Bring the full tithes

        into the storehouse,

that there may be food

                  in My house;

and thereby

put Me to the test,

             says the LORD of hosts,

if I will not open

      the windows of heaven for you

an overflowing blessing.

                             Malachi 3. 10

(Bring my full heart before Him

      and see what the LORD will do.

A heart turned to Him

       brings you to profoundly new places,

even right where you are.

Next year is going to be different.

          Follow Him into it.)

Behold,

the dwelling of God is with men.

He will dwell with them,

and they shall be His people,

and God Himself will be with them;

He will wipe away

   every tear from their eyes,

and death shall be no more,

neither shall their be mourning

nor crying,

nor pain any more,

for the former things

            have passed away.

And He who sat upon the throne said,

    "Behold, I make all things new."

                           Revelation 21. 3-5

(Not just a promise,

              but a reality.

He is the God of newness,

not just of second chances,

        but making things right again.

God redeems.

Even in this,

  no darkness too deep.

This is not the end of your story,

nor the end of one year

          or the start of the next,

but the beginning of new life in Him.)

For pressing milk
         produces curds,
pressing the nose
         produces blood,
and pressing anger
         produces strife.

               Proverbs 30. 33

(Find another way through it.
Learn how to let it go.
know how to pursue peace,
and avoid the obvious potholes.
Grace in your heart,
      healing in your hands.)

I will make them
       strong in the LORD,
and they shall glory
                 in His name.

                Zechariah 10. 12

(In whatever you do,
         His help is always there,
         His hope
            that on which you can
            stake your life.
Wherever you are,
   the LORD is with you.)

And the angel said to them,
"Be not afraid,
for behold,
I bring you good news
              of great joy
which will come to all people;
for to you is born this day
in the city of David
a Savior,
   Who is Christ the Lord.

                 Luke 2. 10-11

(And nothing
   is ever the same.
As all the children said this morning,
           "He came!!!!")

Merry Christmas, my friend!
You are loved.

...for the day of small things
       is not to be despised.

                Zechariah 4. 10

(Those are the times
when God works in
    profound ways,
the extraordinary spreading
      His roots in our lives.
There is nothing insignificant
    or ordinary
in God's economy.)

Not by might,

not by power,

   but by My Spirit,

says the LORD of hosts.

What are you,

         O great mountain?

Before Zerubbabel

you shall become a plain...

                Zechariah 4. 6-7

(That which only the LORD can do.

What mountain do I face?

Impossible.

          But by God.

He meets me 

    in my deepest need.)

For I will be to her

    a wall of fire round about,

    says the LORD,

and I will be 

      the glory within her.

                   Zechariah 2. 5

(Even in the most impossible

           situations,

I am not alone.

Make me aware of You,

                      O LORD.

You are my shield,

You are my strength.)

I know

   that the LORD maintains

   the cause of the afflicted

and executes justice for the needy.

Surely the righteous

  shall give thanks to Your name;

the upright 

  shall dwell in Your presence.

                      Psalm 140. 12-13

(The Psalms are such powerful words,

because they reflect the hard core

           cries of the human heart.

David does not just believe;

                     David knows

        the LORD never lets you go.

David has seen it with his own eyes

  what a relationship with God means.

David did not write this psalm

         as a nice poem or positive thought

    but through the reality

                of the LORD in his life.

Dwell in His Presence.

Even now.

Even in this.

The LORD never lets you go.)

Take courage,

  all you people of the land,

  says the LORD;

work,

        for I am with you,

   says the LORD of hosts,

according to the promise 

that I made you

      when you came out of Egypt.

My Spirit abides among you;

                fear not.

                      Haggai 2. 4-5

(Take courage

     in spite of circumstances

and in everything

   that the LORD 

        has laid before you today.

You are not alone.

God's profound purpose

           prevails in it,

even in that I cannot see

                   or understand,

   nothing that He cannot use

      for His glory.

There is nothing mundane

                in God's economy.)

    

Do not fear, O Zion;

let not your hands grow weak.

The LORD, your God

        is in your midst,

a warrior who gives victory;

He will rejoice over you

               with gladness,

He will renew you in His love;

He will exult over you

with loud singing

as on a day of festival.

                    Zephaniah 3. 16-17

(No one loves you more than God.

He never said life would be easy,

but He promises over and over again,

    "Do not fear.  I am with you."

The LORD is in your midst.

Don't miss Him.

The LORD will fulfill,

   His divinely appointed purposes.

His victory in this.

Even in this.

Always in His steadfast love.

Even in what I cannot understand.)

Though the fig tree do not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off

                 from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet

     I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

He makes my feet like hinds' feet,

He makes me tread

             upon my high places.

                      Habakkuk 3. 17-19

(Trust God,

        not the circumstances.

No matter what,

           YET "I am with you.

                    I've got this.")

The LORD is good,

a stronghold in the day of trouble;

He knows those

     who take refuge in Him.

                         Nahum 1. 7

(A refuge in the Bible

is not a place to hide,

       but a place to abide,

not a place to run away,

    but a place of strengthening

               from which to go forth.

A flight attendant says,

         "Know your exits

              in case of trouble."

God says,

         "Know Me."

Worshiping God

is not just something I ought to do,

not just another thing yet on my list.

Coming before Him

    changes the trajectory of your life.)

... and redeemed you

from the house of bondage.

                      Micah 6. 4

(You don't live there anymore.

God has saved you.

Live that way.)

There
     you shall be rescued,
there
   the LORD will redeem you
from the hand of your enemies.

                   Micah 4. 10

(God works in the
        most incredible ways
and in the most unlikely places,
that which only God can do.
It is a promise to hold onto
even when we cannot understand,
even in what we don't see coming.
God is faithful.
God is good.
Seek out God in this,
     not just an exit door.
Rescue may not mean
     being airlifted out,
but His deliverance often comes
           right in the midst,
His way right through
                 the impossible.)

... yet You

brought up my life from the Pit,

O LORD my God.

When my soul fainted within me,

I remembered the LORD,

and my prayer came to You...

                       Jonah 2. 6-7

(The pit of despair

   is not the end of the story.

"Yet God..."

           changes everything,

the course of my story,

the trajectory of my life,

the condition of my heart.

The miry bog

        is a place of deliverance,

not where God intends me to dwell,

no matter the circumstances.

God will not bring you through this;

    He IS bringing you through this.)

The fear of man lays a snare,

but he

who trusts in the LORD

                            is safe.

              Proverbs 29. 25

(O LORD,

do not let me trip

    over my own fear.

Help me to follow You

          through it

and trust You in it,

No matter the circumstances,

Emmanuel

     --God with us.)

Behold,

I stand at the door and knock;

if anyone hears My voice

        and opens the door,

I will come in to him

and eat with him,

   and he with Me.

           Revelation 3. 20

(Open the door

     and let Jesus 

into what you are going through.

You are not alone

           in your situation.

He is waiting for you.

He is waiting

        to change everything).

Seek the LORD

             and live...

               Amos 5. 6

(Seek the LORD

through your narrow scary place,

seek Him through the miry bog,

seek Him even on the really good days.

What is Your way in this, O LORD?

When we do not seek a solution,

          but God Himself,

He will show a better way.

Always a path of forgiveness

                   and grace.

Even in impossible places.)

Be faithful unto death,

and I will give you

       the crown of life.

                 Revelation 2. 10

("Be faithful to Me,

             even in this,"

the daily struggles

    and the ordinary,

              not just the extremes.)

"If we do not do

the running steadily

           in the little ways,

we shall do nothing

                    in the crisis."

  

             -- Oswald Chambers

"I am the Alpha and the Omega,"
             says the Lord God,
Who is
and Who was
and Who is to come.

            Revelation 1. 8

(The one thing
     that never changes:
              God Himself.
The Almighty
 is bigger than what
 I am going through,
what is in the past,
what is before me.
It is not unknown to Him.
"I am with you always."
Even now.)

 

...the Holy One 

            in your midst...

                   Hosea 11. 9

(Be aware of His Presence.

Go forth

into your impossible situation

     with the reality of who He is,

the Mighty One 

         Who changes everything.

God never gives up on you.

Right there with you.

Even in this.)

Let us know,

let us press on

     to know the LORD;

His going forth is

          sure as the dawn;

He will come to us

as the spring rains 

      that water the earth.

              Hosea 6. 3

(You can count on Him.

Press on.

God is working mightily.

Give Him the time and space

     to bring forth His purposes.)

Those who trust in the LORD
are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved,
     but abides for ever.
As the mountains are
     round about Jerusalem,
so the LORD
       is round about His people,
from this time forth
               and forevermore.

                Psalm 125. 1-2

(You are not alone.
You are surrounded.
Trust the LORD through this,
         one step at a time,
         no trust too small,
         no trust too big for Him.
"I am with you.
You can trust Me with this,
in this,
and even through this.
I've got this, the LORD says.
      I've got you.")

... and make the Valley of Achor
              a door of hope.

                        Hosea 2. 15

(Achor means "trouble."
God redeems our valley of despair
and transforms it
           into deep hope in Him.
It is a place I am only moving through
       not where I am stuck forever.
God always provides a door
   that leads directly to Him.
No matter what.
No matter where.
"I am with you.")

Then I Daniel looked ....

              Daniel 12. 5

(What am I missing,

what am I missing out on,

because I am not

seeking God Himself in this,

not just an answer?)

...but only for a time.

              Daniel 11. 24

(What often defeats us

is thinking this is the end,

we are stuck forever,

and nothing will

    ever be the same.

But God is bigger still.

In His eyes

       "not ever the same"

is a very good thing indeed.

That is what redeeming 

           is all about.

We just can't see it yet.)

O my God,
incline Your ear and hear,
open Your eyes
and behold our desolations,
and the city
   which is called by Your name,
for we do not present
our supplications before You
on the ground of our righteousness,
but on the ground
             of Your great mercy.

                       Daniel 9. 18

(Come before the LORD
     in your desolation.
He will run
   to meet you in your need.
My help comes.
My help comes from the LORD.)

...but He touched me
and set me on my feet.

                    Daniel. 8. 18

(God meets us
not just in our time of need,
      but in our need.
God does not intend for us
to dwell in the miry bog
      but to abide in Him.)