These are a few of our SOAP notes from today’s reading. We encourage you to read and journal on your own first, then join us in conversation about what God revealed to YOU today. Click HERE to go directly to the daily reading if you wish. Our team would love the privilege of praying for you! Please share how we can lift you in prayer at DiscoverOneThingPrayer@gmail.com
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Rewards | Nikki Metzger
S~ I will faithfully reward My people for their suffering and make an everlasting covenant with them. ~Isaiah 61:8 (NLT)
O~ God is speaking to us! Isaiah 61 is all about good news for us 🙂
A~ As I head into my meeting today. I’m wondering. Feeling like I’m not sure where I need to be planted. My pride says to defend myself and make the other person suffer. You tell me in this verse, and for the last week, that I’m the one who is going to suffer. I’m the one who is going to change. And it’s my opportunity to show love to this person.
P~ Father, may Your words be on my lips today: I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For He has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bride with her jewels. Help to face this suffering and remove my pride! In Jesus’ Name! Amen!
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Rejoice in Salvation | Susan Aken
S~ I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God for he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness. Isaiah 61:10 (NIV)
O~ Isaiah is rejoicing in the truth that God has saved him. He understood that God in His grace had given him right standing with Him.
A~ What a wonderful truth to rejoice in! God has saved me. My soul rejoices in Him. He has clothed me in a robe of righteousness. Jesus made that possible. Isaiah is looking forward to what Jesus would do. Jesus took our sin and gave us His righteousness. That is more than I can comprehend.
P~ Thank you Jesus! I do rejoice in knowing you. Praise your holy name. Thank you for giving me your righteousness. I have nothing apart from you. Without you I would be lost and hopeless.
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In the Beginning…| Joni Tyner
S~ In the beginning the Word already existed.
And the Word was with God,
And the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God. John 1:1-2 (NLT)
O~ John is referring to Jesus in this passage. ( In John 1:14 is says, “So the Word became human and made his home among us.”)
A~ Christianity doctrine believes in the Trinity. John is referring to Jesus being before creation, He is God. This is the most basic doctrine of our Christian faith- Jesus is God. This is so reassuring to me to know that God had everything perfectly orchestrated from the beginning of time. The same God that created the earth into existence created me to be the person I am. He has wired me to be used for His purposes. Wow. I love thinking about how majestic God is. How smart He is. He is omnipotent—I’m a part of His plan, how can I not be excited and on fire to do what He desires from me?
P~ You are an awesome God. You’ve always been…always. There is no beginning and no end. I love You and I’m thrilled to be Your child.
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God’s Child | Michelle Myers
S~ They did not become his children in any human way–by any human parents or human desire. They were born of God. John 1:13 (NCV)
O~ No matter what the circumstances are that lead to a person’s conception….planned or not planned, wanted or not wanted by human parents….we were born because God wanted us.
A~ My parents provided for my physical needs. They stressed the importance of hard work and an education. I appreciate that about them. Emotionally though, I got nothing.
I never felt that I was accepted by them, for who I was…for the person God created me to be. My mom was controlling and overly critical. I used to think that this was the result of her not wanting me, because my conception was not planned. To be very honest, most of the time she acted as if my very existence was a pain and inconvenience for her. I was not an individual to be valued, appreciated, or left to bloom into my own person. I was not allowed to “feel” natural emotions when hurt or offended. I was often “hushed” when I spoke my opinion or spoke up for myself. There was not room for mistakes in my mother’s eyes. No matter how hard I tried or what I did, it was never good enough. These dynamics continued into my adulthood.
A revelation came one day after I had left my husband, and out of no where, my mom started lashing out at me with harsh words and criticism. She discredited what work I had done in the last 16 years, as a wife, mother, and teacher and told me how lucky I am that they (my parents) were willing to help me at all. Already broken by my husband’s addiction and a failed marriage; she made it worse. I was once again, upset by her for no helpful purpose, but only because she wanted to spew the ugliness that was inside of her and control the situation. As I sat there crying, frustrated, and confused (a repeated pattern in our relationship), she got up and said, “Well, we are headed to the basketball game.” And she left.
My relationship with my mother and my father’s unwillingness to protect me from her nastiness over the years left me questioning my own purpose and value in life. Sifting through all of the pain and junk of my childhood and marriage; figuring out who I am, as a child of God has been a process. Sifting through my ownership and part in my life’s successes and failures, as well as, determining what is someone else’s ownership and leaving it up to God to deal with them, has been a process.
However, nothing has helped more than BELIEVING God’s word about my creation and the purpose He has for my life. Believing all of this, is very much a choice most days, as I don’t physically feel or see it. But, I believe in Him and His word, and that keeps me pressing forward, in spite of the obstacles, struggles and failures.
Understanding my own creation and purpose, has also helped me overcome and change some of my own parenting issues, that I am sure I picked up from my own experiences as a child. My children are gifts from God. He created them to be unique individuals, to fulfill His purpose, not mine.
P~ Thank you God for giving me the strength to press forward. As I try to change this legacy of emotionally barren mothers, that goes all the way back to at least my great-great grandmother, please show me YOUR way and give me YOUR wisdom.
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Jesus, the Father’s Heart | Luisa Penaherrera
S~ No one has ever seen God. But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart; he has told us about him. John1:18 (NLT)
O~ Jesus while here on earth told us about God. Jesus was full of compassion for sinners like me.
A~ Jesus you lived with love, compassion and justice. You showed me the Father’s heart toward me through your life. He sent you to redeem me, because I was so lost.
P~ Father, you are so loving, merciful, and full of justice. Thank you for coming for me. I love you.
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Tomorrow’s reading: Isaiah 63,64; Psalms 107; John 2
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Nikki, I too struggle at times, with letting God be my defender. Yet, when I don’t allow my fleshly pride to overcome His will (which I wish happened for often), I feel empowered.