January 31st

January 30

What you face today may be very difficult or it may even seem impossible to get through.  “…The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Luke 18:27

A wise man once said, “Courage is fear that has said its prayers.”

“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid…for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Deuteronomy 31:6

(in an email from Sam Ludvicek)

January 29th

January 28th

Psalm 42

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God!

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God! For I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee...

Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God! For I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."

January 27th

My Cup Overflows

by Sarah Reeves

(based on Psalm 23)

My Shepherd You take my hand

You guide me upon the righteous path

My Father You make me whole 

So gently Your whisper calms my soul 

You make me lie down in green pastures

My cup overflows

You lead me beside the quiet waters

My cup overflows, my cup overflows 

Protector You cover me

In Your arms I rest in time of need

My Refuge I will not fear 

You promise Your love is always near 

Even when I walk through the valley of death

My cup overflows

Your rod and staff they comfort me 

My cup overflows 

You prepare a table before me

In the presence of my foes

Surely love and kindness will follow me, yeah 

You anoint my head with the oil of gladness

My cup overflows

I will dwell in Your house forever 

My cup overflows

January 26th

"When the world my heart is rending

With its heaviest storm of care,

My glad thoughts to heaven ascending,

Find a refuge from despair.

Faith's bright vision shall sustain me

Till life's pilgrimage is past;

Fears may vex and troubles pain me,

I shall reach my home at last."

-Charles Spurgeon?

January 25th

January 24th

January 23rd

I am He who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man...?  Isaiah 51:12

 I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.  Jer. 31:13

January 22nd

“God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way;
He works in ways we cannot see,
He will make a way for me.”

(Don Moen)

When troubles like a river pour in, when there seems to be no way out and no way forward, don't despair! Choose to look away from your circumstances, turn your eyes upon Jesus. He asks you to trust Him, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Deuteronomy 31:6 -for he has promised to make a way. 

 

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song…” Isaiah 12:2

January 21st

January 20th

Truly, God hears our prayers and sends comfort and mercy when we need it.

Today Steve went into anaphylactic shock on the way home from getting his allergy shot.  The Lord worked out the circumstances and prevented his airways from becoming blocked.  So thank you, Lord, for your great mercy!

Hear my cry, O God,

    listen to my prayer;

2 

from the end of the earth I call to you

    when my heart is faint.

Lead me to the rock

    that is higher than I,

3 

for you have been my refuge.

Psalm 61

The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms... Deuteronomy 33:27

January 19th

GOD IS OFTEN MOST VISIBLE WHEN THINGS ARE MOST AWFUL

They plot injustice and say, “We have devised a perfect plan!” Surely the human mind and heart are cunning. But God will shoot them with his arrows; they will suddenly be struck down. Psalm 64:6-7    

During the tenth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11, many of the people who survived that fateful day were interviewed by the press. One was a man who lost his father to a heart attack as a young boy and outlived an IRA bomb blast in Britain as well as survived violent San Francisco earthquakes. Steve Gill was executive vice-president at Standard Chartered Bank and had just left his office in the World Trade Center for a breakfast meeting when he had to dodge the glass shards raining down from the North Tower after the plane had hit it. He successfully fled the scene on a ferry bound for Staten Island.   

As a Christian, he has been repeatedly asked why God spared him but not thousands of innocent mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters. He has no definitive answer. But when reflecting on lessons learned he says, “I saw that God is often most visible when things are most awful, whether it’s Christ on the Cross or the World Trade Center attack killing three thousand people…I don’t know why bad things happen. But I see that God is most present when things are at their worst.”         

There are a number of biblical examples. Perhaps Joseph’s situation stands out most. Languishing in a jail on unjust charges, he is even forgotten by those he befriends and helps. At his lowest point, he is brought to Pharaoh to interpret a dream and becomes the second in command of the nation and saves his people and the Egyptian nation from starvation.    

The persecuted church also testifies that God is most present in the worst of times. Pastor Wang Ming Dao spent over twenty-three years in prison in China for his faith. On his release at eighty years of age he said of his imprisonment, “That was my honeymoon with Jesus!”   

Muslim background pastor Medhi Dibaj in Iran spent seven years in prison with the last few years isolated in a small cramped cell. On his release he said, “The past few years have been the sweetest years I’ve ever spent with Jesus.”

Liviu Georgescu was a teenager when his father, Costel, was distributing Bibles in Romania during the communist regime. Open Doors asked him what he thought of the time when his father was in prison for his faith. Liviu said, “It was a very good time, because then we had more time and opportunities to give Bibles to people and to talk about the faith. Now there is more freedom, but we have to work harder and put in longer hours in order to get by. This means that we have little time or energy for the faith. There is less interest as well.”

God seems to be most visible when things are at their worst.  

January 18th

January 17th

TAKE HEART

by Hillsong

There is a light

It burns brighter than the sun

He steals the night

And casts no shadow

There is hope

Should oceans rise and mountains fall

He never fails

So take heart

Let His love lead us through the night

Hold on to hope

And take courage again

In death by love

The fallen world was overcome

He wears the scars of our freedom

In His Name

All our fears are swept away

He never fails

All our troubles

And all our tears

God our hope

He has overcome

All our failure

And all our fear

God our love

He has overcome

All our heartache

And all our pain

God our healer

He has overcome

All our burdens

And all our shame

God our freedom

He has overcome

God our refuge

God our strength

God is with us

He has overcome

January 16th

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go : I will guide thee with mine eye. Psalm 32:8

Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.  Isaiah 48:17

When we are at a crossroads or need to really KNOW what God wants, these verses give a lot of comfort and peace.  God really does want to guide and lead us, and wants us to simply follow Him as our Good Shepherd.  These have been a great help lately.

January 15th

WHEN TRIALS COME 

by Keith & Kristyn Getty

When trials come no longer fear

For in the pain our God draws near

To fire a faith worth more than gold

And there His faithfulness is told 

And there His faithfulness is told

Within the night I know Your peace 

The breath of God brings strength to me 

And new each morning mercy flows

As treasures of the darkness grow 

As treasures of the darkness grow

I turn to Wisdom not my own

For every battle You have known

My confidence will rest in You

Your love endures Your ways are good

Your love endures Your ways are good

When I am weary with the cost

I see the triumph of the cross

So in it's shadow I shall run

Till He completes the work begun

Till He completes the work begun

One day all things will be made new

I'll see the hope You called me to

And in your kingdom paved with gold

I'll praise your faithfulness of old

I'll praise your faithfulness of old

 

January 14th

"Cast all your anxiety on him...because he cares for you."

 I Peter 5:7

January 13th

Have you prayed about it?

"But I give myself unto prayer." Psalm 107:4

"Prayer must not be our chance work, but our daily business, our habit and vocation." Charles Spurgeon

O the precious, precious moments
That we spend before the throne,
And to Jesus, our Redeemer,                           
Make our wants and wishes known.


O the peace that like a river
From the mount of blessing flows;
How it calms the weary spirit
To a gentle, soft repose!


There’s a balm for every trial,
And a rest from every care,
There’s a joy for every sorrow,
At the golden gate of prayer.


-Fanny Crosby

January 12th

Romans 8:28-31 NASB

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 

January 11th

"If it had not been the Lord who was on our side...then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul." Psalm 124:1,4

"Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Psalm 124:8

Fear not, though the dangers around thee

Come close and look large and grow great;

I will made thee a way through the waters

Till their force and their fury abate;

I will walk through the furnace beside thee

And the flame shall not burn, but refine;

I have called thee and I have redeemed thee!

Fear not; thou art Mine.

From the the Christian's Daily calendar for today

January 10th

Love the words to this hymn, which the girls and I are learning to sing.  It is a powerful song of hope and faith.

In Christ alone, my hope is found


He is my light, my strength, my song


This cornerstone, this solid ground


Firm through the fiercest drought and storm


What heights of love, what depths of peace


When fears are stilled, when strivings cease


My comforter, my all-in-all


Here in the love of Christ I stand

By Stuart Townend and Keith Getty

January 9th

Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!  Psalm 100:2 

As Charles Spurgeon has said, "Cheerfulness is the support of our strength; in the joy of the Lord are we strong."  JOY is the key to our spiritual strength.  Joy and gladness, because we love our Master and Savior and because He is the object of our hearts.  When circumstances are getting us down,

the way to attain joy again is to fix our eyes on Him and start praising and singing.  Even when we do not feel like it!

 

January 8th

Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: 

he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22

January 7th

Sometimes we become acutely aware of life's uncertainty and the imminence of change.  It is here and now that we MUST hide ourselves in the shadow of His wings and cling to the Rock of Ages!  He does not change, He will not leave us.  We may fail, we may make mistakes, we may stumble with temporary discouragement, but we have absolute confidence that He is with us and we can trust Him through it all.  

  If doubts are present, look upwards.  If fear is present, look upwards.  If depression is present, look upwards.  If loneliness is present, look upwards.  He wants to be the Answer to all of our problems and troubles, so that we will know Him and His unconditional love and grace and that we have a personal God and a Father who is FOR us.  And if He is for us, who, or what, can possibly be against us?  (Rom 8)  

"Days may be coming fraught with loss and change,
New scenes surround my life, and fancies strange; 
I thank Thee that no day can ever break,
Savior, when Thou wilt leave me or forsake. 
There may be days of darkness and distress, 
When sin has power to tempt, and care to press; 
Yet, in the darkest day I will not fear,
For, 'mid the shadows, Thou wilt still be near."
(Rev. Richmond Beck)

 "Trust Him when dark days assail thee;
Trust Him when thy faith is small;
Trust Him, when to simply trust Him
Seems the hardest thing of all."(Lucy A. Bennett)

January 6th

 "When I said, 'My foot is slipping,' your unfailing love, LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy" (NIV).

"When life's circumstances cause us to feel unsteady we can call out to God for help. His love for us is unfailing and He is always there to support us when our feet begin to slip. Challenges and difficult trials can make us feel uncertain but God is faithful to hold us up as we trust in Him."   Leah DiPascal

"Casting ALL your care upon Him, for He careth for you" I Peter 5:7
"It is a happy way of soothing sorrow when we can feel--"HE careth for me." Christian! do not dishonour religion by always wearing a brow of care; come, cast your burden upon your Lord. You are staggering beneath a weight which your Father would not feel. What seems to you a crushing burden, would be to him but as the small dust of the balance. Nothing is so sweet as to
'Lie passive in God's hands,
And know no will but his.'

If God cares for you, why need you care too? Can you trust him for your soul, and not for your body? He has never refused to bear your burdens, he has never fainted under their weight. Come, then, soul! have done with fretful care, and leave all thy concerns in the hand of a gracious God."  Charles Spurgeon from Morning and Evening

January 5th

These words were going through my head throughout this difficult day!  

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

From the hymn How Firm a Foundation by John Rippon 1787