The Power of the Word

Hello everyone! I have to tell you real quick, just how awesome God is! I wrote this devotional on Friday, preparing for to send it out today (Monday). There is so much here that came up over the weekend, through our service on Sunday and things...it's quite incredible how God brings His point home to us sometimes! How cool is that! Anyhow, be blessed, encouraged, challenged and pressing on!

Here I was, standing at my sink, washing my dishes…wondering why we have to eat and use dishes anyhow! Ha! Oh well…it’s much better than mowing grass (ask me about the lessons I learned during that sometime!)
Anyhow, I was thinking about what this next devotional was to be about…what did God want to reveal through it this week. And it hit me…with all that’s going on right now, with us, with our church, with our world, with the Christian community…I’m finding that I am clinging to His eternal promises in His Word more and more. But, amidst the “junk”…sometimes we forget about those promises, our faith in them becomes a bit weak, our doubt starts to creep in…or, we simply can’t remember them or don’t know them. So, I’ve dedicated this week to reminding us of some awesome promises of God, to us as His children!! Some of them are straightforward, some of them are accounts of what He has done before us that reveal His awesome power, faithfulness and righteousness. Don’t just read them…pray them. And, I encourage you, as you go through the scriptures in your daily lives…don’t just read them. Beg God to reveal Himself to you through them, pray through the words…the words that are divinely inspired, timeless, eternal.

2 Chronicles 20:15-17 “And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshophat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid or dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not your’s, but God’s.’ Tomorrow, go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” ….Notice, it says “do not fear or be dismayed twice, within the span of three verses!!!”

Nahum 1: 3, 5 “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. …The mountains quake before Him, The hills melt, and the earth heaves at His presence, Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.”

Proverbs 3: 5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Daniel 3 – This is the account of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego…the three men who were thrown into the fiery furnace for not worshipping false gods. In verses 16/17, they tell King Nebuchadnezzar “…we have no need to answer you in this matter, If that is the case (that they would have to be put into the fire), our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.” …Then, after the king sees that God did indeed watch over and save these three men, the king declares at the end of verse 29, “…there is no other God who can deliver like this.”

I Peter 2: 19-24 “For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ‘Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth.’ Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by Whose stripes you were healed.”

Hebrews 12:28 – “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”

I feel that there is a common theme presented in each of these accounts/statements…that is: Live in the love, mercy and grace of God…and leave the rest to Him! As I was sharing with a sister this week, there is one major calling for our lives by Him, whereby all other facets of ourselves stem from…that calling is to be His child. As a child, you seek guidance from your parents, provision for necessities…physical and emotional and developmental, you seek protection. While these are things you seek, these are also things that a good parent naturally provides. Your Heavenly Father, He has laid out a journey for each of us. He has divinely appointed relationships, storms, obstacles, rest, the filling of our cups. We are finite, He is infinite. He has promised to judge righteously. He is a consuming fire! While there are many things happening around us right now…things that are attacking the state of our spirits, our strength, our joy…He is faithful to deliver us.

This week, take all that is against you, and ask God for a hedge of protection, a heart of love and patience and an endurance to seek through His plan. He wants you to trust Him enough that He CAN and WILL deliver you, and restore to you your joy!

Peace to your hearts dear sisters. Pray for each other this week, that God would reveal Himself more and more through His word and that our hearts would hunger and thirst for more and more of His word.