Psalm 10:14 NIV
But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.

Encouraging Words…
It is so refreshing to go through each day knowing that I am not alone in what is going on around me. God knows everything that I am going through, both positive and negative, and He knows the bigger picture, the eternal one. What more can I ask for than a Father who is always there with me and helping me to fit into His eternal plan.

Deuteronomy 8:18 NASB
“But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”

Personal Challenge…
I guess the real question here is, “What is wealth?” According to the standards of the world most would apply this verse to material wealth, or stuff, and that God is promising that He will provide for us abundantly. But according to the standards of Eternity, wealth comes in many more forms. It may be health, it may be wisdom and knowledge, it may be those blessings that are hard to qualify (like my next breath, or that continual heart beat, or the love that I receive from those in my life). But the bottom line is that it all comes from the LORD my God and His covenant with mankind. Glory be to Him!

1 Peter 5:6-7 NASB
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

Command with a Promise…
If I humble myself before my God He will exalt me at the time that He choses. If I cast all of my cares and anxieties upon Him He will come through, because He cares for me, His child.

Hebrews 10:35-36 NIV
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Command with a Promise…
My daily reading today took me through the first four chapters of Ecclesiastes. I love how this book reminds me that all of life is just a drop in the bucket compared to eternity and that so much of what happens through this earthly life is futile and meaningless. I must seek out those things in my life that are truly important, things that make an impression on eternity, like loving those whom God has placed in my life, spending time with my spouse, my children, my grandchildren, doing those things that build up rather than tear down.

I love how these verses from Hebrews remind me that I must hold on to the confidence in Christ that God has placed in my heart and persevere, because through this He will reward me, He will give me that which He has promised.

1 Corinthians 2:9
…but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery…
9* but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

Personal Challenge…
I often find myself asking (sometimes even challenging) God why certain things are happening the way that they are or where He is leading me. This verse reminds me that God’s wisdom is so much greater than mine, and that He has such wonderful things in store for me. It is up to me to love Him, to trust Him, and to obey Him. He will do the rest.

Acts 17:28 NIV
‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

Encouraging Words…
How wonderful it is to go through life knowing that you are His offspring and that I live in Him and through Him my every move and my whole being is covered by His love.

John 10:10 NLT
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.

Personal Challenge…
Have you ever been in a place in your life where everything is really going the way that it should, but you still have that void in your life, that bout of sadness and remorse, that pain from mistakes in your past. If so, it is definitely a time to hold even tighter onto our Lord for it is probably the enemy trying to steal the joy that God is giving you. God’s purpose for us is to give us a full life. Jesus claimed all victory over death and that was not just the death that we encounter physically at the end of our life here on earth, but those daily deaths that try to turn us away from the Source of Life.

Proverbs 18:10 NASB
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.

Encouraging Words…
No matter what is going on in our lives we always have a place that we can run to and be safe…it is into the arms of our LORD.

Psalm 62:5 NIV
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.

Encouraging Words…
Even in those times when life gets me down I know that I can find rest and hope in my God. He is my refuge.

Deuteronomy 7:9-10 NASB
“Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.”

Encouraging Words…
Isn’t it a blessing when you know that you are covered by His covenant and His lovingkindness? Doesn’t this build that desire in your heart to love Him more and to keep His commandments?