Lord, thank you for giving us the gift of faith. Help us to increase our faith in You and all that You can do on our behalf. How poignant this verse is in our lives for so many reasons. We come to You with the faith of a mustard seed as we believe our mountains have already jumped into the sea.
Praise you in Jesus’ name,
Amen
Day 27
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
—Psalm 84:11 (NIV)
For the psalmist to declare the Lord as a sun and a shield might seem like an odd contrast at first sight, but when you consider it, both are needed. We need the warmth of the sun to keep us comfortable and the brightness of its light to illuminate our path. We need a shield to protect us from danger. The Lord is saying He will provide the best of both worlds.
The psalmist continues with the good news by revealing that the Lord bestows favor and honor. Who wouldn’t love more of that? We seek our God for His beautiful face, His perfect heart. It’s amazing to me that He gives so freely. He wants to give you His favor and honor. It doesn’t matter what our position is in this life, as the things we have done wrong have been wiped clean in His beautiful eyes. He sees us in perfect form through the lens of His Son, Jesus Christ.
If we choose to fully obey God to the best of our ability, then our walk is considered blameless, and this verse promises us that no good thing will He withhold from us. What great and blessed news. He is not only chasing you down with His love, forgiveness, and salvation, but He is gifting you His favor, honor, and promises not to withhold any good thing from your life. This verse is golden. It’s one worth memorizing. It’s most definitely worth bringing to the Lord and reminding Him of His promise to us as He asks us to do.
Lord, You are so wonderful and we are truly humbled and honored to be Your children. Thank you for lavishing us with Your love. Thank you for going above and beyond what we ever deserve. Thank you for chasing us down with Your love, blessings, and goodness. We choose to follow and obey our Savior Jesus Christ as You straighten the paths before us. Thank you for cleaning up our messes. Thank you for choosing to bless us despite of what we’ve done. Jesus, thank you for making our walk blameless through the purification of Your blood. Thank you for not withholding a single good thing from us.
In Jesus’ precious name,
Amen
Day 28
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
— Romans 2:4 (NIV)
Some might say this is evidence that the Lord believes in tough love. But in truth, it’s not tough at all. It is in fact, as it is written, God’s kindness. It hurts the Lord to see us hurting ourselves, acting out, acting selfishly and greedily, disobeying—even if we’re doing all those things without realizing it. And when we do, we are willingly throwing ourselves into the pit—the exact pit we will later do anything to spiritually claw our way out of. Once we’re in the pit and we feel its cloying darkness, the bargaining usually begins, the wallowing, the endless all-nighter pity parties—the infamous why me sessions that get so much play in our minds. God doesn’t want it to be you either. He wants to help. And great news! He is helping—but he’s doing so by building your character and faith along the way.
We certainly don’t know what God’s timetable is for any situation in our lives or why some things happen overnight and some things happen over a season, but the Lord is clear on one thing: His pure love for us. Let us not show contempt or any ill will toward the riches of His kindness, His forbearance, or His patience. He is not trying to punish you by extending the process of pulling you out of the pit. He has already pulled you out of the pit by way of His forgiveness. He is simply trying to lead you to repentance, to land your feet on a clear and straight path—one that leads away from the sin that landed you in the pit in the first place. I’m all for that.
Thank you, Lord, for caring enough to pull us from the pits we land ourselves in with Your unconditional love. Thank you that You care so much about us that You meet us in our darkest moments and lead us gently to safety and then guide our hearts to obey You. Life is much sweeter with You by our side.
Thank You, Jesus, for being our constant companion.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
Day 29
Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
—Matthew 14:25-27 (NIV)
There are some storms in life that for the believer the only way to the other side is to keep your eyes intently focused on Jesus. During the darkest time in my life, I had a literal visualization of looking into His beautiful eyes. Of course, I had never seen His eyes, but I was at the lowest common denominator of my being, so I did my best to imagine them. I couldn’t think, speak, or feel. I was numb with shock. In abject pain. That visual was all I could manage. I was existing moment to moment just breathing God.
It occurred
