It’s gardening season.   I raise my hoe to deliver the blow to the earth fully expecting it to bury itself and turn the soil.   Every once in a while, my labor seems like it is in vain because my hoe lands on a hard rock that seems immovable.  With faith it is impossible to please God.  God is capable of moving mountains.

 

In the year of the ‘soil’ did we expect ’soft dirt’?  Did we expect that all soil would be fertile?  Some has been prepared…others…not so much.

 

I spent this morning looking through Scripture and learning from others who have experienced trials that temporarily stole the joy of their passion and seemingly robbed the fruit from their labor.

 

I trust you will be encouraged.  Listen to the Word of the Lord.  He has spoken.  He is GOOD.  He is ALL POWERFUL.  He longs LOVE on His Children.

 

Don’t RUN.  Stay the course.  It will take 10 minutes of your time to read and meditate.   O Taste and See the Lord is GOOD.

 

GOD’s POWER

 

Genesis 18:14a

Is anything too hard for the LORD?

 

Exodus 15:6

“Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power, Your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.

 

Job 26:14, These are just the beginning of all that he does, merely a whisper of his power. Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power?

 

Psalm 62:11 

Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,

 

Psalm 66:7

who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
let not the rebellious exalt themselves.
Selah

 

Psalm 95:3, 

For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

 

Psalm 96:4, 

Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.

 

Psalm 113:3, 

From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised! Great is the Lord, He is holy, faithful, merciful and just;
Great is the Lord, He is worthy of all the glory, honor, power and praise.
Great is the Lord, He is wonderful and mighty,
We trust in His power and His love!
Great are you Lord!!!

 

Psalm 136:12, 

with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever;

 

Psalm 147:5

Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

 

Isaiah 26:4, 

Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.

 

Isaiah 40:28-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

 

Isaiah 59:1

Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.

 

Jeremiah 10:12

It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.

 

Jeremiah 32:27

“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?”

 

Zephaniah 3:17

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

 

Matthew 19:26

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

 

Romans 8:1-4

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

 

Romans 16:25

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past,

 

1 Corinthians 6:14

And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

 

2 Corinthians 13:4

For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

 

Ephesians 3:20

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

 

Ephesians 3:20-21

Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.

 

Ephesians 6:10

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

 

2 Timothy 1:12

For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

 

Prayer:  “Breathe Life” / “Respire Lavi”

Thank you Lord for the sunshine and rain, your mercies are new every day.

Thank you Lord, for a brand new day, your mighty power is displayed in every way.

Thank you Lord, for the gift of love and life, breathe life again in us today.

 

Quotes to Consider:

 

“It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself.”   –  John Piper

 

“The greatness of the man’s power is the measure of his surrender.”  – William Booth

 

“There is no such thing as a great man of God, only weak, pitiful, faithless men of a great and merciful God.”  – Paul Washer

 

“What defines us as Christians is not most profoundly that we have come to know him but that he took note of us and made us his own.”   – John Piper

 

“God is more interested in declaring than explaining.”  – Matt Chandler

 

“There are three stages in the work of God:  impossible, difficult,done.”  – James Hudson Taylor

 

“Without the Way there is no going; without the Truth there is no knowing; without the Life there is no living.”  – Thomas A Kempis

 

“To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; To seek him, the greatest adventure; To find him, the greatest human achievement.”  –  Raphael Simon

 

“God never uses a person greatly until He has wounded him deeply.  Holiness is doing God’s will with a smile.”  – Mother Teresa

 

“We want to avoid suffering, death, sin, ashes. But we live in a world crushed and broken and torn, a world God Himself visited to redeem. We receive his poured-out life, and being allowed the high privilege of suffering with Him, may then pour ourselves out for others.”

– Elisabeth Elliot

 

“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.”

– Vance Havner

 

“The prayer that prevails is not the work of lips and fingertips. It is the cry of a broken heart and the travail of a stricken soul.”  – Samuel Chadwick

 

“Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” – contrary to what we would expect, brokenness is the pathway to blessing! There are no alternative routes; there are no short-cuts. The very thing we dread and are tempted to resist is actually the means to God’s greatest blessings in our lives.”   – Nancy Leigh DeMoss