DO YOU NEED A FRIEND WHO UNDERSTANDS YOU AND ENCOURAGES YOU?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will
take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He
will rejoice over you with singing.”
(Zephaniah 3:17)

MEDITATION:
Do you think it’s true to say that everyone could use a personal cheerleader?
We can be down in our spirit and need someone to encourage us. We can
have anxieties and need someone with wisdom to calm us down. We may
need someone in our life who appreciates who we are, and what we do.

The scriptures tell us that we do have someone ‘in our corner’. We are
told that our Lord is always with us. Notice it says “the Lord your God”;
if He is not ‘our Lord’, then we must assume that He is not with us. When
He IS ‘our Lord’, we will have a desire to do the things that please Him
(which means we replace the selfishness of pleasing ourselves with a 
selfless desire to obey and grow closer in our fellowship with God).

Obeying God is not something that ‘just happens’, it requires a conscious
effort on our part that is driven by our love for Him. God knows what a
challenge it can be for us, so He has given us the Holy Spirit at salvation
to assist us in transforming into a likeness of Jesus.

In addition, He begins a ‘sanctification’ process of purging our unrighteousness
and filling the void with righteousness (it is a lifelong process that ends when we
go to be with the Lord). There are people who struggle with the assurance of their
salvation; sanctification is one way of detecting we have been saved. When we are
being transformed by the Lord, there will be significant changes in our desires,
habits, attitudes and overall being.
    Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be
    transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then
    you will be able to test and approve what God’s will
    is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
    (Romans 12:2)

    And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the
    Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image
    with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord,
    who is the Spirit.
    (2 Corinthians 3:18)

    But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await
    a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the
    power that enables him to bring everything under his
    control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they
    will be like his glorious body.
    (Philippians 3:20-21)

The Bible Passage for this devotional from the Lord reminds us of God’s
unlimited power; He is the one who can ultimately save people. When He
is Lord of our lives, He will “take great delight in us”. That implies He
enjoys observing our lives and is ready to help us in our times of need.

How does He help us? He “quiets us with His love”. What a reassuring
thought to realize that God, the Creator of the universe, will comfort
us when we are stressed, worried, or having anxieties. How does He
comfort us? He showers us with His love.

We are also told that He will “rejoice over us with singing”. Can you
visualize God rejoicing over you with singing? What an awesome
thought! God is a fan of His people, and He enjoys seeing us with
a desire for righteousness. If we accept ourselves as failures, then
we are destined to continue to fail. But because God loves us, He
can show us how to make each failure a ‘steppingstone’ to success
in becoming a new person (the one He wants us to be).

God can be everywhere at once, listening and responding to the prayers
of all who call out in the name of Christ; and at the same time, God is
performing many miracles. such as keeping the stars in their places,
filling the sea with fish and causing plants to burst up from the ground.

There is no limit to God.
    There is no limit to His wisdom.
    There is no limit to His power.
    There is no limit to His love.
    There is no limit to His mercy.
God is limitless, AND He considers each follower of Jesus as a special person.

ACTION:
Question:
    “Has the Lord become the Lord of MY life?”
It’s not just a statement, it’s an action. It means that we have given Him
control of our lives and we are willing to do what He commands of us,
and we want to make efforts to avoid the things He identifies as sin.

Claiming that He is your Lord is not like a smorgasbord where you
choose which things you will yield to Him and which things you will
keep to yourself. There is no such thing as a partial Lord of your life;
either He is Lord (of all), or He is not.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I have delayed way too long in giving You
Your rightful place in my life. I want to be able to call you my
Lord because I have yielded my life to You. Forgive me for my
partial commitment and help me to be fully committed to You. 
I know that when I can honestly call You Lord, You will be with
me, You will calm me with Your love, and You will encourage
me as I strive for righteousness and try to serve You in whatever
way You have chosen specifically for me. Thank You for loving
me and for Your desire to see me become more like Jesus.”

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