Day 187    Faithfully Fulfilled Promises

Isaiah 51:5-6  Amplified Bible

⁵My rightness and justice are near, My salvation is going forth, and My arms shall rule the peoples; the islands shall wait for and expect Me, and on My arm shall they trust and wait with hope.

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall be dissolved and vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner [like gnats]. But My salvation shall be forever, and My rightness and justice [and faithfully fulfilled promise] shall not be abolished.⁽

There are certain things the Word of God says we can count on:  God’s rightness (His correctness and accuracy) and His justice (conforming to what He has promised).

Isn’t it nice to serve a God who cannot lie (Numbers 23:19)?  We can count on His accuracy and His moral integrity to do what He said He would do.

Sometimes we hear, “I know God is able but will He do it.”  Here’s what I know:  He will do what He says He will do!  The Bible is filled with His promises and if He said it, He will do it!!  That’s so good to know!

GPS  (Directions)

            I  Samuel 15:29

            Malachi 3:6

            James 1: 17

Prayer Focus:

Thank Your wonderful God that He knows what He wants to do for you.  Embrace the promise that He made to you in His Word by saying, “Yes, God, I agree.” And then just begin to thank Him for it!

Remember, you can get to a place of confidence from here!

Day 186    God Is Our Comforter

Isaiah 51:3  The Message

Likewise I, God, will comfort Zion,
comfort all her mounds of ruins.
I'll transform her dead ground into Eden,
her moonscape into the garden of God,
A place filled with exuberance and laughter,
thankful voices and melodic songs.

God Himself with comfort us.  Stop and think about that a minute……God Himself…..!!  He goes on to say that He will transform the “dead” areas of our life into a garden of Eden.  That’s where everything is alive and well.  Everything is blossoming.  Everything is balanced.  Just the right amount of moisture and sun so everything can grow beautifully.  God wants our lives to be like that. 

The result of this is joy and gladness.  In the beginning of this verse we needed comfort and in the end of this verse we are singing songs of joy and laughing.  Only God could do that!  Don’t you just love Him?

GPS (Directions)

Psalms 35:27

Isaiah 35:10

Isaiah 51:11

Prayer Focus:

Bring the things that concern you to God and let Him comfort your heart.

Remember, you can get to joy from here!!

Day 185   Getting Our Marching Orders

Judges 5:21b  (NIV1984)

March on, my soul; be strong!

Sometimes we need these “marching” orders!  We need to tell our soul to keep on going; don’t park and ask yourself how you feel about things.  Our soul is the “house” in which live our emotions, our thoughts and the effects of our life choices. 

We enjoy peace when all three of those line up with the truth of God’s Word.  When we start thinking wrong thoughts--that stir up our emotions--that cause us to make wrong life-choices, we have a mess on our hands.  When we think, act and react like Jesus, we have peace. 

So march on my soul – right past all that junk, into the arms of peace!!

GPS  (Directions)

Psalms 119:165

Psalms 122:7

Psalms 147:14

Prayer Focus:

(Take a few minutes to evaluate the state of your “house.”  Are your thoughts lined up with the Word of God?  Are your emotions under God's control?  Have you made right life-choices today?)

Spend a few minutes with God and ask Him to help you to bring peace into your soul.

Remember you can get to “peace” from here!!!

Day 183  A Hug From God

Ephesians 1:4-6   The Message

Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

I named this “A Hug From God” because in reading this, I could see God reaching out and drawing us into His love; and once there, He takes joy in extending grace to us in an abundant way.  Isn’t that just like our Heavenly Father?

GPS  (Directions)

Crawl up into the Father’s arms and let Him minister the following scripture to you:

·         Deuteronomy 14:2

·         Isaiah 63: 16

·         Romans 8:15

Prayer Focus:

Thank God that it was always His plan to adopt you into His family.

Day 181  A New Way Of Responding

Romans 8:15  Amplified Bible

For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!

Notice that the word “Spirit” is capitalized.  The verse is referring to the Holy Spirit.  He’s the part of the Godhead that was sent to us when Jesus went to be with the Father after the resurrection.

The Holy Spirit is the one Who—

            Comforts us   (John 14:26 )

            Guides us       (John 16:13)

            Teaches us    (John 14:26)

            Convicts us   (John 16:8)

            Reminds us    (John 14:26)

NOTE:  Read these verses out of the Amplified Bible for clarity.  If you don’t have an Amplified Bible, you can go to http://www.biblegateway.com/

He is the One Who is left here on the earth to cause us to live victorious until Jesus comes to bring us home.  It is all part of God’s marvelous plan for us.

So why do we feel alone—like we have no hope—like no one cares—like we are the only one going through this stuff?

It’s because we have an enemy that wants to come and steal our joy.  If he can discourage us, he’s got us right where he wants us.

Our verse says if we have received Christ as our personal Savior then the Holy Spirit resides in us.  The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth and the truth is—we do not have to be in bondage to fear again!!

Fear says—

            I am alone

            I won’t make it

            There is no way out

            God doesn’t care about me

            There is no hope for my situation

                                    Etc. Etc. Etc.

You know how it goes.  We all know how it goes because we have all felt this way at times.  It’s the Holy Spirit who wants to get the truth to us in the midst of these thoughts.  He’s the One that says, “You don’t have to be in slavery again to these thoughts.  You’ve been set free!   The chains have broken!  You have been adopted by the Father!!”

Now that is the Good News!!

GPS  (Directions)

·         John 10:10

·         Romans 8:6

·         John 8: 32, 36

Prayer Focus:

Invite the Holy Spirit of God to come to you in a greater measure and to fill you with God’s ways, God’s truth and God’s divine destiny for you.

Day 180   A New Way Of Thinking

Mark 2:22 (NIV1984)

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.

2012 is a new year (a new wineskin) and it’s a year that none of us have experienced before.  This year is a blank canvas and it can be filled with all that God has for us (new wine).

I say “it can” because it also can be filled the remembrance of the difficult things we may experienced in the last year.

When we are driving our car our eyes are positioned on the road ahead.  We are anticipating our destination.  It can be a pleasant trip as we drive along, but what if we are constantly looking in the rear view mirror—constantly turning around and thinking about unpleasant events that have happened.

I know it is difficult when the thoughts and emotions from last year want to come into this new year and hold us in a place of sorrow, disappointment, guilt, etc.  We can, however, pray that day-by-day God will help us to focus on the future.

Each day is a blank canvas and we can ask God to “cause our thoughts to be agreeable to His will,” for that day.  (Proverbs 16:3 Amplified Bible)  His will is for us to have peace and even joy, and we can only have that as we walk closely with Him—and that is a daily walk.

GPS (Directions)

Read His promises—Get His directions!

·         Proverbs 16:9  Amplified Bible

·         II Corinthians 5:17 Amplified Bible

·         Ephesians 4:23 Amplified Bible

Prayer Focus

Father, cause my thoughts to be agreeable to Your will so that I can think Your thoughts for this new year.

Day 179    A New Year—A New Thing

Isaiah 43:18-19  (NIV1984)

¹⁸ “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.

What a great promise this is!  I am ready for a new year and a new thing.  How about you?  From what I have experienced with God, He is always progressing, always advancing and always taking us on to bigger and better things.

I think God is waiting for us to come to Him and take His hand.  If this verse is true—that He is “making a way” for me, then I want to go with Him in that way. 

As we enter 2012, let’s take His hand.  Let’s go with Him because He has made a way (through Jesus’ death on the cross) and He is still making a way for us.  We don’t know how and we do not have what it takes to make our own way, but thank God that He is able!

GPS (Directions)

Read His promises—Get His directions!

·         Isaiah 43:18

·         Isaiah 65: 17

·         Isaiah 48:6

Prayer Focus

Thank God that He is doing new things in your life in this new year.