I'm right here. Don't ever wonder, my One.

3/15/25

13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the Law are heirs, then faith is made void and the promise is nullified; 15 for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation. 16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 (as it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, that is, God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that do not exist. 18 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. 22 Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness. 23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 He who was delivered over because of our wrongdoings, and was raised because of our justification.

Romans 4

He gave me this on November 4th. I have been on it ever since:

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip YOU with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 

Hebrews 13:20-21

The same God of Peace who raised Jesus, is at work, here. The same resurrection power is at work here. And not by our wills, but His.

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3/12/25

Our Creator has more interest in your life than you do. 

You are His idea, not yours. He also has more interest in blessing your life than you do. So you can get over worrying that you're not going to "get enough stuff." I know, it's a crass way of expressing it, but it is, truthfully, how humans think. You can put your mind at ease, however, because our Maker wants people to be drawn to you. 

Look, we need to see where God is, so He brings what He calls "glory" to Himself, which is like lights on a runway in the dark. In one sense, that's glory. The Lord knows you have need of these things, and the world seeks after all these things, but God will do a far better job of showing the evidence of His Presence in your life than you will. Utterly abandon yourself to Him. Seek Him first. All the rest will be added to you, so relax about that. 

But there's a gate we have to go through... and there's a strange dichotomy, two distinct ideas which seem contradictory, but they aren't. They... are... not. Jesus says His yoke is easy, His burden is light (Matt 11:28-30), and it is. It's the easiest, most freeing, lightest thing you'll ever carry. In fact, you won't carry it at all, it will carry you. Your eyes will become so clear that you can see all the way to the end of time, to the very last period in the book of Revelation. But there is also a cost. 

Then Peter began to say unto Him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee…. Mark 10:28

21 Jesus said to him, “... go, sell what you have... and come, follow Me.”

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Matt 19-21,22

“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple."

Luke 14:26

These are not the deep sayings of an ancient mystic. This is not for the hard-core Christian. He is telling us: 

"I Am God. I Am not like you, or anyone or anything you understand. I Am perfect, I Am entirely good. I Am SO good in fact, that even the best things you have and are, can't come to me with you. Let them go. TRUST ME. And let them go... TO ME. To My care.

You are not helping them.

You are only hurting them.

Doing your best isn't remotely enough. Humans need perfect, and you can't. You cannot do perfect.

But I can. And yes, I want to. And yes, I tell you up front, I will. I will.

Seek Me first. 

Sell all you have and buy this field. Sit on the floor and let the housekeeping go and listen to me. Let Lazarus die. Grow old and toothless while waiting for your promised first child. Let your wife turn her face from you. Take up a cross, voluntarily, climb up on it and die...

Because I am not like you. 

Though you die, you will live a million times better. 

Though it tarries, it will not tarry.

Though you become poor, Solomon himself was not dressed like I will dress you. 

You do not know "BETTER." 

I do. I know better. I created better. I Am BETTER.

So let it go.

Forget about the stuff, the people you can't handle anyway, and come to Me for Me. 

Give them to Me. They are mine. I will take care of them for you. I have said it, and I will do it.

But YOU... you come to Me, for Me.

ABANDON... but abandon it all to Me."

28 Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and have followed You.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”

Mark 10

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March 12 Daily Devotional

My Utmost For His Highest - Oswald Chambers 

Abandonment

Then Peter began to say unto Him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee…. Mark 10:28

Our Lord replies in effect, that abandonment is for Himself, and not for what the disciples themselves will get from it. Beware of an abandonment which has the commercial spirit in it – “I am going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered from sin, because I want to be made holy.” All that is the result of being right with God, but that spirit is not of the essential nature of Christianity. Abandonment is not for anything at all. We have got so commercialized that we only go to God for something from Him, and not for Himself. It is like saying – “No, Lord, I don’t want Thee, I want myself; but I want myself clean and filled with the Holy Ghost; I want to be put in Thy show room and be able to say – ‘This is what God has done for me.’ ” If we only give up something to God because we want more back, there is nothing of the Holy Spirit in our abandonment; it is miserable commercial self–interest. That we gain heaven, that we are delivered from sin, that we are made useful to God – these things never enter as considerations into real abandonment, which is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.

When we come up against the barriers of natural relationship, where is Jesus Christ? Most of us desert Him – “Yes, Lord, I did hear Thy call; but my mother is in the road, my wife, my self–interest, and I can go no further.” “Then,” Jesus says, “you cannot be My disciple.”

The test of abandonment is always over the neck of natural devotion. Go over it, and God’s own abandonment will embrace all those you had to hurt in abandoning. Beware of stopping short of abandonment to God. Most of us know abandonment in vision only.

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For my house, and all those associated with my house:

"25 “Your locks will be iron and bronze, And according to your days, so will your leisurely walk be. 

(KJV: "so shall thy strength be." I prefer the literal "leisurely walk." I see myself walking out the door on a foggy morning before dawn, whispering His Word with every step, coffee in hand, walking my lands, covering my family and all of my house. Getting old but no time to notice.)

26 “There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to your help, And through the skies in His majesty. 

(The fire in the sky of the rising sun is my Father's Presence, coming to the Meeting Place.)

27 “The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, ‘Destroy!’ 

(The Lord never sleeps nor slumbers. As I rest under the protection of His hardened angelic detail, Lord Jehovah Sabaoth is dealing with enemies I don't even know I have.)

28 “So Israel dwells in security, The fountain of Jacob secluded, In a land of grain and new wine; His heavens also drop down dew. 

(There is no man saved by the multitude of an host: a man is not delivered by much strength. I wake up with my head covered in dew, my lands prospered, and all I did was sleep in His Presence.)

29 “Blessed are you, O Israel; Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, Who is the shield of your help And the sword of your majesty! So your enemies will cringe before you, And you will tread upon their high places.”" 

[Deuteronomy 33:25-29 NASB95]

There is no name like His Name.

Father, allow my house no prosperity that does not come by Your holy hand. Kill every tare, every weed, every vine You do not plant. Rip them out by the roots. I'll burn them and throw out the ashes. 

All I have and am is Yours. I plant my seed on Your lands. Grow Your Holy fruit, bring Your righteous harvest. Bring glory to Yourself, Most High God, Lord and King Jesus Christ, and indwelling Holy Spirit. And Creator-God, let every member of my house, Your house, die old, hardened by Your power in faith, and standing up in Your service.