Journey
The
~ Archives
January 2025
January 1
Please allow a departure from the usual format this morning. We begin a new year together and the 11th year of these daily posts called “The Journey.” My prayer turns to each of you each morning as I write. Though you read a summary of how the Lord is impressing me, I hear from time to time how the words touch one of you at a point of need. I am grateful to know it. I will leave you to start the year with this instruction to a leader under assignment named Joshua. May it be your experience. See you tomorrow on The Journey.
Joshua 1:8
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
January 2
As I began my work directly among people many years ago, my first command to those I chose as my closest friends and students was, 'Follow me.' That command applies to you as well. The relationship I promise and all its benefits depend on your full and unreserved compliance with that simple command. Your obedience is not something we negotiate. It is not a mutual compromise. It requires you to turn away from your agenda and fully embrace mine. It means yielding entirely to me, period. Those are my terms. I love you more than you can imagine, but I do not negotiate.
Luke 9:23-26
Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 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. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.
January 3
You are aware of the challenges that arise in the assignment. The extensive experience of our journey together and how I guided you through each obstacle have strengthened your trust and deepened your reliance on me, resulting in a faithful expectation of my presence and provision according to my promise and purpose. You also remember moments when you became distracted from me, and challenge escalated into a confusing tangle of unexpected circumstances and spiritual attack. Let that memory draw you closer to me this morning. Seek me diligently. Discover my purpose at each decision point in the day.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
January 4
The characteristics I expect to define your life at all times are gained only through closeness to me. I notice your tendency to try to create the traits I desire while living distant from me. You stay within sight and wave to me occasionally, but the character traits are inconsistent at best. Maintaining a friendly distance from me to give you space to wander will not suffice. I chose you to be holy. That can only happen in my direct presence. Draw near and stay there. I will clothe you in the love, mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience I require. You will find it to be a natural fit and a true reflection. Your only responsibility is to remain in my presence. I will handle the wardrobe.
Colossians 3:12-14
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.
January 5
Following me is deliberate. It requires your effort to engage with me—belief, faith, desire, intent, and determination to be close to me and to stay there. That is your designated role as a follower, and your only duty is to maintain that position. Understand that I will be moving, guiding you from task to task, so remaining in position is a very active process that will engage every facet of your spiritual, mental, and physical self. As you respond to me, while in position, I will enhance your belief, faith, desire, intent, and determination with an abundant supply of moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love for all. As you follow me in this way, you will grow increasingly in my image, and your effectiveness in the tasks I involve you in will increase in ways that will amaze you.
2 Peter 1:5-8
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
January 6
It hinges on my grace in you and your surrender to it. You are unnecessarily wrestling with decisions about whether to pursue this or that regarding the opportunities I have placed before you. You ponder various areas of engagement, questioning your capability. When did I leave you to become the sole determiner of such things? When you sought insight, did I not provide it? When you needed rest, did you not find it? When you required strength, was it not present? When it came time to decide, did I not clarify what choice to make? I am with you, guiding each step, supplying the desire and the power to do what pleases me. My grace is not dependent on age, experience, energy, or desire. It is revealed as you respond obediently to my guidance. Trust me. I am your Source. You will manage the how, the can, the if, and the when by my ability. Your role is to follow me.
John 9:4
We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.
Philippians 2:13
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
January 7
Consider the various roles you play and the people you touch in each role. Trust the promise of my blessing among them. I taught you the mystery of prayer, the way into my presence. Bring those individuals before me, seeking my blessing in each life. In so doing, you fulfill your responsibility of influence among them. You also open another mystery: my favor upon them for my purpose in them. It is the highest form of leadership.
Numbers 6:23-27
“Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:
‘May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace.’
Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.”
January 8
The implement in your hand is old and worn. The wood is dry, and the stains are deeply ingrained. Even so, the implement is as capable today as it was when you acquired it all those years ago. When you restore the wood, cleaning and smoothing it, and nourishing the old grain with oils, it will come alive again. Its contrast will reappear, and its luster will deepen. Your soul is like that implement…dry and in need of caring restoration. I am ready to do that for you: to cleanse you and nourish your soul, to renew you for the purpose for which I created you, and to prepare you for the assignment that awaits you. You need only to ask. I am here. Turn to me, and I will take care of the rest.
1 John 5:4
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
Mark 11:24
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
January 9
Be honest. Your frustration stems from fear that you may have lost credibility due to not achieving the results you defined as success within your established timeline. But this assignment is not about you. It is about expanding my culture and influence through my means and authority. Your job is to follow me in faith and trust in my abilities. Acknowledge your pride and let go of your fear. Allow my Spirit to foster trust in what I am doing…more today than yesterday and more tomorrow than today. Follow me as I have taught you. Your experience with me is sufficient evidence of my trustworthiness. I will guide you to fulfill my will, and my Spirit will lead you forward. Keep this in mind as you engage with the assignment today.
Psalm 143:8, 10
Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you…Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward.
January 10
You awaken to another opportunity to trust me…with the facts of a situation and with your emotional reaction to it. Shift your attention from both facts and emotions and fix it on me. I am your place-marker for truth and your source of wisdom. The facts will not change, but emotion will diffuse your understanding of them. I am the stability and the constancy in this. Come close and trust me.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
January 11
Total, unconditional surrender—that is the key to it all. Living in my presence, with my Spirit continually expanding within you, establishes thought, provides courage, clarifies understanding, empowers action, and blends it all with true humility and complete honesty, yielding the experience of true love and effectiveness in all things. This is my offer. All this is so you may become a man who sees clearly, who hears my voice, in whom I entrust insight and hope, who bows before me with a keen awareness of who I am and an eagerness to act as I direct. I alone will provide it all. You cannot self-generate it. It is yours upon your surrender of title to your life. It is the best deal you have ever encountered. Yet your pride and need to control cause you to hedge... to negotiate. You want the results without full payment. I do not negotiate. Trust me. Hand me the title.
Numbers 24:2-4
…Then the Spirit of God came upon him, and this is the message he delivered:
“…the message of the man whose eyes see clearly, the message of one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open…”
January 12
You thought it was too small to bring to me, but I am interested in the smallest things as much as the largest ones. Attend to the responsibilities of your position just as I taught you, accept my forgiveness, and keep asking for my restoration. Then, watch as I work.
Mark 11:24
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Psalm 104:33-34
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath! May all my thoughts be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
January 13
Remain on task. Do not waiver or doubt. Those for whom you have sought blessing and favor are in my hand. There is wisdom in them and more awaits discovery in their respective assignments. Continue praying for my guidance, as each person you have mentioned is a key journeyman in my kingdom. I will reveal how to intercede with me about each one. Remain close to me...constantly...as I guide your involvement with these friends. I will provide you with wisdom, righteousness, and good judgment. Expect it…for them and for you.
Proverbs 9:9-10
Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more. Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.
December 2024
December 1
I watch to see if my qualities are rising in you or if they fall. You live in an appearance-centric environment and understand that your outward appearance can cover many character faults. But I look at your heart. You are transparent to me; there are no hiding places. I placed my Spirit in you when you first believed me. I will build my character in you. Just ask. As my qualities rise, they keep you effective and productive in representing my way as you move through the day. And you will experience my favor, confidence, and peace.
2 Peter 1:5-8
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Samuel 16:7
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
December 2
You have a significant history with me. Remember what you have experienced and the many times you "knew" there was no way forward. Yet, I provided a way each time. Remember also that the fact of my provision has always been independent of your ability to see it in advance or understand it. As you think about the territory ahead through which we will journey, and as you worry about what may or may not be found there, you are entering a domain that is mine to order, not yours. Your job is to stay in position near me, to follow me with intentionality, and to act as I direct. Seek me. I am the answer to your concerns. I will direct adjustments, and I will supply all that is needed
Matthew 6:31-34
So don’t worry about these things, saying, "What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?" These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
December 3
Come to me. Yes, turn to me now. It is I who produced this urging in you, and it is I who will rescue you. I am always here. You try so hard to prove your worth in the context of your life, but you remain empty. Let me fill you, first with my reality, then with belief, then with comfort, then with hope, then with faith, then with provision, then with confidence, and finally with peace. Others tell you the story of how they cried out for help, how they confessed their pride, how I loved, listened, forgave, and helped. That can be your story. You need only ask.
Psalm 66:5-6, 9, 16-20
Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for people!
He made a dry path through the Red Sea, and his people went across on foot. There we rejoiced in him. Our lives are in his hands, and he keeps our feet from stumbling. Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he did for me.
For I cried out to him for help, praising him as I spoke. If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me.
December 4
Ask me to guard your mind. Attend what you take into it, what you see and hear, and the thoughts you entertain. Apply the discipline of intentionality and turn your mind to me. Come humbly confessing the sin of distraction and seek me. You will find me. And with the finding is forgiveness, comfort, fulfillment, confidence, and peace. With my peace, your mind is reset to discover my way in each element of the day. This is what following me is like.
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Colossians 3:2
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
December 5
It feels like being held captive. Movement toward the desired outcome is slower than you want it to be. You are chafing at the harness to pull it faster, and your tactical options seem limited. In fact, you are spending much more time inspecting the harness and reviewing tactics than you are listening to me. That is the issue…your do-it-yourself tendency is emerging again. It pleases me to guide you in this assignment. All you need to do is ask. I am always listening for you. If you look for me, you will always find me. I will end your captivity to the harness and tactics, refresh your mind and introduce options, moderate your emotions, and restore your hope. You need only ask. I am here.
Jeremiah 29:11-14
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes…”
December 6
I know the matters that concern you, and I have already shouldered their weight. I allow you to experience the pain of helplessness within limits so that you understand your need for me. Lean in upon me and know my strength. We have moved uphill and against the wind before, and you know from that experience that this will neither crush nor consume you. I am acting on your behalf, and you will see the restoration you desire. Allow my Spirit to summon hope and build faith in you. Now…get up and meet the day with the assurance that I am with you and going before you to clear the way.
Psalm 18:6
But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.
December 7
Peace is an indication of your certainty that your needs are met. It is always available and does not vary with circumstances. It is spiritual and occurs when you are yielded in my presence. The peace I offer is a factor of your faith and your certainty, not your level of ability or resources. It is the certainty that I love you, that I am present and in control, that my knowledge supersedes your understanding, that my power has no limits, and that my way will prevail perfectly—peace results from your confidence and dependence upon the fact that I am the resource of your life.
John 14:27
I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
Psalm 51:16-17
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psalm 34:18
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
December 9
This current matter does not define me or my authority in your life. However, it confounds you and drives questions ranging from doubt to hope and back again. Do you so easily forget the journey now behind us, other times when those same questions arose? Do you remember how I comforted you and provided for you? Do you remember the resources I introduced, that conversation that opened your mind to an alternative you had not considered, the way forward I introduced? That was not a coincidental happenstance or a piece of luck. I was at work in and around you, proving my reality and presence. I was building a story in you then that will carry you now. Rest in the truth of my reality and presence. I made you. I am caring for you. And I will bring you safely forward.
Isaiah 46:4
I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.
Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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.
December 10
You are carrying the weight as if you must do this alone. Fix your hope in me and shift the load to my shoulders. All you need do is ask me to take it. I have already charted the way forward and readied the provisions. Your only job is to tuck under my strong arm and follow me. Match your steps to mine and keep your eyes on my face. If you sense resistance, it is me pulling you back on course. Trust me. I am fully aware of the situation and know what I am doing.
John 14:13
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Matthew 7:11
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Psalm 130:7
O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
December 11
You know me and my love. That is enough. You are mine, and nothing can separate you from me. No challenge is too great. No force is too strong. No wind is too fierce. No water is too deep. No circumstance is too complicated. Invest trust. Live faith. Expect me. Act accordingly.
Romans 8:38
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
Psalm 119:1-5
Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the LORD.
Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts.
They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths.
You have charged us to keep your commandments carefully.
Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees!
December 12
The door is open. Move through it with confidence. My Spirit has opened it and is standing guard. Remember, as you proceed, this journey is about me and my purpose, not you and yours. You prayed, asking that my authority be established and my will be done in that place. And I have set this before you. Honor my Word and my name. Move in my power. Be alert. Be courageous. Be strong. Respond obediently with love. I am showing you the way.
Revelation 3:8
I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Acts 14:27
And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
1 Corinthians 16:9, 13-14
There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.
Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love.
December 13
I have provided everything you need to follow me on my terms. By my power, I created you with will to choose. By my power, I created in you a need for significance. By my power, I drew you to desire me as the source of your significance. By my power, I cleaned you from the stain of sin. By my power, I established a personal relationship with you. By my power, I opened your understanding of my way. By my power, I enabled you with the wisdom, strength, and knowledge needed to follow me closely. The one thing I leave in your hands is the simple and daily renewed decision to surrender your will to mine. What will it be today?
2 Peter 1:3
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
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.
December 14
All of you, all the time. That is my expectation. I provide for what I expect. My Spirit is in you, restoring, refreshing, and renewing. Seek me, not for your direction or a solution, but for my fullness in you and your completeness in me. Thereby, you will experience the wherewithal—the courage, the wisdom, the strength, the knowledge, the discernment—necessary for the assignment I have given you. Direction and solutions are byproducts of my love and grace.
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Acts 13:22
And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Samuel 16:7
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Psalms 25:4-5
Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.
December 15
One of my best friends on earth was in the midst of the greatest crisis of her life. I went to remedy the issue. But before I acted, I wanted to know if she believed I could provide the remedy...to see if she could suspend her reliance on what she knew to be true to rely entirely on what could not be true apart from me. The heart question was, “Do you believe that I am and that I am able?” That is my question to you today. I await your answer.
John 11:26
Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
Psalms 37:23-25
The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand. Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.
December 16
You are safe with me… even now as I carry you. You need not worry about how deep the water is as we cross it or how high the flames may rise around us as we traverse a difficult place. For I hold you safely close to me, so close that you can sense the warmth of my presence and the strength of my arms. Knowing this, press in closer to me with your mind and spirit. Move from point to point with confidence today, trusting in my reality and love. Keep your mind attuned to me and sense the impressions of my Spirit. I will make clear what you are to do and say.
Isaiah 40:11
He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.
Isaiah 43:2-3
When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…
December 17
Do not start this day apart from me. You know how easily your mind drifts, urged on by emotional reactions to events that find purchase in thoughts that compound and words that you cannot retract. Confess the drift and ask me to break the cycle. I am here waiting. The peace and confidence you desire is only a confession away. Then, in the balance that I restore, we will start the day together.
1 John 4:15
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
December 18
Do not try this apart from me. I am showing you how to live and work on my terms. My Spirit lives within you, directing you, protecting you, instructing you, and empowering you with my character and virtues. Allow me to do the shaping I desire in you, transforming your thoughts so you know my will for you. Confess that I am exactly who your spirit knows me to be, your Lord and God. Apart from that confession, you are a fool leading himself. With it, you will experience my good, pleasing, and perfect intent. Confession is a simple yet profound decision.
1 John 4:15
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
Galatians 5:25
Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
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.
December 19
You cannot make yourself into a reflection of my character. It would be fraudulent to try. That authentic reflection results from my reality, your ongoing confession of that reality, and my Spirit’s transforming work in you, giving rise to qualities that surpass any human ability. Try as you will; you cannot do this without me. Your humble confession of sin and separation is all that is necessary. I close the gap and abide in you, and you in me. It is that simple and that profound.
1 John 4:15
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
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.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
December 20
When you humbly confessed my reality as superior to your own, and when you honestly admitted that I am uniquely Lord of all that exists and that my act of sacrifice paid for your sin, everything changed. I established my Holy Spirit in you as an ever-present endorsement of truth and the guiding force of your life. By my Spirit, I enabled the extraordinary capacity in you to love my way. It is love that you cannot conjure in your ability. But as you depend upon me, I introduce a love for others unfiltered by self-serving expectations, needs, preferences, and opinions. Thereby, you may participate with me in the most powerful experience on earth…the transforming exercise of love.
1 John 4:15
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
December 21
I am allowing you to feel the weight of another’s need, and I hear your call for help on his behalf. Stay in my presence, seeking me, listening, and asking. Persist in this. Acknowledge and confess the sin that I raise to your mind. Actively receive my forgiveness. Remain here and know that I am true to my promise. As I attend to his needs, I am teaching you how to love another on my terms and with my mercy. Trust me with his needs and with your assignment.
1 John 4:15
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
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.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
December 22
The reality that I became human and retained my divinity, at once all God and all human, that I lived among you submitting myself to all the experiences of humanity yet sinlessly, is an unacceptable intellectual concept for some. For others, it has become a fable without basis and something to be ignored. Yet, you know it to be true by faith based upon the testimony of others and the power of my Spirit within you. My holiness, my mission of salvation, my unconditional love, my reality and presence in real life, real time are foundation bedrocks of your beliefs. Rise from these moments, stand upon the foundation of truth that I have revealed, and step into the day with confidence. Indeed, I am here.
John 1:1-5
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
John 1:14
So, the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
John 3:16-17
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
December 23
I have always initiated my most powerful work through people who were powerless. Those shepherds had nothing but the clothes upon their backs, and they were conducting a task that no one else in the culture would even consider. Yet, I first announced my arrival on earth to them. I have taught you throughout our journey together that you must become powerless…like a child in your humility, faith, and dependence upon me…in order to experience the fullness of my way. I have purposely entrusted you with much, but that trust is always based upon your honest and intentional demonstration of the humility, faith, dependence, and responsiveness that I expect as a caretaker of my things. Prepare for the celebration of my coming to earth by handling my things today as I have taught you.
Luke 2:8-11
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!
December 24
There have been times when I moved you as part of the assignment. Your willingness to act obediently upon my prompting, though you did not understand everything I planned to do, is integral to what you experienced. That same willingness is still required. For there is much work to do. Your sacrificial willingness to obey…your submission to my urging…is your investment into the extension of my grace. I constantly examine your heart for that one thing. Your will to obey is the key to following me on my terms.
Luke 2:4-6
And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.
December 25
Do not be afraid. I am real, and I am what you seek. Allow truth to warm your heart. Rest in it. Hold to it. Depend upon it. I am with you. I am Christmas. Come and see. Come and know. Come and experience my promise with the simple confession: "Yes, I believe.” It changes everything.
Luke 2:10-11
…but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!
1 John 4:15
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
December 26
The important task for today is to remember the purpose of yesterday. It will be easy for you to move beyond the miracle of my humanity and experience today as a simple return to the everyday business of your life. My challenge is that you intentionally reflect on what you have seen and heard from me. Normal for you must be defined by the reality of your experience with me and by anticipation of what I have planned to come. Following me is not an ebb-and-flow proposition. It is to be constant and intentional. Come close and start the day with me.
Luke 2:20
The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
December 27
What do you think I cannot do? Think back upon our time on this journey when I first moved to define this assignment. You were a young man then and could not have imagined the experiences into which I led you. At each hard stretch, you wondered if I could carry you, and I relieved your question. Now, you tell those stories to other men. Even so, there is much more for you to learn about me. Confess your belief anew and readjust your grip upon my promise. There is work to be done.
1 John 4:15
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
Colossians 4:2
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
Matthew 21:22
And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
December 28
Trust me with this matter. I know your hopes and interests…I created them and have refined them throughout our journey. Have I not provided for them in ways that fulfilled? Pull your attention back to me and the work at hand. I am teaching you how to seek and discover my design and timing. Remain in my presence and experience my revelation unfolding. Then, obediently follow my instructions exactly as I present them. Trust me with what comes next.
Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Exodus 25:40
Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.
December 29
Focus your attention on me before another minute passes. These distractions are merely opportunities to rediscover my strengths and abilities. Yes, even in ordinary responsibilities, I am there, protecting, instructing, guiding, and providing through skills and experience that I created in you. Choose now to live this day in my presence, actively seeking me in each moment and with every task, asking and discerning my way. Then act with the knowledge that you are doing it in my name.
1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
December 30
You are experiencing my restoration concerning the matter you brought to me. I am revealing my actions to your awareness in these early morning moments. When you approached me on my terms, I responded precisely as I promised: You humbly remained in my presence, sought me earnestly by faith, confessed and turned from sin, and received my forgiveness. Continue to ask and discover. Seek me with every question and each decision point. This is why I placed you there. Confess the reality of my promise, and trust me.
2 Chronicles 7:14-15
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 hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place.
December 31
Come, spend this time with me. Linger here a while longer. I will order the things of the day for you. These moments are essential to the effectiveness you seek. Here is where you learn how to tend to the matters you will face. Here is the peace and confidence you need. Here is wisdom and discernment. Here is where you learn to love another my way. Here is where my Word is applied to your mind. Here is where your will is softened into mine. Here is where I reveal the territory ahead. Yes…linger here and trust me with the day and all beyond it.
Luke 9:23
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Proverbs 30:5
Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
November 2024
November 1
Do not delay prayer. Come into my presence. Seek me regarding the affairs of the nation. Ask for my mercy, protection, and restoration. You are threatened by a great enemy who continues to deceive minds and sow harm, but I am greater than he. I wait for the voices of my repentant people. I will hear and forgive and restore. Confess that I control the course of world events, that I remove kings and set up other kings and give wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who seek it.
Daniel 2:17-22
Then Daniel went home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah what had happened. He urged them to ask the God of heaven to show them his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon.
That night the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven. He said, “Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power. He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though he is surrounded by light.
November 2
You are my follower, and you must understand this. I built a hedge of grace around your nation at the request of those who founded it. I retained the hedge through the years because those who carried my name…not the population, but those of the population who acknowledged and honored me and who invested in the hedge… invested their need for me, invested their prayer, invested their obedience, invested their hope for my presence and continuance of the hedge. The threat you face as a nation is not one form of government or another. It is the failure of my people in the land to honor, seek, and love me first. I did not bless your nation for its own sake. I blessed it for the sake of my people-church and the expansion of my kingdom. I long for the hearts of my people…for your heart. The continuance of my hedge of grace and its protective strength or lack thereof relates directly to the degree of your obedience to me.
John 6:35, 66-69
Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”
Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”
Jeremiah 2:13
For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me—the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!
November 3
Understand the power of influence through the power of my Spirit in you, shaping your will, forming your thoughts, and directing your actions. I drew you to myself. I saved you. I equipped you. And I assign you, all according to my will and purpose. Remain in my presence as you conduct the work I appoint. Seek me constantly. You will know when I open access to a matter and when I close it. Trust me to place you where and when I intend for the fulfillment of my purpose.
Matthew 5:13-16
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Daniel 2:48
Then the king appointed Daniel to a high position and gave him many valuable gifts. He made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise men.
November 4
I instruct you to a constant position in my presence, surrendered and humbly seeking me, readily confessing and repenting sin as I reveal it. In those moments of honesty, my Spirit makes your action assignment clear. Expect each step to be revealed. Yours is to follow the opening, trusting me to continue directing one step at a time. With each step, by faith, expect my wisdom and courage. This is what following me looks like.
Acts 13:2-4
One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way. So Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit. They went down to the seaport of Seleucia and then sailed for the island of Cyprus.
November 5
It is a day to pray for your nation. You are adrift as a people. Even so, if my people…those who call themselves by my name…will humbly surrender themselves in my presence; if they seek me singularly and intently forsaking all other gods; if they turn from sin, confessing and repenting…I will hear their plea and forgive their sin. And I will restore brokenness according to my purpose among them. I am the only solution. I listen for the penitent voices of my people on behalf of your nation.
Daniel 9:3-6
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands. But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations. We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke on your authority to our kings and princes and ancestors and to all the people of the land.
November 6
I hear the questions you raise about the culture of your land. Even so, you know I am not diminished. My power and authority are not compromised. The people who follow their foolish passions will experience an end of their own making. I watch for those who claim my name. My strength is constantly in them, drawing them from distractions and into my way. Wait confidently before me. Rest your hope in me. I alone am your salvation. Stay the course I taught you. Trust me…you will see my victory.
Psalm 62:5-8
Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.
November 7
I have intentionally and continually placed you in situations that require you to extend your faith in Me. This process builds faith upon faith. You have come to understand that the hopes and dreams I establish in you each require such an extension. You recall with amazement what you experienced as you trusted Me with each step, even when you did not understand where that step would land. I entrust you with the use of the controls, yet My hands are laid upon yours. When you feel resistance, it is I who keep you out of trouble. Trust Me. Follow Me. The work is far from complete. I will increase your faith even more.
Luke 17:5-6
The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”
The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!
November 8
My peace is not conditioned upon circumstances. Allow my reality and my Words to rise in you richly and with power, engaging first your mind and then your will, teaching and correcting you in My way and wisdom. Speak your thankfulness aloud to Me. And My peace will hold you and remain with you as you conduct the various roles of your life in My name. You will find the circumstantial pressure retreat and My confidence rise.
Colossians 3:15-17
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
November 9
I will respond to your prayer. Do you believe that I will? A mix of trust and unbelief is at play in you that fogs your honesty. And you construct action plans if I respond differently than you desire. Come to me fully surrendered from your will in favor of discovering mine and wait expectantly.
Matthew 6:9-13
Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need,
and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation but rescue us from the evil one.
Psalm 5:1-3
O LORD, hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but you. Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD.
Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.
November 10
Here is the new life in which I am leading you. Placing yourself and all over which you exercise authority into my hands is simple and complex. It is simple in that such a transaction is the key to your being made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from me. It is complex in that giving up control is counter to your nature. The thought pulls at the very core of your being. But that is my point...your nature conformed to mine. My power is at work, transforming you to accomplish more than you can imagine. This is what following me is like. This is life inside my hedge of grace.
Ephesians 3:19-20
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
November 11
For some, you will be the only connection they have with me. Further, that connection may only be an observation of you. Yet, from that engagement, be it a moment of observation or an extended relationship, one will make a complex determination about you and about me that will become a shaping part of life and the basis upon which other decisions are made. Most often, you will not know with whom this is the case, so the behavior and words they observe in you are critical. Imitate me, therefore, in everything you do. Live a life filled with love. Follow me and become an example of me before them.
Ephesians 5:1-2
Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
November 12
You are correctly engaged in the assignment but are beginning to hold it as your own rather than confess it as mine. Make that confession now before the day unfolds. Come to me now and replace your worry and frustration about various elements with my peace and confidence. Remember, your job is to follow me. I am leading you through it…even the twists in the road that you did not anticipate. I have this and know where I am going.
Psalm 37:3-5
Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.
November 13
This assignment is complicated. You have discovered many of the right questions. Others will rise. Seek Me in the process of discovery. I will reveal other pieces still held in the mist of emotion and pain and grant the wisdom and courage necessary to move forward. I am guiding you. Trust Me and follow patiently as we proceed. I will cause you to know what is right, just, and fair, and you will know the right way to go. Wisdom will enter your mind, and knowledge will fill you with confidence. Wise choices introduced by my Spirit are your environment, and understanding will keep you safe.
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.
November 14
Expect me at the meeting. I will be present and alive in you and in the hearts of those who seek me. I am guarding the way forward that I am revealing. Trust me in this, and embrace the discovery of a future and hope I have designed.
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.
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.
November 15
Do not try this alone. Remain in my presence. There, you will find peace and confidence. Linger with me. I will explain how to proceed and order the steps that reflect my intent. Be intentional and ask for my understanding of what you observe. In the stillness of these moments with me, I establish your thoughts and merge your willingness with mine. You will know my will for you as I clarify the way forward and the specific use of the day.
Ephesians 5:10
Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.
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.
November 16
That which I have built in you over the course of our journey together has one purpose…that you would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. As such, you are an effective tool in my hand. You look back and recall points of sadness at what might have been. You look forward and worry about what might be that is beyond your control. Yet, I remind you of that which is, that to which I have led you…experiences at my hand and by my grace that cannot be explained otherwise. You are right where I want you to be. Follow me as I have taught you. I will continue to build that love, and I will continue to apply the effective tool.
1 Timothy 1:3-5
The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.
November 17
I made my assignment to you clear, as I have to others regarding their various tasks and skills. Acknowledge and encourage their efforts as you focus on yours. Trust Me to weave the remarkable tapestry of my purpose among you all. Linger humbly surrendered in my presence. Intently attend the urging of my Spirit. I have already gifted you with wisdom and understanding. Open yourself to the clarity of these gifts as I cause you to know how to proceed in the arena of your assignment. I have this and am showing each of you the way forward.
Psalm 128:1
How joyful are those who fear the LORD—all who follow his ways!
Joshua 22:5
But be very careful to obey all the commands and the instructions that Moses gave to you. Love the LORD your God, walk in all his ways, obey his commands, hold firmly to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.
November 18
Remember, every day, you are dealing with my things. I made everything you see or handle, including yourself and all that composes you. There is none other than I…no name, concept, god, person, authority, ownership, power, or allegiance. I am, and through Me, all that is exists. Even the breath that sustains you is from me. You have many roles and responsibilities, but the first is attending to your responsibility to Me. Keep that clear, and everything else will fall properly in order.
Colossians 1:15-17
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
1 Corinthians 8:6
But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.
November 19
I made you with a spirit. It is your communication link to me. As a matter of course, move through the day's responsibilities deferring to me, your spirit confident and at peace, listening as you go, trusting My Spirit is risen in you. I am guiding as you move from point to point. I will also let you know when you must stop and give me undivided attention to discover specific instructions. Seek me first and constantly follow me, waiting and watching for my movement as I lead you into and through points of engagement. Your confidence is in me alone.
Psalm 62:5-8
Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.
November 20
The faith of those who walked with me ahead of you is available to you. You only need to exercise it to experience it. My grace is more than sufficient for the task at hand. Move close to me and stay there. Willingness to extend faith in me is your only investment. My grace...my reality, my presence, my power, my wisdom...the full array of my assets will supply the needs of my assignment to you. Take into your hands all you know about me, dress yourself in it, and enter this day in faith supported by my grace. I have appointed you, and I will open the way for you.
2 Kings 2:13-14
Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up. Then Elisha returned to the bank of the Jordan River. He struck the water with Elijah’s cloak and cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Then the river divided, and Elisha went across.
November 21
You raise a question of need in another. I am aware of it, and I am attending your prayer. I know your heart…you know my promise of restoration, and you believe it. Yet you wonder how long I will allow the current condition to linger, and you seek understanding. It is not a question of belief or faith but of hope, surrender, time, and trusting my way in a broad array of related matters. Seek me continually for my will, not yours, and my timing, not yours. You will see my way worked out in the need you raise.
Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
2 Timothy 1:7
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
November 22
You have seen fear cloud the matter. It is deeply entrenched. I bring this to you with purpose, for your faith must rise to heal another’s fear. Seek me on behalf of that one. Do not let it fall from your mind. Resist their fear with the love I give you. My Spirit has already equipped you, but you must depend upon my power to use that equipment effectively. Remain in my presence and carefully respond to my instructions.
Psalm 34:4
I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
John 1:14
So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
November 23
You were stunned at the turn of events and were lost for a time by its impact. But you remembered to come to me as I taught you…surrendered and humble in my presence, diligently seeking direction, confessing and repenting of the sin I revealed. Do you recall that my light began to emerge as you confessed? Now, your mind is free, and you are moving effectively in response as I introduce direction. This is what following me is like.
Mark 1:17 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”
Mark 2:12 And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”
November 24
We have come far and have far to go. I have specific plans for you that I am revealing along the way. But before we take another step, I want to sharpen your awareness of how you came to be on this journey. I paid a debt you owed...a debt of sin and rebellion from me that would have consumed you, and I paid it with my life. At the heart of the matter is your belief in that fact...that I stepped into your place and allowed that debt to consume me instead of you, and that I arose from death to demonstrate my power and authority over all that is, including death and you. So, when I direct you on this journey, I do so having loved you so much that I repurchased the rights to your life. Now I offer you the choice to trust me with it. 1 Peter 1:18-21
For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days. Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.
November 25
All that I have given you to do, that which seems easy for you to grasp and that which seems beyond your grasp, requires dependence upon me. Seek my power for you…power to believe by faith, power to discover, power to know, power to understand, power to act in wisdom and love, power to confront evil, power for protection, power to experience freedom, power to live confidently, power to experience peace. All power, all authority, all ability is I in you. So, it is no longer you who lives, but I who loves and lives in you—no do-it-yourself. No exceptions. No other options.
John 1:4
and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romas 8:10-11
And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
John 15:4
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
Galatians 2: 20
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
November 26
Attend your flanks. Your full attention has been drawn to one issue…so much that your frequency with me is declining. Stay in the position I taught you and seek me for broad awareness so that less attended matters do not become access points for the enemy’s tampering. Always seek me first and continually, not solution plans and strategies. I am your source in these things and will show you how to go. Stay in position.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
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.
1 John 2:27
But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.
November 27
When you thank me…truly, intentionally, and deeply…it defines and aligns our relationship. Your gratitude is a confession of surrender to my love, providence, and power and solidifies your understanding that I am Lord and you are not. That simple understanding is an order of magnitude that sets rightness between us and is the basis for my will and favor to be worked out in your life. This is what following me is like.
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.
November 28
Pray for those in your circle of influence. You will not fully understand the mystery of prayer or how it plays into exercising my will among them, but you do know that I instruct you to do it. That is enough. Come to me to worship, to give thanks, to listen, and to discover. I know your needs and invite you to rehearse them. Learn to take the next step and surrender them to Me. Then remain in my presence as I form your surrendered will to mine and form your thought for action according to my purpose. This is what following Me is like.
Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Colossians 4:2
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
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.
November 29
I gave my men an impossible assignment with purpose. So it is with you. You do not possess sufficient resources to meet that to which I direct you. But act in faith as if the assignment will be fulfilled and place your limited resources in my unlimited hands. As you experience me at work, you will learn the confident dependence upon me that I intend to mark your life. Trust me in the assignment you have been given.
Mark 6:37-44
But Jesus said, “You feed them.”
“With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”
“How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.”
They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”
Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.
Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed from those loaves!
November 30
See to the encouragement of those in your arena of influence. Plant hope and kindness. Speak no criticism of others before them. It feeds your pride and has no place with me. Instead, let them know of my grace through your words. To you who wait for me to return, I give the ability to recognize my work among you…my presence, my provision, my protection, my mercy, my comfort. Be strong. Let your heart take on courage. Speak of these things, for I am with you.
Psalm 31:24
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Ephesians 4:29
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
October 2024
October 1
You are responsible first to me, then to the performance of your assignment. It is seamless because your full attention to me enables the knowledge of my way and the strength, direction, courage, and wisdom to act effectively. You will apply the gifts I imparted to you faithfully and confidently, knowing I am in you and around you. Give conscious attention to the proper order of these things, and you will experience the fullness of my promise.
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.
2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
October 2
Just as you work a photograph into the color and style that reflects your intent, I shape you into my intended form of thought, action, and context. My purpose for you has not changed, but how you exercise it will change from season to season. Expect transitions, but do not fear them. Your transition will often be a broad curve rather than a hard turn. Either way, I lead you and direct your way without error or hesitation. Even as the way turns from one direction to another, know that I have prepared you for lies ahead. Step toward it confidently by faith.
Jeremiah 18:1-5
The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.”
So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
Then the LORD gave me this message: “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.
October 3
The day will bring opportunity and challenge. Bring your mind to me now before you get to the moment of reaction. Allow me to wash you with my Spirit in these moments so that you are prepared to act my way in that moment. As you linger with me humbly and empty of self, I am renewing your mind, filling you with wisdom, understanding, and courage. When the decision point comes, my Spirit will reveal my will in the matter, and you will experience what is good, acceptable, and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
October 4
I am working in all you witnessed, both the challenge and the resolution. You know that to be fact because you have journeyed where your friend must now go. You know the testing, the fear, and the anger that emerges. You have wrestled with me over control. You have known my peace without knowing the solution. You have witnessed my restoration. Stand firm and encourage from all that understanding. And, in the encouragement, expect my restorative action.
1 Peter 5:12
…My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that what you are experiencing is truly part of God’s grace for you. Stand firm in this grace.
October 5
You have come far. I have purposed you, prepared you, and affirmed you in this assignment. Hold to that reality, and step into the day with confidence that your dependence upon me...my way, my direction, my provision, my wisdom, my power, my authority, my insight...is all you need to fulfill that to which you are appointed. Your only job today is to remain in my presence and follow me.
2 Samuel 7:18
Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?
October 6
As you listened, I opened your understanding, and you knew you were hearing a story of my work in another’s life. Earlier, you obeyed my prompt and invested hope and trust in me, asking my attention to particular needs. I responded even as you prayed and began a restorative process. The story you heard is the result of that ongoing process. But the story of my restoration in that matter is not ended. Continue to pray in faith with thanksgiving and join in my active work.
James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Numbers 23:19
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
October 7
I showed you the majesty of my work, its colors, intricate textures, peaks, and valleys. You saw the creatures and their interactions. You saw the rising and setting of the sun in all its radiance. You looked down and saw the dry lands; when you looked up, you saw the snow caps. You imagined my hands as those of a potter, shaping the contours of the mountains. And you knew you were in a thin place where the distance between us was close.
Psalm 8:3-4
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
October 8
When you read my Word, you are listening to me. To claim a relationship and avoid conversation would be foolish in any case. It is so with you and me. I invite your communion with me…through intentional meditation on my Word and in the mystery of prayer. When you learn to properly engage both these gifts, to trust my urgings upon you, and to respond obediently, you will find the effectiveness for which you long.
Joshua 1:8
Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.
Matthew 7:24
Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.
October 9
Your eager and willing obedience to my instruction, from my Word and by my Spirit, is the marker of your life and the evidence of your faith. By that faith, you demonstrate courage born of trusting me and my way, even when you do not know where I am leading you or why I do so. You know that I am working in you, giving you the desire to obey and the power to act according to my direction. You also know, from your faith in me and your experience with my care, I cause everything to work together for your welfare, and you live in the confidence of my love.
Philippians 2:12b-13
Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
Romans 8:28
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.
October 10
You know that I am real…my sacrifice, my gift, my unending love for you. I am not a quaint religious custom. I am the Lord your God. I created all that is or ever will be. I bring hope and life and love. My promise of blessing and of justice are both true. Seek me today in all that you do. Confess your belief. Speak it aloud. Hear yourself say what you believe. In the speaking, my Spirit will rise in within you. And you will know that I am with you in each piece of the day, guiding each decision and each encounter. Yes…I am real.
Hosea 6:3
Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.
Philippians 2:9-11
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
October 11
Your life is lived in compartments, like rooms in a house. You have a room for each role you play…one in which you play husband, one for father, one for personal recreation, one in which business is conducted, one for religious things, and so on. Consider the most often occupied room, the one that is most spacious and appointed to your taste. That is the room in which you keep your comfort gods while you hope I stay on the other side of the house in the small religious room. With all your arranging, you remain unsettled. But it is my house, you are my rent-free tenant, and I know your needs better than you do. You claim to be my follower…prepare for some reorganization. This house must be designed according to my purpose for you.
Matthew 16:24-25
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 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.”
October 12
Like a child…in that phrase you find a great truth related to my delight in you. Come to me like a child who wants nothing more than to be near the love I freely offer. A child comes to me naturally, openly, honestly, without reserve, somehow knowing that it is a good thing to do. What delight it brings to me when one comes to me with such genuineness. So may it always be with you. Simply incline your mind to me, and you are there. It does not matter how long you have been away, from where you have come, or that you have mud on your hands. My arms are open in unreserved welcome. I will take care of the mud. Come giggling or with tears, but come…like a child, burrow into my hug and know of my love and of my blessing. And…when you press into my hug, you will begin to know more of the mysterious hedge about which you asked.
Matthew 19:13-15
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.
Job 1:10
Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
October 13
I love you more than you have capacity to fully grasp, and I will continue to instruct you in my way of living and working among people and with me. My way is not hard for it is full of my grace...my reality and favor and peace and provision. What makes it seem hard is your ease of distraction from me. You live in a real world, among real people, with real needs. You have responsibilities that press upon you, and tangible resources are required to meet those demands. All that distracts you from me. You begin to doubt my promises, and emotions spin up. But I instruct you to bring the reality of your world under the authority of my reality and power. As you submit to me on my terms, I lead you in my favor and peace and provision through the maze of demands. I establish your thoughts and open the way. My grace is upon you.
Exodus 33:13
If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people.
Exodus 33:17
The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and I know you by name.”
October 14
You did not know where I would lead you when I invited you to follow me. It would have stunned and frightened you if I had revealed everything to you. Yet, you did follow, and I revealed the assignments and destinations in stages that seemed like natural steps because of my Spirit working in you. The assignments were challenging, each requiring faith built upon faith, and I provided the strategies, courage, and resources just as I promised. Now, even though the challenge is more significant, the experience of our journey together and your understanding of my way leads you to be willing to surrender to my purpose being worked out with confidence and dependence upon my promise. Keep following closely. I will show you even more.
Matthew 9:9
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.
October 15
Take courage in the reality of my power and presence. The affairs of the world spin in distress, but I have not changed, nor is my Word compromised. Seek me and keep your attention on the truth of my promise. I am at work within you and around you. Nothing will stand in my way. You follow me by faith, trusting, watching, and believing. Lock your spirit eyes upon me, reject the distractions, and know that my Spirit is always wrapped around you. I will guide you one step at a time.
Ephesians 3:20
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
Zechariah 4:6-7
Then he said to me, “This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way; it will become a level plain before him! And when Zerubbabel sets the final stone of the Temple in place, the people will shout: ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!”
October 16
You ask what you are to say in the meeting. I will reveal the truth, set the stage, establish your thoughts, appoint the words, design the emphasis, pace the timing, transport the meaning, and ensure understanding. Your job is to seek me now and as you approach the engagement. My Spirit is in you and has already prepared the way before you. Confess your control and release it. Trust me and watch my work for my purpose in this meeting.
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.
October 17
Diligently seek me for the leadership of the government. I will appoint and establish my assigned leader in due time according to my purpose. The land will struggle under the hand of a self-appointed leader for a time, but I have already rejected him. Tell my people to humble themselves and pray. Seek me in this matter. Confess your sin. I will hear your prayer and forgive your sin. And I will restore the land. I will not be mocked by the arrogance of one or ignored by the rebellious delusion of another. I alone judge, and I will decide who will rise and who will fall. I have this. You follow me.
1 Samuel 16:1
Now the LORD said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king.”
Joshua 3:7
The LORD told Joshua, “Today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses.
Psalms 75:7
It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall.
October 18
I am refining my church in your land...those who identify as my followers. It will be a trying time for many, for much of the church has defined following me in ways of their construction rather than mine...ways that seem right to them but have little or nothing to do with my expectations. They have drifted away from me. Some lament the decline of the church and point to political, social, or economic remedies. Yet, the decline and reshaping are my work. I will refine my church and reintroduce my commands. I will show you the path to walk in this freshening. Follow closely, for it will require a turn from that to which you have become accustomed. All this is part of understanding my hedge of protection.
John 15:2
He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.
John 6:66-69
At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”
Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”
Job 1:10
Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
October 19
You were thinking about those who wish to lead your nation, asking me to establish one who will honor me in that role. Many millions of persons in your land want nothing to do with me or my ways, some having denied my very existence. Others will only tolerate mentioning my name so long as it is done away from the public hearing. They believe that the government should be free of my influence. So, why should I salvage such a nation? Why would I subject one of my followers to the wrath of a people who so disregard my name? Why would I grant any favor? Why would I not allow it to implode with its foolish, self-entitled ways? Why, indeed. Yet, I will listen for the pleas of my people. If they...my followers...will humble themselves and pray and seek me; if they will turn from their own sin...I will hear their prayer. I will forgive their sin. And I will heal their land. Tell them. I am listening for the voices of my people.
2 Samuel 23:3-4
The God of Israel spoke. The Rock of Israel said to me: ‘The one who rules righteously, who rules in the fear of God, is like the light of morning at sunrise, like a morning without clouds, like the gleaming of the sun on new grass after rain.’
October 20
You have learned that prayer is the conduit into my presence and that the words of my book condition your heart. As you remain in that position, my Spirit instructs you. Not only have you learned the truth of these things, but you are also learning to truly depend upon this reality as the way of living with me that I intend in the real world, real-time, fully engaged in the real-life assignment before you. Under those conditions, I instill in you wisdom, understanding, ability to counsel others, strength, knowledge, and absolute awe of me. I establish your thoughts and guide your actions for my purpose. I protect and provide for you in this life and for eternity. That is the deal I offer. The total yield of your will to me is the key, but it is your choice. What will it be?"
1 Corinthians 2:9-12
That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
Isaiah 11:2-5
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. He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment.
October 21
You are my follower. Imitate me. The closer to me you come, the easier you will find it to move as I move, speak as I speak, think as I think. Imitate my actions of care. Imitate my love with no benefit to yourself. Imitate my sacrificial acts to provide for another. Imitate my discipline. Imitate my thankfulness. I know it seems unnatural, but the more you do it, the more natural it becomes. As you move closer to me and remain there, you will find that the desire, ability, and strength to mirror me are established in you. You will also find that I have made you to become an influencer among those around you. Imitate me, therefore, in everything you do, because you are my follower.
Ephesians 5:1-4
Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.
October 22
Trust my promise. I know your heart and am guiding you through the matter of concern. Remain in the position I taught you…in my presence, humbly seeking me and my way. Confess the sin I have revealed to you and receive my forgiveness. Then, move in the peace and confidence of my love, depending upon my Spirit to establish each thought and guide each step through the day. Actively trust and expect me.
Psalms 18:25
To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity.
October 23
Allow observations of the political context to turn you to me. I alone am the source of truth, and I alone provide discernment. Indeed, I have already revealed the ancient source of disruption and turmoil in your nation. My name is not honored on the national stage, and you will find no savior there. Many there unknowingly turned to follow other gods long ago. It remains for my people to seek me wholeheartedly. Following me requires determined action to turn from any distraction. In my way, you will be carried to my will in your thoughts, decisions, and actions. You will know my favor, strength, and promise. Apart from that, you will remain adrift and subject to popular influences. Know this truth…you cannot serve me and not serve me.
Psalm 73:16-18, 23-25, 28
So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is!
Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.
Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.
Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel,
leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.
But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter,
and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.
Matthew 16:24-25
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 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.”
October 24
My expectations and my love are extreme. My standards are high, but I do not expect you to meet them in your strength. Therefore, the gift of my Spirit in you is equally extreme. It is given the moment you believe and set yourself to follow me. By my Spirit, I provide the wherewithal necessary to live on my terms. By my Spirit, I examine the intent of your heart. I look for your desire for me. I know when that desire is keen and when it falters. By my Spirit, I challenge sin and encourage hope as I restore your desire. But my expectations remain extreme. I receive honest confessions and mercifully forgive sin, but I reject excuses and offer no exemptions.
Mark 12:29-31
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Psalm 24:3-6
Who may climb the mountain of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
Only those whose hands and hearts are pure,
who do not worship idols and never tell lies.
They will receive the LORD’s blessing
and have a right relationship with God their savior.
Such people may seek you
and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob.
October 25
Explore contentment and invite my attention to shadows of discontent that must be exposed and confessed. You are genuinely content at the moment, but lingering in the corner is your concern that you might not be in the future…that I may let go of you. It is an old vulnerability. As I bring it to light, my Spirit is already guarding it. Seize the testimony of my friend Paul and hold to my promise. You follow me. Rest assured that I am meeting your needs and will always do so.
Philippians 4:11-13
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:19
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
October 26
I intend that you live in the complete confidence of my mercy and peace. Come near and spend time with me. Linger in my presence. Learn from me. The tangled matters that so confound you will unwind as you trust me and learn of my love. Confess what I reveal to you and shift your dependence from yourself to me in faith. I am leading you, making each step clear. I will not fail.
Psalms 90:17
And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!
Ephesians 3:17-20
Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
October 27
You asked how many of my people it will take to gain my attention to the plight of your land. I will answer, but first, adjust your attention to the part of the land in which you have responsibility. The entire nation is worthy of your concern, but you will more readily see my hand at work in the place you live and among people you know. My first answer to your question is “One.” The second answer is “One plus another.” Both are important. The one is you. Look to yourself and the responsibility I have assigned to you in the part of the land where you step each day. Attend the four responsibilities… humility, presence, intent, and repentance. Now, “Plus another.” I will always show you another who also has embraced my two answers. As long as you and one other attend those two answers, my influence and healing will expand in the land, and the hedge you inquired about will be present.
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 hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.
Matthew 18:19-20
I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.
James 5:16
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
Job 1:10
Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
October 28
Following me is first and always a matter of heart…the understanding of me and belief that emerges in your mind and is inexplicably confirmed by your spirit. That point of belief is so profound as to be like being born again. Purpose and life are redefined. Your mind and will are transformed in the renewal of belief, faith rises, and your spirit seeks me. There comes an overwhelming realization of insufficiency, of need for me. From that moment on, your life and all it encompasses are defined by that constant realization and unshakable confidence by faith in my promise of a reunion in heaven.
Matthew 5:3
God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
October 29
To follow me is to demonstrate humility. It is not possible for you to follow and imitate my direction and culture without it. Humility is the emptying of yourself, the willful exercise of surrender to me. Into your humble emptying comes my filling...my Spirit placed in you and my Word taken into your mind. With that is my promise of wisdom, understanding, counsel, courage, knowledge, peace, love, and joy. It is the exchange of your limitedness for my unlimitedness as you are transformed by the renewing of your mind. You are an inheritor of my blessing of fullness in life and completeness in eternity.
Matthew 5:5
God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.
Psalms 119:165
Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble.
Psalms 149:4
For the LORD delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.
October 30
The people ignore me and clamor after political idols. You must not be among them. I will show you how to navigate your responsibility as a citizen as you hold to the greater responsibility to honor me. Come humbly into my presence. Seek me directly. Repent as I reveal sin. I will hear your call, will forgive your sin, and guide you into my restoration. I bless those whose hearts are pure. You will find me even in the clamor.
Matthew 5:8
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
Daniel 9:4
I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
“O Lord, you are a great and awesome God! You always fulfill your covenant and keep your promises of unfailing love to those who love you and obey your commands.
Matthew 22:19-21
Here, show me the coin used for the tax.” When they handed him a Roman coin, he asked, “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.”
September 2024
September 1
You have responsibility for those around you, particularly those of my way. Look after them as they look after you so that none stray from my grace and the covering of my favor. It is a fact that you are easily distracted. It is in that instant of distraction that the enemy will target. Be vigilant for one another, reminding one another of the importance of remaining in my presence. Once distracted, anger is a common point of attack. Bitterness grows from it and, if not checked, will spread like a contagious disease among you. Begin each day in my presence and continually check to be sure you remain there.
Hebrews 12:15
Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
Ephesians 6:11-12
Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
September 2
It is a reality and a mystery. My Spirit . . . I . . . reside in you. At the instant of your belief, I commissioned you and identified you as my own. The presence of my Spirit in you is the guarantee. By my Spirit, I enable you to stand firm in the wind of circumstance. I will work out in you my character of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, and a proper understanding of all that I am. And, because of all this, you have the confidence that I am always with you, creating my way forward.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22
It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
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.
September 3
I designed you with need for meaning and purpose…for significance and affirmation. That need is of such importance that it drives you to find a consistent source. You have tried many things to meet that need but found them temporary and inconsistent. So, you work even harder, running in the same patterns only to discover their continued failure. I am your source…your only source…of meaning, purpose, significance, and consistent affirmation. Your habits keep you looking elsewhere, trusting in what briefly flares and then flames out. Turn to me. I am your dwelling place. Ask me, and I will lead you to experience everything I offer. Come into my presence and remain there. All you need to do is ask.
Psalm 84:1-2
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven’s armies. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.
September 4
It is easy for you to treat my written Word as a collection of benevolent theories, holding yourself back from trusting it to be entirely dependable. In so doing, you create a margin for rationalization and control if I do not respond to a matter as you think I should. But a profession of belief extends to unconditional surrender to my authority and complete trust in my Word applied to my purpose. You live not by convenience but by faith. You will only fully understand some of what I am, and you cannot approach me apart from faith. It is faith that leads you to trust my Word fully. I am your sun and shield. I give you grace and glory. You long to depend upon it. Yet, it requires a step of faith. Take it. I will honor it.
Psalms 84:11
For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
September 5
You are before in faith me with matters that have no apparent solution. Leave the matter with me and continue in my presence. Allow me to wash you with my majesty and grace. As you remain before me, seeking me rather than solutions, you will discover that the impossibility of the matter recedes into faith and confidence. And you will overflow with confident hope through the power of my Holy Spirit. Yes, even that which seems most unlikely is in my hand.
Genesis 18:10-13; 21:1-2
Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!”
Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?”
Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.
Mark 10:27
Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”
Romans 15:13
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Psalms 20:7
Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God.
September 6
Maintain your focus upon me. Be careful not to become caught up among wagging tongues who use my name to leverage a cause. They play a dangerous game. Seek me. Use your influence among others to point to me. No issue, no cause, no person, no philosophy, no nation, no god supersedes me. I am clear on this--I am the Lord God. There is no other. And you are to honor me exclusively. Even my name is to be held as holy. My love for those who honor me is expansive and eternal, as is my justice for those who ignore me.
Mark 12: 29-31
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Deuteronomy 5:11
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Exodus 20:4-5
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
Matthew 6:9-10
“Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Philippians 2:9-11
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
September 7
You are, but you will be. You view yourself in terms of what you have done, for it is the only perspective you can grasp with complete confidence. Thus, your hope for the future is based upon your understanding of things viewed through the frame of experience. As such, it will always be limited. Yet I view you in terms of what you will be, and I deal with you now based on my sure knowledge of the future and my plan for you in that future. I am constantly drawing you into it, challenging you to trust me, and introducing ideas that seem impossible even as I form them into the next assignment. All the while, I utilize the conditioning of your experiences as a foundation for what is to come. Your opportunity for that future is defined by belief, trust, and faith…each a firm step away from your control into my perfect plan. Follow me. I know it seems unnatural, but with each step, it becomes more and more natural. You are, but you will be.
John 1:42
Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas” (which means “Peter”).
September 8
I hear your lament of the culture. It is as I told you it would be. The choice of people to reject me does not impair my authority or my promise to those who honor me, or my invitation to those who do not. In fact, it brings the clarity of high contrast between the two. Your assignment is unchanged. Fix your attention upon me and bring the influence of my way into the contrary culture. You will do so with my strength, my love, my power, my wisdom, my courage. You are never alone. I am with you, leading you into and through the circumstances of a broken world. I will never leave you or forsake you. Come now…there is work to be done.
Psalm 23:3
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
2 Corinthians
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
September 9
I have made the general direction of our journey known to you, but the daily process is conducted on a moment-to-moment basis and in a particular manner. Yesterday, I opened your understanding to my way in three very distinct moments in which I made clear the direction of the matter at hand. You knew it was me at work, you understood clearly, and you acted correctly. As you now reflect upon those moments, you recall each as to have been a natural experience in which you were confidently aware of my presence and guidance as if I were right there whispering in your ear saying, “This is the way you should go.” It is what following me is like. Listen for me in the meetings that will occur today.
Isaiah 30:21
Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you, a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.
September 10
The reason you can endure and overcome in the present circumstance is because I paid the price for your safe passage through it. I initiated your faith, and I will perfect it. As many before you discovered, my strength is more than sufficient, and my authority is infinitely superior to the challenge. Each would tell you that your access to my resource is freely provided. You ask in faith…faith in my reality and presence and ability. It is in the asking that your faith is stimulated. It is through faith that weight-bearing trust is experienced. It is in trust that peace is discovered. It is in peace that I give you the confidence to take the next step forward. And it is in the instant of your faithful action that I make clear the direction of your step.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Proverbs 2:1-5
My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
Psalm 37:4-5
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
September 11
Your personal history is etched with this date. You remember where you were when you first heard the news many years ago. The shock of an attack stopped the nation and, for the only time in your life, the people, shocked and frightened, united to call on me. I hear your prayer for the people now. Their hearts are distracted and hard again. They do not acknowledge me. Stay in my presence and intercede for them. Some will turn to me. I will wait for them a little longer.
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
September 12
The circumstance threw you. You thought things were moving smoothly to a desired end. But you found it otherwise, and now you have that long stare again...trying to untangle issues and discern the future. We have talked about it so many times. The future is my responsibility. The continually renewed decision to follow me is yours. Yet, when you look away from me, straining to see what you cannot find without me, you disengage from your responsibility and pull your attention from me. Our communication is interrupted, your ability to respond to me effectively is critically compromised, and stumbling is inevitable. You must trust me. I have this...always have. Turn from the distraction and get back into your position. I will show you the way.
Matthew 6:30
And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
September 13
Your memory is a gift. Use it. Recall the times of difficulty. Did they not end? Did I not show you a way to proceed? Hope was always hovering near, even when you did not have the strength to look for it. I held you through those days. I am holding you now. The water is high, but it will not overflow you. The fire is real, but it will not burn you. Seek me today, trusting the promises of my Word to which you cling. I am right here. Hope. And in hope, you will discover the way forward.
Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 15:4
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Psalm 31:24
Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!
September 14
Waiting quietly in my presence is a difficult act, but it is one of the most fruitful. It is a discipline of discovery. Embrace it. You come at my invitation with issues needing solutions and expecting quick resolution. Too often, you treat these moments as a drive-through window where you place your order, receive the bag of fries, and are on your busy way with no exchange or interruption of focus upon the next three stops in your tightly controlled world. But I now bring you to a full stop. Your impatient protest transitions into an awkward silence as you reprocess your schedule, wondering how long this will take. But you know me and my way. As you relax into the reality of my presence, a transformation of the soul begins as you surrender your plan in anticipation of mine. You remember the importance of these moments in the past. And you know I am your foundation and source. Impatience becomes anticipation. Anticipation becomes discovery.
Psalms 62:1-2
I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.
September 15
Be aware of the difference between thinking about me and praying to me. The act of thinking and its derivatives of choice and decision are my gifts to you...part of the created nature I with which I endowed you. Prayer, however, is an act of your spirit empowered by my Spirit through which you intentionally seek me. Thought, as far reaching as it may be, ultimately extends only to the limits of your mind. Prayer supernaturally transcends your limited being. It conveys you into my presence and propels your thought into the context of my unlimited authority, knowledge, and power. Thought is an exercise of your will. Prayer requires surrender of your will to mine and, through that surrender, closes the distance between us, and positions you perfectly to understand and respond to my ways and purpose.
Matthew 6:6
But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
September 16
Intent without action changes nothing. Action without intent quickly falters. Your journey with me began with a moment of both intent and action. It was not a moment of perfection but of conscious surrender of your life and all that defines it to my control…a transfer of title and of custody. It is that moment that is likened to being born again. It is that moment that secured and defined all that has come since. And, without that moment there would have been nothing but the periodic ebb and flow of good intentions. A life built upon shifting intent is like placing a building upon a foundation of sand. The least disturbance of wind or wave will undo it. I tell you the truth, apart from that moment…being born again…you would not be my follower, only a pretender.
John 3:3
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
September 17
I know your questions. Keep asking. You are where I desire you to be and moving in the direction I intend. My delay in providing a clear answer is with purpose, for it is in the asking and seeking that you slow sufficiently to discover more about me. Our history together is evidence of my dependability in leading and providing. Your only job is to stay close to me. I will cause you to know what to do. Act accordingly.
Matthew 7:7-8
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.
September 18
It is good question. Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction? It is to the matter of agreement that I draw your attention. For, you have often viewed agreement with me and with my way as a compromise to gain value that may be applied to your desired end…acquiescence for lack of a better option to achieve it. Yet, the fullness of my design in you…indeed, the fulfillment of all for which you long…depends upon agreement becoming an intentional burning desire from which you cannot be dissuaded or distracted. Your agreement is to be for the sake of oneness with me, not a means to an end. So, yes…it is a good question…one that requires an honest answer. My Spirit will guide you to both the answer and to the correction.
Amos 3:3
Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?
September 19
My grace is related to your humility. Understand grace as the expansion of my Spirit, with all of my characteristics, in and around you…conforming your will to mine and shaping thought that leads to specific action according to my purpose. The experience of grace is the experience of my presence in action as my Spirit moves toward your humility…into the absence of pride. Thus, my favor, the expansion of my grace, is measured against the degree to which you are empty of selfishness and pride…less of you is more of me. For, I oppose the proud and favor the humble.
James 4:6
But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.”
September 20
My methods of provision require faith and courage. Many years ago, early in our relationship, you asked to live in the demonstration of my power. I granted your request. In so doing, I have caused you to depend upon me, for it is only in complete dependence that you are able to experience the fullness of my power. As I led you in other times and circumstances, I am leading and providing now. Remain near. Pray. I will establish your thought and direct your action. Your response, as many times before, must be faith and courage to act exactly as I direct.
Exodus 17:6
I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink.” So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on.
September 21
Your impatience is showing. You know from my teachings and from your experience with me that my timing is perfectly aligned with my purpose. You have learned to act or to refrain from acting according to my Spirit’s impression upon you. So, if my purpose requires that you hold and wait, do so with the same obedience that you eagerly employ under direction to act. For waiting is a tool of faith development. Stand still and perform your duty of obedience to me. I will make clear when it is time to move.
Numbers 9:19-21, 23
If the cloud remained over the Tabernacle for a long time, the Israelites stayed and performed their duty to the Lord. Sometimes the cloud would stay over the Tabernacle for only a few days, so the people would stay for only a few days, as the Lord commanded. Then at the Lord’s command they would break camp and move on.
Sometimes the cloud stayed only overnight and lifted the next morning. But day or night, when the cloud lifted, the people broke camp and moved on. So they camped or traveled at the Lord’s command, and they did whatever the Lord told them through Moses.
September 22
I am building confidence in you purposely...confidence in me, in my way, in my promise, in my nearness, in my power, in my provision, in my timing. A journey with me requires that you follow regardless of direction or condition. Today the breeze is gentle, but, as you have experienced and will experience again, the way along which I lead places you in the face of wind that can be frightening unless you are in the shelter of my presence. The confidence in me that you enjoy now will serve you when the velocity of the wind increases. Trust me. Allow the confidence of my reality to soak into your soul and follow me.
2 Samuel 22:31-37
God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock? God is my strong fortress, and he makes my way perfect. He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights. He trains my hands for battle; he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow. You have given me your shield of victory; your help has made me great. You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.
September 23
This is a fact. Deal with it as such. I am in you. When you believed on the basis of faith that I died for your sin and rose again to life, I moved in…my Spirit indwelling you. Thereby you experience the courage, strength, wisdom, and skill to follow me into any assignment and act in the manner I direct with confidence in my ability even as you realize it is beyond your own. For, I cause you to know what it is you are to say or do. When you then act in faith, I empower it. That is what following me is like.
John 17:26
I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.
Colossians 21:27
…And this is the secret: Christ lives in you…
September 24
Finding and following my way through the difficulties and complexities of the assignment to which I have appointed you is not a mystery. It is a matter of your conscious desire to know my way and your intentional surrendered responsiveness in advance of each next step. Into the openness formed by surrender of your will in favor of mine, I will place conscious understanding of my way. It will be marked by the confidence and peace of a firm footing in the way forward.
Psalm 143:10
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.
Psalm 123:2
We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.
September 25
I am real, as is my promise of salvation and life. I have stamped it within you. You know my presence by the stirring of your heart. It is the swelling of my Spirit within you, and it is unmistakable…a flooding of intensity; the undeniable and unexplainable surge of clarity, certainty, belief, and confidence in my reality that seems to rise from the depth of your soul far surpassing your common intellect or thought or emotion. It is supernatural transcendence in a moment through which you know that you know that you know that I am, that I love you, and that I am present. And you will struggle to find adequate words to describe the experience as you simply say, as did others long ago, “My heart burned within me as he met me and caused me to understand the scriptures. I am no theory. I am no tradition. I am no intellectual construct. I am, and I am here.
Luke 24:32
They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”
September 26
When you spend time in my presence it will be known. I have endowed you with gifts that are energized by my Spirit and demonstrated through actions that I direct you to take and to which you respond with obedience. This is the supernatural experience of my transcendent presence and power guiding you step by step through the day. It is how I intend for you to conduct your life, and it will be noticed. It is influence, and I exercise it through your obedient trust, faith, and action.
Acts 4:13
The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.
September 27
I intend that you exhibit my culture of care and intentional love for others. Your tendency to focus only on your own interests demonstrates a fearful effort to control things. You are hedging against my failure to provide. You know better. Release your fear to me. I will build faith upon your history of faith and love for others upon love received from others. Relax into the extension of trust in me and in my ability. You will find that your attention turns from yourself to others. As you demonstrate my care, you will experience freshened confidence in me.
Philippians 2:3-5
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
September 28
Sit with me. Be still. It is fear that makes you run so fast…fear of failing, missing out, not having enough of one thing or another…fear of losing control. Fear fills the absence of trust in my ability. Stop running and sit with me. Receive my presence and my provision. As you remain in my presence, trust will emerge, fear will evaporate, understanding and certainty will displace confusion and despair. You will see me as real rather than a religious cliché. And your life, once marked by frenetic struggle, will become peaceful and confident. For you will know that I am with you and in you.
Luke 24:30-31
As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him…
John 14:17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
September 29
There is much yet to discover…about me, my way, and about yourself. Apply your resources to that discovery. Remember, when you find Me, you find your own fulfillment. It is how I designed you. You learned to search and find through your own efforts and ingenuity and then bring your findings to me for approval. Amend that process. Spend time in my presence before you search. Seek me first. Then, follow my Spirit to the discovery I have planned.
Proverbs 25:2
It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.
Jeremiah 33:3
Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Psalm 111:2
Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.
September 30
Consider the depth of desire you have for me. Do you long to be in my presence…to experience me, or is it that you want what you think I can do for you? It is an important and telling question, for my Spirit has already revealed the truth to you. Another expressed the honesty of his heart when he compared his longing for me to a panting deer longing for a cool water stream. That same one wrote of taking delight in me. Therein is the model for your desire for me…continual and joyful completeness of meaning and ultimate purpose above and infinitely beyond any other source found only in me. Explore my Spirit. Ask to learn of taking delight in me. I will show you how.
Psalms 37:4
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
Psalms 42:1
As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.