RESTING IN HIS PROMISES
BREAD
“Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.” Deuteronomy 33:12 (NIV)
14 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14 (NIV)
140 Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them. Psalms 119:140 (NIV)
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word. 148 My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises. Psalms 119:147-148 (NIV)
162 I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil. Psalms 119:162 (NIV)
165 Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. Psalms 119:165 (NIV)
3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3 (NIV)
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)
17 “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
(NIV)
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 9 If you make the Most High your dwelling– even the LORD, who is my refuge– 10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” Psalms 91:1-16 (NIV)
BUTTER
Written to his wife during one difficult time in the work of the China Inland Mission, “We have twenty-five cents – and all the promises of God!” J. Hudson Taylor
“We as Christians know that faith is taking God at His Word. And we realize that faith does not get us around our problems, but it gets us through them. Such a promise is found in Psalm 48:14, ‘For this is God, our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death.’ His promise then is no matter how difficult we may find life to be, He will guide us all the way home. Isaiah 42:16 ‘And I will bring the blind by a way they know not. I will lead them in paths that they have not known.’ This is the way God leads His own. You and I are blind to the future, but He is not, and He has promised to lead all who will put their trust in Him. Sometimes, because our circumstances are totally out of our control, we not only have to believe these promises, but we must put them to the test.” Wales Goebel
“Life holds for all of us, from time to time, desolate places. All that was ordinary and secure and familiar and dependable seems a thousand miles away. Here we are in this strange wilderness- out of work, ill, robbed of something or someone, banished from a privilege that once was ours, no longer needed, confused, forsaken. It is a place of dryness, loneliness, isolation, helplessness, fear. We feel as though we are walking where no human being was ever meant to walk, a place of dragons. Don’t despair. Even though you find no signs, be sure that thousands have traversed this terrain. When you reach the far side you will meet them. But there is something that is far more comforting than that. You are not alone now. Always beside you is Another whose voice you may not hear, whose arm you may not feel, whose footprint you may not see. Nevertheless His Word is utterly to be trusted: ‘I cared for you in the wilderness.’ (Hosea 13:5)” Elisabeth Elliot
“Pleading the promises of God is the whole secret of prayer.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“God’s promises are like the stars; the darker the night, the brighter they shine.” David Nicholas
“Do we really believe in the power of prayer? That God will revive a country, a state, a city, a soul – in direct response to our petitions? Why are we reticent to act on the behalf of ourselves and others? All the promises of Scripture stand at the ready for the bended knee.” BHY
“There is no place for faith if we expect God to fulfill immediately what He promises.” John Calvin
“God wants us to reconnect with the powerful and timeless things He has done in the past, enabling us to build on them rather than always starting over. He not only desires that we be encouraged by remembering His past faithfulness, but also to realize that the promises and anointing’s released during those seasons are still available today.” Dutch Sheets
“O Lord, I plead thy precious promises; and thou canst not deny thy word. Thou hast laid thyself under obligation to help a feeble, praying soul. Then let thy Holy Spirit abide with me, to quicken my soul when fainting, and to rule my heart in all things, that no sin may have dominion over me.” K. H. Von Bogatzky
“A fixed, constant attention to the promises, and a firm belief in them, would prevent solicitude and anxiety about the concerns of this life. It would keep the mind quiet and composed in every change, and support and keep up our sinking spirits under the several troubles of life….Christians deprive themselves of their most solid comforts by their unbelief and forgetfulness of God’s promises. For there is no extremity so great but there are promises suitable to it, and abundantly sufficient for our relief in it.” Samuel Clarke
“How things appear to us, and how they actually are, are rarely the same. Sometimes it looks and feels like the Almighty is dealing ‘very bitterly’ with us, when all the while He is doing us and many others more good than we could have imagined. God’s purposes in the lives of His children are always gracious. Always. If they don’t look like it, don’t trust your perceptions. Trust God’s promises. He is always fulfilling His promises.” Jon Bloom
HEART SAVOR
• I rob myself of much peace when I do not rest upon His promises.
• God had promised to lead me all the way home. I am safe in His all-powerful Hands.
• God’s promises shine like the stars against the blackness of the most horrific circumstances.
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