Tag: faithful

Your original promise

Karla Lees

The original promise is the direct blessing of God received in faith.
Galatians 3:20

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On the days when the moments of pain, grief or hurt try to overwhelm, God tangibly reminds us throughout His Word of His promises.

The fact that there are at least 365 of them, depending on which version you read, reassures my heart that He knows we need this reminding know a daily basis.

What we need is not a shock to Him by any means.

Our Creator didn’t just plop us on this earth and wash His hands of what He had made.

He continuously was seen throughout the history recorded in the Word by his people, interactive and present.

Reminding us He is with us.
Acting and moving on our behalf in ways we can’t even fathom.
Speaking love and truth to us.

But God went even deeper, by promising us His blessing.

Straight, no holds barred.

His direct blessing has been spoken to each of His Beloved, and offered as a gift of love to each who chose to receive it.

By faith.

Our part is to believe He IS who He says He is and trust His Words ARE true, even when we can’t yet see the fruit of our faith in the here and now.

Abraham believed decades before his promised son arrived.

Joseph believed generations before Israel was delivered out of Egypt.

Hannah believed she had been heard by God after an awkward encounter with a priest accusing her of being drunk in her fervency.

Mary believed in faith the moment the angel proclaimed her the mother of the long awaited Promise.

None of these faithful knew exactly what was up ahead, but they knew the One who made the promises, and placed their faith in Him.

Unsure of your future?
At a crossroads, or a crisis of decision?

Grab on tight to the promises of the Promise Keeper.

He is who He says He is  and He will deliver on His promises.

For He will never change being who He says and reveals He is:

Promise Giver.
Promise keeper.
The Living Promise.
Promise with us.

This Promise will never let us go.  If eveything else in your world is unsettled, He will be your steady foundation.

Reach out and grab the Promise.
His hand is always outstretched to you, and is only a prayer of faith away.

God is…Faithful

Karla Lees

Faithful.

We don’t often see faithfulness as a quality to be admired in our culture today.

In our rush to satisfy our own needs, we forget how it honors God when we show honor and put one another first.

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In Joshua 2, we see how God proves faithful to His people, and how He is blessed when we are faithful with our words & our actions.

Joshua sent two men into Jericho to spy in enemy territory ….reconnoitring the city & checking out competition before they attacked to take the land God had promised them.

How odd on one hand that these Israelites would have entered the home of a prostitute, but as travellers would always be welcome at such an establishment, it makes sense to enter the city this way. Less noticeable.

Except the king of Jericho also had well positioned spies, and word got back to him there were Israelites in town.

Why such a big deal?

Because word had been spreading, as we learn through Rahab’s conversation with the spies, that Israel’s God was faithful & strong, and terror was striking the inhabitants of the land they had not yet begun to conquer!

Only God could have stirred such a fear!

He not only told His people where to settle, but was causing fear of what had not yet happened to make their enemies quake with fear, before the physical battle had begun!

God was already keeping His promise to give them this land.

Rahab knew He was the real God, and in exchange for protecting the Israelite spies from capture, she wanted her family kept safe in the battle for Jericho.

I noticed the spies response was basically, “If you keep your word to us, we will keep ours to you.”

Put your word on display with a red cord, and we will honor our word to you.

Human faithfulness on display.

God IS faithful in His very core.
And keeps His word, even when we don’t.

This is true faithfulness at its purest.

God honored Rahab, not only for her actions in saving His spies, but for her faith.

She and her household were saved from the fall of Jericho’s walls, and the destruction of the city.

Israel lived up to its word.

Human faithfulness again.

And in Matthew 1:5-6, we get a glimpse of just how faithful God was in how He blessed Rahab for her actions:

…and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.

Rahab enters His family!
She becomes the mother of Boaz, one of the most compassionate of men & most honoring of his word,
the mother in law of Ruth,
and the great great grandmother of King David.

From whose blood line came Jesus!

God is SO faithful.

What we cannot see ahead is just how much more we will recognize Him as faithful when we look back on our lives, and see His faithfulness interwoven through the story of our lives!

Be encouraged. This same God is still as faithful today as He can be seen through out His Word & history.

For He never changes, and He is still as incredibly faithful towards us, right here and now.

Most often, His faithfulness is even beyond what we comprehend!

May we rise up to be women & men of our words, and live lives as faithful as the God who made us part of His forever family, regardless of what we may have done, just as Rahab!

Yes in Him

Karla Lees

For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him.—2 Corinthians 1:20

Maybe you are like me, and you have had one too many people break the promise they make to you. You find it hard to trust people whose word doesn’t seem to follow through on what they say they will deliver.

Today, I remind you, and myself, of this Good News:

ALL of God’s promises come to pass because of who He is.

Really.

He is 100% good, kind, loving, devoted to you. He has plans for your future to give you hope on the journey you walk together as they come to pass.

God is 100% pure, holy, truth. He cannot lie, for there is no shadow or darkness hidden in Him at all.

He is 100% worthy of our trust, for He has our best always on His mind and heart.

If God gives you a promise, it WILL come to pass.

Especially on the days when we let each other down or are hurt by one another’s words, actions or lack of follow through, be reminded of the assurance we have in Him:

ALL His promises come to pass in Him.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

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Great is Your Faithfulness

Karla Lees

God, You have been so faithful to me.

When I have run from You,
You have been waiting
with open arms
for my return.
Always waiting expectantly,
with the extravagant love
I don’t deserve
and occasionally
taken for granted.

Like a moth to the flame
I am attracted to Your grace,
and the love radiating
in Your face.

You have never not been there
when I have needed You.
You, my rock, my foundation.

#SundayPsalm

Reason #5 to Give Thanks: Because You Can

Karla Lees

The last my top 5 reasons to give thanks ends with:

Because You Can (also known as Why Not?)  🙂

If you are alive, you have a reason to give thanks.

If you have anyone on earth or in heaven who loves you, you have a reason to give thanks.

If you can eat, breathe, sleep, sing, walk, talk, create, move, see, hear….

you have a reason to give thanks.

The Word is full of verses about why to give thanks, but here are my fave four as to why we can, besides the fact we are alive (as I outlined above):

1. Because you are made by His hands:

Oh yes, You shaped me first inside, then out; You formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—You’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, You know every bone in my body. You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, You watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before You; the days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.

Psalm 139:13-16

2. Because He is the Only God!

I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.

Psalm 7:17

3. Because He is not only good, but He loves us FOREVER!

Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Jeremiah 33:11

4. Because of who He IS, Holy, Mighty, Awesome, Just, True, Good….

We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was…

Revelation 11:17

Every day, we have a reason to thank God.

Every day, we can offer Him thanks, even on those days when almost everything seems to go downhill… 😉
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out of the dark

Karla Lees

All new life comes out of the dark places.

-Ann Voskamp

Out of the hard broken places, hope can spring. If you keep a small nugget alive…like a tiny mustard seed just waiting to germinate.

You see, I know first hand how this is true.

The dark places help illuminate the hidden truth waiting to be found.

Being abandoned helped me know God as faithful.

Being broken led me to discover Him as healer.

Feeling lonely, He met me within, and has never left me since. God is with me.

Scared when facing hard news, He has been my Comfort.

In loss, He has always Provided.

With storms, He is my Anchor, and brings Peace.

Without the opposite to illuminate His quality, I might miss experiencing them first hand.

I am not saying that God sends terrible actions on us just to reveal Himself to us.

Humanity has enough within it to bring on more than enough terrible acts without blaming God for them.

I am saying God is, always has been, and always will be revealing Himself to all of us who are, ever were and ever will be on earth.

His quality, His true character shines for all to see.
His handiwork in the natural world around us is breathtaking.
His skill and depths of creativeness in making each person on earth unique and original is mind blowing.

The fact He keeps radiating love towards us, despite all the yuck and muck we being upon ourselves, the pain and hurt inflicted by others, our shattered dreams and what its…shows just how amazing that love truly is.

Every winter, the earth prepares itself for a hard time. The ground is dark, hard and nor very appealing as the season passes.

The perennial seeds we planted in moments of hope will come to life when the Light, and spring, arrive
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The dark times will move into their place in our distant memory when HiStory steps in, ready and willing to release the new life just waiting for us to invite Him in.

wait for hope to appear

Karla Lees

Lam 3:19-31 the Message

19 I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
20 I remember it all––oh, how well I remember––the feeling of hitting the bottom.
21 But there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
22 God ‘s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
23 They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!
24 I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left.
25 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks.
26 It’s a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God.
27 It’s a good thing when you’re young to stick it out through the hard times.
28 When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
29 Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions: Wait for hope to appear.
30 Don’t run from trouble. Take it full–face. The “worst” is never the worst.
31 Why? Because the Master won’t ever walk out and fail to return.