January 2021 - a Time for Wisdom

A dear friend and trusted teacher most generously gifted me a brand new one-year Bible for Christmas, called The Daily Walk.

I have to say; it's proving to be much easier for me to follow than the original plan I was using. It's only a few chapters per day, and it's sequential. Also, it brought me back to the beginning of the Bible - a great place to start in the New Year! This is the exact gift I needed at this point in my quest to learn who God really is, to focus on His work rather than my own, and to deepen my relationship with him. I am eternally grateful. ❤

Learning in this new way offers a fresh perspective. I have a renewed sense of excitement about the year ahead. From the creation story in Genesis, God's presence among His people has become so vivid a thought in my mind. He walked with them throughout all five books of the Old Testament. The Good News? That very same God is walking with each of us today!

I now feel as though I am truly walking with God. No matter what happens to come my way - or yours - God is in control.

The truth is, none of us knows what tomorrow will bring. With each sunrise, we are given two choices with which we can face the day ahead. We can either begin our days through eyes of fearful trepidation or those of joyful hope.

It is most important that we choose joyful hope over fear daily.

Even on the hard days, we have to keep choosing joy and hope in the face of that fear.

As I write this, I'm called to think of the days of losing our loved ones. Those days are always the hardest to push through. 2020 brought with it too many of those days for too many people.

Where can we possibly find joy or hope in those days?

The only possible answer is in Christ Jesus Himself and who He is in us, the Hope of Glory. (Colossians 1:27).

While we mourn the loss of our loved ones in our present lives, we cling to the hope that we will - with great certainty - see them again in the Resurrection of the Body of Christ and the establishment of His new Kingdom here on Earth.

Looking back on those days of loss in my own life, I fully know that the only One who could have gotten me through them, through the intentional effort it took just to put one foot in front of the other, was God Himself. In fact, in everything we do, we must learn to live out the instruction of Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (KJV)

There have been times along this path, in my prayer life, when I'm speaking with God about something so fervently, not really certain that I am receiving any answers. But, more often than not (and thankfully so), there have been surefire prayer moments when God's direction along this path is so unmistakably clear. Whether it's through my actual bible readings, pieces of mail, a song, or a social media post, God sends so timely a message to me that it meets me exactly where I am. The Spirit Himself moves me in such a way that I am certain that God is speaking.

The message God wanted me to receive this month was crystalline - to seek His WISDOM.

Everywhere I turned, there were scriptures about Wisdom before my very eyes.

My daily readings and devotionals pointed to wisdom.

Fellowship scriptures pointed to the importance of wisdom.

The January Faithbox Theme of the month? Wisdom!

Joyce Meyer's monthly mailing? You guessed it! Wisdom.

Do you know what this says to me?

It tells me that we have a God who hears and responds to us. We have a God who brings His loving ears close to our hearts' very whispers, and He shouts His answers from the Heavens. We serve a truly awesome God.

It's time for us to receive the message - to spend time with God in His word, to trust Him in His infinite wisdom, and most importantly, to rest assured that His good plan for our lives is unfolding in His timing and not ours.

Over twenty years ago, my Uncle sent me Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible - another gift I am eternally grateful for. He knew that I was searching for God, even then, and that in time, God would grant me the knowledge I was seeking.

Through divine inspiration, God revealed this wisdom to King Solomon thousands of years before He revealed any of it to me, in the following scripture:

Proverbs 2:1-15

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— indeed, if you call out for insight

and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Then you will understand what is right and just

and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you,

and understanding will guard you.

Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.

I pray that you, too, are seeking Godly wisdom and that you are seeking Him in His word. In there, you will be sure to find all that you're looking for—his promise, not mine.

Happy to have you on this journey. ❤

God bless you - exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you could ever think or imagine - in this promising year ahead ~ 2021.

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(print from Joyce Meyer Ministries)