Praying To Be Strengthened And To Build Today On God's Promises

While she is usually very cautious, our local chief medical officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry was optimistically speaking recently when she said with the amount of vaccine coming to us and the ability to stretch the time between our first and second jabs to 4 months, that adults here in British Columbia that want to be vaccinated will be able to do so by June/July.  She wasn’t promising but she certainly was surmising that we could be living locally in a post-pandemic world by summer.  Well that sounds pretty good to me.

Instead of travelling somewhere to the sunshine to rest and relax I’ve been watching nature “fly over” shows of places like Oahu and a place in Mexico I’ve visited in the past.  The water looks beautiful and I can almost feel the sunshine on me but I am still sitting on my couch in my living room.  The promise of being able to travel even here in BC this summer and stay overnight somewhere sounds pretty good to me.

Well, what about some of the promises God makes to us.  We know that through His promises, God’s word assures us that we have been given everything we need to live the life God planned for us.

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.  2 Peter 1:3-4

I want to live a life that reflects God – a Godly life.  His character is so appealing in His truth and love and peace and persistence – just to name a few bits about it.  I have so much to learn and grow into in just those categories.  I also like the last part of that verse that reminds me that through standing on God’s promises we can escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.  We all have longings for this and that which can easily take us out of the will of God.  We live in a  world that is constantly dangling things in front of our eyes and seeking to stir up our emotions to desire what’s on offer.  That’s the consumer, pleasure seeking culture we live in. 

I thought it would be helpful to look at some of these promises of God that promise us life as God intended for us and pray them into our hearts and daily practice today. 

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. - Isaiah 54:10

What an amazing place to start, God, with Your unfailing love.  We’re so grateful that nothing that happens around us can shake us from Your compassion and peace.  Help us again today to see through the events and challenges of this pandemic and look up to You, receiving from You the strength and stability and peace You are making available to us today.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.  Ephesians 2:8-10

And Lord we’re so grateful that when we put our faith and trust in You, in what Jesus did for us in dying for our sins on the cross, that You, in fact, saved us from what would have been our own eternal death and brought us to life.  We’re grateful that we don’t have to earn this by ticking off some list of good deeds but rather, as we live in Jesus, we can do all the good things You planned for us long ago.  Show us even more clearly today what it means to live in Jesus, believing that He is the way, the truth, and the life.  We know those are not just ideas we are meant to hold but life-shapers so we think and desire and act in ways that reflect Your amazing character.

Well, how do we do that and live that out today?  Look at these promises from God to give us the wisdom and instruction we need today:

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. - James 1:5

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. - Proverbs 2:6-7

Come and listen to my counsel. I’ll share my heart with you and make you wise. - Proverbs 1:23

So, here we are Lord, lacking wisdom but asking for it from You who promise to give it generously to us, without finding fault.  You promise that You will share Your heart with us and make us wise giving us success and being our shield.  Lord, help us moment by moment to do our part and to come to You, giving You an opportunity to download that practical wisdom to us in a moment, in a conversation, in a task.  Lord, receiving wisdom from You is very practical and down-to-earth, for everyday relationship and responsibilities as well as that spiritual wisdom that runs almost too deep for us to be able to give words. 

And so Lord, our heart’s cry today is that we would live as your chosen people, your royal priests, your holy nation, Your very own possession so that we can show others your goodness as we demonstrate how You have called us out of the darkness into Your wonderful light.

You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. - 1 Peter 2:9