November 19 – Hear and See The Only One

“For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.” - Isaiah 64:4 (NASB)

 

Too often in order to not ‘offend’ those who believe in gods that don’t exist, gods of their own creation, even faith believer in Jesus Christ will compare non-existent gods to our God. Isaiah's words reveal to us that no one at all has ever seen a God besides the one true God. Nobody ever has perceived by the hearing of their ears or the seeing of their eyes any god besides God Almighty the Creator of the Earth and all that is upon it. These words were true in Isaiah's time nearly 2600 years ago. He declares that since the beginning there has been only one God who would respond to the needs of the human race. And during all these years since Isaiah wrote these words, there has been no other God – although many have tried to create for themselves an acceptable god. What a joy to know that we do have a God who acts on our behalf when we turn to Him. We can trust in the promise that He acts on our behalf. This is the one and only God and He is our God, our heavenly Father who is near us every day.

 

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August 7 – Guarded by Eye and Heart

“My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.” – Proverbs 7:1-3 (ESV)

It would be perhaps helpful to understand the phrase “apple of your eye” in its most basic form. This expression refers to the pupil of the eye which, because it is the source of sight, is carefully protected. Deuteronomy 32:10, a portion of the Song of Moses regarding God’s care of His people, “He guarded Him as the pupil of His eye.”  David writes Psalm 17:8 “Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings.” These are promises of how critically important it is that God watches over us. In today’s selected Prover, the son is to guard and protect his father’s teachings because they give him spiritual and moral sight. Binding them on our fingers and writing them on the tablet of our hearts is a a call to give the truth of divine wisdom a permanent place in our mind and in our conduct. That, we keep God’s Word always in sight, and always ready for the present moment. 

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May 11 – Sighted and Hearing

“He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see?”  Psalm 94:9 (NASB)

This verse might cause us to pause just a moment with the question, “He who planted the ear..?” But, this is a common use of the word to speak of creation. When God created our human ancestors in order to have fellowship with them, He gave His creatures the ability to know what is going on. Each of us was given the ability to see what is around us and to hear sounds happening around us. Not every creature sees and hears equally well and some not at all, but such circumstances were not in God's plan at the beginning. We are reminded today that the ability to see and to hear were given to us by the one who created us.  God wanted us to experience a part of what He has always experienced. God gave us the ability to see in part because He sees everything. He made us able to hear some sounds because he hears every sound. Yes, our God sees us in our needy time and he listens when we pray – that is the promise he made when he made us. Let's be thankful.  

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November 19 – One and Only

“From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.” Isaiah 64:4 (ESV) 

Isaiah's words remind us again today of the greatness and love of God and how singular He is in this universe. These words were true in Isaiah's time nearly 2600 years ago. He declares that since the beginning there has been only one God who would respond to the needs of the human race. And during all these years since Isaiah wrote these words, there has been no other God – although many have tried to create them. God’s judgmental manifestations are unique. No one has witnessed the likes of His awesome works on behalf of His own. In 1 Corinthians* Paul adapts words from this verse to speak of direct revelation of God imparted to His apostles and prophets and pertaining to mysteries hidden from mankind before the birth of the church. What a joy to know that we do have a God who acts on our behalf when we turn to Him. We can trust in the promise that He acts on our behalf. This is the one and only God and He is our God, our heavenly Father who is near us every day. 

 

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*“But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—1 Corinthians 2:9

March 6 – More than Job Ever Dreamed - Finding God in Job Part 4

“I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;” - Job 42:5 (ESV)

It is one of the key lessons about Job and about us that we find in this book. It’s deep and takes time to study. Some use the book of Job as evidence that God just gives us questions and no answers. But to believe that, we need to cut out the rest of the book of Job, for that’s not how Job heard it. All his life Job had been a good man. All his life he had believed in God, but in the storm Job saw God.  If any passage in the book of Job, needs to be underlined, it is this verse: “I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you” (Job 42:5). Job sees God—and that is enough. But it isn’t enough for God. The years to come find Job with his health, family, and wealth restored. His lap is once again full of children and grandchildren. A new beginning indeed. After it was all over, it is conceivable Job would do it all again if that’s what it would take to hear God’s voice and stand in his presence. For God gave Job more than Job ever dreamed. God gave Job himself.

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The book of Job is not easy to read or to understand. When trying to grasp its truth as a whole, it seems nearly unreachable. Thanks to the daily devotional “All Up Words” by Max Lucado. Acknowledgement and thanks for some of these ideas is given to his words     https://maxlucado.com/listen/more-than-job-ever-dreamed/

May 25 – Wait For It

“Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” Isaiah 64:4  (NIV)

These words were written by Isaiah nearly 2700 years ago at a time that the people of Israel were divided into two kingdoms.  Even at that time, the people of Israel and Judah had influences around them of other so-called gods.   Isaiah declares that even in the  'ancient times' of his day, there was no other God beside the God of Israel.  There never has been and never will be.  He is assuring the people that the true and only God was He who had revealed Himself to them and was working on their behalf.  It required belief then, just as it requires belief now, to know, hear, and see God working in our lives.  When we believe in the one True God we will trust Him and we will wait for Him to act on our behalf.  The promise is the God will respond to our faith.  As we look to Him for help He does respond.  God has promised to provide all our needs today according to the riches in Christ Jesus.  Believe, exercise faith and then...wait for it.  

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April 7 – Decisions Made Right

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.”  Psalm 32:8 (NASB)

One of the blessings and benefits we have as believers in Jesus Christ is that God becomes personally involved with our lives.  We become a member of God's family by putting our trust in the promise Jesus has given to us.  We are each called to serve our wonderful Lord God.  He knows all things and He knows what is best for each one of His children. Today in our verse we are given another promise.  This promise comes from our heavenly Father who wants to be our guide through all the times and seasons; all the circumstances and challenges; whatever we encounter on our chosen path of service.  He wants to teach us how to make decisions which will please Him and bring joy and peace to us.  Every day, God watches us.  He is watching us today and He knows what is best for us in every situation.  What a loving and caring Father we have.  Let's open our hearts and minds for Him to lead us and know that He has His loving and wise eye upon us.   

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February 24 – Tuned In

“The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.”  Psalm 34:15 (ESV)

We have an encouraging promise in our verse today.  We hope that those who read this are indeed among the righteous because they have believed in Jesus as their Savior and have become righteous by faith in the work God has done in our lives.  We are accepted and adopted into God's family.  We are made righteous not on our own effort but by receiving the righteousness offered to us by Jesus' death and resurrection on our behalf.  We have this close relationship with God by faith.  Our Lord God has His eye on us.  He is watching us and is aware of all that we do, say, and think. He knows all of our needs.  Our Lord God also is attentive to our needs as we express them through thought and prayer.  We are in His thoughts and He is tuned in to us in every way.  Today, let's remember this promise.  Our wonderful God sees us, hears  us and he keeps us in our Christian lives.  

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February 8 – Knowing the Deep Things of God

“But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,  nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”   2 Corinthians 2:9-10  (ESV)

The Christian life is an experience of learning truths of great eternal value.  We can learn from this verse the promise that God has prepared things for us, His children.  But no one has seen them or heard of them so how do we know what they are because they are even beyond our ability to imagine.   There is no way for us to know what God wants us to know except in the way that He has planned for us to learn it.  God has prepared great lessons for us to learn as we live our Christian lives and He has also planned how we can learn these lessons.  That's why He has given us His Holy Spirit to teach us.  Our verse calls these truth the deep things of God.  Let's be sure that we leave ourselves open to learn what the Holy Spirit wants to teach us in our experiences each day, even today.  

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We ask for your prayers as we also pray over this endeavor that it will meet the spiritual needs of those who read it.  We also welcome any encouragement on how this blog has helped you.
Contact us at: GodsPromises90@gmail.com 

December 31 – Need To Know

“But, as it is written,  “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-10  (ESV)

What do you see ahead for yourself in the new year?   Whatever is ahead, some of it is uncertain and some of it is unclear but most of it is unknown if we really think about it.  We may have plans that we hope to fulfill  or we may have things we fear and are anxious about.  There are some things we can be absolutely certain about even if we do not know all the details.  We know that our God will be with us everyday, every hour, every minute.  God has prepared the next year for us and our verse tells us a lot about this preparation.  For one thing God's preparation is for those who love him – that means those who have believe and received His gift of love and eternal life.  But these things are beyond our imagination no matter how much we try to figure them out.  God does reveal them to us through His Holy Spirit who abides in us.  The Spirit knows what these prepared things are and He reveals them to us as we have a need to know.  Does not this promise and truth fill our hearts with joy and peace and our mouths with praise to our God and Father?  We thank Jesus for coming so that we can be part of God's Family.  

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Happy New Year!

May 25 – No Other Heard or Seen

“Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” Isaiah 64:4 (NIV)

In the beginning God created the universe and then He created people. Since that time people have worshiped other things and forces as if they are gods. But, they have been mistaken. No matter how they try, no one can see and no one can hear from any God besides the Creator God. There is only one true God and He is a personal God who takes a personal interest in His creation and the people He created. Our verse today teaches us that our God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. He responds to us who look to Him for help. He has declared that He is the one who helps us and He does things for us which we are unable to do for ourselves. Let's be thankful to our God for taking a personal interest in us and for taking action in our behalf when we look to Him.  Let's thank Him as the prophet Isaiah did by confessing that there is no other god that we can hear or see besides our true God.

May 11 – Seeing and Hearing

“Does he who fashioned the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?”  Psalm 94:9 (NIV)

When God created our human ancestors in order to have fellowship with them, He gave His creatures the ability to know what is going on. Each of us was given the ability to see what is around us and to hear sounds happening around us. Not not every creature sees and hears equally well and some not at all, but such circumstances were not in God's plan at the beginning. We are reminded today that the ability to see and to hear were given to us by the one who created us.  God fashioned the ear to hear and the eye to see because God wanted us to experience a part of what He has always experienced. God gave us the ability to see some things because He sees everything. He made us able to hear some sounds because he hears everything. Yes, our God sees us in our needs and he listens when we pray – that is the promise he made when he made us. Let's be thankful.  

January 26 – Enjoying the Inconceivable

“But, as it  is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” -- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.”  1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (ESV)

When God sent His Son into this world to live a perfect life as a human and to die on the cross for us, He wanted to remove the obstacles between us and Himself. He wanted to make us part of His family. But He had other purposes in mind too. God has a purpose for each of us. He has prepared experiences for us to enjoy and these are all beyond our ability as human beings to conceive of.  So how is God revealing His purposes to us? By the Holy Spirit who lives within us. Are we learning all that God has prepared for us to experience? This is a tremendous promise for us today. Let's open ourselves to the Holy Spirits ministry today. Let's believe in God's love today and let him lead us in the way He has prepared for us.

May 19 – Beyond Our Imagination

“However, as it is written:  “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him — these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.”  1 Corinthians 2:9-10a (NIV)

For some of you reading this today, you find this verse very familiar. That is good because recalling these truths are good for our daily walk. We need to be reminded. If today's verse is new to you, that too is good because we all need to know the power and extent of what God has done and plans to do for all who have received Jesus Christ as Savior. Our God has great plans for each of us. He has plans for each of us for this very day as well as plans for us that extend into eternity. Our God is personal and is directly involved in each of our lives. The amazing thing is that His plans are beyond anything we can imagine or conceive.  If we think of the best thing that God might have planned for us we can rest assured that his plans exceed what we have just thought of. As we go through each day of our lives, one day at a time, God reveals those plans to us through the Holy Spirit.