For your Creator will be your husband; the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is His name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth.
– Isaiah 54:5 (NLT)
Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things He does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly.
He revealed His character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; He does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For His unfailing love toward those who fear Him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him. For He knows how weak we are; He remembers we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone— as though we had never been here. But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear Him. His salvation extends to the children’s children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey His commandments!
The Lord has made the heavens His throne; from there He rules over everything.
Praise the Lord, you angels, you mighty ones who carry out His plans, listening for each of His commands. Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels who serve Him and do His will! Praise the Lord, everything He has created, everything in all His kingdom.
Let all that I am praise the Lord.
– Psalm 103 (NLT)
…He will say to them, “I have loved you with an everlasting love. That is why I have continued to be faithful to you.”
…there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set youfree from the law of sin and death.
– Romans 8:1,2 (NIV)
With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
– Romans 8:1,2 (MSG)
Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me! It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.
– Isaiah 50:7-9 (NIV)
The Lord will rescue His servants; no one who takes refuge in Him will be condemned.
– Psalm 34:22 (NIV)
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
– James 4:7 (NLT)
This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in Him, and He in us: He’s given us life from His life, from His very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent His Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver… we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.
– Psalm 66:10-12 (NIV)
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…
– Isaiah 43:1-3 (NIV)
Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
– Revelation 22:1 (NLT)
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.
– Exodus 3:2 9NLT)
The Eternal went on ahead to guide them during the day in a cloud shaped like a pillar; at night He appeared to them in a fire shaped like a pillar to light their way. So they were able to travel by day and by night.
– Exodus 13:21 (VOICE)
The [Holy] Spirit and the bride (the church, believers) say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take and drink the water of life without cost.
– Revelation 22:17 (AMP)
As evening came, Jesus said to His disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed).But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.
Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke Him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”
When Jesus woke up, He rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.Then He asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey Him!”
– Mark 4:35-41 (NLT)
Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and He won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God Himself is Fire!
– Hebrews 12:28,29 (MSG)
You make Your messengers like the winds; the breeze whispers Your words, Your servants are like the fire and flame.
– Psalm 104:4 (VOICE)
Does not my word burn like fire?” says the Lord. “Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?
– Jeremiah 23:29 (NLT)
With joy in each step, you will drink deeply from the springs of salvation.
– Isaiah 12:3 (VOICE)
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.But even if He does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usualand commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace.The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”
They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”
He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God,come out! Come here!”
So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire,and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.
Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent His angel and rescued His servants! They trusted in Him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.”
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles…
– Ephesians 3:1 (NIV)
This Lord is the Spirit. Wherever the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom.
– 2 Corinthians 3:17 (GW)
Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
– 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 (MSG)
He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting Him might pass Him by. “Abba, Father,” He cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine.”
– Mark 14:35-36 (NLT)
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, He saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” Then He touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!
– Luke 13:10-13 (NLT)
“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them, snatching them from the door of death. Let them praise the Lord for His great love and for the wonderful things He has done for them. Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and sing joyfully about His glorious acts.
– Psalm 107:18-22 (NLT)
So own up to your sins to one another and pray for one another. In the end, you may be healed. Your prayers are powerful when they are rooted in a righteous life.
– James 5:16 (VOICE)
For our momentary, light distress [this passing trouble] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory [a fullness] beyond all measure [surpassing all comparisons, a transcendent splendor and an endless blessedness]!
Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment].
– Hebrews 4:16 (AMP)
Now God has us where He wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all His idea, and all His work. All we do is trust Him enough to let Him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join Him in the work He does, the good work He has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
– Ephesians 2:7-10 (MSG)
And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.
– Romans 11:6 (NLT)
And He gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
I am Light that has come into the world so that all who believe in Me won’t have to stay any longer in the dark.
– John 12:46 (MSG)
Everything was created through Him; nothing—not one thing!— came into being without Him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.
– John 1:3-5 (MSG)
I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in Me.
– Acts 26:17, 18 (MSG)
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God’s Sunrise will break in upon us, Shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, Then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace.
* I am not speaking of abusive situations. Self-protection in abusive situations is entirely warranted.
Love…does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
– 1 Corinthians 13:4,5 (NIV)
But God put His love on the line for us by offering His Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to Him.
– Romans 5:8 (MSG)
Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].
This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who He is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance!
– Romans 8:15-17 (MSG)
What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who He is or what he’s up to.
But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see Him—and in seeing Him, become like Him. All of us who look forward to His Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.
– 1 John 3:1-3 (MSG)
Listen, the eye of the Eternal is upon those who live in awe of Him, those who hope in His steadfast love,
The Lord thundered from heaven. The Most High made His voice heard.
– 2 Samuel 22:14 (GW)
Whenever this happens, my heart stops— I’m stunned, I can’t catch my breath. Listen to it! Listen to His thunder, the rolling, rumbling thunder of His voice. He lets loose His lightnings from horizon to horizon, lighting up the earth from pole to pole. In their wake, the thunder echoes His voice, powerful and majestic. He lets out all the stops, He holds nothing back. No one can mistake that voice— His word thundering so wondrously, His mighty acts staggering our understanding.
– Job 37:1-5 (MSG)
For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.
– Psalm 27:5 (NIV)
The blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder. Moses spoke, and God answered with a voice that rumbled like thunder.
– Exodus 19:19 (VOICE)
The Eternal thundered in the heavens; the Highest spoke; His voice rumbled [in the midst of hail and lightning].
– Psalm 18:13 (VOICE)
I was caught up at once in deep worship and, oh!—a Throne set in Heaven with One Seated on the Throne, suffused in gem hues of amber and flame with a nimbus of emerald. Twenty-four thrones circled the Throne, with Twenty-four Elders seated, white-robed, gold-crowned. Lightning flash and thunder crash pulsed from the Throne. Seven fire-blazing torches fronted the Throne (these are the Sevenfold Spirit of God). Before the Throne it was like a clear crystal sea.
Susie Stewart 