I AM

I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Psalm 18:1-2 KJV

When Moses asked God who he should say sent him to tell Pharoah to release the Israelites from slavery, God replied, Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you (Exodus 3:14). A long time ago, I did a study on the title of I AM. It's amazing how much can be defined by so few letters! How can so little encompass the Creator of the Universe and all that He is?

He is our rock, our fortress, our God, our deliverer. Our strength. He is trustworthy, our full-body shield, our protector and provider. He is the author AND finisher of our faith. Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. Holy One. Lamb of God, Lion of Judah. The root of David, the Word of Life. Our Advocate. Our very breath.

He is the Way, the Truth and the Light of the world. He is the King of kings. Lord of lords. Alpha Omega, Lord of all. Messiah, Jehovah, Chief Cornerstone. Our righteous judge, the Morning Star. Bread of heaven. Resurrection and Life...to name a few...

He is Emmanuel. God with us. All that we need. More than enough. He is I AM. And He came to set us free, that we might have life!

Prayer:

Father,
          Give us a revelation of all that You are. We stand in awe of You. In Your all-consuming love and passion, put us in the proper perspective of Your greatness and Your power. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

No Fear of Bad News

They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
Psalm 112:7 NIV

No fear of bad news. That's quite a promise! How are they fearless? ...their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

Steadfast in the original Hebrew is the word kuwn; defined* as; 

be firm, be stable, be firmly established, be secure, enduring, to be prepared, be settled. 

Other translations render it as hearts are firm, fixed, confident.

Who are "they" whose hearts are steadfast? The ones who fear the Lord and obey His commands (vs 1). The righteous. Those who have prepared their hearts with God's Word. They are secure. Firmly established. Enduring. Confident.

No fear of bad news.

Prayer:

Father,
           Let Your Word be forever established in our hearts and minds. We want to be found faithful, our hearts steadfast in You, so that we will praise You no matter the circumstances in this life. Like David, we put our trust in You. As Isaiah declared, surely You are our salvation; we will trust and not be afraid. You are our strength and our defense. We proclaim our song of victory in You, O God, our Light. Our Strength. Our Song. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

*The Hebrew lexicon is Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Lexicon. These files are considered public domain.

Walk Worthy

We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory.
1st Thessalonians 2:12 NLT

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
Ephesians 4:1

What does it mean to walk worthy? Is it something we do or say that can make us worthy? One teacher describes it this way,

A clue is found in Colossians 1:10 which says, "Walk worthy of the Lord, to please him." But Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please him." So the call to walk "worthy of the Lord" is at least a call to walk by faith.

Paul lays it out for us in Colossians 1:9-14, praying for us as we should pray for others... thereby walking worthy. For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that

• you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 
• that you may walk worthy of the Lord, 
• fully pleasing Him, 
• being fruitful in every good work 
• and increasing in the knowledge of God; 
• strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, 
• for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 
• giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 
• He has delivered us from the power of darkness 
• and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 
• in whom we have redemption through His blood, 
• the forgiveness of sins. 

Prayer:

Father, 

            May all the spiritual wisdom and strengths that Paul prayed for the church in Colosse come to fruition in our lives today. Help us to walk worthy of You, Lord. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Changing of the Seasons

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
Philippians 4:6 NLT

In South Texas, we sometimes dream of changing seasons. We only see pictures of beautiful leaves or else we have to travel to see them. Those trees are not in our yards. Here, we jokingly tell you we have two seasons: Summer and Lesser Summer. Right now, it's still summer. It was 100 degrees Fahrenheit today. TODAY. No kidding. It's October! It was so humid this morning that I thought I was going to need snorkel gear just to walk to my car. I walked outside and my face melted off into my hands...  

That's okay, though. In another 6 weeks, when the rest of the country (north of our border) is freezing and enduring winter weather, we will be soaking up our lesser summer. We're ready now.

And that's just like life. Some days, some times, some seasons are harder than others. The good news is times and seasons are known to change (in most places). The BEST news is, God does not. His love doesn't change. His ways don't change. His expectations of us don't change. His Word doesn't change. His plans for our lives don't change, either. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. 

No matter the season in life, we can weather it as long as we follow Christ (pun intended.) Seasons change. God does not. If you need a season to change, pray. Tell the Father. And be sure to thank Him.

Prayer:

Father,

            We thank You for being with us and leading us through all the seasons of our lives. We thank You for the peace that You promise us - peace which exceeds anything we can understand. No matter the season, guard our hearts and minds as we live in Christ Jesus. Help us to keep our thoughts fixed on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Help us to think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Strengthen us to keep putting into practice all we have learned about You and received from Your Holy Spirit. Be with us, Jehovah Shalom, according to Your Word. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Plan B

But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
James 1:6-8 NLT

I've mentioned before that I grew up hearing "God helps those who help themselves." I heard it so often as a child, I thought it was Scripture. It is NOT. However, as all subtleties of satan, a thought that sounds good can really mess with your faith. We start thinking that God doesn't have time - or worse - doesn't care because He doesn't answer in our time frame or the answer is not what we wanted or expected. And surely, "we should do something about that..."

I have heard good Christian people actually say, "Well, I'm gonna pray about it and if that doesn't work, I'll do such and such." There's no evidence of faith in that statement. There's no ...prayer, believing... (Matthew 21:22). The Truth following such a statement would be, "Don't waste your breath." Our Promise for Today clearly states, Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. That's praying with a Plan B.

Plan B indicates a lack of faith; not believing that God is who He says He is. Plan B is declaring either that God can't or won't - I don't know which is worse. If you have prayed something according to God's Word, there isn't anything higher, better, wiser, richer, more profitable to your mind, soul, body and spirit! What Plan B could possible be better than God's Word?

Prayer:

Father,
            Forgive us for every time we made an alternate plan. Show us where we lack faith in trusting You and You alone. Expose the lies of the enemy of our soul and tear down strongholds that have been built on those lies of half-truths. Open our eyes and our hearts to receive Your whole Truth and nothing but Your Truths. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

Snip Snip

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.
1st Thessalonians 5:11 NLT

It's been pretty stressful at work lately. Today, I went to the other side of the building to check something and stopped for a 5-minute chat with a fellow believer. In the course of the conversation, we encouraged each other and talked about how important it is to lift up others, to speak an encouraging word to family, friends and yes, even strangers.

She told a story that gave a mind's eye visual of our Promise for Today. When her daughter was in college learning how to be a teacher, one of the exercises they did required her to have a paper doll to care for and carry for a full day. The assignment was that for every negative word spoken, a piece of the paper doll had to be torn away or cut off.

Imagined morning phrases counted, too, before the child ever got to school.

"Come on, Johnny. You're always late!" Snip
"Evelyn, can't you do anything for yourself?" Snip Snip
"Let's go! You are the slowest kid!" Rip"You will never..." Tear"Fine! You don't care? I don't care, either!" Cut...

Now, think about your day. Did we take their head off first or their feet, not giving them any way to stand... How many negative words were spoken - even if the person didn't hear what you said or thought? Snip, Snip! Rip and Tear! Cut...

How much of the paper doll would we still have at the end of the day? How are we doing with the flesh-and-blood ones God has placed in our care?

Prayer:

Father,
           May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Cause us to have clean hands and pure hearts, Father. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Praying the Psalms

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.

Psalm 40:1-3 NLT

There are days when it's best if I don't use my words... Today should have been one of those days... except to say, "Forgive me for my bad attitude today, O Lord, I pray..."

Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord, who have no confidence in the proud or in those who worship idols. O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.

You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings. Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand - you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings.

Lord, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me. Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me. For troubles surround me— too many to count! My sins pile up so high I can’t see my way out. They outnumber the hairs on my head. I have lost all courage.

Please, Lord, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me... 

But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, “The Lord is great!” As for me, since I am poor and needy, let the Lord keep me in his thoughts. You are my helper and my savior. O my God, do not delay.  Psalm 40:4-6, 11-13, 16-17

In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen