Tag: encouraging devotions

“Now, When, and Then”

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He knows me now, He knew me when, and He knows me then. My friends, what great confidence is this that our God knows us so completely (Psalm 139:1-6)?

He sees what you face today. He saw your past days and the murky spots you have traveled through. And, He already has met your future. Nothing and no part of your life is hidden from the eyes of our great God (Hebrews 4:13).

Our past, our present, and our future are opened before Him, and so is His love for you. Through all that He knows of you, His love is still shining like a lighthouse, beckoning you and guiding you closer to the shores of His embrace, saying, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Remember, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever,” (Hebrews 13:8; Revelation 22:13), and you are completely known and loved by Him.

Father God, thank You that You know me so well. Thank You, that Your love has not diminished in my life and that Your light still shines brightly for me. Help me, every day, to be reminded of this great grace and affection You have toward me. Through the storms, when I look up, I see You and You are drawing me near, allowing me to find shelter and refuge in You. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray, AMEN!

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“Eternally Named!”

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“Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.” Isaiah 56:5

Did you grow up wishing for a new name? Sometimes, do you wish you could hide behind the identity of another? God has a “new name” promise in heaven for you. No need to hide, but in Him, literally, all things are made new, including my name.

Names are important. People are identified by their names. Reputations hang on the pegs of one’s name.

Names can come by way of the thoughtful contemplation of parents. Names can also attach themselves to people and children through hurtful expressions.

With God, names always matter. But also with God, whatever name you carry in this world, were assigned to, or cruelly called by another – it will fade and mean nothing in His heavenly courts (just make sure your name is one that is written in the “book of life” Revelation 20:11-15; see also Revelation 13:8).

In red-lettered words, written in Revelation, we have this promise from our Lord: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it” (2:17, my added emphasis).

Those words are so encouraging if you have ever felt the sting of being called out of your given name or had your reputation smeared. Those words give promise if you felt like you have been shouldering a burden that has attached itself too familiarly to your name. Those words speak newness if you have ever had to fight to come from under the umbrella of what people have called you, or even what you have called yourself.

In Isaiah 55, the invitation is given to everyone who thirsts to come and partake of this promise of the new. This promise is for any, no matter their background, origin, or what have you, to gather to God, to be His people, and to reap the glorious blessings of His covenants and promise which also include “an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.”

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Take Away the Stone

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“Jesus said, Take ye away the stone . . .” John 11:39

Their loved one has been dead for four days.  They sent for Jesus while he was just sick, but Jesus spoke without wavering: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 11:4). Therefore, the Bible tells us He waited and didn’t immediately run to Lazarus’ side.

Now, He has arrived at the place of grief.  Acceptance of the situation has taken over and the loved ones and the people gathered there responded as any would.  Mary and Martha cried.  They mourned.  And much of what they were feeling, they probably couldn’t understand themselves.

The scene was heart-wrenching and troubling and now Jesus asked what seemed to some to be an unreasonable request: “Take ye away the stone.”

Unreasonable? Not in the least.

What Jesus was asking for was permission to gain access to the problem.

There are steps of faith and participation Jesus asks His followers to take. If you remember, back in 2 Chronicles 20:17, the people were told to get battle-ready and go out against the people even though they would not need to fight in that particular battle.  We are responsible for activating our faith in Him by following through on His requests even if it seems irrational or unreasonable.

God does not move according to our timetable.  Nor, does He move in ways that we think are right or not.  In fact, His ways of thinking and His plans are far out of our reach of human understanding (Isaiah 55:8-9).  And when He’s ready to move, we need to be ready to move.

By removing the stone they would not only be giving Jesus access to Lazarus, but they were giving Him access to their faith. When one opens their faith they give Jesus a chance to speak life into that place and do the impossible.

Many of us have areas where we could use a touch from Jesus.  Areas that need life spoken into them.

Stones, or blockades of any kind, act as hindrances to the miracles and moving of our Lord.  Are there stones in the way of you receiving something from Jesus?  Does He have full access to your life and faith?

Earlier, Jesus spoke, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).  Jesus’ objective is and has always been to give life.  Life here, and life for all eternity.  Take away the stones and give Jesus unobstructed access to your life.

Blessings ~

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“Stop the Madness!”

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“. . . And bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:5

“I cannot get this thought out of my mind!” That is the howl of frustration that has come from many persons I know. It has probably come from you, too. The relentless, almost like water dripping from the faucet thoughts, that drip, drip, drip their way into your mind. Sometimes making your head spin with a bothersome problem. If those thoughts were pleasant to us, then we would not mind it so much. It would cause us to feel as though we were walking through a field of flowers all day long. It’s when the invasion of unpleasant thoughts comes and messes with our peaceful reverie that we have a problem. These things continually bounce off the mind, not allowing rest for the soul.

The apostle Paul taught, “Take every thought captive.” The Christian must make a conscious effort to have a fly trap mentality. There is a barrier that every individual is to put up to guard their precious mind. That barrier is the Word of God. Whatever does not fall in line with Him and His Word is supposed to be trapped and discarded as refuse like that old, dirty fly trap. There is some bothersome stuff that people put up with every day. They are buzzing around your head and just plain ole getting on your nerves. I mean, you really wish you could tear it out of there and throw it away. Guess what? I have good news for you you can. Today, you can stop the madness because the Word of God declares, “You will keep him perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You!” (Isaiah 26:3, NKJV).

When you are dealing with all that annoying stuff, it is robbing you of the peace that God wants you to have in Him. As I am writing this, I am looking at my cats stretched out on the floor, sleeping. Outside there is some stonework cutting going on using a loud machine not far from my window. When the work first began, it caused their ears to perk up, and I think they were wondering what is going on out there. As time went on, they stopped wondering and started sleeping. I guess they figured, hey, whatever is going on out there does not affect me in here. I am in my safety. I am in my shelter. I am in my place of trust.

That is what God wants each of us to experience in Him. This kind of rest and peace only comes with first, trusting Him, and secondly, taking every thought captive. These two working together will give you the peace you so desire. After all, who does not want more peace? One can have all the money in the world and be miserable because there is no peace of mind.

Stop the madness. “Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” I once heard this described as a wrestling match. I forget who I heard it from, but the idea is taking hold of that thought, pinning it to the ground, and making it obey Christ. If that thought does not profit my spiritual growth in God or my relationship with people or any of the good stuff God wants for me, then it is to be pinned down. It is not allowed to get the victory today. It is not even allowed in the ring with me.

How do I do that? “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things,” (Phil. 4:8). That is how you do it. I know from personal experience how easy it is to focus on all the negative stuff that tries to rob you of peace. But if you will change, on purpose, the focus of your thought life, you will begin to experience what God said you can have. I have heard it said that if you keep doing the same thing then you will keep getting the same results. No truer is that than here, in dealing with what you think throughout the day.

So, instead of letting all that madness of wrong thoughts overrun you – today, stand up against it. Take control of it and capture it. It is not allowed to have access. Today, declare, it is time to “Stop the madness!”

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“Come to the Waters”

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“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters . . .” Isaiah 55:1

Come to the waters, the Lord beckons.  This world will tire you out and the pursuit of it will leave you drained.  Refreshment can only be found in Him.  As one traipsing through a desert of darkness that this world so often leads you through, His plentiful Spirit will satiate the aridness and will water your life where it was once dry.

Do you need that touch from Him?

Come!

Do you need that refreshing spring that flows from the everlasting Father?

Come!

Do you need the tenderness and hope that can only be found in the stream of His salvation?

Come!

Do you need to be rejuvenated into new birth in the waters of His spiritual deliverance?

Then, come!

Don’t lighten your pace.  Run with haste to the pool of His mercy and grace, and come.  Don’t let anyone stop you from dipping in.  Dive in with full surrender and with full abandon, and come.

A sip just won’t do.  We are thirsty for You, O God!  We have nothing to offer for the price You paid, yet, You say come.  We have no value on our own, but You speak, come anyway.  There is no good thing that dwells in our flesh (Romans 7:18), but You invite us to draw near to You and come.

Come to the waters.  Step into the abundant life He so offers (John 10:10).  Come and let your soul be spiritually satisfied.  Come and take the offer of His salvation for yourself.

Come, and don’t turn away.  Don’t give up this great treasure that can only be found in God.  Don’t let the delight of what the Lord Jesus Christ bought for you on that cross slip through your fingers.

“Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live . . .” (Isaiah 55:3, NKJV).  Live in Him.  Live in the peace He offers through the pouring out of His blood.  Live a life free from spiritual drought because you were once thirsty and you came and partook of His holy waters.

Yes, this world will dry you out, but He restores, He redeems, and He puts in right fellowship with Him every thirsty soul that comes to Him and drinks.  Jesus said, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life,” (John 4:14).

Therefore, come to the Water!

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“Yet Again!”

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There is something special about the word again.  It can be a word that adds to your life or takes away.  It can be a word of blessing, or it can also become annoying and tiresome when used in a certain way.  For instance, pushing a child on a swing or giving them a horsey-back ride.   While it is all fun and games, and as parents and grandparents we love the joy filled with their pleas for “again”, after so many times of hearing it, that child has more energy than you do and you are tired and don’t want to hear the word “again”, again.  The repetition of the plea wears you down.

In other areas of our lives, there are repetitions of “again” that wear us down as well.  Unwelcoming feelings of disappointment and hurt keep invading your life like waves crashing on the seashore.  Coming again and again – like the very erosion you witness on beaches because of the constant pounding of waves – we feel that eat away at us and we are bewildered, scratching our heads and questioning “again?”.

The year 2020 has left many people scratching their heads, wondering in their minds “again?”  It seemed like every month that went by some new tragedy or national, and even global event was transpiring that shook the foundation of many people, making them question, “What now?” and “Where do we go from here?”

If you have ever seen those demonstrations of a mouse in a maze you get a sense of how frustrating it is for the animal.  It feels like it is going through all these different channels and passageways only to come to another blocked exit, another place that says you are not getting out of this.  That’s a trapped feeling.  One of hopelessness. 

Many today are dealing with those same feelings.  Feelings that make it seem no matter which way one turns, there is a hand held up, signaling for you to stop, suggesting you are not allowed beyond this point.  Turning toward another path or another decision, and there’s another sign saying access denied.  Over and over again, running into these blockades is frustrating, feeling there’s no way out, and left wondering “again?”.

In 2 Kings 19 and its parallel chapter located in 2 Chronicles 32, we see King Hezekiah dealing with some of these “again?” moments when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, comes against Jerusalem to besiege it. 

Being besieged is when you are trapped on all sides.  It is being totally surrounded, and like that mouse in a maze, there is no way out.

This was a part of warfare.  They would totally enclose a city giving little to no options of recuperating on their own.  Either the people could stay walled up in the city and eventually starve because there’s no way in and no way out for goods to be transported.  They could be killed in the city when the enemy broke through.  Or they could come out with their hands up and accept a life of captivity in the enemy’s land. 

None of these options were very appealing.  And for Hezekiah, after initiating great spiritual reforms for his people, after demolishing all the evil practices in the land, after re-establishing true worship of the one and only true God – this all must have been very confusing of why this?  Why now?  Why him?  Why again?

Did you know that even when you do right, sometimes things can still go wrong (at least according to how we see it)?  There are too many Bible verses that let us know that we, as God’s people, are not exempt from trouble.  Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33).  1 Peter says, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:” (4:12). 

What was happening with Hezekiah wasn’t strange either.  When you work to detach your life and people from the enemy’s clutches, there is always going to be resistance. 

What do you do when you’ve done all that you know to be right and the enemy is still persisting?

Hezekiah did what we all should do.  When faced with the challenge before him, he sought the LORD for help (2 Kings 19:1, 14-19; 2 Chronicles 32:20).

God’s response is recorded in 2 Kings 19:29-34.  What the enemy put his hands on to destroy, God was bringing a “yet again” moment.  2 Kings 19:30 records, “And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward” (bold emphasis added).  This “remnant” had current, future, and future, future inspirations attached to it.  

When God is involved, “again” doesn’t come with anxiety attached to it.  “Again” wasn’t coming with heartache involved in it.  “Again” wasn’t a signal for more despair and a more wearing out of His people.

“Again” was coming with promise!  Again, was coming, telling you what you see today is not how your story will end.  Again, was coming to let you know that not only are you coming out of this siege – not only is the trap that has been holding you in going to let you go – but there is also going to be some re-rooting and regrowing taking place among God’s people (2 Kings 19:30).

“Yet again.”  God saw past the circumstances that currently surrounded His people.  Not only did and does He see past the current stuff, but He sees past the future stuff.  He knew everything they were dealing with and would deal with in the future, and what He spoke over them and to them was for a time of restoration.  A time of being re-rooted.  And a time of new growth upwards.

Although we can sometimes associate the word “again” in some of those tiresome ways previously discussed, with God, “again” brings with it a breath of new hope.

As we begin this new year many need to hear that breath of new hope breathing “yet again.”  We have crossed over into 2021, and that means not only are we in a new day, but we are in a new year.  And while we are here, we have hope for a new “again”. 

I have recognized in my own life areas where I need to be re-rooted that so that new growth can begin growing upwards.  As with the beginning of any new year, the idea of new and restoration and beginning again speaks something special to me personally.  I feel new energy, a new awakening within me to do more, to reinitiate some stuff in some areas, and to seek new growth in other areas.  To, all in all, do more and do better in the year to come.

I thank God for His “again” moments He has given me.  With His new graces and mercies, and with this new year, we can begin again right where we are.  Our circumstances may not be perfect according to some, but as long as we are walking with Him, and His Spirit is guiding our life, our “yet again” can be something unbelievably beautiful to behold.

Ultimately, these moments we take to walk with Him and realign our lives to His purposes will lead us to live in eternity with God forever.  Until then, let your “yet again” work something beautiful in the time He has given us today, and for this year. 

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Throwback Thursday – Happy Thanksgiving!

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Hashtags have found a way into our lives and in our standard of communication.  These keywords or lettered initials are used for several reasons.  They increase the probability of likes on a post or picture.  They can link you to others who are expressing the same interest in a particular subject or person.  At other times, they make a statement without going too deep into content.

One of my favorite hashtags I see people use is #tbt (Throwback Thursday).  When you see these, people are sharing stuff that you may not have been privileged to see before.  Perhaps it was a photograph from an exotic honeymoon vacation many years before you met the individual.  Or, how about when people share pictures of themselves as babies or young children.  I like to look at these the most and compare their features to what I see today and mark the resemblance, and so on.

Throwback Thursday gives us a view to people’s past.  These moments shared are often joyful and heartwarming, bringing out the “Aww!” of nostalgia.

The more I think about it, the more it came to me that our Thanksgiving celebrations are like those throwbacks we see posted in social circles.  For it is at Thanksgiving, if we are nothing else, we are grateful.  When our minds take in the year we just went through – all the Lord God has brought us through, we are grateful.  When we see His hands working in things for which we had no control, we are grateful.  When we look back over our lives, when we take our own trips down memory lane and see His deliverances, His help, His love and mercy, His grace and anointing at work in our lives, we are grateful.  When we see those snapshots of where we have been and compare them to where we are now, we are grateful.

For at Thanksgiving, a time in our history, we set aside this day to express gratitude and thankfulness for what the Lord has done for us.  We enjoy a feast of good food.  We enjoy fellowship with family and friends (even if some of it is done virtually this year).  We come together for the reason of celebrating with like minds and like hearts.

While this year those gatherings may look different and the feasts for some may seem smaller or not quite what you are used to, let’s keep the grandness of this day – the reason for its purpose front and center: thankfulness for all God has done for us.

During this Thanksgiving, this throwback Thursday, reminisce on God’s faithfulness through this year and through your life.  In your mind’s eye, allow yourself to wander and spend some time on those beautiful snapshots, those past moments, those photographs of your life, and be reminded of His faithfulness at work.

And, while many of us can’t meet or come together as we usually do, we have those good memories of great love and times shared in the past.  We have the love and memories from our Heavenly Father and the love and memories of those blessed souls He has placed in our lives that we call family and friends.

Today, as I look back, I am thankful for so much.  In the little details and the grand adventures, I am thankful.

I have had times of tears and times of joy, but knowing God is still with me today and He has an even greater plan beyond what we see for this day or even for this year – I am thankful.

No wonder David wrote, “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth,” (Psalm 34:1).  There will be some times that are harder than others, but it is God who sustains us and protects us, and loves us through it all.  Therefore, we praise.  Therefore, we still give Him thanks!

I pray that however this Thanksgiving finds you, it will find you in the peace and love of the Lord above all.  Blessings to you and Happy Thanksgiving!

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No matter what it looks like, God is faithful!

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Our circumstances never matter as much as the faithfulness of our God. Yes, we may not wholly understand the reason and season for tears, but when one takes to heart the providence of God; when one leans back and views the previous encounters of His loving hand at work in their life, the realization that if He worked in such a time as that, then by faith, in this, I can declare too that with God, nothing is impossible, (Luke 1:37).

His working hand may not appear to maneuver things in the same fashion as He did before – but, He’s still here. The disbursement of His blessings may not rain in showers as they did before. Perhaps there is another way He wants to move our hearts into new territories of faith. Perhaps we have cleaved to our preconceived perceptions too long and our good Father wants to show us that no matter what it looks like. No matter how the fight formed may appear, it does not negate His faithful stance for His people.

Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. And, His holy Word declares there is nothing… there is no thing that shall be able to separate us from His love (Romans 8:35-39).

Circumstances, unsettling things, unknown situations will periodically appear in our lives. And while that is true, we must remember that our God is not a “periodical” God. He doesn’t just show up in times of happenstance. He doesn’t make His rounds to see who or what He wants to attend to and deal with at that moment.

No. But He is forever faithful. Never let what you’re dealing with shatter that wonderful truth: GOD IS FOREVER FAITHFUL! Cleave to Him because, my friend, He is cleaving to you. You are engraved in the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16). You are never far from His mind (Psalm 40:5). You are never forgotten (Isaiah 49:15). You are never left on your own (Hebrews 13:5). Your life and future are part of a beautiful plan He has laid out for you (Jeremiah 29:11). Never stop believing in the One who fights for you (Romans 8:31); the One who is on your side (Psalm 118:6).

He was faithful in the yesterdays of life. He will be faithful in the todays of life. And, He will always be faithful in the future of our life (Hebrews 10:23).

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

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“Today, I Walk!” | Word For Life Says

The way one walks says a lot about them.  When I’m grocery shopping I’m a beast.  My walk is hard for my family to keep up with (which is why I shop alone, for the most part).  I can hit five or six different stores in one day of grocery shopping (I know prices by heart and refuse to pay more for it or I want a certain store brand – pray for me :)).  The way I walk shows everyone in my path, “I don’t play!”

You are identified by how you walk.  You can tell if someone is tired by the way they walk.  They may seem just a little slower and less focused due to exhaustion.  If someone walks with a limp they can be identified as being sore or perhaps injured.  A straight, persistent gait can imply confidence.  Someone with pep in their step can give the impression of happiness.  People pay attention to the way you walk.

People are not the only ones who pay attention to our walk.  God is watching each life that goes before Him.  That’s what the word walk means in the Bible.  It speaks of one’s life or conversation.  Their daily day-to-day affairs.  Colossians 1:10 exhorts us, “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.” (KJV).  Your walk matters.

The psalmist knew to whom he was living.  He did not possess his own life.  He did not own his own steps.  While he strode across the face of this earth, “in the land of the living,” he was walking “before the Lord.”

How many days do we waste living our days for other people?  How much stress do we put on ourselves to please other people?  It’s okay to work in cooperation with others, but we don’t live or walk for them!

Choose today to live and walk before the Lord.  Being a people pleaser will mess up your stride.  If you really want to advance spiritually and in this world, live your life “before the Lord.”  His opinion is the only one that matters.

Free yourself from the chains and shackles of people’s approval.  If you are straight with God – then, you are straight!  He’s the one that loves you!  He’s the one that saved you!  He’s the one that brought you to this new day.  Use it to walk “before the Lord!”

Today, I walk before the Lord!

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“Better Days are Coming!”

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” (Zechariah 9:9)

What do you do when you look around and all you see is a mess?  Nothing is as you’d hoped it would be.  Life all of sudden doesn’t seem to make sense.  You’re glad for where you are and what you have, but you also recognize in the midst of circumstances the discouraging realization that you still have so far to go.

Boy, if that doesn’t ring true for what many are experiencing today.  One day we went to bed and everything was normal.  Then, just as quickly, it seems we woke up to a new reality and everything was different.  Everything was harder than it was the day before.  Where there was once freedom, now a new reality of limitations and restrictions has taken over.

What does all this have to do with the above verse?  Simply this.  In the time of Zechariah’s prophecy, the children of Israel had returned home from Babylonian captivity some 15-20 years prior.  Even at this point in history, when they look around they still see nothing but the marks of destruction; they still see broken walls and broken dreams in the land, and discouragement was running rampant.

But in the midst of that discouragement, Zechariah brings a word of hope from the Lord regarding their future.

What seems to be their new reality is not all there is.  They might not understand their times of walking through the rubble and living in the ruins of their former life, but God has something – God has Someone coming on the horizon who is going to usher in the greatest story of rebuilding and restoration the world has ever seen or known.

Although God delivered His people from Babylonian captivity and brought them back to their homeland to start living and inhabiting it again, He is not as interested in their physical buildings that lay in rubble.  He is more concerned with their spiritual buildings, their hearts, that may have collected just as much dust in them as the ruins around them.

Therefore, through Zechariah’s prophecy, God focuses His people to not dwell on the mess of today, but rather, focus on the message for all the tomorrows to come.  For that’s where they and we will find hope for the future.

Zechariah lets them know better days are coming because there is a coming King like no other.  When He comes in, His appearance and riding may appear to the masses as lowly.  But this King’s reign will be a reason to rejoice in the midst of rubble and ruins.  The King’s coming would be a reason to shout because true salvation and deliverance have never been so close.  This King’s coming will be a reason to celebrate in full jubilation, and to shout, “Hosanna in the highest,” (Mark 11:8) because when He comes, victory comes with Him.  When He comes, restoration comes with Him.  When He comes, better days come with Him!

The triumphal entry of our Lord was prophesied hundreds of years before it occurred, and still brings a message of hope to us who hear it thousands of years later because it reminds us in the face of all the turmoil this world was bound up in, Jesus marched forth toward His destiny of the cross to bring more peace and victory than we could ever hope to receive on our own.   And, although things may not seem to be the way we planned or look how we envisioned, with Him as our hope and guide, we can be assured that if nothing stopped Him from moving forward into the hardest thing He would ever face just so that we all would have a better future, then nothing will stop Him now from being that source of faith that many so long for.

Even in the midst of adversity and hardship, Jesus is still riding in our lives with a message of hope and peace today.  Days and circumstances may seem discouraging, but you’re not riding through them alone.

When He came in on what we celebrate as Palm Sunday, “many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way.  And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.  Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest” (Mark 11:8-10).  But we know His story didn’t stop there.  In Zechariah’s prophecy, He is also seen as the One who subdues enemies and brings everlasting peace for His people.

When Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of riding in on the donkey He didn’t stop there for you either.  He came to usher so much more in your life and mine.  Where do you find yourself today?  For many that question may bring some very difficult answers.  Although the answers may appear difficult and we may not find an immediate solution to those answers, one thing we can do is still celebrate this day in victory, by faith,  as we would any other Palm Sunday.  We may not be in physical church buildings, gathering together and shouting the victory, but I believe where we are we can set aside some time to still proclaim, “Hosanna in the highest!” because that day was not the end of His story, neither is it the end of ours.

What we are facing today cannot diminish His promises for all our tomorrows to come.  If He already walked into the hardest thing for us, surely He will see us to a victorious ending.  It may not always feel like it, and what’s going on around us may make many sway, but rest assured, what’s going on does not have the last word.  Jesus rode in victory and through His resurrection power (which we celebrate next week for Easter Sunday), He remains victorious today and forevermore!  Therefore, even if we can’t see it right now we know that better days are coming!

So hold on, my friends.  Don’t let what you see today make you question your tomorrows.  Nobody loves you like that same Jesus who rode in to save your life and mine.  The King has come once, and He’s coming back again.  Victory is His, and victory can be yours too.  One day this will all be over (both now, and in eternity), and every promise He rode in for will come to pass (2 Corinthians 1:20).  How can it get any better than that!

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