April 1

I brought you to this point with purpose. Do not fear it. Turn your mind to me and move forward. There will be no mistaking that I am leading you. My presence will be experienced in you and around you as I guide you in understandable ways. Others will know and affirm my presence. Their affirmation is my gift of encouragement to you. I am teaching you how to follow me, and it seems unnatural right now. The farther we go, the more natural it will become. It is now and always will be a journey of faith, for my interest is the deepening of your faith and the strengthening of your trust as part of the story that I am building in you. Someday you will tell it.

Exodus 40:38

The cloud of the Lord hovered over the Tabernacle during the day, and at night fire glowed inside the cloud so the whole family of Israel could see it. This continued throughout all their journeys.

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April 2
(It is my privilege each year to remember each day of the week leading to Easter Sunday, to walk through the week with Jesus. I invite you to walk with us.) 

Sunday was the first day of the week in those days. The Jewish observance of Passover was just five days away, and Jerusalem was full of people from around the country. You asked if I knew what to expect. Yes. In fact, I told my men exactly what to expect on the way up to Jerusalem. 

Yes, I knew what would happen and when. You see, the Passover celebrates the night my people were released from slavery in Egypt those many years ago. That night the people were instructed to sacrifice an unblemished lamb and sprinkle the lamb’s blood on their front doors to indicate their obedience and belief that I would rescue them. Now, on Friday of the Passover remembrance, I would be the lamb sacrificed for the sin of all mankind. It is why I moved from Heaven to live on earth. My death, my shed blood applied to you upon your belief in me, ensured your safety from the consequence of sin. My resurrection on Sunday would prove it.    
Matthew 20:17-19
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him. “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

 

April 3
As I entered Jerusalem on that Monday, I saw a fruit tree that was without fruit. I caused it to wither and die as an example to my followers that I expect you to always be fruitful in their representation of me. As a fruit tree without fruit is mere pretense, so is a follower who is not obedient to my direction. It is not my intent that you undertake obedience in your own power. You will fail. I intend that you rely upon me to empower your obedience by investment of faith and confidence in my ability…even in the face of that which seems impossible. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.
Matthew 21:18-22 
In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry, and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” And immediately the fig tree withered up. 
The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”
Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”

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April 4
By Tuesday morning, the religious leaders had met to find a way to arrest me on violation of Roman law. They sent spies to question me regarding the payment of taxes to the Roman government. My response is pertinent to you as you prepare to settle your taxes. Your obedience to me is first. Yet, you have responsibility to obey the laws of human government. As you do so, you create opportunity to engage to shape government within the system. Should your obedience to me place you in conflict with the law, you may suffer, but I will provide the grace and strength to guide you even in suffering. Remember, I did not enter the city that week to reform government. I was there to provide salvation for you in an eternal relationship with me. That fact remains even now.  
Luke 20:20-26 
Watching for their opportunity, the leaders sent spies pretending to be honest men. They tried to get Jesus to say something that could be reported to the Roman governor so he would arrest Jesus. 
“Teacher,” they said, “we know that you speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think. You teach the way of God truthfully.  Now tell us—is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
He saw through their trickery and said, “Show me a Roman coin. Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
“Well then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”
So they failed to trap him by what he said in front of the people. Instead, they were amazed by his answer, and they became silent.

 

April 5
On Wednesday of that last week, as I was teaching the people who gathered at the temple, I watched wealthy people dropping their gifts in the collection box. A woman I knew to be widowed and poor came and dropped in two small coins. I was moved, for while the rich gave poorly from surplus, the poor woman gave richly from little…everything she had. That is my point to you today. I created you. I fostered you. I bought you back from sin and death. I appointed you. I resource you. I guide you. I encourage you. I protect you. You are rich by my grace. That poor woman is your example. I expect you to tender title and control of all that you have and are into my hands for my purpose. That becomes a challenge of trust for you.  Nevertheless, I wait.
Luke 21:1-4 
While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box.  Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”

 

April 6
The religious leadership had determined to have me killed and were simply waiting for the right moment. It came late Thursday night. I spent part of the day with friends in the Bethany neighborhood just outside of Jerusalem. While we were there, two individuals acted, one to honor me, and one to betray me. Each was among those closest to me. Read their stories carefully, for you are not terribly unlike either of them. In fact, you will choose to honor or betray our relationship today by your obedience or your disobedience. Prepare now for the moment of choice that will emerge. Take your position near me and lean into my strength. Keep your spiritual eyes upon me. I will carry you successfully through the moment.
Matthew 26:6-7 Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head.
Matthew 26:14-15 
Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver.

 

April 7
Friday, the religious leaders got what they wanted. I was arrested, brutally beaten, ridiculed, nailed to a cross, died, and was buried. At any moment through that ordeal, I could have simply called for the angels of heaven, and they would have rescued me. But I endured it for you. Sin can only be eliminated by death. That Friday, I took your place. You, once a prisoner of sin, are free from my judgment and from enslavement to sin because of my sacrificial death. Friday, in an exercise of love and grace beyond your ability to fully grasp, I…your Creator, the Master and Commander of all eternity…purchased your freedom. On Friday, with my shed blood and expended life, I paid the price of your sin. But that was only Friday…the story was not yet over.       
John 18:12
So the soldiers, their commanding officer, and the Temple guards arrested Jesus and tied him up.
John 18:22 
Then one of the Temple guards standing nearby slapped Jesus across the face.
John 19:1
Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip.
John 19:17-18 
Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). There they nailed him to the cross.
John 19:34 
One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear…
John 19:42 
…the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Ephesians 1:7 
He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

 

April 8
Saturday was a day of deep grief and struggle with unbelief. Though I told my followers what to expect, they were fixed upon their own design of the next part of our journey. On that Saturday, they had no frame into which my death and absence would fit. Grief, confusion, and incomprehension flooded their minds. Their immediate reality was that I was gone; the story was ended; hope was shredded; light was extinguished. Saturdays can be crushingly dark…you are familiar with such days. Yet, Saturday is but one day passing, and it can be endured. I did not leave them, and I will never leave you. Yes, Saturday, though dark, is but one day passing. Hope lies with Sunday, and Sunday is coming.     
John 16:19 
Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again. I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.
Lamentations 5:21 
Restore us, O Lord, and bring us back to you again! Give us back the joys we once had. Or have you utterly rejected us?

 

April 9 Easter Sunday
I am alive and present with you. That is the message of Sunday. That is the message of the ages. By the power of my resurrection, I defeated death, I broke the chains of sin, and I claimed you based on your confession of who I am and your belief in what I did. You need never fear or doubt. My promise is secure. The hope of heaven at the end of our journey is real. Between now and then, I am right beside you. Live this day and all that follow surrounded by Sunday morning power. The story is real.  
John 20:1 
Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
John 20:19 
That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5 
I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen… 
Romans 10:9-10 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

 

April 10
Give attention to my meeting with Peter several days after my resurrection. I have purpose in your clear understanding. I wanted the meeting to be in a place familiar to Peter…his hometown, reconnected with family and old friends, returned to his former occupation, surrounded by that which once defined his life.

In that comfortable place, the trauma of my crucifixion and his denial still fresh, uncertain of my purpose in being there, it was necessary that Peter and I reconcile. His work was about to begin in earnest. Though I knew the stature of his heart, in those moments he did not. The tension between the call of his past and my call for his future was the topic. I addressed him by the name of his past, Simon, John’s son. My question was simple. “Do you love me?” 

Peter’s answer and all that followed is known to the world. What is yours?   

John 21:17
A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.

 

April 11
The stakes are high, higher than at any other time of your life. Understand the urgency of praying…at all times and on every occasion. Prayer is to be your way of life. The manner of prayer that I am teaching you is much more than an exercise of thought. It is prayer that arises from my Spirit in you. It initiates as you intentionally humble yourself, confess your sin, and diligently seek me. Stay alert and be persistent because the danger of evil is constant. Stay connected to me by Spirit-directed prayer. It is your greatest responsibility. Everything for which you hope depends upon it. 
Ephesians 6:18
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

 

April 12
You are correct that prayer is an act of submission. To ask of me is your recognition that I am your Source in all things and that you and your pride are not. Humility begins with admission of your inadequacy and limitedness. From there you will discover that dependence upon me and trust by faith follow naturally. Come to me, not in your self-confidence but with confidence in my unchanging love and care. Lay down your anger and your fear. Come near and confess your belief I am real and able, that I am the Source of mercy and grace to help…that I create a way when there seems to be no way. Come seeking me.  
Hebrews 4:16 
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

 

April 13
There is a better way to do this. Defaulting to instinct under stress is a natural thing to do…in other words, it is very human of you. Those instincts are formed by experiences, upbringing, traditions, patterns of emotional reaction, and habitual thought all fed by pride and self-interest…yours or that of others whose influence you incorporated. But I teach you another way. When I was teaching a large group of people on a hillside one day, I challenged their instincts repeatedly with two phrases, “You have heard is said…But, I say to you…” My point then and my point this morning is my call to a new and effective life, a call to your heart…your mind, will, and spirit…to embrace the alternative I offer along with my supply of courage, strength, understanding, and wisdom to experience it fully. To trust your instinct is to unnecessarily revert to old ways of thinking. You have heard it said…but I say to you, the old life is gone; a new life has begun. Ask me. Trust me.
2 Corinthians 5:17
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
Romans 12:2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

 

April 14
Be sure you understand my intent when I urge your persistence in prayer. It is all too easy for you to interpret my instruction in terms of your own efforts, to work harder, to diligently extend your control and engagement to gain something you want. After all, that is how you learned to engage life. It is natural for you to approach me similarly. Yes…do persist in seeking me but do so to discover me and my way rather than to gain a solution or relief or profit, extensions of you and your way. I know your needs and desires. I know the pressures upon you. Bring them to me trusting that I will respond by expanding my Spirit in you. By my Spirit, I will relieve you, encourage you, fill you with peace, direct you, conform your will to mine, introduce actionable thought, introduce resource, strengthen your ability to act, and open your eyes to the path forward making a way where there seemed to be no way. Yes, persist in prayer to discover me. I will take care of the rest.  
Luke 11:9-10; 13
And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

 

April 15 
Many years ago, you asked if I would allow you to see with my eyes and to understand with my clarity. It is an important request and one that I have granted. As you have learned of me, so you will continue to learn. Yet, you have become comfortable and dependent upon the strength of your will and ability; conventional ways of thought; the money in your accounts; and the patterns of your life-practice. These are not bad things. I placed them at your disposal, and they remain available to you. Even so, you turn to them before you turn to me. To that extent, they have unintentionally become your gods. In this, I now challenge you. You have a choice to make about that upon which you depend to experience your hope. Will it be these limited things, or will it be me?   
Matthew 16:25
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.
Jeremiah 6:16
This is what the Lord says:  Stop at the crossroads and look around.  Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it.  Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.  But you reply, “No, that’s not the road we want!”

 

April 16
Your attention is upon your hope for my action. You even offered to help me to hasten my work. I accept your offer. Here is what I want you to do. Give your complete attention and intentionality to responsive obedience to the pre-conditions of my promise. Humble yourself completely. Diligently seek me in prayer. Turn from your agenda to mine. What I want you to do is surrender to me and confess your pride and self-sufficiency. In such ongoing surrender, you place yourself at my disposal as part of my purpose in you and around you. I will make clear what other action you are to take. It all starts with your willing, intentional, and proactive obedience to the pre-conditions of my promise. Unreasonable? No. I already paid the price to repurchase what I created. Extreme expectation? Yes. Following me requires surrender. 
2 Chronicles 7:14
Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will…

 

April 17
You asked to know more about prayer. Because you believe by faith that I saved you into eternal life with me, you may also be assured of my love and infinite knowledge of your needs in this life even before you are aware of them. Turn to me praying in surrendered humility with confident hope in two facts. First, I know you; I love you more than you can imagine; I have a plan specifically designed for you; and I am leading you in it. Second, at the point of your belief, my Spirit took residence in you and is constantly urging you to my way, shaping your thought and will to conform to it, and providing the wherewithal to respond obediently. As you place dependence upon those two facts by faith, you will experience the wonder of seeking my will, understanding it, and acting upon it. And you will live in the confident knowledge that you will have the requests you have asked from me. 
1 John 5: 13-15
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

 

April 18
Receive this fact and place your full weight upon it. I am the newness spoken of long ago, the way to your right standing with God, to truth, to eternal life ahead and to effective life now. When you believed me, you inherited that newness with all its benefits. Your old life ended, and a new life began. But you have entertained the thought that I am a way to God among many, a side issue to be included but that your efforts are the real trick. No...I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. Bring your full attention back to me. I will show you what real living can be. 
Isaiah 65:17
Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
John 14:6
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
2 Corinthians 5:17
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

 

April 19
You are aware that I answered your prayer yesterday. You experienced it as a door opening that allowed you access to exactly what you needed. Recall the sequence of events. You were fretting at the closed door, dwelling upon how you could possible open it. Your frustration blossomed like a storm cloud forming and darkened other arenas of life as it grew through the day. Then I cut through your frenetic rehearsal of inability and challenged your distance from me. I led you to confess it, turn back to me, and simply ask me for access. 

You experienced freshly that the responsibility of abiding in me is placed squarely upon your shoulders, but the power to exert yourself to attend that responsibility and to persevere in it is from me. As you remain in my presence and as my instruction and way become the dynamic of your life…as you believe and act in accordance with me…does it not stand to reason that you will think and ask in complete harmony with all that I reveal about myself? Do you see how simple this is? You asked, and I answered just as I promised. 
John 15:5
Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:7
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

 

April 20
Our relationship and my action to refine it is always about the condition of your heart…that unique combination of will, thought, belief, faith, and their unrestricted tuning to me. I am using this time to purify what was becoming an encumbered heart. As you stomp your boot upon a rock to knock off dried mud, so I have used these circumstances to shake off layers of pride, self-confidence, and complacency that I saw accruing around what must always be a pure, yielded, and responsive heart. You are aware of the trial presented by my refining process and the troubling emotions it engenders. Embrace it. You will survive intact, and you will find that following me is easier without the drag.       
Proverbs 17:3
Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the Lord tests the heart.
Zechariah 13:9
I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver
and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘
“These are my people,” and they will say, “The Lord is our God.”
1 Peter 1:7
These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

 

April 21
It is in the seeking…your humble intentionality and determination to find me and to understand my way in things. Absorb my written record and instructions. Dwell upon them. Ask me for wisdom and understanding. I will give these things to you freely and abundantly. Only be sure to seek me purely…with intent to know me rather than to gain a solution. I am not a return on one of your investments, and I do not fit on a balance sheet. I am the Holy Creator, Master, and Owner of all that is.  
Proverbs 2:1-5 
My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God.
Isaiah 11:2
And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
Luke 11:13
So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

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April 22
I know the need you face. There is part of you that thinks, “This is a complicated business. Does He really understand? I have to do something.” Be assured, I am fully acquainted with every detail of the issue and will lead you step by step to its resolution. Why do you fret so? You are like a thoroughbred stomping in the gate, anxious to run. You will run and you will do so with confidence because you will run at my shoulder as I lead you through the challenge. But you must not run past me for I know the most effective course on this track and best way through the pack surrounding you. I grant wisdom. I am the source of knowledge and understanding. I grant common sense to your honest and humble mind. I am your shield and director of integrity. I guard the way as you lean into me. So, settle your stomping. Focus upon me. Keep seeking and asking. I am about to open the gate.
Proverbs 2:6-8 
For the LORD grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him.
Luke 11:9-10 
And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Luke 11:13
So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

 

April 23
Your responsibility is to seek me, ask of me, and respond obediently to my direction. I will cause you to understand what is right, what is just, what is fair, and what is the right way to act in this matter. I will do so by my Spirit in you informing your thought with wisdom and specific knowledge, conforming your will to mine. I will confirm my intent with joy, peace, and confidence. You will find that wise choices and understanding emerge to protect you as you follow me through this challenge.  
Proverbs 2:9-11 
Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe.
Luke 11:9-10 
And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Luke 11:13
. . . how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

 

April 24
I am real, and I am here. Do you believe that? I ask, not to challenge your lack of belief, but to remind you that you do. I am affirming that fact in these moments. And because you believe, I have given you understanding. You asked honestly and humbly, and I answered just as I promised. You are already aware of the decision to which I direct. You have reviewed it for consistency with My word. This is the point of challenge. For you must now trust me with what you cannot control. This is where faith fits into your conduct of business. My promises are firm, my urging is clear, but the decision to act in faith is yours. 
Isaiah 30:21
And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
Psalms 32:8
The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.
John 14:26 
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

 

April 25
You asked about elements of my assignment that have fogged and remain beyond your ability to press forward. You are puzzled and a bit frustrated. I have purpose in this pause. It is easy for you, once confident of my direction, to presume that you know how to carry a matter forward. But I taught you to yield to me in every instant of every step in every aspect of every assignment. I paused our journey because I want you to seek me consciously and intentionally; to submit to my strength; to acknowledge and surrender your will to me. Remember the things I have done...things unexplainable but by my action.  Remember my specific instructions and follow me as I have taught you. Then...only then...we will proceed.   
Psalm 105:3 
Exult in his holy name; rejoice, you who worship the Lord. Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him. Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles, and the rulings he has given.

 

April 26
In order to lead, you must follow. For, as you follow me on my terms…close, surrendered, responsive…you will mirror my image to those you seek to lead. Remember, my requirement to follow has no exception clauses or vacation plan. I require you to be all in at all times. Thus, there will be no interruption in the reflection of my character as you lead with humility and gentleness, showing patience, and demonstrating genuine care and understanding, fostering unity and peace. All this as you guide organizational movement my way in my direction to my objective by following me. 
Ephesians 4:2-3
Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

 

April 27
Commit these efforts to me. Do so with moment-to-moment intentionality and unreserved trust in my ability. I will provision you, guide you, and protect you at each step. More than that, I will cause the justice of your cause to shine in unmistakable ways. Now…be still in my presence and wait for me to act. And do not worry about actions of those who may oppose this work. Trust me.
Psalm 37:5-7 
Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun. Be still in the presence of the Lord and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.

 

April 28
You learned to equate prayer with a child’s holiday wish list that a kindly old man in a red suit would honor or reject based upon your behavior for good or bad in the prior year. Over time, you held to the good vs. bad scale as the measure your worth but discounted prayer as having no more bearing upon your life than did the annual wish list. You learned to place yourself in the role of the old man…your plan, your effort, and your definition of good or bad. Then you met me. Into that scrambled self-centered model, I introduced the truth of my way. You began to understand prayer, not as a way to get what you want but as the process of humbly entering my presence, receiving forgiveness from sin, and discovering my will for you. With that discovery, you experience the confidence that I cause everything to work together for good for those who seek me.
Romans 8:26-28 
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Hebrews 4:16 
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

 

April 29
I know that the idea of placing your full trust upon me for these decisions and their outcome challenges you. There remains a strong part of you that defers to your personal efforts. Indeed, your effort is important, but it is not an add-on to the trust by faith that I am teaching you. Your work is to be a continually directed response to my leading so that both formation of strategy and tactical action to achieve it all remain under my direct command through the entire engagement. I built you to run. I am discipling you to run at my shoulder, neither lagging nor surging ahead. I set the direction and pace. It becomes a matter of where you place your full confidence. Is it in me or in you. You know the answer.
Proverbs 3:26
For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

 

April 30
The need you bring to my attention is something of which I am aware and am addressing. Continue to pray for those to whom I have given responsibility in the matter. While I am silent to you on this issue, I am not so to those to whom I assigned it. Remain in my presence and continue to intercede for them. That is your role in this. I have not abandoned them. You will hear of my response, and it will be like springs flowing across parched ground. Keep praying. Follow me and watch.
Isaiah 41:17-18
When the poor and needy search for water and there is none, and their tongues are parched from thirst, then I, the Lord, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them. I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus. I will give them fountains of water in the valleys. I will fill the desert with pools of water. Rivers fed by springs will flow across the parched ground.