365 Promises

Promise #351:
I am very close to those who have a broken heart.


Psalm 34:18 (WEB)
Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart,
and saves those who have a crushed spirit.


King David knew a thing or two about heartache, whether it was being overlooked by his father when he was a shepherd boy, being chased down by a murderous father-in-law, or being publicly exposed for his deadly secret sins.

Amid his pain and suffering, David discovered that God was very close and was always ready to save those with a contrite spirit. If God is near to those with a broken heart, as David said He was, what does that mean for us today?

With all of the horror in the world, I can only imagine that our God and Father is walking alongside every brokenhearted person on the planet, whether they are aware of His presence or not. I don't think this idea is too much of a stretch because, in Acts 2:17, we read that at Pentecost, God poured out His own Spirit on all people. So, if that is indeed the reality, God is closer than we could possibly imagine.

In some Christian circles, though, we are afraid to expose our own personal brokenness for fear of being judged. Yet it was David, called a man after God’s own heart, who wrote Psalm 34. If you read David's life story, you will know that he was not speaking in a hypothetical context but from his own life experiences.

No matter what depth of despair you might be contending with in your life today, may this promise encourage you that your heavenly Father is very near.

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Responsive Prayer:

Father, I thank You for being close to me when my heart is broken, and I thank You for saving me when my spirit feels the crushing weight of disappointment and despair. I pray that I will be aware of Your nearness and Your comforting love, which will sustain me no matter what I face today.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
 
Promise #352:
If you pray to Me in secret, I will reward you openly.


Matthew 6:6 (WEB)
But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Beginning in Matthew 6:9, Jesus taught His disciples to pray a very special prayer, which we call the Lord's Prayer. Many people know this very popular Christian prayer by heart, as I am sure that it is the most recited prayer of all time. Jesus is very clear about who we are to direct this prayer to: Our Father who art in heaven.

Just before Jesus instructs them on what to pray, He tells them how to pray. He tells His disciples to find a quiet spot away from the hustle and bustle of life and spend some quality time with their heavenly Dad.

In today's promise, Jesus tells us that if we develop a secret, intimate prayer life with our Father, God will reward us openly. Our Father loves it when His kids come to Him when we are the only ones who know about it!

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Responsive Prayer:

Father, I thank You that I can come to You at any time with any need, and You hear my prayers. Help me to nurture these private moments with You so that the intimacy and love You desire to share with me may grow each day. And thank You, Father, for Your generous heart that loves to reward Your children openly when they come to You earnestly in prayer.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
 
Promise #353:
I will provide what you need every day.


Matthew 6:11 (WEB)
Give us today our daily bread.

In Matthew 6:9-14, we read the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray...9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (KJV)

Since we know that Jesus encouraged us to ask, seek, and knock, with the promise that our God and Father would hear our prayers, we can only assume that our heavenly Father will answer everything we pray in The Lord's Prayer.

In verse 11, Jesus teaches us to ask our Father to provide our daily bread. If Jesus told us to ask for daily provision, then it was because He knew that His Father would provide what we need every day. We only need to ask and trust Him to provide because that is what good fathers do.

So don't be afraid to pray to your heavenly Father today and say... "Give us this day our daily bread.”

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Responsive Prayer:

Father, I thank You for being the ultimate source of every good and perfect gift I receive. Help me today to recognize that You love it when I come to You boldly and ask, seek, and knock. So, Father, I come today, knowing that You are a good father who gives good gifts to His children, and I pray for the daily bread I need to sustain me.

 
Promise #354:
I will seek after those who worship Me in spirit and truth.


John 4:23 (WEB)
But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers
will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers.


Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman at a well when He says that the Father seeks out those who will worship Him in spirit and truth. The Greek word for seeking is 'Zeteo,' which Strong's Concordance describes as... to seek a thing in order to find it, to aim at something, to strive after, to crave, etc. This very active word describes how God feels about those who turn their hearts toward Him.

When Jesus tells us that His Father is seeking after those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth, He is giving us insight into His Father's heart. While we are called to live a life of being God pursuers, God Himself is chasing us! He longs for our attention more than we long for His! And He seeks out those who will present their bodies as living sacrifices because their lives are a sweet-smelling fragrance in His nostrils.

Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (NIV)

***
Responsive Prayer:

Father, I thank You for the two-way interaction that occurs when I present my body as a living sacrifice to You. In that moment of divine exchange of our hearts, I am not only pursuing intimacy with You, but You are longing for intimacy with me. Such a thought is too wonderful for me to fully understand, but I pray for a deeper revelation of the mutual bond of affection that You desire to cultivate with me every time I worship You with all my heart.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
 
Promise #355:
I will strengthen your inner being by the power of My Spirit.


Ephesians 3:16 (WEB)
that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory,
that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;


In today's promise, the Apostle Paul is praying that our God and Father would strengthen our inner being by the power of His Spirit. We all need supernatural strength to flow from our spirit; it is important to know that the source of that strength comes from God alone. In Zechariah 4:6, the Lord says... ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. (NIV)

I like how the Amplified Bible translates Ephesians 3:16...May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].

The strength that we need today comes from only one place: the rich treasury of God's glory, which flows directly from God's Spirit to our spirit. So look to God for your strength and not to your own resources.

It is not by our own self-effort or personal goodness that we will have the power to live a godly life, but through the free gift of the Holy Spirit that God has already given us as a deposit to guarantee our inheritance (2 Corinthians 1:22).

***
Responsive Prayer:

Father, I thank You for empowering me with the strength of Your Spirit so that I may be rooted and grounded in love. Help me to trust in Your Spirit’s power to guide me rather than my own abilities to handle life on my own, so I can live fully according to Your plan for my life today.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
 
Promise #356:
Cast your burden on Me and I will look after you.


Psalm 55:22 (WEB)
Cast your burden on Yahweh, and he will sustain you.
He will never allow the righteous to be moved.


There are many places in the Bible where we are encouraged to cast all our cares on God. In today's promise, King David invites us in Psalm 55:22 to cast all our burdens on the Lord, and He will look after us. The New Living Translation Bible says Psalm 55:22 this way... Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

When I think about this promise, I envision someone carrying a backpack full of rocks, each rock representing a care or concern. God invites us to take all of our rocks out of our backpacks and throw each one onto His big, strong shoulders. The reality is that we were not created to carry such burdens.

Medical studies tell us that up to 80% of all illnesses are stress-related in some way. This statistic further demonstrates that the human body was never created to carry such stress in our backpacks. So, what can we do in response to today's promise? Empty your backpack of all your cares and cast each one upon God, and for He cares for you!

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Responsive Prayer:

Father, I thank You for loving me and for not wanting me to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders today. Please give me the wisdom and courage to cast each of my cares onto Your big, strong shoulders so I can truly live a care-free life today. Help me believe that this is what You want me to do because You care deeply for me.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
 
Promise #357:
Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled.


2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (WEB)
18 But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.

The greatest promise that we could ever receive from our God and Father was the promise of reconciliation. Jesus came to the earth two thousand years ago to be the invisible God's expressed image and provide the way for us to become part of His extraordinary family through the work of the cross.

Because of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, we are now legitimate members of the family of God and joint heirs with Jesus Himself. There is no more excellent gift or honor that God could bestow upon us than to have the power to become His children (John 1:12-13).

And now, we, too, have been called into this glorious ministry of reconciliation, where we can invite others not yet in our Father's house to be reconciled to God through the gift of Jesus Christ! What an incredible gift the Father has given us, to be His co-laborers in the harvest field, inviting orphans and prodigals alike to come home through Jesus.

May we all have many opportunities to share in the ministry of reconciliation to others this Christmas season.

***
Responsive Prayer:

Father, I thank You for the tender heart You have toward every person on the planet, and for sending Your only begotten Son as the way You reconciled the world to Yourself. I pray that I will be an ambassador of this message of reconciliation to everyone I meet this Christmas season because that is the reason Jesus was born in a manger two thousand years ago.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
 
Promise #358:
Now is the day of salvation and the time to receive My favor.


2 Corinthians 6:2
for he says, “At an acceptable time I listened to you, in a day of salvation I helped you.
” Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.


The New Living Translation Bible translates 2 Corinthians 6:2 this way... For God says,“At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.

In Isaiah 61, the prophetic declaration of God's good news says we are to proclaim the Year of the Lord's Favor. In 2 Corinthians 6:2, the Apostle Paul says that today is the day of salvation. Both scriptural references are 'now' words—words for today—not tomorrow, not next year, but today.

Today is the day of salvation. We are living in the year of the Lord's favor. May the immediacy of this promise impact your heart right now. My prayer is that faith rises up in our hearts so that we can appropriate the promises God has made for us right now and proclaim this message of 'today' being the day of salvation to those we meet.

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Responsive Prayer:

Father, I thank You that the salvation You have given us is always in the present tense and is ready, willing, and able to save us from our current circumstances. May the urgency of this promise for me and for those I encounter become an experiential reality today so that Your favor might be realized in my life and others.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
 

PROMISE #359 - DECEMBER 25​


When I offered up My one and only Son, I gave you the best gift I could give.

Romans 8:32 (WEB)
He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,
how would he not also with him freely give us all things?


Christmas marks the one day in the year when gifts are given and received worldwide. I could not think of a more appropriate day to talk about the greatest gift that our Father could give. On a day that we celebrate the birth of God's only begotten Son, may we also be reminded why Jesus came to earth.

In John 3:16, we read that God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son. The Father gave us everything He could possibly give when He sacrificed the life of His treasured possession. In today's promise, Paul the Apostle reminds us of this incredible gift. God did not spare His Son but delivered Him up to the most excruciating death on a cross so that we could be born into His family.

The greatest gift you could receive this Christmas day is a deeper revelation of just how much our God and Father loves you. He gave up everything He loved to gain your love. May the revelation of His love go even deeper into your heart today, and may the cross of Jesus Christ always be the ultimate symbol of our Father's greatest gift to you.

Have a blessed Christmas!

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Responsive Prayer:

Father, I thank You for not withholding Your Son, but freely giving Him up for us all two thousand years ago. I thank You for this priceless gift You have given me in Christ. As I celebrate the birth of Your beloved Son today and exchange gifts with others, may I be reminded of the indescribable gift that was given to me.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

 
Promise #360:
Nothing in all creation will ever separate you from My love.


Romans 8:35-39 (WEB)
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul, the Apostle, said he was convinced that nothing could separate him from God's love. Then he went on to list many things that could try to separate him: death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things in the present, things in the future, etc. But something happened in Paul's life that convinced him that no matter what happened, nothing would ever keep the love of God away.

This is a man who was shipwrecked, stoned, persecuted at every turn, and eventually martyred. If Paul needed to be convinced of the closeness of God's love, I think we do, too. The Bible says that God's tender mercies are new every morning, so every morning is a new opportunity for us to be persuaded that we are loved beyond measure.

No matter what trials you are facing, nothing can ever separate you from God's love. Life can't separate you. Death can't. Angels or demons can't. Nothing in the present or the future will ever separate you. No height, depth, or any other creature will keep the love of God from overflowing and surrounding you... right now!

I pray that we will be more convinced of our Father's love today than yesterday!

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Responsive Prayer:

Father, I thank You that nothing in all creation can ever separate me from Your love in Christ. I pray that amid every hardship I face, these challenges won’t define me, for I know that I am more than a conqueror through Your love.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
 
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