Deuteronomy

Good & Trustworthy

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

The God Jesus reveals would never do anything to harm us.  He has no malice or evil intentions.  He is completely good.  And the fact that God is also all-knowing and all-powerful makes His goodness even better.  I can trust God even if things look bleak.  It does not matter that God is all-powerful or all-knowing if He is not all-good.  If He isn’t all-good, I will never be able to love and trust Him.

– James Bryan Smith

 

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

– Psalm 125:1 (NIV)

 

He is the Rock; His deeds are perfect. Everything He does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright He is!

– Deuteronomy 32:4 (NLT)  

 

But as we come to know the good and beautiful God that Jesus knows, our struggles take on a whole new meaning.  If God is truly good and is looking out for our good, then we can come to Him with complete honesty.  We can practice honesty when we pray – baring our soul and confronting those hurts that make us doubt God’s goodness by handing them over to Him for healing.

– James Bryan Smith

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Abandoned

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Abandoned,

is one of the worst

ways to feel

 

Alone

Forsaken

Forgotten

 

And we are tempted

to believe God would do that

to us

 

because people do

 

But His timeless words

speak assurance

into our wounded souls

 

“I will never leave you”

 

Never

 

“I will never forsake you”

 

Never

 

And enveloped in that

constant care,

that unending Divine presence,

the question really becomes,

 

“Have I abandoned Him?”

 

– Susie Stewart

 

Those who know Your name trust in You,
for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

– Psalm 9:10 (NIV)

 

…For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.

– Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)

 

Is it possible for a mother, however disappointed,
however hurt, to forget her nursing child?
Can she feel nothing for the baby she carried and birthed?
Even if she could, I, God, will never forget you.
Look here. I have made you a part of Me, written you on the palms of My hands…

– Isaiah 49:15,16 (VOICE)

 

Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.

– Hebrews 13:5 (NIV)

 

Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God…

– Deuteronomy 8:11 (NIV)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

 

Gracious

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

 

Your God-sized graciousness

can’t wait to shower

it’s refreshment on us

 

You long for us, God,

to experience the freedom of grace

the depth of grace

the weightlessness of grace

 

and You wait

and You wait

and You wait

 

and while You wait

we carry the weight

 

the weight of guilt

the weight of shame

the weight of the ungraciousness of people

 

and You long to show us

love

and

compassion

 

You wait patiently

for the laying down of our pride

 

and You are quick to fill

when we finally surrender

to what we needed all along

 

beautiful grace

 

 

– Susie Stewart

 

So the Lord must wait for you to come to Him so He can show you His love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for His help.

– Isaiah 30:18 (NLT)

 

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!

– Isaiah 30:18 (NIV)

 

He is a rock. What He does is perfect. All His ways are fair. He is a faithful God, who does no wrong. He is honorable and reliable.

– Deuteronomy 32:4 (GW)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Warrior

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Do you know

that your King

is also your Warrior?

 

He fights for YOU

 

The fiercest battles

are the unseen

 

And because you are His

He will defend you

 

Almighty Warrior

Savior

Defender

Rock

 

Surrender to Him

and He will fight for you

 

– Susie Stewart

 

 

The Lord is with me like a mighty warrior….

– Jeremiah 20:11 (NIV)

 

The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.

– Exodus 14:14 (NIV) 

 

You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’”

– 2 Chronicles 20:17 (NIV)

 

For the Lord your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!’

– Deuteronomy 20:4 (NLT)

 

Artist unkown

 

On Purpose

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

The decisions we make dictate the schedules we keep.  The schedules we keep determine the lives we live.  The lives we live determine how we spend our souls.  So, this isn’t just about finding time.  This is about honoring God with the time we have.

– Lysa Terkeurst

 

Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do. Make the best use of your time, despite all the difficulties of these days. Don’t be vague but firmly grasp what you know to be the will of God.

– Ephesians 5:15-17 (PHILLIPS)

 

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

– Deuteronomy 6:5 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Cling

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

 

To grasp ahold of another

with vows sacred

 

To cling to my love

through joys and trials

 

To not let go

 

Is the picture You use, Lord,

for Your bride with You

 

Intimacy real

and fierce

 

Holding value

remaining true

 

A grasp so tight

a treasure so rare

 

As firm as that grip is with him

my embrace with You more

 

I cling to You my groom, Jesus,

Forever

 

– Susie Stewart

 

I cling to You;
Your strong right hand holds me securely.

– Psalm 63:8 (NLT)

 

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.

– Ephesians 54:5 (NLT)

 

Revere the Lord your God, serve Him, cling to Him, swear by His name alone!

– Deuteronomy 10:20 (CEB)

 

…cling tightly to the Lord your God as you have done until now.

– Joshua 23:8 (NLT)

 

Husbands, you must love your wives so deeply, purely, and sacrificially that we can understand it only when we compare it to the love the Anointed One has for His bride, the church. We know He gave Himself up completely to make her His own, washing her clean of all her impurity with water and the powerful presence of His word.

– Ephesians 5:24-26 (VOICE)

 

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following Him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook.

– 2 Kings 18:5-7 (NIV)

 

Men ought to give their wives the love they naturally have for their own bodies. The love a man gives his wife is the extending of his love for himself to enfold her. Nobody ever hates or neglects his own body; he feeds and looks after it. And that is what Christ does for His body, the Church. And we are all members of that body, we are His flesh and blood! ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’. The marriage relationship is doubtless a great mystery, but I am speaking of something deeper still—the marriage of Christ and his Church. In practice what I have said amounts to this: let every one of you who is a husband love his wife as he loves himself; let the wife reverence her husband.

– Ephesians 5:30-32 (PHILLIPS)

 

Let us be glad and rejoice,
and let us give honor to Him.
For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb,
and His bride has prepared herself.
She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.”
For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people.
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.”

– Revelation 19:7-9 (NLT)

 

Photo by Nicole Stewart

Parent Love

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

 

“My love and prayers are always covering you.”

 

A covering

as in

a blanket

a coat

a shelter

 

warmth

protection

enveloping

concealing

from the onslaught

 

Extending over

as a shield

 

A treasured message from my mom

A gift passed on to my children

 

Parental love and prayer

Powerful

– Susie Stewart

 

Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift? The fruit of the womb His generous legacy? Like a warrior’s fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children! Your enemies don’t stand a chance against you; you’ll sweep them right off your doorstep.

– Psalm 127:4 (MSG)

 

Make the things I’m commanding you today part of who you are. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you’re sitting together in your home and when you’re walking together down the road. Make them the last thing you talk about before you go to bed and the first thing you talk about the next morning. Do whatever it takes to remember them: tie a reminder on your hand and bind a reminder on your forehead where you’ll see it all the time, such as on the doorpost where you cross the threshold or on the city gate.

– Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (VOICE)

 

Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making Him proud of you as you work hard in His orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that He has for us.

– Colossians 1:8-10 (MSG)

 

Photo by Olan Mills way back when

Immersed

/ Susie Stewart / 2 Comments

You will hear lies

coming from within

and from the outside

 

And it is infinitely important

that you immerse yourself

in Truth

 

For if you hear the lies

about you

or God

or life

and you can’t recall Truth

 

You just might believe

those lies

 

So immerse

saturate

drown yourself

in Truth

 

It’s about life or death

for your mind

for your heart

for your soul

– Susie Stewart

 

…Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

– 2 Corinthians 11:14 (NLT)

 

Let the words from the book of the law be always on your lips. Meditate on them day and night so that you may be careful to live by all that is written in it. If you do, as you make your way through this world, you will prosper and always find success.

– Joshua 1:8 (VOICE)

 

How can a young person live a clean life? By carefully reading the map of your Word. I’m single-minded in pursuit of you; don’t let me miss the road signs you’ve posted. I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won’t sin myself bankrupt. Be blessed, God; train me in your ways of wise living. I’ll transfer to my lips all the counsel that comes from your mouth; I delight far more in what you tell me about living than in gathering a pile of riches. I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you, I attentively watch how you’ve done it. I relish everything you’ve told me of life, I won’t forget a word of it.

– Psalm 119:14-16 (MSG)

 

May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

– Psalm 19:4 (NLT)

 

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

– Deuteronomy 6:5-9 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

With You

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

As sure as God puts His children in the furnace He will be in the furnace with them.

– Charles Spurgeon

 

Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; He will neither fail you nor abandon you.

– Deuteronomy 31:8 (NLT)

 

But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
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.

Isaiah 43:1,2 (NLT)

 

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.

– Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)

 

Hold on to the faithfulness of God.  Believe, when you do not understand, that He knows all about you, that He is committed to taking care of you.  He has promised it.

– D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.  But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual.  Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.  So they tied them up and threw them into the furnace, fully dressed in their pants, turbans, robes, and other garments.  And because the king, in his anger, had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in.  So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell into the roaring flames.

But suddenly, Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisers, “Didn’t we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, we certainly did,” they replied.

“Look!” Nebuchadnezzar shouted. “I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire unharmed! And the fourth looks like a god!”

Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”

So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire.  Then the high officers, officials, governors, and advisers crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed, and their clothing was not scorched. They didn’t even smell of smoke!

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent His angel to rescue His servants who trusted in Him. They defied the king’s command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.”

– Daniel 3:16-28 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart