My angels will surround all who fear Me.

Psalm 34:7 New International Version (NIV)

7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
    and he delivers them.

There are many references in the Bible that talk about angels and how they relate to God's people. In Psalm 91:11 we read that God commands His angels to take care of us. In Hebrews 1:14 angels are called ministering servants to the heirs of salvation. In today's promise from Psalm 34:7, we read that the angel of the Lord actually camps around those who fear Him.

I don't know about you, but I don't think of angels that often. I know they are real and I know that they are involved in our daily lives. I choose to focus on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my salvation and on growing in my relationship with my heavenly Dad through the very active work of His Spirit. But today, I want to encourage you, that God has sent His angels to minister to us and to protect us because we are His heirs.

Just because we can't see angels, doesn't mean that they are not close by. And the reason why they are there and active on our behalf is because we belong to God and are His kids. The presence of angels surrounding each one of us, is simply a token of our Father's affection. What an amazing thought! The angel of the Lord surrounds you and me!

I will cover you with My feathers and protect you with My wings.

Psalm 91:4 New International Version (NIV)

4 He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

Psalm 91 is one of my favorite psalms that speaks of Almighty God's protection and covering. I love the imagery of this verse in particular. Just imagine for a minute what the psalmist is portraying in this verse... The Most High God covers us with His feathers and protects us with His wings.

When I think about this promise, I imagine God as a majestic eagle and we are His little chickadees who live in the shelter and safety of His magnificent wings. Nothing can harm us there. We are completely safe and secure.

Another picture that comes to my mind when I think of this verse is that of a little child who seeks refuge under their dad's raincoat in the midst of a storm, hanging tightly onto his leg, completely sheltered from the storm.

Both pictures bring me a sense of peace and safety and security knowing that God is my refuge and my safe place. This promise does not only paint a nice picture for us, but it declares a spiritual reality that we can live in all the days of our lives.

The truth is that we are safe and secure under the protection of our Heavenly Dad's wings... no matter how scary it is outside of His care! May the reality of this promise become more and more real to each and every one of us!

I will give you My power to destroy spiritual strongholds.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 New International Version (NIV)

3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

In yesterday's promise from Exodus 14:14, I talked about the importance of us learning to be still and watch the Lord fight on our behalf. In today's promise from 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, we are seeing a different facet to the same diamond. In this passage of Scripture, the Apostle Paul is exhorting us to learn how to partner with the Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omnipotent power that resides in us that will empower us to demolish every spiritual stronghold in our lives.

Paul clearly reminds us that we do not wage warfare like the world does.  We have the power of the living God in us that is mighty to save. Our part in this battle is to bring into captivity every thought that opposes the knowledge of God. But just like I said yesterday, we need to understand that we cannot do this in our own strength, for the battle is the Lord's.

We are called in Romans 12:2 to not be conformed to this world, but rather transformed by the renewing of the mind. Our carnal thought life will never be in agreement with the mind of Christ. The only way to deal with an unredeemed thought is to take it captive to the obedience of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit that lives within us.

So the next time that a negative, condemning, self-centered, carnal thought comes into your mind, be encouraged to know that God has given you power by His Spirit to take that thought and make it come into submission to the Lordship of Christ. 

It is Christ in you that is the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27) and it is His plan that we all be transformed into His image with ever increasing glory, as we behold His face one day at a time. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

If you remain still, I will do your fighting for you.

Exodus 14:14 New International Version (NIV)

14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

In today's promise, we have an amazing assurance that the God who spoke the entire universe into existence will fight for us if we will only remain still. The NIV Bible says this verse this way...The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

I believe there is something in the heart of God that fights on our behalf when we do not try and fight for ourselves. Waiting on the Lord is not passive, but it is the most active thing we can do. When we wait on God to fight for us, we are putting ourselves in a very vulnerable position and by doing so, we are demonstrating in a very practical way that we know that our heavenly Dad is the source of our help.

Does this mean that we never wage warfare on a spiritual level? After all, the Bible says that we are to 'resist the devil and he will flee', 'take on the full armor of God', etc. I believe what Exodus 14:14 is talking about is fighting in our own strength. There is a huge difference from fighting our battles in our own best efforts and fighting battles in the power of the Lord's might.

When we learn that the battle really is the Lord's, we can rest in His ability to save us and draw from His strength and not our own. Whatever battle you are facing today, be comforted in knowing that you have a Father (God) and a Big Brother (Jesus) fighting on your behalf. You only need to be at peace and watch what happens.

If I look after the sparrows, I will certainly look after you.

Luke 12:6-7 New International Version (NIV)

6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

I love this passage of Scripture where Jesus tells us how important the sparrows are to God. Even though they do not have much value to us, He will not even forget one of them. In Matthew 10:29 Jesus tells us that not even one of them will fall to the ground apart from His Father's will. This is the value He places on a single bird!

But then Jesus goes on to tell us that we have a value to God worth more than many sparrows! So if God looks after and watches over these little birds, how much more will He watch over us? Our value to God far exceeds the birds of the air who neither sow or reap or store into barns (Matthew 6:25-34).

The next time you are feeling anxious about the future, just take a moment and look at a bird, or a squirrel, or a tree for that matter. God provides for all that He created because that is simply what good fathers do. If He looks after even the most insignificant of His creation, will He not also look after you?

I love to sing over you with loud shouts of joy.

Zephaniah 3:17 New International Version (NIV)

17 The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing.”

When I go to the ocean, I love to hear the continual roaring sound of the waves crashing on the seashore. I wonder if this is just one of the ways that our God and Father rejoices over all that He made with His singing? I love this verse in the Bible because it is so jammed packed full of promises. God is mighty to save us! He rejoices over us with great joy! He will quiet us in His love! And He sings over us! All of these powerful promises are contained in just one verse.

For time's sake, I only want to focus on the part of this promise that says that God sings over us with loud shouts of joy. The context of this verse is that there is a glorious intensity in God doing this over us. We make Him very, very happy! I wonder how many of us really grasp the joy that the Lord has because of us? I believe if this revelation became more of a reality to us, it would change how we see ourselves.

Often when we look in a mirror, we only see the imperfections. When God looks at us, it is as if His heart skips a beat because of the joy we bring to Him. My prayer today is that we would have the blinders taken off of our eyes so that we might truly see ourselves in the light of God's love and begin to experience His joy over our lives.

In Nehemiah 8:10, the Bible says that 'the joy of the Lord is our strength'. It is His joy over our lives that will give each one of us the power to live a full, free, joy-filled life. God loves you with all His heart and He rejoices over you with loud shouts of joy!

If you make your home in love, you live in Me and I live in you.

1 John 4:16 New International Version (NIV)

16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

The WEB Bible says that if we remain in love, we remain in God. We could also translate this to mean that if we make our home in love, we make our home in God ...for God is love. Think about this image for a second. If love were a house, your Heavenly Father would give you complete run of the place! You could go to the refrigerator any time you like...kick off your shoes in the living room and lie on the couch... etc.

If love were a house, then it would stand to reason that our Father would want us to be comfortable living there. But my question is... Are we comfortable living in love? Are we comfortable with the intimacy and vulnerability that comes with living in love? For many of us, even the word 'love' might have a broken meaning. For us to learn to be comfortable living in love, God will have to redeem our understanding of what love is.

In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, we read the Apostle Paul's description of love...
4 Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6 doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails.  (WEB)

For us to be able to comprehend the kind of love that comes directly from God Himself, we need to be comfortable on the receiving end of love. In 1 John 4:19, the Bible says that 'we love because He first loved us'. If you want to learn how to be comfortable living in the house of God's love, ask Him to teach you how to receive love from Him every day.

The more that we are able to receive our Father's love, the more that we will be comfortable making our home living in love. As we live in the love that God has for us, others will see it's impact on our lives and want to live there too!

I will fulfill My purpose for your life because My mercy endures forever.

Psalm 138:8 New International Version (NIV)

8 The Lord will vindicate me;
    your love, Lord, endures forever—
    do not abandon the works of your hands.

In this psalm, King David makes the declaration that God will fulfill His purpose for his life because His great love endures forever. David knew full well that God would not abandon Him or forsake the work of His hands. The NIV Bible says it this way... The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands.

God has a purpose for your life. In His unending, eternal love, He formed you with His own hands and He promises to never leave you. It is reassuring to know that God has a unique plan for each of us that He has promised to fulfill. Sure there are many bumps and bruises on the road to our destiny, and at times we can get side-tracked.

But if we have entrusted our lives to the living, loving God, we can rest in His promise to take care of us and all of the dreams we have hidden in our hearts. David was confident that the LORD would fulfill His life's purpose because God's mercy endures forever.

May we all have the same confidence in our God and Father today. God will fulfill His purpose for you for His love endures forever!

Even if your mother forgets you, I will never forget you.

Isaiah 49:15 New International Version (NIV)

15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!

The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:16 that God is love. He is the complete expression of every possible type of love. A father's love, a friend's love, the love of a bridegroom, etc., for 1 John 4 says that all love comes from God. In today's promise, we see a feminine expression of the love of God.

In this verse, God is posing a question... Can a mother forget the baby at her breast? Is it possible for her to not have compassion on the child that she has birthed? God goes onto say, even if she forgets you, I will not forget you! The following verse in Isaiah 49:16 continues as God tells us that He has engraved us on the palms of His hands.

What a promise that we have! No matter what happens in this life, no matter what form of rejection we receive... even from our parents, God will not reject us! He will never forget us because He loves us with a father's love and He loves us with a mother's love too!

May the love of God overwhelm us today with every love that we need. A father's love, a mother's love, the love of a friend, the love of a Savior... May we learn to live in this love (1 John 4:16) more and more for the rest of our lives.

I am happy to treat you as My child, and I hope you will call Me Father.

Jeremiah 3:19 New International Version (NIV)

19 “I myself said,

“‘How gladly would I treat you like my children
    and give you a pleasant land,
    the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’
    and not turn away from following me.

In the Old Testament, God is revealed by many names. There are actually over 300 different names that refer to God with the name 'Father' being one of them. I believe that this passage of Scripture truly reveals God's amazing heart to be a Father to Israel.

The NIV Bible says it this way...
"I myself said, " 'How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.' I thought you would call me 'Father' and not turn away from following me. (NIV)

When I read this passage of Scripture, I feel the longing that God has to be a father to us. How happy He is to treat us like sons and how He hopes that we would call Him 'Father'. Though God is revealed by many names in the Old Testament, Jesus primarily revealed God as Father in the New Testament.

Through Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, we have the opportunity to call Him our Father now! In John 20:17, after just coming out of the tomb, Jesus summarizes His heart after His resurrection this way... Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (WEB)

The longing in your Father's heart is that you would call Him 'Father'. May today be the day when this revelation of His fathering nature goes deeper into your heart than ever before.

Because of Jesus, you are free from all condemnation.

Romans 8:1 New International Version (NIV)

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

This is a wonderful promise that we can all take to heart. There is therefore now NO condemnation! Many of us struggle with feelings of shame and condemnation every day. This Scripture tells us that because of what Jesus did, we do not have to live under condemnation any longer.

However, when you read the WEB Bible translation of Romans 8:1, it seems like there is a bit of a disclaimer to the statement 'There is therefore now no condemnation..." The disclaimer is ...who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For me, when I was a young Christian and read this verse, I felt that if I somehow was walking after the flesh, then I would be subject to condemnation.

I truly believe that the heart of this verse is better translated in the ESV translation of the Bible which says in Romans 8:1-2...1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (ESV)

Notice that after the promise of no condemnation there is a period. The disclaimer (who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit) is not there... and it is not there in the original Greek translation either!

I truly believe that because of the finished work of Jesus Christ there is therefore now NO condemnation... period! The law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. Hallelujah!

If you confess your sins, I will be faithful to forgive and cleanse you.

1 John 1:9 New International Version (NIV)

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

God is faithful. God is just in all that He does. God promises to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All that He requires is that we trust in His goodness and risk exposing our heart to Him by confessing our shortcomings. When we confess our sins, we are vulnerable and honest before our God and Father.

When we confess our sins to God, we openly declare that we are relying on His mercy to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and that we can't do it ourselves. It takes faith and trust to live a transparent life before God, but that is the pathway to real freedom.

When we keep things in the dark, those things have power over us and will keep us enslaved in one form or another. When we bring things into the light that lurk in the shadows of our heart, we experience new found freedom over those things.

The amazing thing is that God is not surprised by what we confess, for He knows us better than we know ourselves. He does not judge us when we open our hearts to Him, but rather the opposite happens.  In Psalm 103:13-14 the Bible says...13 Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him. 14 For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust. (WEB)

When we are vulnerable and honest before God, compassion rises up in His heart towards us because He understands our frailties. The confession of our sins is for our benefit, not His. He has already dealt with the issue of sin that once separated us through the shed blood of Jesus... once and for all!

All God wants is for us to be completely free! Free from a guilty conscience and free from condemnation and the accusations from the enemy! So if there is anything that is keeping you from experiencing the intimacy of being with your Papa God, be assured in knowing that He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness!

I have blessed you in Christ with one outpouring of grace after another.

John 1:16 New International Version (NIV)

16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.

I love the Amplified version of this Bible verse...For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift. (AMP)

In Jesus, God the Father has blessed us with grace upon grace, heaped favor upon favor and blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven (Ephesians 1:3). Words cannot express the wonderful, bountiful outpouring of love and blessings that God has given us through the free gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

My prayer is that we would be able to tangibly grasp the unshakeable inheritance that is ours in Jesus Christ today. He exchanged His life for our life and made the way for us to be partakers of His divine nature and beneficiaries of all His blessings. Thank you God for your amazing grace and every good and perfect gift that comes from your hand (James 1:17).

Your life comes from Me because you are My offspring.

Acts 17:28 New International Version (NIV)

28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[a] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[b]

Today's promise comes from a passage in the Bible where the Apostle Paul is debating with Greek philosophers on Mars Hill about the existence of the one and only true God. In the midst of his conversation, Paul tells them that God is so involved in their lives that they actually live and move and have their being in Him.

Colossians 1:15-17 says this about Jesus...
15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. (WEB)

Every neutron and electron and every strand of DNA is held together by the very life of the living God. Whether we acknowledge this truth or not, it does not change the unshakeable fact that God is the very fabric in which the universe is held together. There is no denying it.

I have always found it interesting that when Paul was speaking to the pagan Greeks, he quoted one of their own poets that said... 'we are all His offspring'. The truth is that God created every person who ever lived because He is the very author of life itself.

We are all God's offspring through creation and it is His desire that every person on the planet would become His child through redemption by the free gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

I have chosen you to be a royal priesthood and a holy nation.

1 Peter 2:9 New International Version (NIV)

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Today's promise is an amazing declaration of who we are in Christ! We are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation and a people for God's own possession. You may be called to do many things today... Get up and go to work. Fix your children's meals. Work around the house, etc., etc. Even though today you may be called to do many mundane things, my prayer is that you would know in the midst of your daily routine how God sees you!

You are a part of His royal priesthood. You were chosen to belong to God and show forth His praises before the foundation of the world.  My prayer today is that whatever you do in life, you would know that you are part of a people of God's own possession who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light!

You are My workmanship, created in Christ to do My good works.

Ephesians 2:10 New International Version (NIV)

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Your life is the workmanship of a loving Father that planned your existence before the foundation of the world. Just as an architect designs a building in his mind before he ever puts it on paper, so God planned you! And in His amazing plan, He created us to be in His beloved Son, Jesus Christ so that we would be partakers of the same good works that Jesus does.

What an amazing promise! When you look in the mirror, do you see yourself as God's precious work of art or do you see something else? God wants you to be comfortable with the knowledge that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, created in the image of God and ordained to do the good works that He prepared for you in advance.

May our God and Father give us revelation today that our life has a divine purpose that was birthed in His heart before the creation of the world. May we simply agree with God's plan and continue to do the good works that we are called to do in Jesus Christ our Lord.

If you believe in Jesus, you will not be disappointed.

1 Peter 2:6 New International Version (NIV)

6 For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”[a]

I like the NIV version of 1 Peter 2:6 which says... For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

Shame is a powerful negative motivator. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed until they partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was then that they realized their nakedness and sought to cover their shame with fig leaves. The condition of shame still exists today in the carnal part of our soul. However our fig leaves look much different than Adam and Eve's did.

Perhaps we cover our nakedness through a relentless pursuit of success and material wealth? Perhaps through religious striving? Perhaps isolation and self-protection? There are many ways that we try and combat feelings of shame in our lives. The good news of today's promise is that anyone who comes to Jesus, will NEVER EVER be put to shame or be disappointed.

God's love is the covering that we need to cover every area of inadequacy that we feel in our lives. May we be so overwhelmed with the love of God today, that we will not run and hide from God (like Adam and Eve did) but rather we will run into our Father's loving arms.