by Hazel Straub
We have no need to fear whoever or whatever comes at us. God protects, defends and keeps us safe. On him we can trust and rely no matter what our circumstances.
Psalm 18:1-3 (Good News Translation)
“How I love you, Lord! You are my defender. The Lord is my protector; he is my strong fortress. My God is my protection, and with him I am safe. He protects me like a shield; he defends me and keeps me safe. I call to the Lord, and he saves me from my enemies. Praise the Lord!”
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by Hazel Straub
God is very good to those who fear or respect, reverence and hold him in awe, as the greatest authority. His boundless unfailing love is not measurable.
Psalm 31:19-24 (New Living Translation)
How great is the goodness
you have stored up for those who fear you.
You lavish it on those who come to you for protection,
blessing them before the watching world.
You hide them in the shelter of your presence,
safe from those who conspire against them.
You shelter them in your presence,
far from accusing tongues.
Praise the Lord,
for he has shown me the wonders of his unfailing love.
He kept me safe when my city was under attack.
In panic I cried out,
“I am cut off from the Lord!”
But you heard my cry for mercy
and answered my call for help.
Love the Lord, all you godly ones!
For the Lord protects those who are loyal to him,
but he harshly punishes the arrogant.
So be strong and courageous,
all you who put your hope in the Lord!
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by Hazel Straub
Keep your focus on the Lord and wait for him. You will be blessed with renewal of strength.
Isaiah 40:31 (Amplified)
“But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.”
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by Hazel Straub
Trust in the Lord and don’t be afraid. Don’t worry about or be troubled by the forces that create stress in your life but trust God. Don’t let the stress in life wear you down and out. But learn to believe, resting in the Lord and fretting not.
The enemy wants you upset and worked up over what is not happening in your life. God says, “Learn to be filled with me and all your needs will be met. Let my peace dwell with you.”
Psalm 27:4 (World English Bible)
“Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
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by Hazel Straub
Our lives are letters read by everyone. We are letters from God.
2 Corinthians 3:1-3 (The Message)
“Does it sound like we’re patting ourselves on the back, insisting on our credentials, asserting our authority? Well, we’re not. Neither do we need letters of endorsement, either to you or from you. You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God’s living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it.”
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by Hazel Straub
The time when you despair, of ever seeing a difficult project or task completed or situation resolved and cry out to God for his help, is where victory becomes possible. It is when you say, “I can’t do this. I don’t know how. The task is insurmountable. Help God or all is lost!”
God loves to take us to the end of our human capabilities and experience. It is when we realize that the task or expertise needed is beyond our human ability or understanding and we cry to him, “HELP!” that we become God dependent. No longer do we trust in ourselves but we throw ourselves on God’s mercy.
At this point, God says, “I am so glad you asked. Now, as you lean on me and become fully dependent on me, I will use you and make it happen. With total reliance on me, you can do it. Amazement will be the response to what I do in your life and you will give me glory. You give me your faith and I will do the rest. I specialize in things thought impossible. Your yielding to me means the removal of the limitations in your situation. Now I am free to move in you, without restraint. You and others will watch and marvel, as you do the impossible because you are fully God dependent. You have come from the place of relying on your intellect, education, experience, knowledge and own strength, to total surrender to me. When you say, ‘I cannot do this and need you,’ the setting becomes right for miracles. It is the time for a miracle, for nothing is impossible, when you put your trust in me, God Almighty. Then I will get the glory and attract men to me, for you can do nothing apart from me. Rejoice,when your situation appears impossible because I hear your cries of HELP and answer. Your despair and cries to me become the setting for your becoming a sign and a wonder, where I alone get the glory. Rejoice! I am your Savior. Look at me and live!”
Matthew 19:26 (NIV 1984)
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
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by Hazel Straub
You have cried to me due to the pressure that you have felt. It is I, the Lord God, who is stripping you. You are like a piece of beautiful furniture that has the old finish stripped and sanded then the new finish applied. You have much beauty inside that this process reveals. Submit to the process and you will see wonderful results. Those things that you have not been able to conquer on your own get conquered, as I refinish you. My glory will shine out of you.
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by Hazel Straub
Our sins separate us from God. Jesus our Messiah, gave his life for us. He is our High Priest who sprinkled his own unblemished blood to cover our sins. His blood makes us right with God and purifies us. What was impossible for us to do, Jesus did for us. Thank God for the blood of our Messiah that atones for our sins! Draw near to God on this Day of Atonement.
Hebrews 9:11-15 (The Message)
“But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.”
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Terebinth Blossom From en.wikimedia.org
by Hazel Straub
Rejoice! This is the year of the Lord’s favor and a new day. You are a terebinth of victory!
Isaiah 61:1-3 (Tanakh)
“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me.
Because the LORD has anointed me;
He has sent me as a herald of joy to the humble,
To bind up the wounded of heart,
To proclaim release to the captives,
Liberation to the imprisoned;
To proclaim a year of the LORD’S favor
And a day of vindication by our God;
To comfort all who mourn-
To provide for the mourners in Zion-
To give them a turban instead of ashes,
The festive ointment instead of mourning,
A garment of splendor instead of a drooping spirit.
They shall be called terebinths of victory,
Planted by the LORD for His glory.”
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