Only let your manner of life

be worthy of 

       the gospel of Christ...

                      Philippians 1. 27

(In every situation,

           even in this,

that's what the gospel

   looks like,

woven seamlessly

  in all you do and say today.)

                     

... you shall be called

      repairer of the breach...

                   Isaiah 58. 12

(Approach the impossible

with God's healing 

in my hands and heart.

Use this predicament

for Your glory,

                 O LORD.)

... you shall be called

      repairer of the breach...

                   Isaiah 58. 12

(Approach the impossible

with God's healing 

in my hands and heart.

Use this predicament

for Your glory,

                 O LORD.)

For My thoughts

      are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways

      My ways,

             says the LORD.

For as the heavens

    are higher than the earth,

so are My ways

          higher than your ways.

                 Isaiah 55. 8-9

(O LORD,

   place Your thoughts 

          on my radar

and how to take

    Your high road in this.)

...and will make her wilderness

           like Eden,

her desert like 

   the garden of the LORD;

joy and gladness

   will be found in her,

thanksgiving 

           and the voice of song.

                      Isaiah 51.3

(Not a wasteland after all.

Look for the joy there,

look for the LORD in it.)

Can a woman forget

  her nursing child,

that she should have

  no compassion 

  on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

Behold,

I have graven you

on the palms of My hands.

               Isaiah 49. 15-16

(God does not just

   know your name,

but you are loved

more than you can know.

Jesus bears the marks

    of His love for you.)

...to lead a life

worthy of the calling

to which you have been called.

                 Ephesians 4. 1

(God will show me

a different way in this day,

that which is unexpected

and gracious

and fully pleasing to Him.

Yes, even in this.

His ways transcend 

      every circumstance.)

                    

...even among the rebellious

that the LORD God may dwell there.

                                Psalm 68. 18

(Why am I here?

To be faithful.

To bring the name of Jesus there.

Even here,

             even in this.)

And I will lead the blind

   in a way that they know not,

in paths that they have not known

                      I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness

     before them into light,

the rough places into level ground.

                             Isaiah 42. 16

(Show me a different way

      in this impossible situation, O LORD.

Grant me a different heart

        in this difficult relationship.

Bring Your glory into it.)

Fear not,

for I am with you,

be not dismayed,

     for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

I will help you,

I will uphold you

   with My victorious right hand.

                Isaiah 41. 10

(In whatever I am going through.

How do I face it differently

because I am not alone in this?

Not just a sense of His Presence

     but the reality of it.)

Hezekiah received the letter
from the hand of the messengers,
and read it;
and Hezekiah went up
             to the house of the LORD,
and spread it before the LORD.
And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD...

                      Isaiah 37. 14-15

(First response,
             not last resort.
What do I need to spread before the LORD
                             today?
That would be everything,
nothing too big,
nothing too small.)

On what do you rest

       this confidence of yours?

...On whom do you now rely...?

"We rely on the LORD our God."

                       Isaiah 36. 4, 5, 7

(Show me, O LORD,

how to rely on You

              in this situation

and to know Your faithfulness

      in incredible ways.)

You keep him in perfect peace

 whose mind is stayed on You,

because he trusts in You.

Trust in the Lord for ever,

for the LORD GOD

    is an everlasting rock.

                  Isaiah 26. 3-4

(No matter what is

swirling around you,

God has you

in the palm of His hand.)

...the work of My hands

                 in his midst....

                  Isaiah 28. 26

(Stand in awe of what 

            God is doing right here,

             right now.

Let us not just do 

        the work of Your hands,

let us be

        the work of Your hands.)

Come, my people,
enter your chambers,
and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
               until the wrath is past.

                         Isaiah 26. 20

(Sometimes the wisest thing to do
            is to lay low.)

I am crucified with Christ;
it is no longer I who live,

       but Christ who lives in me;

and the life I now live in the flesh

   I live by faith in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave Himself for me.

                              Galatians 2. 20

(How do I handle this situation?

It is no longer I who live,

             but Christ who lives in me.

I approach everything

with different eyes 

                and a different heart.)

...a blessing in the midst of the earth...

                            Isaiah 19. 24

(How to approach 

         an impossible situation

         or relationship.

Be the blessing in it.)

Apply your mind to instruction

and your ear to words of knowledge.

                     Proverbs 23. 12

(God's Word is not about information,

                    but transformation.

It's not just about knowing more,

           but being changed by it.)

Behold, God is my salvation;

   I will trust and not be afraid;

for the LORD GOD 

   is my strength and my song,

and He has become my salvation.

                              Isaiah 12. 2

(I will trust

        and not be afraid.

God gives me a new song to sing.

    And that would be about Him.)

Righteousness shall be

         the girdle of his waist,

and faithfulness 

         the girdle of his loins.

                          Isaiah 11. 5

(That which we should wear,

 that by how we should act,

 that by which we should be known.

What does that look like

                        in this situation,

                        in this relationship,

                        in this interaction today?

Above all, 

           to honor Him.)

...for when I am weak,

       then I am strong.

              2 Corinthians 12. 10

(I can't do this.

"Exactly."

That is when God shines through.

He will sustain you

   with strength that is not your own.)

Behold, God is my helper;
the LORD is the upholder of my life.

                          Psalm 54. 4

(That reality changes everything.
God is here to help me.
I am not alone.
He changes how I approach things.
He changes the outcome.)

But I am like a green olive tree
                  in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
       for ever and ever.

                           Psalm 52. 8

(Even in drought,
even in impossible places,
         evergreen and bearing fruit.)

And God is able to provide you 

with every blessing in abundance,

so that you may

       always have enough of everything

and may provide in abundance

                      for every good work.

 

                      2 Corinthians 9. 8

(God does not just make it enough.

      He makes it more than enough.

For His purposes,

for His good work,

for His glory.)

...and call upon Me

            in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you,

and you shall glorify Me.

                    Psalm 50. 15

(It is not just that we should escape

             a hard situation

                               or the miry bog,

but that God would redeem it

        for His glory.

Seek God in this.

See God in this.

He always has a deeper purpose

   than what we can comprehend.)

In the morning sow your seed,

and at evening withhold not your hand,

for you do not know

which will prosper,

          this or that,

or whether both alike will be good.

                   Ecclesiastes 11. 6

(There is nothing ordinary in God's eyes,

          nothing that He cannot use

          in extraordinary ways.

You may never know

   how God is working mightily

                       through you.

Just know that He is.)

Walk about Zion,

go round about her,

   number her towers,

   consider her ramparts,

   go through her citadels,

that you may tell the next generation

              that this is God,

                  our God for ever and ever.

He will be our guide for ever.

                           Psalm 48. 12-13

(Know everything you can about God.

Seek Him, 

          listen to Him,

               apply God's Word to your heart.

It is not about information,

       but transformation.

God will change the course of your life.)

For even when ...

            2 Corinthians 7. 5

(God is working mightily,
   His purposes prevail.)

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear
though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake
          in the heart of the sea.

                              Psalm 46. 1-2

(Thou shalt not panic.
God is here with me.
God has been with me all along.)

I know that You can do all things,
and that no purpose of Yours
                    can be thwarted.

                       Job 42. 2

(God has His eye on you,
His purposes deeper
           than you can know.)