Isaiah 62:8

The LORD has sworn with His right hand and His strong arm; I will no longer give your grain to your enemies for food, and foreigners will not drink your new wine you have labored for.

God has promised to protect the work of our hands. He will grant us the things for which we labor. When we surrender in full to Him, He will assure that what is rightfully ours will be ours, and no one else can steal it from us.

This verse indicates that we will still have to work. God does not expect us to sit around and do nothing. He will protect the drink and new wine for which we have labored, meaning we have worked for it. In our Christian walk, we have to make an effort to grow in Christ through prayer, Bible study, service, and fellowship. As we do, the things we learn and apply are protected. God will not allow us to lose what we’ve gained as a result of following Him.

There is nothing stronger than God’s right hand and His strong arm. If His hand is protecting you, you are protected fully! You don’t have to worry about the enemy coming to steal, to kill, or to destroy what you have worked so hard to gain. God goes before you and has your back. His right hand and strong arm are working in your favor. Leave your worries, and rejoice in His faithful love toward you. Keep calm, and labor on!

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 27:2-6

On that day (the day of the LORD when He brings judgment on Leviathan, the serpent), sing about a desirable vineyard: I, the LORD watch over it; I water it regularly, I guard it night and day so that no one disturbs it. I am not angry, but if it produces thorns and briers for Me, I will fight against it, trample it, and burn it to the ground. Or let it take hold of My strength; let it make peace with Me- make peace with Me. In the days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bloom and fill the whole world with fruit.

God promises to slay Leviathan and free us from the serpent’s choke hold. This is what happens when we become a Christian. The Devil no longer has a hold on us, and we belong to God through Christ. In our Christian walk, God begins to create a new vineyard, and God waters and nurtures this new garden. God gives us reason to sing a new song when we surrender to Him because He begins a new work in our lives that will make us fruitful and productive.

God guards our lives as His children so no one can disturb the work He is producing in us. If the gardens of our lives begin to produce thorns and briers, God will fight against them because they will choke out the fruit and take the nourishment from it. He is not angry when thorns and briers appear. They will come naturally, and His job is to fight against our natural tendencies so we bear good fruit as His garden. If, however, our natural flesh takes hold of His strength and makes peace with Him, even our thorns and briers will bear fruit!

Thorns and briers tend to appear after a long, harsh winter. Indeed, the coldness of life can bring out the worst in us. The newness of spring and the approaching blooms cannot survive if they are not cut from us. God will be faithful to prune those things away so the beauty of our blooms can burst forth. We can be assured that our lives will take root and blossom and bloom within His care. His desire is for us to fill the whole world with fruit and display the loveliness of His garden. We must remember that our fruit is not for ourselves but for others.

God is not mad at you, but He will prune away any thorns and briers that threaten to choke the fruit He is producing in you. He is not working against you but for you. Continue to sing a song of praise for this new garden He is creating in your life. Take hold of His strength, and make peace with Him. He will make even the thorns and briers of your flesh fruitful if you will only submit to His perfect care. He is growing something beautiful in you that will bear much fruit and feed others who need to know that such a garden exists. Don’t fight the pruning; allow Him to reveal His glory in you.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 23:3

He renews my life; He leads me along the right paths for His name’s sake.

Most of us know this Psalm from its King James Version translation as He restoreth my soul. Sometimes it is good to read our most familiar passages from a different translation to get a broader understanding or a deeper, more intimate meaning of God’s word to us. This verse gives more insight in the HCSB and offers hope for a time of new things and new beginnings.

Life has a way of beating us down and zapping our energy to the point where it becomes meaningless.  We can easily find ourselves in ruts and routines that take from us and never give back. To find purpose and passion for living again, God must renew us. He does that by leading us down the right paths, where destiny and purpose can call our names once again. 

A dream resurrected, a hope sparked, a passion ignited, or a purpose revisited all have ways of renewing us and energizing us to forge ahead in this life God has given us and to truly be what He has destined us to be – a work of His glory. He places us on just the right paths, where those things will come out to meet us and remind us that we still have much for which we can look forward.  Life becomes worth living again, and we become excited to participate. 

Perhaps, your life has become dull, routine, and you’ve lost your desire and energy to continue. Ask God to renew your life. Ask Him to bring forth that which He placed in you and give you the opportunity to develop it. Ask Him to reveal His glory in you. He is a renewing and a restoring God, and He will do these things in your life for His name’s sake. This is what He wants for you. 

As a new season approaches, may we enter a time of renewal – a season when God’s path leads us to purpose and passion and reveals His glory in us.

Have a blessed day!  

Genesis 29:5-12

“Do you know Laban son of Nahor?” Jacob asked them. 

They answered, “We know him.” 

“Is he well?” Jacob asked. 

“Yes, they said, “and here is his daughter Rachel coming with his sheep.” 

Then Jacob said, “Look, it is still broad daylight.  It’s not time for the animals to be gathered.  Water the flock, then go out and let them graze.” 

But they replied, “We can’t until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone is rolled from the well’s opening. Then we will water the sheep.”

While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.  As soon as Jacob saw his uncle Laban’s daughter Rachel with his sheep, he went up and rolled the stone from the opening and watered his uncle Laban’s sheep. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly. He told Rachel that he was her father’s relative, Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father.

We see a bit of Jacob’s character in these verses. While looking for his Uncle Laban, Jacob came to a well where shepherds had gathered with their flocks. After learning these men knew Laban, Jacob asked them why didn’t they just water the flocks and let the sheep graze since it was not yet time for them to be gathered. They informed him of their custom to allow all the flocks to be gathered before the stone was rolled away from the well. Apparently, it was a very difficult task to roll this stone, and they didn’t want to repeat the energy. 

What I find interesting is that Jacob, himself, moved the stone to water Rachel’s flock. He just took charge and began watering his uncle’s sheep. To him, it was nonsense to wait on everyone else to gather before the stone was moved. The blessing was right in front of him, and he didn’t care to wait on someone else to engage. 

Do we ever find ourselves waiting out of custom to take hold of a blessing God has placed right in front of us? All that was required for the sheep to be watered was the willingness to move the stone. Jacob did that for Rachel. He chose not to abide by their custom of waiting and to water his uncle’s sheep a little early. What stones are blocking our blessings, and are we willing to move them?

Rachel was excited to learn this man who had removed the stone for her was her father’s relative, and she ran to tell her father. She must have begun to sense right away that Jacob brought blessing. Jacob wept loudly when he kissed Rachel. I can’t help but wonder if he connected his own mother’s meeting with Abraham’s servant at the spring with his encounter with Rachel, or if he was just so excited because she was so beautiful and a relative. Either way, he knew God was with him and had helped him find where he needed to be. 

The name Rachel is a term of endearment meaning, “ewe lamb.” No doubt, when Jacob saw her, he saw her as a precious little thing that needed assistance, and he intended to bless her. That is how God sees us. We are His “ewe lambs.” His intention is to bless us, and He will protect us and provide for us while we are in His care.  He will even roll stones away for us that are too big for us to handle. We need only trust Him and be faithful to go to the well.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 138:7-8

If I walk in the thick of danger, You will preserve my life from the anger of my enemies. You will extend Your hand; Your right hand will save me. The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me. LORD, Your love is eternal; do not abandon the work of Your hands.

I find it comforting to know that God walks with me wherever I go. If I walk into the thick of danger, He protects me from the anger of my enemies so I may do what He has called me to do. His right hand is forever acting on my behalf to save me from the things that would try to harm me. Wherever God may send us in this lifetime, He protects us along the way so He may fulfill His purpose in us.

The Devil attacks us most in our mind and our emotions. This is where we carry much of the hurt that prevents us from moving forward. God protects us in these places, but we have to submit them to Him. If our minds are continually wandering into dangerous places and submitting to the Devil, we will suffer attack. We must continually renew our minds with the word of God and follow where He leads. He will keep our minds and our emotions intact.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, meaning He leads sheep. If a sheep wanders, Jesus will go after it, but it is subject to danger while it is away from the shepherd. If you find yourself in the Devil’s territory and attacked with damaging or paralyzing emotions, you have wandered in your mind. Listen for the Good Shepherd’s voice calling you back into His protective care. Wherever our minds wander, our emotions and eventually our bodies will follow. We must keep our minds focused upon our purpose in Christ and allow Him to lead.

God’s love for us is eternal. There is nothing we can do to cause Him to love us less, and He is continually drawing us back to Himself. He will not abandon us, even when we wander far away. He has much invested in us through the blood of Christ, and He will accomplish His purpose in us. We will find that purpose and its fulfillment by following Him.

1 John 4:8 tells us that perfect loves casts out fear. This has nothing to do with our love for God. Our human nature could never love Him the way He truly deserves to be loved. Our best and most devoted love toward Him is flawed in some respect. Perfect love is God’s love toward us. When we realize and accept His perfect love for us that always protects and never abandons, fear leaves because it is defeated.

Celebrate today in the perfect love God has for you. You are protected. You are special. You are wanted. You are important to His plan. Whatever the Devil tries to tell you is a lie, so run from it and straight into the arms of your Savior – the Good Shepherd who purchased you with His very life. He is your safe place.

Have a blessed day!

Luke 6:12-13

During those days He went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. When daylight came, He summoned His disciples, and He chose 12 of them – He also named them apostles.

Before Jesus named His 12 apostles, He spent the previous night in prayer. He had many disciples – students of His teaching – that followed Him. From this larger group, He chose 12 in whom He would invest His life and anoint to continue His work. If Jesus prayed about the matter first, we should certainly pray before making our big decisions, too.

I can’t help but wonder if God revealed His plan to Jesus during the night or if Jesus just moved forward in faith, knowing the Holy Spirit was there to operate through Him when He met the disciples. Scripture doesn’t give us that detail. Personally, I’ve found that sometimes God will reveal a plan to me, but at other times, I just have to move forward in faith, knowing He is with me. Moving forward simply means taking the next step and watching to see how God moves or speaks in the situation. The Holy Spirit is perfectly capable of lighting our path further or changing our direction if we are moving off course.

The important thing to understand here is that Jesus spent time in prayer first. If we have spent time in prayer over a matter, we can trust God is with us in it, even if we don’t have all the answers immediately.

My curious mind can’t help but wonder if Jesus prayed all night because God instructed Him to include Judas Iscariot. Could Jesus have questioned that decision, knowing full well that Judas would betray Him? The decision to include Judas could have been hard for Jesus, but He did it anyway. Sometimes, God’s answers may be hard for us to swallow, too. Jesus would still be victorious in the end, and so will we. We just have to “trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.”

If you have a big decision to make or a problem facing you, spend time in prayer with God. If He shows you a plan, trust it and move forward. If He doesn’t show you the plan after you have prayed all you know to pray, then move forward, knowing He is with you as you move. If your answer seems difficult and not what you’d like to hear, move forward in obedience, trusting Him to handle the matter. Simply pray, move forward, and trust God. He is working it all out for your good and His glory.

Have a blessed day!

Matthew 26:24

The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.

Have you ever felt betrayed? Betrayal is one of the deepest of all wounds because it comes from a friend – someone for whom you care and trust. Jesus had invested three and a half years of His life with Judas and had treated him as a close friend. He even trusted Judas with the responsibility of caring for the treasury. Yet, Judas took it upon himself to betray the best friend he could ever have – the One who came to die for him.

The Greek word for betray used here means “to surrender up.” Judas surrendered Jesus to those who wished to persecute Him. Jesus had done nothing wrong to receive arrest, but Judas worked with the enemies to help them take Jesus captive. Such a betrayal could come only from someone close to Him. Those who did not know Jesus or knew Him as an acquaintance did not have the power to betray. This is why betrayal hurts so much. It happens when someone you love despitefully uses you for their own means.

If you’ve ever felt betrayed, Jesus knows how you feel. He’s been there, and it led to His death. Because of this, He knew that the betrayer would receive a much greater beating than He would in the end. Jesus would rise again and return to the Father. The betrayer would be separated from the Father forever. Whatever Judas wanted from betraying Jesus – money or revenge – was not worth the price he would pay in eternity. Jesus pitied His betrayer.

At some point in life, most of us – if not all – will feel the sting of betrayal. Rest assured that Jesus knows how you feel, and the Father does not take it lightly. Surrender your betrayer to God, who works all things together for your good and His glory. Betrayal did not defeat Jesus; Jesus overcame betrayal and sits at the right hand of the Father today to intercede for us. Cry out to Him. He’s ready to hear your prayer!

Have a blessed day!

Ecclesiastes 2:25-26

For who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from Him? For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing to God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

None of us can enjoy life apart from God. The world is filled with desperate people who have tried and have been left wanting. Hollywood is filled with examples of self-destructive behavior and lavish lifestyles that have become futile. The only true joy to be found is in Christ.

If God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to the man who is pleasing in His sight, it seems reasonable that we should spend our days pleasing Him, instead of ourselves. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of people today spend their time trying to please themselves. To the sinner, God assigns the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in His sight. Faithful Christians should lay hold to this promise, and those who have wandered should take notice. The reasonable conclusion to this passage is that God lays up the wealth of the wicked for His church.

Determine to make your life pleasing to God. Live to serve Him. When you do, God will give you everything you need in life and more. He will even make the sinner gather and accumulate in order to give to you. God is pleased with a heart of humility toward Him. He promises to exalt the humble and humble those who exalt themselves. Who are you trying to please today? You will never truly enjoy life until and unless you are seeking to please God.

Have a blessed day!

1 Kings 21:23

The LORD also speaks of Jezebel: The dogs will eat Jezebel in the plot of land at Jezreel.

When God speaks over me, I most certainly hope He speaks better than this! Jezebel was queen of Israel, but her fate was certainly not the honorable memory of a queen. Whatever God speaks will surely happen, and this word leaves nothing but disgrace to Israel’s queen. God wanted Israel to see what her wickedness produced and how He saw Queen Jezebel. If the dogs ate her flesh, there would be nothing to bury and nothing to memorialize. God saw her as so wicked that He wanted the very possibility of an honorable memory of her erased.

Jezebel was more than a Baal worshiper. She used her husband’s power to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Ahab’s authority was given to him by God, and Jezebel used this authority to kill a godly, innocent man named Naboth, who refused to give Ahab his vineyard. Ahab wanted the property, which fell next to the palace, for a vegetable garden. Naboth, however, would not give Ahab his father’s inheritance because it was rightfully his. Ahab engaged in a self-indulgent pity party over the matter, and Jezebel decided to take matters into her own hands to appease Ahab. She used his seal to write an edict to declare a fast and have Naboth seated at the head table with two wicked men opposite him. The two wicked men were to lie about him, saying he had cursed God and king. The penalty for such an act was stoning, and that is exactly what they did to Naboth. Ahab then took Naboth’s vineyard as his own possession. God found this act despicable and cursed Jezebel for her evil actions.

God has already proclaimed disgrace over the spirit of Jezebel in our day. Jezebel always brings shame and disgrace, and her legacy is never that of a loved, respected, or admired woman. She operates through deceit and will steal, kill, and destroy to get the power and possessions she wants. God will not allow her wicked schemes to prevail, and He will never honor her among His people. When we see this spirit at work, we can proclaim God’s word over it and decree that it will not succeed over us. As a widow, you have God as your protector, and there is no greater source! He is your defender, provider, comforter, and companion. Jezebel has no authority over you, and God has already pronounced her judgment. Determine to be a woman of honor, and watch God demonstrate His glory through you.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 18:30

God – His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

If God has stated something is wrong, it is wrong. If He has declared a matter righteous, it is righteous. His word is pure, and He sets the standards by which we will all one day be judged before Him. Just because the world tolerates it, condones it, and even encourages it, does not mean God accepts it. His word is pure, true, and completely reliable. We can take refuge in that which we know to be truth.

We tend to accept that which suits our flesh and best represents our flawed ideals. We cannot expect God to be a shield for us if we have lowered Him to our image. Only when we acknowledge Him as greater than ourselves and submit our will to His can we rely upon Him as a shield to protect us from dangers we cannot see or imagine. If we ignore the purity and truth of His word and live by our own conveniences, we forfeit His protection and fall subject to the penalties of our chosen sin.

We have the opportunity, however, to live in grace. Grace does not condone our sin; it helps us overcome it. When we realize and admit our sinful condition and turn to God in full acceptance of His perfect word, His grace covers our sin as a shield. We can take refuge in the shed blood of Christ, which paid the full price for our sin.

Accept God’s word as absolute truth today, and turn completely to Him. Cry out to Him for every need you have, and give Him every pain. Wherever you may have failed in life, Jesus is your shield. Trade your own righteousness for His, and find God reaching out to help you find your way. His way is perfect, and He will not fail you.

Have a blessed day!