grows.  We “lay hold” of the promise and make it ours!!

As we grow in our experiences with God and find out how faithful and good He is, we have confidence that He hears and answers our prayers.  What a joy!!  We are not in this alone!

GPS  (Directions)

·         Read the following scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what He is saying to you through each one.

            Matthew 15:21-28 

            Hebrews 6: 18

            II Corinthians 2:14

Prayer Focus:

Thank Him for showing you!!

Hi there!

If you are joining me for the first time, I encourage you to click on the Archives (October of 2010) because that's where the journey begins.  Every journey begins at the beginning and that's what makes the "trip" an adventure.  God is certainly not boring and there is so much to learn and experience.

God bless you,

Karol

Day 114   He Hears And Answers Prayer

1 John 5:14-15 (New International Version, ©2011)

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Wow!  Let’s read this again!!  “This is the confidence that we have…”

How do we have confidence?  By this time (after 113 days of meeting with God), I would hope that you have a “dialog” going with God.   Some mornings I have a specific question to ask God and some mornings I just say, “What would you like me to know.”  Either way, the doors of communication have been opened.  As you begin to read the Word of God, (with or without the help of a devotional),  you will be reading the very words of God to you.  The Holy Spirit is your “Counselor.”  (John 16:7 Amplified Bible.)  He is the One who teaches you all things.  (John 14:26) The Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity who guides you into all truth.

Let’s go on:  “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

His Word is His will.  If your specific answer is not spelled out in His Word, you can ask God to show you His will.  He may use the Bible, He may use something or someone to speak to you or He Himself may speak to you. 

NOTE:  If you need help finding what you need in the Bible, there are many books available which tell you what the Bible says about certain topics.  Check your local bookstore.

If you are not sure of God’s will, you can ask Him.  He won’t kick you out of the throne room.  The Bible says if you are a child of God, you are part of His family and you can come into the throne room whenever you like.  You are family!

I just write on the top of my journal page something like:  “Do you want me to get involved with that group?”  Or how about this:  “Where do you want us to take our vacation this year?”  Then as I lay my own will down and let God show me, He will!!  How will you know for sure??  You will have peace!

GPS  (Directions)

·         Read these scriptures and let God speak to your heart.

Hebrews 4: 16

Proverbs 16:3 Amplified Bible

Ephesians 2:10  Amplified Bible

Isaiah 55:12

Prayer Focus:

Thank Him for meeting with you each day.  Thank Him for speaking to you and confirming things to you so you can keep your life on track—His track!!

Day 113     I Am God!

Exodus 6:2 (The Message)

 God continued speaking to Moses, reassuring him, "I am God.

In the very beginning of this journey I talked about how David “encouraged himself in the Lord.”  (I Samuel 30:6b KJV)The NIV says, “David found strength in the Lord his God.”

When we go through difficult times, God wants us to know that He is not a far off God but One who desires to be as personal as you need Him to be.  God is “reassuring” Moses in our scripture today. In The Message it says, “God continued speaking to Moses, reassuring him, ‘I am God.” If He did that for Moses(under the old covenant), He will certainly keep His promise to us under the new covenant.

I went to www.biblegateway.com and put in “I am God.”  As you can imagine there were way too many scriptures to go through in one sitting, so here are just a few:

            Exodus 15: 26  I AM  your healing.

            Exodus 19:25  I AM your provision.

            Exodus 20:24  I AM  your protection.

            Exodus 16:12  I AM your peace.

            Leviticus 23: 43  I AM your deliverance.

Yes, in this world adverse circumstances come but because God is our God, we go through those things.  We don’t stay in them.  Oh we can, but God wants to be our personal God.   He wants to give us instructions.  He wants to help us.  He has provided so much for us and He wants us to know and understand and take hold of his provision for us.  Then we will have a testimony of His greatness and His goodness to give to a discouraged, dying world that has no hope.

It’s so reassuring to know that God knows right where we are and what we are facing today.  He wants to take us by the hand as His child and take us to the other side of our situations.  That’s the reason for these daily “meetings with God” that we started 112 days ago.  That’s the reason the name of this blog is, “YOU CAN GET THERE FROM HERE.”  It’s because you can!!!

And God is going to show you how!  Are you ready to go?  Are you ready to keep going----until you get there?  Are you ready to let God reassure you on a daily basis

GPS  (Directions)

·         Go to a concordance and look up “I am God.”  Pick out five scriptures and write the references in your journal.

·         Make each one personal for your situation.

·         Read Isaiah 53: 4-5  Amplified Bible and spend time thinking about it.

Prayer Focus:

Thank God for all that He did for you as stated in Isaiah 53:4-5.

Day 111 and 112  Love Never Fails

1 Corinthians 13:8-10 (The Message)

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

Three little words…..love never fails.  Love is a powerful force that changed our lives when we accepted Jesus’ love for us.  And love is a powerful force that will change the lives of those around us.  We love—God does the rest!

On Day 108 we read Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit (of God) is love….”

We are to be full of the love of God so we can give it to those around us.  What inhibits us from being full?  Unforgiveness….flesh….legalism and a judgmental attitude to name a few.  As we surrender our attitudes and our flesh before God, He will fill us with His love so we have something to give.

As we begin to practice God’s love on a daily basis, we will develop a “love cares more for others than for self” attitude.  Only then will we be truly happy.  “Self” has never made us happy or satisfied us.  It only made us miserable.  Think about that for a few minutes.

If you spent some time in the last few days in the GPS section of my blog, you should be feeling lighter and freer and as a result—more joyful!

As a review read I Corinthians 13: 1-13 in the Amplified Bible.  There is some vocabulary there that will give you even more insight.

Note:  You can get the Amplified Bible by going to:

www.biblegateway.com

Prayer Focus:

Talk to God as you read today……and let Him talk to you.

God bless you and I would dearly love if you would comment and let me know your thoughts today!

Love, Karol

Day 110   Love Always Looks For The Best

1 Corinthians 13:5-7 (The Message)

LOVE…….

   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.

And our list goes on!!  (See Days 108 and 109) 

These are some pretty powerful words!!  We learned that we are “nothing” without love.  And today’s scripture says that love “always looks for the best” in others.  I don’t know about you but I have some things to work on!!

As soon as our feet hit the floor in the morning we have opportunities to make judgments.  We may not say them out loud but in our minds we form opinions.

One day I was driving to work and I heard the Holy Spirit, (the Spirit of Truth --John 14:17 AMP….the Counselor, Helper  -- John 14:26 AMP)…. speak into my heart, “You don’t have to have an opinion about that.”

Those plain and simple words were so freeing to me!!  All of a sudden, life became so much similar.  It’s not my job to form an opinion.  It’s not might job to think about it and it certainly is not my job to tell someone else what I think.

That took care of about one half of my daily thought processes right there!!  Without that responsibility (of thinking all those judgmental thoughts), I was free to enjoy thinking about good things—even good thoughts about that person!

In today’s title, you will see the word “Always.”  Always probably means always, all the time, at all times….you get the picture.

GPS  (Directions)

·         Evaluate your thoughts as you go through your day today.  How many times do you form opinions that are not the “best” about a person?

·         If you can, jot them down quickly, or at least be aware of them.

·         Ask God to forgive you of what you were thinking.

·         On purpose begin to think of all the good things about that person.  Assign yourself that task until you have formed enough good things about them to see the good in them.

·         Some of us need to “believe the best” in ourselves.  I don’t mean to the point of being in pride, but realize that God made you, He loves you and He believes the best in you, even when you are not very loveable.  Ask God to forgive you of your bad thoughts about yourself.

Prayer Focus:

Spend some time with God forming good thoughts about others (and even yourself) and ask God to forgive you for allowing your “opinions” to take over your thought life.