December 14 – Whose Battle Is It Anyway?

““Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.” – 2 Chronicles 20:15  (NASB)

Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed.” - 2 Chronicles 20:20  (NASB)

 

Jehoshaphat was the King of Judah, the Southern Kingdom of Israelites. The descendants of Lot, Moab and Ammon, and the those from Esau, Edom, had intentions of dethroning Jehoshaphat. These were relatives of Judah through Abraham’s relations. They were a serious threat to the people in Jerusalem and the region. Jehoshaphat took this crisis to God in prayer (2 Chronicles 20:5-12). Today’s verses include the promises God made to the King of Judah. First He said, “Don’t let fear make you become demoralized. Second, “Trust the Lord to fight this battle.”  Have we ever found ourselves facing overwhelming circumstances that cause a sense of panic within our souls? We are sure to have faced such challenges both great and small and if God is who we trust, we can be certain the promise is ours as well. God does not allow anything to come that will be too much for us if we are willing to put the solution into His hands. Major decisions about what we should do and conflicts that we need resolved will be “handled” by God. We can trust Him to do what is best for us in every circumstances.

 

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February 8 – A Matter of Foundations

“He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever.” – Psalm 104:5 (NASB)

In vivid poetic detail, the psalmist writes this song of the Lord’s glory in creation. The first nine verses exalt the creation of the Heavens and the Earth. When God created the Earth He did so in such a way that it will not “totter forever and ever.” We can say that God created Earth in a permanent unmovable state. Continuing, we read about how the earth was covered or even wrapped in water. This may sound like but it is not a reference to the Great Flood but it about the creation of the Earth. Verse 7 tells us that it was by God’s word, His rebuke that the waters receded and the mountains rose forming valleys which sank down with a promise in verse 8, “To the place which You established for them.” God created our world and everything in it with a definite design and purpose. Verse 31 gives glory to the LORD God acknowledging that He was glad in the good work. We know that it is God who spoke the universe and the worlds into existence and He did it out of nothing and in a purposeful sequence.

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January 23 – Planning Through Commitment

“Commit your works to the Lord And your plans will be established.” Proverbs 16:3 (NASB)

For the times in our lives when we are uncertain of our next step or the direction we need is not clear, we can find help and wisdom from God. This is a great and wonderful promise given to us in our verse today. As we face daily tasks and at times when we need careful planning for what our way should be, this practice will help. We learn from the wisdom that is freely given to us. First, we commit all details and plans to the Lord. He is the Master Planner who knows all outcomes and if we then trust Him to supply our needs, our plans will be established by Him. God will give us the wisdom we need to preform each step along our way and it will be the right way. We can also trust Him to bring us all the way through in a way that will bring praise and glory to Him. If our challenge is large or small, and if we commit our works to the Lord, He promises an eventual good result for us to follow.

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October 14 – Not To the Right or the Left

“Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.  Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil.”  -Proverbs 4:25-27   (NASB)

Don't we who follow Jesus Christ because He is our Lord and Savior want our ways established in His Word and Truth?  Do we not want to avoid falling for the attractions of evil things?  Today's promises tell us just how we should go about accomplishing that objective.  Actually it is accomplished by he grace of God who does it for us if we keep our eyes fixed on Him and His Word.  We keep His Word in our heart/mind and we fix our gaze straight ahead in front of us.  If we do this and keep our eyes on the path where our feet are walking, God establishes us and our habits and behaviors.  We refuse to turn to the right or to the left for that is where the distractions and attractions for an ungodly life are.  When we intentionally resist temptation and turn away from evil, God's ways become our ways and we bless God as He more abundantly blesses us.  

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April 26 – Well Established Way

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,  Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.” Psalm 37:23-24 (NASB)

We are reminded today from the words of our verse the promise of God that He is the one who establishes our steps.  We are not living our Christian lives by ourselves and our verse today reminds us that this is the way that our Lord wants it to be.  He wants to help each of us take the right steps each day and He is delighted when we allow  Him to make these steps firm in the right direction. We are so glad that we have God's help whenever we trust Him to guide us.  Our verse today reminds us that we may still make mistakes and stumble on our way but God will keep us from getting too far from the right way.  If we have entrusted ourselves to Him as His children He will keep us close to Him and close to the true way. 

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November 14 – Established Steps

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way;”  Psalm 37:23 (ESV)

We are not living our lives on our own. When we believe and accept the gift of eternal life from God we become members of God's family and He becomes intimately involved in our lives.  We benefit from this when we are willing to receive it.  It is then that we recognize that God is involved much more than we realize.  He knows us and He knows what is going on in our lives and He cares about us.  It is not surprising that God would want us to live good lives and to follow the principles that He has outlined in the Bible.  But our verse reminds us that God is actively participating  by influencing us to make the right choices every day.  Then when we make the right decisions God is aware and He is pleased.  Our verse says that He is delighted.  How then can we help to bring that about?  By allowing Him to guide us and by complying with His motivations in our lives each day. 

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October 24 – Established. Sealed. Guaranteed.

“And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” 2 Corinthians 1:22-22 (ESV)

Every promise from our Lord God brings us joy if we have believed in Jesus as our Savior.  Today's promise is especially precious because what God says in this verse is that He is the one who establishes us in Christ.  It is not our effort that has earned for us this place in God's family.  We are in Christ Jesus because God the Father has fulfilled His promise to all who have in faith believing turned to Him.  We read here too that God goes beyond “establishing” us.  Once we are established in Christ, God seals us in there, we are secure if we have truly believed.  Even one more promise is given.  God gives us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee of the seal.  What God  guarantees requires only His word to keep the promise.  We are His.  We belong to God.  We are in Christ, sealed there with the Holy Spirit in residence guaranteeing this promise.  Nothing and no one can break the seal and change our standing.  What a promise to go with today.  Rejoice!

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October 12 – Established Peace

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

We believe these words are true for us who belong to God's family today. We must never forget how much our Lord is involved in our lives. One of the goals that God wants for each of His children is peace in our hearts. The enemy of our souls does not want us to enjoy spiritual peace but our God wants it for each of us. So, when we do sense this kind of peace let's remember that it has come from God. We don't work it up by ourselves. Our verse reminds us also of how much all we do accomplish is because of what God has done for us. We need to be thankful to Him for working all kinds of things out for us.

November 15

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,”  Ephesians 3:17b-18 (NIV)

This prayer of Paul for the Christians in Ephesus is a prayer we need to pray for ourselves and for our friends and families. We need to pray a prayer like this because it does not come naturally to us to comprehend the greatness of our Lord’s love for us. We remember that Jesus died for us because He loved us, but humanly we really can’t understand all that is involved in what He did. We need God’s help to comprehend it. And Jesus is praying for us in order to make us pure and holy, completely devoted to Him and His love is what motivates Him to do that for us. But we cannot understand that either without God’s help.