The Promise of a "God-Made" Day!

On the wall beside my desk is a large silver cross. Across the top section is a rising sun, and below it are the words,

"This is the day which the Lord hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it."

~Psalm 118:24

What difference does it make to know the Lord has fashioned the day stretching before you?

Does it affect the way you look at the events of the next 24 hours?

Does it reassure you  to know that nothing can enter your life except what has filtered through the hands of a loving Father who cares for you?

If it does . . . then, along with the psalmist, you can rejoice and be glad in this day, and the next, and the next.

If it does not, then perhaps you need to analyze this: Is He your Lord? Are you His child? Are you walking in the light of His word?

"For God so loved the world that he gave 

his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish

but have eternal life."

~John 3:16

If you belong to Him and yet still do not rejoice in this day, consider this: Are you allowing the cares of this world to rob you of your joy?

Then turn your eyes upon Jesus!

Look full in His wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

in the light of His glory and grace!*

 

Look full in the wonderful face of Jesus. May the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may He turn His face toward you and give you peace.

*Lyrics by Helen H. Lemmel

The Promise of Great Surprises!

Today we're going to explore the Promise of Answered Prayer a little further and consider the Promise of Great Surprises!

God spoke to Jeremiah these words:

"Call to me and I will answer you

and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

~Jeremiah 33:3

Not only will God hear us when we call on Him, not only will He grant us anything we ask according to His will (see yesterday's post), but also He will open His storehouse of wisdom and knowledge and surprise us with great and unsearchable things we know nothing about.

God loves it when we seek Him and His wisdom, and He loves to give us good things. Take a glance at Proverbs 8. In fact verses 17-21 remind me of Matthew 6:33, the verse we so often sing as a chorus.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God

and His righteousness,

and all these things will be added unto you. Allelu, alleluia."

What things will be added unto us if we seek Him and His kingdom first? Well how about all the things we need . . . plus some great surprises!

Thank You!

Dear Friends,

Thank you so very much for your prayers on behalf of our friend Steve. He goes in next week for more tests to see if the cancer has spread. Please continue to pray for him and his wife Barb.

Many blessings,
Julie

The Promise of Answered Prayer

This morning I learned that an old friend has lung cancer and will start chemo next week. From other things he said, it looks very serious. I assured him Dick (my hubby) and I would be praying for him.

I love the promise of I John 5:13-15.

"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God

so that you may know that you have eternal life.

This is the assurance we have in approaching God:

that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And if we know that he hears us

--whatever we ask--

we know that we have what we asked of him."

What an amazing promise!

I know you're all busy people. But would you take a moment just now to pray for God's will to be accomplished in Steve's life.

And please feel free to include your own prayer requests in the comments. I'm sure others, besides me, will pray for you.

The Promise of Wisdom

Seems like the wisdom of the ages is not appreciated in certain quarters today. Some people even consider the wisdom of the past irrelevant in our times.

However, George Santayana said, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." In other words we can spare ourselves from disaster by learning from the mistakes of those who preceded us. A beloved pastor once said, "You don't have to play in mud puddles to know they're dirty." My darling mother used to say, "A word to the wise is sufficient."

I'm not interested in repeating the mistakes of others. Are you? The fewer mistakes we make, the more effectively we can spend our time on earth doing God's will.

And speaking of God . . . He has promised wisdom to those who ask.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God,

who gives generously to all without finding fault,

and it will be given to him."

    -James 1:5 (NIV)

Seems like the smart thing to do would be to ask God for wisdom. Don't you agree?

The Promise of Deliverance

Yesterday we talked about tribulation, an unhappy by-product of a fallen world. In the beginning it was not so. The Garden of Eden was a heavenly place filled with every good thing.

If our original parents (Adam and Eve) had only obeyed God in the first place, sin wouldn't have entered the world and we wouldn't have to deal with pain and sorrow. But lest we become judgmental, consider how frequently we make wrong choices. Consider how frequently we disobey God. Best to leave judging to God and stick to our own business. Tribulation is here and there are times we are afflicted by it. 

The good news is that God promises to deliver the righteous out of all their troubles (Psalm 34:19 NKJV).

All their troubles? That's what it says. God loves us that much! And consider this:

"In all these these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life,

neither angels nor demons,

neither the present nor the future,

nor any powers,

neither height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us

from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus Our Lord."

-Romans 8:37-39 NIV

So bring it on! I can do everything through Him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13 NIV)

The Promise of Tribulation???

Whether you want to call it a promise or a fact of life, Jesus said "In the world, you will have tribulation." Thankfully he goes on to say, "but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world."

Yet, we don't like to "tribulate." In fact, we often act surprised when things don't go our way. We act as if there's been a cosmic mistake made when bad things happen to good people.

That's why I so appreciate Judy Gann's book, The God of All Comfort! In her suffering, Judy acknowledges the very real comfort she receives from a very real God, comfort she is then able to pass on to others . . . thus bringing good out of evil.

Jesus specializes in bringing good out of evil. Look at his life, his teachings, his miracles, and especially his death. The apostle Paul picked up this theme in Romans 12:21 when he instructed believers, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Who could use a dose of the comfort you have received from God? How can you bring good out of the evil you've experienced in the world?