Debbie Taylor Williams
Why AWESOME is an Important Word
A few years ago, the word “awesome” became a catchphrase for any and everything. “Can you go Monday night? Awesome!” “This meal is awesome!” “I read an awesome book!” If you’re like many, we began to tire of hearing the overused word. However, rather than throw out the word, the Bible points us in the right direction for when to use it. In Genesis 28:17, awesome is used in relation to heaven,
How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
Exodus 15:11 uses it in relation to God and His works,
Who is like You among the gods, O LORD? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?
Yes, we might want to scale down on our use of “awesome” in relation to mundane earthly things, but let’s use it often in relation to God.
We praise You, great and AWESOME GOD, and thank You for Your AWESOME works.
Since We Know, Are We Telling Others to Prepare
February 2021 a winter freeze took this Texas girl by surprise. Yes, I’d seen the warnings of a winter storm. In my mind that tabulated to cold weather and snow. I did think twice about the ice warning, but then went on with my life. Then it got cold. And colder. And colder. I wasn’t prepared and by the time the snow, cold, iced over roads, power outage, no water, and firewood had run out, it was too late to do anything. The days for preparing had passed. I lived in the consequences of my lackadaisical unpreparedness. As the water we had collected in bowls froze inside our home, I thought of what I would do to be better prepared should we have another winter storm. I also thought of how terrifying it is going to be for people who have a lackadaisical attitude toward Biblical warnings of judgement and hell. Yes, many people are going on with their lives and not doing anything to prepare for the salvation of their soul. Thinking of the unsaved sitting in hell with no way to get out is a horrifying thought. Equally horrifying is to neglect Christ’s call to believers to go and tell the unsaved how to be saved. If I felt stuck in the cold of my house, how will they feel stuck in the fire of hell? Friends, Jesus tells us with “all authority” in Matthew 28:18-20 that we are to be sounding the warning that a day is coming when everyone will stand before Jesus to give an account for their lives. Jesus commands us with all authority to,
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…”
Are we warning others to prepare to meet Jesus? Are we telling them how to prepare while they still have time?
Jesus, Son of God, You have all AUTHORITY in heaven and on earth. Open our eyes to the unsaved and our mouths to tell them the good news of salvation in You.
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When Waves of Hopelessness Pound Your Heart
You need hope. I need hope. Our loved ones need hope. Where do we find it? Do we practice “self-talk” and tell ourselves we are “happy and fine” when we aren’t? Or do we kneel, look up in praise, and cry out to the One who has gone before us to heaven and intercedes for us? Hebrews 6:19 describes our relationship with Jesus in this way,
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered…”
Our hope in Jesus is an anchor for our soul. Personalize that truth. My hope in Jesus is an anchor for my soul. Think about that. It’s amazing! We don’t have to emotionally drift into an ocean of despair. Yes, waves of hopelessness may at times pound our hearts and seem like they will overwhelm us. But when you feel that way, sweet friend, place your hope in your loving Savior. You are not going to drift beyond His sight or hold. He’s got you. Our hope in Christ is an anchor for our soul.
Jesus, sweet Savior, thank You for being the anchor of my soul. Thank You that I will never drift from your grasp.
Who Can You Believe?
Do you ever wonder who you can believe? One person says one thing and another claims the opposite. Yes, it can sometimes be difficult to know who to believe, but not in the case of Jesus’s words. Revelation 1:5 describes Jesus Christ as “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood-” Jesus is a faithful witness. A witness of what? He witnessed to us about heaven, His Father, about angels, crowns of righteousness awaiting believers, resurrection bodies, thrones, powers, kingdoms, the judgment seat, forgiveness, redemption, His Father’s house, and about Satan. Jesus testified about the fact that Abraham, Noah, Moses, and Jonah were real people and the Old Testament is true. Our confidence in the Bible and its teachings solidly rests on Christ because He is a faithful witness to us that they are true.
Lord Jesus, we praise You, the faithful WITNESS! Thank You for the confidence we have in the Bible and You because of Your word.
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Jesus is Coming!
I love to gaze on the glory of the moon. The moon – IS – something that exists. The moon – WAS – created by God in eternity past. The moon WILL BE in our tomorrows. It appears in different phases but it is still the same moon. So why would we doubt that Jesus is the LORD WHO WAS the creator, WHO IS self-existent in heaven and in our hearts, and WHO IS TO COME? On December 25, we celebrate the LORD who came in the past in the appearance of a baby. But Revelation 1:4 says, CHRIST is not only “HE is WHO IS and WHO WAS,” He is the LORD “WHO IS TO COME…” Think about it. Jesus is coming again!
Lord Jesus, WHO IS, WHO WAS, AND WHO IS TO COME, help us mindfully serve Your purposes until You return again!
Praise to the God of all WISDOM
Are you in the midst of making a decision? Do you wonder what the best course of action is regarding work, parenting, a relationship, or finances?
If ever there was a time to follow the path of wisdom, it’s now.
Wisdom for the road before us. Wisdom for how to proceed.
Proverbs remind us that the Lord is the source and provider of wisdom.
How blessed we are to be able to go to our Heavenly Father, read His ways, pray, and receive His wisdom. When we don’t know which path to follow, we can follow our hearts to His heart.
GOD OF WISDOM, we praise You that we can come to You for heavenly wisdom. Thank You for providing it when we seek You.
“For the Lord gives WISDOM; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Proverbs 2:6
Do You Hear Him
Have you ever done a study on the voice of God? It’s fascinating! In Isaiah 30:30, we’re told the following about God’s voice.
And the Lord will cause His VOICE OF AUTHORITY to be heard.
The literal translation is “VOICE OF MAJESTY.” How does God speak to us? He speaks through His majestic creation that He is glorious and that He is a God of order with unlimited imagination. God’s voice speaks to us through the Bible, the wisest, most beautifully written work of all time. God speaks to us through Christ letting us know that He is sacrificial, loving, and forgiving. God’s voice speaks to us in our innermost being warning us of the dangers of sin and calling to us to walk in His ways. Yes, God’s voice goes forth. He calls to us but sometimes the busyness of the day drowns out His voice. How can we make sure we don’t miss hearing God calling to us? We purposefully choose to slip out of our beds in the mornings and quietly meet with Him – just the two of us – so we can hear Him without interruptions. We return throughout the day to think on Him and listen for His promptings. His voice encourages us in our weariness. His voice comforts us that we repent of sin. His voice instructs us, “Take this course of action…” If we take God seriously, write down His instructions, and follow through on what He tells us, we discover He calls to us and instructs even more. Are we listening? Are we obeying? Are we experiencing the blessed life of intimacy with the Almighty?
Voice of Authority, Voice of Majesty, thank You for speaking to us. Tune our hearts and minds to recognize Your voice and obey You.
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Running Low on Cash
“How much money do you make?” In our materialistic society, people often place value on the almighty dollar instead of the Almighty Lord. But Isaiah 33:6 addresses what we should value: “Jesus being a wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.” Isaiah reminds us that the Lord is the greatest treasure. Jesus echos Isaiah’s understanding of what true wealth is. In Matthew 6:19-21 He says,
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Christ’s command should cause us to stop and ponder. Are we storing up treasures on earth or are we storing up treasures in heaven? To the point – on what is our heart most focused – things of the earth or things of heaven?
Lord, You are a WEALTH of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. Stir our hearts to seek the treasures that count for eternity rather than the fleeting things of earth.
“And He will be the stability of your times,
A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge;
The fear of the Lord is his treasure.” Isaiah 33:6
When What You Want is Different from What God Wants
Lord Jesus, thank You for modeling being submissive and trusting in our Heavenly Father’s ultimate will.
“He went a little beyond them and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’” Matthew 26:39
Lost and Found
Have you ever been lost? Perhaps you took a wrong turn in the road and didn’t know how to get to your desired destination. As bad as that is, what’s worse is to be spiritually lost which is how Jesus describes us prior to salvation. As a matter of fact, we were so lost that there was no one who could help except Jesus. In Luke 19:10, Jesus describes Himself as the Son of Man who came to seek and to save the lost – to save us and every person. Jesus left heaven’s glory to come and do what no one else could do. Through the virgin birth of Mary by the Holy Spirit, Jesus was born, the Son of Man, to seek and to save our lost souls so we could be reunited with our Heavenly Father. What good news! Is there someone we need to look for as Jesus did, someone with whom we can share the good news?
All praise to You, Lord Jesus, Son of God, SON of MAN. Thank You for seeking us and saving us. Rouse us to do as You did – to seek the lost in order to share the good news of salvation with them.
“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10