God is my…

February 21, 2023

Psalm 18:1-3 NLT – I love you, LORD; you are my strength. [2] The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. [3] I called on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies.

I love theses verses. It is David’s response to God saving him from his enemies. I love the way he says “God is my…” a number of times.

David says God is his rock, salvation, fortress, place of safety, shield and strength. He proclaimed who God was to him after a very difficult time.

As I reflected on this I realised that sometimes we need to go through the valley of hard times to really appreciate who God is to us.

At times in my life I quoted Scripture to help me in times of need. This is a really good thing. But it wasn’t until really hard times came that I learned to hold on to the God who backs up the Scriptures.

I found in these times I learned to hold on to both the Scriptures for comfort and assurance and also the God who loves me and holds me in the palm of his hand.

There is nothing like really hard times that bring us to the point of falling on our knees before God and crying out to Him. It is a place where we come to the end of ourselves and the beginning of Him.

It is in this place where we learn, like David did, that God is our rock, our fortress, our strength and our safe place. He is the one we can run to in our times of need.

Prayer

Dear God, I thank You for being my rock, my fortress, my strength and my safe place. I pray that when I go through hard times I can run to You to be my refuge. Amen.

The importance of declaration

February 12, 2023

Romans 10:9-10 NLT – If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. [10] For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

Declaration is very important thing. As you can see from the passage above it is part of the salvation process. We need to declare Jesus is Lord of our lives.

This morning as I was doing my devotions it was impressed upon me to make some declarations of my own. I felt that I needed to record a prayer in my journal and declare it out aloud. I am not sure why, but God prompted me to declare my faith and trust in Jesus and who He is.

The prayer…

Lord Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God, the Messiah. I believe You died on the cross for my sins and I believe You were raised from the dead. I believe you are seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. I believe You are coming back for me so I can live with You forever. Amen.

As I said I am not sure why I had to do this? Maybe obedience? Maybe God wanted to hear me say it afresh? Maybe it was to declare it to the powers and principalities? Maybe it was for this blog post? Maybe for all the reason above?

When we declare with our mouth truths about Jesus – who He is, what He has done and what the Bibles tells us He is going to do – it is powerful. It can change our attitudes, it can raise our spirits and it can change the atmosphere around us.

I would encourage you to try it today.

Blessings,
Dave

No separation

February 8, 2023

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It is great to know that if we are in relationship with Christ nothing can separate us from Him. Unlike human relationships that often break down over time through stressful situations, nothing in all creation can separate us from Christ’s love. His love for you is eternal, never ending and complete. His love for you is unbreakable!

Prayer

Thank You Jesus that nothing can separate me from Your love. Help me to remeber this truth always. I am Yours and You are mine. Amen.

Choosing forgiveness

January 26, 2023

I really like this thought from today’s Our Daily Bread. It talks about choosing forgiveness and give an example from marriage…

“Eighty years of marriage! My husband’s great-uncle Pete and great-aunt Ruth celebrated this remarkable milestone on May 31, 2021. After a chance meeting in 1941 when Ruth was still in high school, the young couple were so eager to get married that they eloped the day after Ruth graduated. Pete and Ruth believe God brought them together and has guided them all these years.

Reflecting on eight decades of marriage, Pete and Ruth both agree that one key to sustaining their relationship has been the decision to choose forgiveness. Anyone in a healthy relationship understands that we all regularly need forgiveness for the ways we hurt each other, whether through an unkind word, a broken promise, or a forgotten task.”