Today’s Readings:
Psalm 63
Psalm 138-139
Isaiah 43
139 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
Psalm 139:1-6
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
5 You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
The Lord says,
Don’t hold on so tightly to your frustrations, to the pain, to the perspective of promises being unfulfilled. Come and lay those down. Come and lighten your load. Come and get a touch from Heaven — of peace, of rest, of release from the burdens that are weighing you down. Come. Sit. Dwell with Me. Let everything else fade into the background.
Walk out this waiting period, this travailing period, this pre- breakthrough period in peace, with lightness. That is your acceptable act of worship — to not kick and scream down the hardest and driest part of the road. Let Me lighten your load. Put your hope, your trust and your preemptive yes on Me. Trying to accomplish it in your own strength is just going to lead to more dead ends and frustration right now. Can’t you see I’m doing something new? Walk out the rest of this wilderness road with Me. I will guide you. I will strengthen you. Remember the joy of the Lord is your strength.
63 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
Psalm 63:1
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I will instruct you in the way you should go. The hand wringing, complaining and pity parties are not pulling you forward into breakthrough. Breakthrough is steadily coming toward you. It is steadily moving closer to you. So worship through this dry place. Rejoice and offer up your thanksgiving to Me in this desert place. And the breakthrough will simply slip into your reality at the moment I have ordained. Hold on lightly to your professional identity. Hold on loosely to your fixed ideas about what is possible. This breakthrough will enter your life as simply and as nonchalantly as the cracking of an egg, but in the spirit and in your life, it will have the power of a launching rocket behind it.
18 “Do not call to mind the former things,
Isaiah 43:18-19
Or ponder things of the past.
19 “Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert.
This personal breakthrough that you have been travailing for, contending for, clinging to hope for will slip in quietly and unassumingly, and it will propel you faster, further and with exceedingly great power to places and people, to ideas and dreams that you could have never thought possible. Recall C.S. Lewis’s illustration about the young child who is content to play in the mud puddle because he can’t perceive what his parent’s invitation to spend a day at the seaside means. In this picture what you see and believe as your possible is the mud puddle; and where I Am launching you is the seaside. Don’t give up. Don’t throw in the towel. I have you on this wilderness path for a reason, and it’s only for a season.
7 For You have been my help,
Psalm 63:7-8
And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to You;
Your right hand upholds me.
Come and fill yourself at the wellspring of My love. Find refreshing at the never dry oasis of Me. Walk hand in hand with Me as a dearly loved and gently comforted child to the end of this wilderness road, this desert place — into the sparkling bright launchpad I have positioned for you.
Nations Spotlight: Venezuela
My people in Venezuela are hurting. They have been robbed from, abused and persecuted simply for trying to live a good life and provide for their families, for trying to build something and for trying to prosper. Pray for breakthrough in Venezuela — for righteous leadership, for strength and courage for the people; and for transformation that only I can bring. Pray for breakthrough, for a tipping point, for the tide to turn in the favor of the people in Venezuela.
How to Respond
- Offer up to the Lord your thanksgiving and your worship.
- Relinquish your plan, your striving, your hand wringing and complaining. Leave the heavy load weighing you down at His feet.
- Choose to dwell in the Presence of the Lord, to fill yourself with His love and to strengthen yourself with His joy.
- Pray, Lord, help me to let go of all of the desires, hopes and frustrations that I am holding onto so tightly. Help me instead to live from a posture of thanksgiving, worship, gratitude and obedience. All of my hope is in You Lord.
- Declare, the Lord is walking with me through this desert place. He sees my frustration, my desires, my longings, my dreams. And He is walking with me toward an explosive and powerful launching into the new season and new place He has for me.
- Decree, the Lord is not leaving me here in the wilderness. He has beautiful and unfathomably exciting plans and purposes waiting for me. We are moving rapidly toward the breakthrough, and I will worship through the last stretch of wilderness. I will finish this wilderness journey with grace and excellence. I will hold my head high and walk in obedience to the Lord without fear of man or fear of being abandoned in the desert. The Lord will do what He said He will do, and that includes moving me to and through the point of breakthrough.
- Pray, Lord we pray for strength, wisdom, courage and encouragement for the people of Venezuela. We ask that You change the tide in their favor, that illegitimate leadership, wicked and thieving leadership would be removed and replaced with righteous leadership, with prosperity and with freedom for the people. Lord we ask for Your Spirit to invade and transform Venezuela for Your Name’s sake and for Your glory.
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