Zechariah 4:10

For who scorns the day of small things? These seven eyes of the LORD, which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.

Though many enemies threatened the rebuilding of God’s temple after the Babylonian exile, God’s plan for the rebuilding prevailed. Those who rebuilt faced many obstacles, and God’s Spirit enabled them to succeed. While their progress may have seemed small at times, God delighted to see His kingdom advancing through the rebuilding.

Sometimes mountains we face seem unsurmountable, and our efforts appear small in comparison to the work that needs to be done. God’s eyes, however, scan throughout the whole earth looking for someone willing to advance His kingdom and actually engaging in the work of ministry. We do what we can and rely upon Him to do what we can’t. In this process, we see those great mountains move.

God sees your efforts. He knows even the small details you attend that keep His house running smoothly. He knows how you have put Him first and each sacrifice you have made. He rejoices over you and delights in your desire to serve Him. Trust His Spirit to take you where your own strength and might never will. Great things are accomplished through many days of small things.

Have a blessed day!

Philippians 4:6

Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Uncertainty creates many emotions within us, and anxiety can rob us of personal peace and attention that should be given elsewhere. Here, Paul instructs us to turn our worries into prayers and submit matters beyond our control to God. To do this requires complete trust that God will handle the matter in our best interest, but do we really trust God or His timing?

Learning to completely trust God is a process. He doesn’t always give us what we want, and anxiety stems from the fear that this will, once again, be another time when we will be disappointed. Will we continue to praise God and serve Him even if we don’t get what we want? If so, we have a faith that is firm, established, and pleasing to God. If God doesn’t give us what we want, we must trust Him even more that He is still doing what is in our best interest. God responds to faith, and such a faith will certainly draw a response from Him that will go beyond anything we can think or imagine.

Thank God for the times He has come through for you in the past. Meditate on these things, and know that He longs to bless you still. Present your requests to Him, and let Him handle what is beyond your control. If you try to take matters into your own hands, you will likely pay steep consequences. There is no blessing like a miracle only God could provide and to feel the favor He has directed specifically to you! Experiencing this type of favor is the wonder of knowing Christ, who is lavish in His love for you. Pray for it. Wait for it. Receive it.

Have a blessed day!

Joel 2:19

The LORD answered His people: Look, I am about to send you grain, new wine, and olive oil. You will be satiated with them, and I will no longer make you a disgrace among the nations.

In Joel 2, we find a series of events that indicate how God works among His people. In verses 1-11, we see God’s discipline being poured out upon His people because they had strayed far from Him in disobedience. Verses 12-17 are a call to repentance to return to God with great sorrow for sin. In response to repentance, verses 18-27 record the restoration promises for a repentant nation. Finally, verses 28-32 reveal God’s promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon a restored people to bring forth unprecedented ministry upon the earth.

This entire chapter is one of warning, hope, and promise. Regardless of how far we have strayed and how devastated our life may seem to be, we have hope and promise by returning to God. I personally believe the pattern depicted here is how He matures us as believers, too. Transformation requires continual obedience, and when we get off track by going our own way, God uses His “swarming locusts” to steer us back to Him. He lovingly convinces us that our own way doesn’t work and points us back to Jesus to restore us and use us in ministry.

Do you need to be restored in any area of your life? Do you long for God to use you in ministry? Submit the devastated areas to Him, and determine to be obedient to what you know is the right thing to do. Trust Him to restore you, and get ready for Him to use you. The Holy Spirit calls us, transforms us, and works through us to do God’s will and not our own. His plan is much better than our plan, and we find it through surrender.

Have a blessed day!

Romans 5:2

Also through Him, we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

We have access to the grace of God by faith, and that gives us reason to rejoice. This grace is not for our eternal destiny alone. When we don’t quite measure up to some preconceived standard, we need grace. When we fail miserably but still need the blessing, we need grace. When life has thrown us back for a loop and we need to move forward, we need grace. We don’t earn this grace; we simply receive it by faith – not because of anything we have done, but because of what Christ did for us.

Rejoice in what Christ did for you today, and look for signs of grace all around you. No doubt, you will find many things you don’t deserve, but God provided it for you anyway. Walk in His grace, and extend grace where you can. Through grace God’s glory is revealed.

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 54:11-12

“Poor Jerusalem, storm-tossed, and not comforted, I will set your stones in black mortar, and lay your foundations in sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling stones.”

The jewelry fanatic in me is drawn to this Scripture because I can instantly see the beauty in what God is creating as He describes His restoration plan for Jerusalem, which can also be applied to us personally. Here Jerusalem receives no comfort as she weathers the severe storms of life that have attempted to destroy her. God, however, comes to her aid and promises to rebuild her with precious stones that reflect His divine truth. 

Sapphires and rubies are precious stones that were formed from intense heat and pressure. Most geologists agree that sapphires and rubies were probably created from the conditions deep within the earth during the great flood. If so, they are incredibly beautiful gemstones that derived from God’s judgment upon the earth and remind us of God’s righteousness and His mercy. He takes the very pain that we endure and creates something incredibly beautiful and valuable from the trials – even the trials of judgment – that we encounter. 

Notice that these precious stones were applied to the foundations (sapphires), to the battlements (rubies), and to the gates (sparkling stones). Every city needs a strong foundation, or it will crumble. The battlements were found in high towers as spaces from which to shoot the enemy or any approaching threat. The gates were used as meeting places to determine law, hold court, and conduct business. They represent what we allow in and out of our lives. 

God’s promise of restoration to Jerusalem in this passage is a promise to us all. When we go through extremely difficult times and cannot be comforted, God rebuilds us and adorns us with beautiful gems that allow His truth to shine through us. His purpose in the pain is to create something of great value that will enable us shine for Him.

The following verse gives even more hope. “Then all your children will be taught by the LORD, their prosperity will be great.” When God rebuilds us, our children – and grandchildren – learn from it, too. Submit to His rebuilding process for you, and watch your family thrive, as well.

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 61:4

They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the former devastations, they will renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

“They” seem to be a powerful force anointed to rebuild, restore, and renew the devastations and ruins left by enemy attack and generations of destruction. Oh, that “They” might do a work in our country today! To better understand the power of “They,” we might do well to take a closer look and understand who “They” are.

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance; to comfort all who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the LORD to glorify Him.

From these preceding verses, we find that “They” are the poor, the brokenhearted, captives and prisoners, and all those who mourn – hardly a group we would consider powerful enough to transform completely ruined cities into beautiful, fully functioning, and productive lives that glorify God. Yet, each group mentioned here has received something from Jesus Christ that has made them whole again. The poor received good news while the brokenhearted received healing. The captives received liberty and the prisoners freedom. All who mourned were comforted. As Christians, you and I fall into one, if not all, of these categories. We are “They.”

As a member of “They,” we may not fully recognize the power or anointing we have, but God’s word clearly says here that we will rebuild, restore, and renew that which has been devastated for many generations by the enemy. If you have been poor and now have plenty, you have the power to restore an impoverished spirit. If you have been brokenhearted and have been healed, you have the power to bring healing to someone else who has just been devastated by hurt. If you have been held captive or imprisoned by any form of addiction or self-destructive habit and have overcome, you are anointed to help deliver someone else who is struggling with the same thing. If you have mourned the loss of someone you dearly loved and have found comfort, you have the ability to comfort someone who is grieving such a loss now. 

Perhaps, you are still struggling as a member of “They.” If so, Jesus has an answer for you, and He will use the very thing that hurt you to help restore someone else. The word, “salvation,” actually means, “to be made whole.” Jesus died to bring us salvation – to make us whole, productive, and to glorify Him.  God changes one life so it can change another. He always has purpose in our pain, and we will walk in that purpose if we allow Him to make it stronger than the pain. Whatever the devil has used to hurt or damage you will become a mighty tool in God’s hand once you are made whole in Christ.

I attended a conference a few years ago that addressed the issue of poverty in our country. Many things can send a person or family into poverty, but what keeps someone in poverty is a destructive mindset which believes the lie that things will never get any better. Those with a destructive mindset never overcome poverty but simply learn to cope within it and teach their children to do the same. To overcome, two things are required: hope and faith – hope that things will get better and faith that they will.

Your testimony of victory can build a bridge to hope and faith in a life that has been destroyed or even devastated by generations. If God worked a miracle in your life, He can work the same miracle in someone else’s life. We must remember that God responds to faith, and we can be a beacon which points the way to hope and faith in a life that has never witnessed victory. We are “They,” and we are both called and anointed to rebuild, restore, and renew. 

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 60:18

Violence will never again be heard in your land, devastation and destruction will be gone from your borders. But you will name your walls salvation, and your gates praise. 

Walls and gates were a city’s defense from enemy attack. They were created to protect a people from invasion and to maintain law and order. If we want our land – our life – free from violence, devastation, and destruction, we need to name our walls salvation and our gates praise. What we use to protect ourselves and what we allow in and out of our life matters.

We build walls around ourselves to protect us. Those walls need to be built from salvation in Jesus Christ. If we are in Him, we are part of a flourishing vine that will bear much fruit. Salvation also means, “whole, complete.” When we allow Jesus to make us whole in every area of our life, we create a huge wall that protects us from the schemes of the devil to tear us down.  Walls of salvation also protect from things that do not align with Jesus. Salvation builds a boundary that rejects sin and every evil thing that accompanies it.

The gates of the city were where business was conducted, court was held, and access to the city was gained. The gates are how you let people or things in and out. If we name our gates praise, then praise will determine how we conduct our business, determine our ethics, and what we allow in and out of our life. Praise, however, must be spoken. Therefore, your gate is your mouth. Complaining, cursing, and negativity allow the wrong things into our lives that can bring violence, devastation, or destruction. Speak life! Proverbs 18:21 instructs us that the power of life and death is in the tongue. What we say matters! We have the ability to prophesy good or proclaim bad into our life by what we say. 

Name your walls salvation and your gates praise today. Allow Christ to make you whole in any area where you are hurting, feel weak, or encounter lack. Turn your complaint into a praise and shut out any trace of negativity. God has good things in store for you, and you have reason to rejoice!

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 11:9

No one will harm or destroy on My entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is filled with water.

There is coming a day when peace and order will rule the earth. That peace and order comes from the knowledge of the LORD – knowing Him. In the reign of Christ, no one will destroy or hurt another because their focus will be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The whole land will know His love, His grace, and His faithfulness.

While this verse describes a future day when Christ will physically reign on earth, we can know that peace and order now. Knowing Him brings peace and order. The world around us may be in chaos and hurting, but we can know the peace and order of Christ now in the midst of worldly chaos.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

If your world seems hectic, full of strife, or just turbulent from storms and trials, look to Jesus. Take time to learn His word, and engage in knowing Him. Give Him the chaos, and rest in His peace. He will bring necessary order to your life. The answers to all of our earthly problems are found firmly planted in His word to us. Let that word be bigger in your life than the noise around you, and find peace and order taking charge as Christ begins to reign.

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 48:20

Leave Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with a shout of joy, proclaim this, let it go out to the end of the earth; announce, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!”

Babylon means, “confusion.” It represents Satan’s entire infrastructure of lies, delusions, and worldly allurements. We must remember that we belong to Jesus Christ, and He has redeemed us from condemnation and any past sin that haunts us. We belong to Him and are heirs with Him of all the promises of God. We are destined to rule and reign with Christ, and we are victorious over the enemy in Him. The truth of God’s Word must be stronger in us than the lies the enemy plants in our heads to confuse us and cause us to doubt ourselves and God’s love for us.

God’s command here is for us to leave Babylon. We must make the conscious effort to flee from negative thinking and the belief that God is not going to come through for us or bring His promises to pass in our life. Standing strong in our faith requires we deliberately desert the negative thought patterns that cause us to doubt God’s love for us. In order for God to move us forward or grant the miracle we need, we must leave Babylon and walk in the fullness of His redemption.

Babylon took Judah captive, but later God drew His people out of Babylon to rebuild a ruined Jerusalem, which means “City of Peace.” God’s command was to leave the “City of Confusion” to enter and rebuild the “City of Peace.” You cannot have peace and live in confusion! You must leave the latter to embrace the former.

The gates to Babylon are wide open. You are free to leave anytime you are ready. You can literally reject the confusing thoughts that hold you back and firmly believe in God’s love for you. In doing so, you will gain His promises and His peace as you go.

Have a blessed day!

Isaiah 10:17

Israel’s Light will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame. In one day it will burn up Assyria’s thorns and thistles.

I know most of us wait upon the LORD to move in our life. We pray and wait, which is why He gives us patience as a fruit of the Spirit. God does not always act immediately when we pray, but that does not negate the great power He exhibits when He does act.

The Light inside Israel is the LORD, Himself. His Holy Spirit lives in us. What begins as a flickering spark has the power to grow and do big things that we could never do in our own strength. 

What God can do in one day is greater than years of hacking away from the enemy. The blessings of God far outweigh any destructive force the Devil has assigned against you. Allow that flame to grow inside you by feeding it on a regular basis. Spending time in God’s Word, prayer, and praise facilitate the growth of the Holy Spirit inside you. In one day your life can change for the better. In one day the issues that have been discouraging you can be settled. In one day God can open a door that answers multiple prayers and brings His promises to you.

He is greater. He is stronger. He is faithful. He is victorious over His enemies. He lives in you, and in one day the thorns and thistles that have brought you pain can be devoured.

Have a blessed day!