Day 253: The Word Goes Out

Isaiah 55:10-11

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven  and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

This has become one of my favorite scriptures, it’s so profound. God’s like, I’m not sending my word out for nothing, I’m sending it for a purpose. I love biblical analogies, especially this. The word of God going out is compared to when rain or snow falls upon the Earth. When it rains, the Earth is replenished, it gets the water it is needed to live. Meaning the rain provides food for people, it allows plants to sprout, it brings a harvest for the planters. The rain isn’t for nothing. There is a purpose for the rain and the snow and that purpose is always fulfilled.  I’m not sure if you’re a person who likes the rain, but I do. But more than the rain I love the moments after it, the smell in the air, the quality of the air. The rainbows in the sky. It’s all so beautiful and it feels beautiful. There’s nothing quite like it. The aftermath of a rainy week is beyond beautiful, it can be breathtaking. The result of rain is nothing less than beautiful. That is the result of God’s word.

The word of God goes out with a purpose and that purpose is always fulfilled. God sends His word out to feed the nations. He sends it out to replenish the Earth, God’s word does something that nothing else can do, it saves lives. The word of God is like the rain, it gives life to those who have been stripped of their abilities to live a life fully free of condemnation. The aftermath of it is beautiful, let’s take the life of Jesus into consideration. John 1:1 says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. As Christians we believe that this scripture is speaking of Jesus as the word of God. Saying that the word became flesh and came to earth to save us. Jesus came to save the world He was the rain we needed. We needed Jesus because we were in a spiritual drought and the only chance of living was through Him. Through the life that He would pour out onto us. The only way of growth was through Him, the only way we could get out of the drought we were in was to drink of the living water.

The thing about the rain is that not many of us enjoy it. Sometimes there are floods and in the meantime, it’s pretty bad. Earlier this year, California was struck by floods, so many floods. People had to deal with their towns flooding. People were evacuated, there was millions of dollars in damages. Power outages were happening, people even lost their lives. But in the end it ended being great for California, because it brought us out of a six year drought. Rivers, and dams that were dry for years, or had been drying up over those six years are now filled with water. So while we thought it was bad it all turned out for our good. The aftermath of it all was beautiful. I bring this up because when Jesus was on earth many people rejected Him, they didn’t believe He was who He said He was. In fact this was one of the reasons they planned to kill Him. However it wasn’t until He died that people realized that He was the true Messiah. It wasn’t until He gave up His life that people realized who He was. The aftermath was beautiful as many people came to know Christ and believe in Him. People today are still coming to Christ because we know of His life, death, and resurrection. The result of the life He lived, the word He brought to life, and His actions upon that cross and throughout HIs ministry is still very evident today. We are still reaping from the seed Jesus sowed 2500 years ago. Jesus had to give up His life to save all of us. He wasn’t satisfied with just a few, He had to make sure that salvation would reach everyone. I’m pretty sure if we got to sit down and talk to Jesus about what those moment were like He wouldn’t say that it was fun, or that He enjoyed it. However, I imagine that He would say it was necessary.

All this to say, God’s word goes out and does what it is meant to do. Sometimes it isn’t always easy like when the disciples went to bring the Good News to the people. They were beat, put in jail, forced and thrown (literally) out of cities, and killed. But through all of this, the word of God never stops, it never returns void. Through all of this the message always came through. There is always a purpose for the word of god.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. Discuss with a friend what we talked about today. Have a conversation with God, Whatever is on your heart today, talk to Him about it. Remember that praying is just having a conversation with God.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening, be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 254! It’ll be a special recap.  

Day 82: Burdened with Sin

Psalms 31:10

...my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.

Psalms 32: 5

I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

We all know that we are born into sin, we live in a broken world. We are not perfect therefore we have a need for a savior, Jesus Christ, and that savior is the only one to save us from our sin. Today let’s talk about sin, not sin in general but our personal sin. David says that it is his iniquities that make him weak, iniquity is another word for sin.  David knows that his own sin is what causes his spiritual weakness, as sinners we cannot fix this alone, we become our own stumbling block when we keep allowing ourselves to choose to sin knowing that it is detrimental to our spiritual health.  

In the next chapter David says that he acknowledges his sin and he will confess it to the Lord. He’s not going to try and hide it, but he is going to take his iniquities before the Lord knowing that forgiveness is in Him, salvation, and redemption is in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To acknowledge something means, to admit to be real or true; recognize the existence, truth, or fact of. Knowing and acknowledging something are two different things, we can know something but that doesn’t mean we will acknowledge it as truth. We know we are sinful, we know our sin is causing us to go down a terrible path, this is facts, it’s what we know, but will we admit it? Are we willing to go before God as we are and say, “I’m a sinful mess.” sometimes it’s as simple as that. Can we find the courage to confess our sins to the only one who can forgive them. Sometimes it’s as easy as saying, God help me. God won’t judge us, but he will forgive us. There is this beautiful thing called grace and God is full of it.

We cannot allow our souls to rot in a sinful hole because we are too shameful or too embarrassed to go to God, or we’re too full of pride. We all sin, believe it or not. After David gets done confessing to the Lord he says, “...And you forgave me.” We’ve talked about carrying burdens of many things, but too many of us are carrying the burden of sin, we are carrying the burden of death and it’s making us weaker and weaker everyday. We have to take especially these burdens to the Lord, because it will literally save our lives. Sin does not belong to us either, just because we were born into sin and into a broken world does not mean we have to bear the burden of it. It does not mean that we have to carry our sin around with us, Jesus died for humanity, he came for that sin. Stop carrying it around drop it and leave it at the foot of the cross. When you drop it, don’t pick it back up. Often times we go back and pick up our sin. No, we have to leave it there, we have to let it go down to the grave with Jesus and stay there. It does not belong to us. Drop it and leave it!

When God offers forgiveness and salvation in exchange for your sin, take it! Accept His forgiveness, there is no shame or condemnation in the Lord.

Reflection

1. Are you burdened by sin?
2. Are you willing to acknowledge that sin and confess it to the Lord?
3. What is on your heart that you need to confess to the Lord?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about whatever is on your heart. Confess your sins to Him, allow him to purify your hearts and accept his forgiveness. Pour your heart out to the Lord, lay all your burdens at his feet, and know that you are forgiven.

Maybe you never had the chance to submit your life to Christ or you want to rededicate your life to Him. I believe that now is the time to do that. Take all that sin and confess it to the Lord, whatever it is, surrender it to Him. Know that He can take it, and you will find freedom in His house. He loves us so much that He wants us to be bear and with Him for all eternity. Forever in His holy temple.

If you made the choice to follow Christ, rededicate, or to submit your life to Him fully, Go to Romans 10:9-10

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

And repeat these few words,

Jesus I declare that you are my Lord and Saviour who died for my sin and was raised three days later. I repent of my sins and I give my life to you. I believe in my heart that you are the true living God. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, Amen.

Congratulations! The angels in heaven are rejoicing right now. Get plugged in to your local church, and bible study. If you have any further questions feel free to contact me, Thedyamondjbackup@gmail.com IAmDyamondJ on all social media networks.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 83 and everyday for the rest of the year!

Day 54: An Endless Hope

Hope- To trust in, wait for, look for, or desire something or someone; or to expect something beneficial in the future. (biblical definition)

In Scripture, according to the Hebrew and Greek words translated by the word “hope” and according to the biblical usage, hope is an indication of certainty (the quality of being reliably true). “Hope” in Scripture means “a strong and confident expectation.” Though archaic today in modern terms, hope is akin to trust and a confident expectation.

Hebrews 11:1

For faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1 NLT)

Psalms 147:11

The Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love.

Psalms 3:4

I call out to the Lord and He answers me from His holy mountain.

Many times we say that we have hope in Lord without understanding the true meaning of it. When we put our hope in God it is automatically paired with faith, we are relying on the faithfulness of God. We hope in God because we have confidence in who He is and we wholeheartedly believe in His word. We know that God will always be there; we are certain of His presence. Putting our hope and faith in the Lord is encouraging because  we look to our heavenly father for answers. We turn to Him because we know of His faithfulness. . We desire Him, and His magnificent love. We hope in a Lord that provides us with unfailing love, and everlasting life. We want to live in His presence because we know that there is no greater place to be than in the hands of God. Putting our hope in God is better than wishing upon a star, and even though it seems as if we are taking a shot in the dark, it is quote the opposite. We know that God will be there for us, even when we can’t see or feel Him and we stand firm on HIs word and wait for Him. Because His timing is perfect.

Faith means that we believe, hope means we are in expectation of what we are believing for. We have so much faith in God that we don’t just ask but we expect Him to come through, we expect Him to answer our prayers.  We know that He will always answer, and I don’t foresee that changing in the future. Faith is the body of our hope. We put our hope in someone and something that is unfailing. God’s love never fails, His words never returns to Him void. If we are going to rely on anyone or anything, it should be God and His precious word.

We are going to go through times in our life when the only hope we have left is in God. Where God is the only person in our life who hasn’t let us down. At some point in our life we will realize that the only thing we can do is put our hope in the Lord. These are the moments God delights in. Out of everything we’re going through we will not be shaken because we know of God’s unfailing love, and faithfulness we’ve experienced it. We have confidence in our faithful Father. We know that all we have to do is call out to the Lord in faith and expect Him to move. He might not move right then and there but God hears us calling we can find comfort in that. We will find comfort in knowing that God will somehow someway work this out. Sometimes we don’t even know how He’s going to do it, we just stand waiting with expectation and confidence that He will.

God’s word is unfailing, and His love is endless. Due to this truth, I will forever put my hope in Him. Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. (Psalms 62:5)

Reflection

1. Write down the things that you are expecting from God.
2. Is all of your hope in God, or is it in man?
3. Do you find comfort in knowing that you serve an unfailing God, whose love is eternal and endless?
   
   

Prayer Time

Take the time to talk to God about what it means to put all of our hope in Him. Allow your ansers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Rest in His love knowing that you can hope in His unfailing love. Just talk to Him, remember that prayer is just a conversation with God.

I love you, and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. I love you so much. Make sure you come back tomorrow for day 55!