March 15 – Doing God’s Will Anyway

“Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” – Jeremiah 32:17  (ESV)

Our verse comes from the story in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah. The prophet purchased a plot of land from his cousin even though the Babylonians were nearly at the gate of the city. The anticipation was that soon Jerusalem and all in the Kingdom of Judah would be conquered and taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar. This truly did come to pass so Jeremiah’s real estate purchase seemed fool's errand. But it wasn’t foolish, because God had directed him to purchase this piece of land. Thinking through the wisdom of his legal transaction bewildered Jeremiah and he goes to God in prayer. Notice how he first extols the sovereignty of God. “Nothing is too hard for you,” is what Jeremiah says. He acknowledges God’s directions in buying the field even “though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.” The promise that nothing is too hard for God is a promise we take to heart today. Whatever God leads us to do, if we know God is indeed giving us that direction, we can know its outcome will be what God intends it to be. Let’s trust God no matter what He has given us to do.

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December 29 – Acknowledge – Yes. Deny-No.

“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” Luke 12:8-9 (ESV)

Our verse today is powerful in truth and wisdom.  The huge crowds “so many thousands” were clambering around Jesus. To them Jesus was the miracle maker and many were caught up by their curiosity but not truly followers. He begins to use this mass attraction to teach his disciples and warns those who might be unwilling to recognize Him as the promised Messiah. The disciples and all people had to make a choice. To acknowledge denotes the fact that the disciples believed Him as the Messiah and therefore they had access to the way of salvation. Those who did not acknowledge Him were denying themselves the way of salvation. Not every promise that Jesus made is a blessing promise.  Some, like these warnings are for us today promise consequences that we need to heed. If, with open hearts, we choose to acknowledge and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, God will acknowledge us before the angels. The meaning of ‘acknowledge’ used here is an act of recognition free from any denial. For those who don’t acknowledge Christ publicly when the opportunity is given, they are considered deniers and the promise is God’s denial of them. Acknowledge, don’t deny our Lord.

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May 14 – Real Forgiveness

“I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. - Selah”  - Psalm 32:5 (ESV)

We learn from our Bible that God forgives our sin.  However, sometimes, some people, aren’t convinced of that promise.  It is difficult for us to acknowledge that we need forgiveness.  It is hard to admit we have transgressed, as it says in our verse today.  However, even though we know our sins are forgiven when we believe God and become part of His family, we find ourselves struggling with doing wrong when we know to do right. We need help feeling worthy of love at times when our failings are staring us in the face.  God has removed our guilt and has taken our sins far away from us but we begin to doubt or ignore this when our actions make us feel separated from God.  It is time to make God’s promise real and experience its fulfillment.  We must acknowledge to God our sin, our failings.  That is, we come to agreement with God that what we’ve done is sinful. We confess to the Lord directly just as the psalmist does in this Psalm. We can embrace the truth about what God has done for us and rejoice with thanksgiving in God our Savior. 

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August 3 – Be Acknowledged

“So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,”  Matthew 10:32 - (ESV)

Jesus, up in heaven, knows what we are doing and also what we are saying – even what we are thinking as we go through each day.  He is our advocate and He desires that we stand and proclaim Him as the Savior.  When we do what Jesus wants, reminding the people around us that Jesus is our Savior and our Lord and that He is standing up for us before God the Father.  He will acknowledge us as members of God's family and fellow heirs of all of God's promises.  This is why we can pray to God in Jesus' name and why He has instructed us to do so.  Those who do not acknowledge Jesus in this life, stymie Jesus' acknowledgment of them before God the Father as He has no basis to do so.  Believe and receive and He promises to claim us as His before God.

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June 24 – A Straight Path Journey

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”  Proverbs 3:5-6  (NASB)

We have a most encouraging promise from the Bible to focus on today.  When we are troubled with circumstances that are difficult, or when we are needing to work some major or minor situations out and we do not know for sure how to do that?  It is best for us to start with the promise we have today. The promise in today's verse is that God can and will make our paths straight and clear.  We begin by trusting in Him with all our heart.  We forsake our our trust in own understanding.  Our understanding is not perfect and our knowledge is faulty so we look to God's understanding and knowledge which are perfect.  We choose to Trust in Him with all our heart – we can't say that enough, with - ALL OUR HEART.  We give up trying to figure it out.  Instead we lean completely on God by confessing Him and acknowledging His presence and His care for us and that He has our best in mind.  We follow where He leads us even if we do not fully understand in our reasoning, but by trusting and knowing He is our Lord we will find the right path.  The path He leads us on is straight, so trust that promise today for whatever you might encounter.

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February 2 – Not Our Understanding But His

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6  (NASB)

A favorite verse for many and one we might see on plaques and wall hangings.  It teaches us that it is possible to have our God show us how to live in this world.  It seems these days that having a focus on who is guiding us is very important.  The Bible reminds us that our Lord is ready to guide us and our verses today tell us what we need to do to be sure we are on the path He is guiding us to.  We are reminded not to think that we know how to live right.  We must always be relying on the Lord to help us make the right decisions.  If we recognize His concern for our welfare and for our right kind of living and we look to Him always to guide us our verses remind us that our paths will then always be straight.  Then we will always please Him.  

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October 12- - Accomplished By Him

“Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.”  Isaiah 26:12 (NIV)

The prophet Isaiah wrote and recorded the words which God gave to him.  In the verse we read today, he is predicting a day would come when God's people would recognize how much He had done for them. They would acknowledge and profess this truth. This verse expresses a special insight which we all can and need to have.  When we realize how much God is involved in our activities we can give Him the credit for the things He is doing in our lives and through us.  The words we read in our verse were really a part of God's teaching to His people.  God wants us to recognize how much He is doing through us so that we don't give ourselves credit but give Him the glory.  Today is a good day to acknowledge the promise that God works in us, and to ask God to reveal to us how much He is doing so we can also declare that whatever we have accomplished, it is God who has done it for us.  

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August 3 – Acknowledgment

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”  Matthew 10:32 (NIV)

When Jesus was here on earth He gave His followers some promises about what He is doing in heaven even today.  We believe that promise, found in today's verse, applies to us who live here on earth now. What Jesus tells us here is that He is watching us as we have contact with people here on earth.  If we speak a good word for Jesus here, He is aware of it. And what is He doing for us in Heaven?  He is speaking a good word about us to His Father in heaven.  Isn't this an encouraging promise for us?  To  think that you or  I could be the subject of conversation between Jesus, the Son of God and His Father in heaven is a promise we can cling to. It can lift our hearts as we continue daily trusting and fulfilling our purpose here on earth.  Doesn't this cause your heart to be filled with joy, my friend?  Let this promise today, give us motivation and desire to acknowledge Jesus in our lives.  

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January 20 – Sun and Rain

“Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:3 (NIV)

This was an admonition that was very necessary in the time of the prophet Hosea. God gave the prophet a message to deliver to the people of his day which they needed to hear. They needed to remember that the Lord their God was real. We also need to hear these words and that is why God protected the writings of the prophet and has made them available to us. Yes – we need to acknowledge the Lord. We need to recognize Him in our lives and recognize His desire to be involved in our activities and in our thinking and in our decision making. When we recognize God as He has revealed Himself in His Word, then he becomes real to us. He will be as real to us as the sun that shines on us on a clear day. Recognize him through faith believing today. 

Note on faith believing.

March 20 – Give Him the Glory

“Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.” Isaiah 26:12 (NIV)

The Bible makes it clear that we have a God who is personally and intimately involved in our lives. We are reminded of this in the Bible verse chosen for today. Our peace is established by God and what we accomplish is to God's credit. We are so prone to think that we should get credit for things that we do in our lives. However, God wants us to remember that He is the One who is working in our lives to accomplish His purpose here in this world.  Yes, our God has created us and all the rest of this universe. He has created the people we’re living with. He not only created us all but He is looking for people who will acknowledge Him for all He has done, for all He is doing. Every day and in all the details, God is involved in our lives and we should today give Him the glory for what He has done.

March 7 – In His Hands

“But I trust in you, Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands;” Psalm 31:14-15a (NIV) 

If we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we find it very helpful to express our faith in God often. Our verse for today is a very personal expression of faith and that is the kind of faith that pleases the Lord. Our God is the creator of the universe and He is in control of all the many things which are around us. However He never loses sight of the details of our individual lives. He wants us to have a personal relationship with Him and to acknowledge Him as personally involved in our lives. The psalmist thought of God that way. He looked to God to control the details of each hour and each minute – the details of each experience. He trusted in the Lord; he acknowledged Him as his God; he recognized that he was in God's hands.  We can do the same. We can each day, and often each day, think of the words of our verse and know that our times are in His hands. 

January 19

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him” Psalm 91:14-15 (NIV)

We like to be reminded that God loves us and that is an important part of our lives each day. It is also important that we return His love by loving Him with all our hearts. You perhaps noticed in our verse today how God responds to our love for Him. Yes, God does know when we love Him and He watches us when we need His help. He says that He will be with us in trouble – he will not leave us. He will rescue us, He will deliver us. And if we love Him He will answer our prayers every time. Is it not a wonderful comfort to know that God is that intimate with us that he knows what is in our hearts and what we need?

May 28

“In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”  Isaiah 25:9 (NIV)

Although the primary application of this prediction may be for the people of Israel who would trust in their Lord, we believe that it can apply to us, too. When we do trust in Him He proves faithful to His promise. As we realize that He does come to help us, we recognize Him as our God. We trust in our Lord for the salvation from sin that He offers. When He saves us we learn to acknowledge Him to be the One He claims to be. Does not this give us true joy? Recognize today that “He is the Lord” and rejoice in His salvation.