September 4, 2017
“I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.”—Psalm 138:21
My work is very important, but it is My Word and My name that I have exalted above all things. It is My Word that shall never pass away. It is My Word of which I spoke when I said every jot and tittle of it will be fulfilled.
I am the Word, and My Word will endure forever, and its presence in you is vitally important if you are to do My work as you desire.2 So strive to take some time each day in My Word; make it a sacred and holy matter which even My work cannot interfere with. Remind yourself that you must have it if you are to do My work.
“The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will.”—Isaiah 50:43
Morning by morning I awaken you and open your understanding to My will. I’m always mindful of you, beloved. I never sleep, so I’m able to watch over you while you’re sleeping. When you wake up in the morning, I am still with you. As you become aware of My loving presence, I help you become more alert—smoothing out the tangles in your mind and enabling you to see Me more clearly. I invite you to spend time enjoying My presence and nourishing your soul with My Word. When you respond to My love-call by drawing nearer to Me, I am delighted.
This time dedicated to Me blesses and strengthens you immensely. I open your understanding to My Word—enabling you to comprehend Scripture and apply it to your life. As you make plans for your day, I will help you to discern My will. This collaboration with Me empowers you to handle whatever comes your way as you go through the day. I am training you to trust Me at all times—in all circumstances.
One of My names is Wonderful Counselor. I understand you far, far better than you understand yourself. So come to Me with your problems and insecurities, seeking My counsel. In the light of My loving Presence you can see yourself as you really are: radiantly lovely in My brilliant righteousness. Though My righteousness is perfect, you will continue to struggle with imperfections—yours and others’—as long as you live in this world. Still, your standing with Me is secure. Nothing in all creation can separate you from My love!
A good counselor helps you recognize truth and live according to it. Actually I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. So be open and honest when you bring Me your concerns. Also, fill your mind and heart with My Word, which contains absolute truth…. Let My promises permeate your thinking and keep you close to Me.4
“Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”—Psalm 55:22
There are many things that can eat up your time and energy throughout the day. Your thoughts can become consumed and burdened with things that you shouldn’t be burdened with. You can take upon yourself cares and worries that cause you to put emphasis and priority on things that you shouldn’t. When you neglect to cast all your cares and worries and burdens on Me, you are unable to fully access the sustaining power that I have promised.5
Many times you bring the cares of your day with you, and they are prominent in your mind and weigh heavily on your heart, and you let them remain there on your mind. If you are to be fed from My words, then you must let go of those thoughts and worries, which sometimes will mean stopping for a few minutes in order to pour out your heart to Me in prayer and ask Me to take care of them. For you to try to carry them and sort them out in your own wisdom takes away from the peace that only I can give.
I want to deliver you from the worries and fears that occupy too much of your time. Our time together will be a time of confidence, love, reassurance, and learning. In these times you’ll learn that My love for you does not fail. You’ll learn that My love for you can teach you and help you to grow. You’ll also learn that My love can guide you through and around the obstacles in your day. I can show you and teach you the difference between the burdens that you do not need to carry and those which you must deal with. And with that clarity and confidence, you can go through your day much better.
The most important thing you can do is to take some time to connect with Me first thing in the morning. Once you’ve done that, things will fall into place more easily, and the path before you will be clearer. When your burdens have been lifted and your cares have been cast on Me, your vision will be clearer and you will know where to direct your attention, your time, and your energies.
Through this time of our communion, you’ll also grow in faith and in spirit. You’ll have greater willpower. You’ll have greater conviction to handle things according to their priorities. It comes down to keeping your spiritual priorities straight.
“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.”—Psalm 139:17–18
It can be difficult to set everything else aside and be deeply fed from the Word, focusing all your attention on Me, at the end of the day. You’re often too spent, too tired. By the end of the day you’re often tired and can’t concentrate enough to receive from your time studying the Word.
If you’re not a night person, the evening is not likely your prime time to devote to coming into My presence to be spiritually fed and to study My Word. When your work in the morning pushes aside your time with Me, you hope to retrieve it in the evening, and often you find that it just doesn’t work. It’s not the time when you are the freshest, most alert, and most able to receive from Me.
Make the effort to give Me your prime time. Soak in My Word, absorb it, and live in it, for I have promised that the entrance of My Word gives light and understanding. Set My words before you, for My words are truth and life.
Published on Anchor September 2017. Read by Jerry Paladino.
Music by John Listen.
1 ESV.
2 Psalm 138:2; Matthew 24:35; 5:18; John 1:14.
3 NLT.
4 Sarah Young, Jesus Always (Thomas Nelson, 2016).
5 1 Peter 5:7.
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