Daily Wisdom

 Est 2:1 “After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti…”

Interesting passage in that king Ahasuerus was now in memory of what his anger and Vashti, the queen’s, pride brought about. What the king desired was lost by his own decree/law. We often damaged relationships within the family of God with emotional, revengeful, or prideful responses when hurt. Such responses often bring about more remorse than relief, causing appeasement to result in resentment towards oneself. There’s very little in life that cannot be restored to an original or greater value, we must be cautious in our emotional reactions as not to cause more damage. Remember, we’re all in the process of restoration from the Father; likewise let’s focus on restoring and avoid regretting. 

If one’s emotional wellbeing is driven by vindicating who or what is right & wrong, one will be an emotional wreck… HSAY 

Daily Wisdom

Zec 8:23  ‘Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass… men shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.‘

Those days concern the Father’s deliverance and restoration of Jerusalem. A name that was once mocked by the heathen was now a place man was drawn to because she bears fruit, gives increase and has become a blessing; causing other men to take hold of her knowing the Lord’s goodness was upon Jerusalem. As a believer are we living in a way that shows evidence of the Lord’s deliverance and restoration and encourages others to grab hold and walk the same direction as well, knowing the Lord is with us?

You may be the only bible an unbeliever reads; are they encourage enough to keep reading… HSAY 

Daily Wisdom

 ‘So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God… For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed…’ Joel 3:17a; 21a

Joel began with a prophecy about the destruction of the land and ended with a prophecy about its restoration. He began by stressing the need for repentance and ended with the promise of forgiveness that repentance brings. Joel was warning the people to wake up (Joe 1:5), get rid of their complacency, and realize the danger of living apart from God.  This is Joel’s reference to their blood that has not been cleansed, their blood had become contaminated from their sinful acts as they wondered away from the Father. 

Broken fellowship is a sin that’s caused by man’s willingness to wonder in the world and venture after the visual lust it offers. This broken fellowship causes man to neglect their need for the Lord in their folly. Don’t find yourself waiting to need God until you need God. The Father hasn’t changed His position, He’s exactly where we left Him, we just need to change our priorities. 

Restoration is promised, it’s repentance that’s our problem… HSAY 

Daily Wisdom

 ‘The King’s garden’ Neh 3:15

Nehemiah reminds us that saying and doing are often two things: many are quick to say, ‘let’s rise up and build,’ who sit still and do nothing. Like the well-spoken son who said, ‘I go sir, but did not’ (Mt 21). Nehemiah was no such man. Upon his repentance for the nation of Israel to the Lord, the heart of king Artaxerxes was moved and allowed Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore what the Lord had already built that had been destroyed by man’s sin.

One such garden we must always consider is the paradise which the Lord prepared for Adam. Sin utterly ruined that abode of all its delights and drove man from dwelling with the Father to tilling the ground, yielding thorns and briers. We must humbly remember the fall, not as a burden or curse, but that it was of men. And weep because the Father of love was so shamefully ill-treated, and yet still endured to restore that which man ruined and reclaim his heart to salvation.

The King’s garden, lets arise and continue to rebuild daily its fruitfulness within our hearts … HSAY

Daily Wisdom

Jer 33:6-7 “Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.  I will cause the captivity of Judah and Israel to return and will build them, as at the first”

There can often be a big difference between what the Lord wants to accomplish, and what we want to attain. The Lord is not as interested in restoring the physical (vs 4), as He is the spiritual. He’ll accomplish an abundance of peace and truth without need of the physical. What we may want replaced the Lord is going to restore what we have to its right condition, starting with the heart (vs 8). The Lord’s more interested in the heart of the matter than the appearance of it.

When you’ve reached your end go to prayer and the Lord will take it from there… HSAY

Daily Wisdom

Psa 34:18 “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”

We read our verse and yet, it can feel as if the Lord is a million miles away.

As the deep aches of grief and guilt surface and the tears run down my cheek, they bring with them the question of how could I have changed this situation?  Longing to be able to change it by any means necessary, but the pain burrows in and the daily frustrations wear the soul down.

These are not comfortable feelings and thoughts. Pain and grief are never comfortable. It’s human nature to want to pull in, away from the world. To want to go silent, keep to myself all the thoughts I dare to shout out loud.

Running from it. Numbing it. I distract myself.

Yet, the loving voice of God says that he is close. He is there to comfort me, he has rescued me.  Some answers we will never know this side of Heaven. The pain may have to be my cross to bear the rest of my days, but I must find comfort because I’m not carrying it alone.

Psa 56:8 is a beautiful verse, the Lord captures every tear I shed and bottles them… Even in my deepest sorrow, God cares!

He promises to be "close to the brokenhearted" and my source of power, courage, and wisdom, helping me through my trials. Don’t let your lack of ability to feel His presence fatigue you, know His promises. Sometimes he chooses to deliver us through our situation and not from it.

Often our greatest ministry will come out of our greatest pain.

I do my best to lean into the pain and not run from it, I’m promised on the other side is peace!

HSAY… Todd

Daily Wisdom

Luk 15:17 “And when he came to himself … (18) I will arise and go to my father …”

These two excerpts from (Lk 15:17-18) some up the whole matter when it comes to man’s separation from the Father.

I’m not a runner.  I liked cardio training but couldn’t endure just running, I was prone to run too far out, meaning if I ran say 5 miles out I realized I had to run 5 miles to get back. There were times when I felt I was doing well, and I ran too far, and thought I’d never make it back.

Point being: Fortunately, with God you can never run so far that you can’t make it back!

The prodigal son makes this clear. Yet we must notice the son’s first step in returning to the Father. The son didn’t increase his work/s to get in better shape. He simply “came to himself.” The son had become mentally deranged from the Father’s will. The Greek phrase “came to himself” implies a kindred mind-set, unity in thought. We change our thinking to the Father’s.

The beauty is the Father who is always prepared, ran to the son upon seeing his return! There’s a beautiful song titled “When God Ran” by Phillips, Craig & Dean:

He ran to me,

He took me in His arms,

Held my head to His chest,

Said "My son's come home again!"

Lifted my face,

Wiped the tears from my eyes,

With forgiveness in His voice He said

"Son, do you know I still love You?"

Running can be great for us if we’re running in the right direction with the right mind. Maybe your mind-set is deranged from the Father’s, that’s not fatal and is easily fixable. Just “come to yourself” change your thinking and bring into unity, kindred to the Father’s, and He’ll be prepared to run to you and meet you where you are!

Stop believing the lies of the enemy that there’s no way back! The Father’s ears and eyes are on you, just “come to yourself” and He’ll come to you!

It’s not about the distance you’ve run that matters, it’s the direction you’ve running in!

HSAY… Todd

Daily Wisdom

Lk 9:62 “And Jesus said, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

No man will ever get to where God wants them by focusing on where they’ve been. Let go of the past and the past will let go of you. It’s like being locked in a cell and yet you’re holding the key. “Know that every saint has their past, and every sinner has their future.” Trust that God can bring peace to your past, purpose to your present and hope to your future (Jn 14:27). All we must do is trust the past to His mercy, the present to His love and the future to His providence. The only thing helpful about the PAST, is knowing in the PRESENT I don’t want a FUTURE without God controlling it. And the only purpose of the past is to give you a story that allows you to introduce Jesus to others, not for you to live in it. Paul never would’ve found his success in Jesus if he remained focused on Stephen (Acts 7:58-59). Don’t let your past be a prison, live the present in God’s promises and allow your future to be guided by faith. Make your past a place of reference, not a place of residence.

You have purpose far beyond your past, don’t spend the present plowing it back up!

HSAY… Todd  

Daily Wisdom

Jer 33:6-7  “Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.  I will cause the captivity of Judah and Israel to return and will build them, as at the first” 

The Lord directs Jeremiah to call/pray unto Him and He’ll answer. But, the Lord is not as interested in restoring the physical (vs 4), as He is the spiritual.  There can often be a big difference between what the Lord wants to accomplish, and what we want to attain. The Lord clarifies He’ll accomplish an abundance of peace and truth without need of the physical. Like our desire to replace a wrecked or damaged car by attaining a new one, while the Lord is going to restore what we have to its right condition, starting with what’s under the hood first (vs 8). The Lord is always looking at the heart of the matter before the appearance of the matter. It’s not as much about what it looks like as compared to how it runs. Stating “I will cause them to return and build them, as at first” (vs 7). God is more worried about peace and truth than personal treasures.  

When you feel things have reached the end of the line, go back to the first and start with prayer, and the Lord will take from there!

HSAY… Todd

Daily Wisdom

Jn 7:37 “In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.”

Jesus stood and freely offered salvation for any who thirsted (Jn 4:13-15). But here’s a second thought?  If Jesus was able to redeem the soul, which He was and is, can He not restore the soul He’s already redeemed?  Doesn’t make sense that a collector would purchase an old car just to keep it from the scrap yard, and not be willing or able to restore it to it’s original beauty. Don’t hinder the power of Jesus in your life by limiting Him to the redemptive work of the cross, and not rely upon Him for your restoration. This is what David called upon… (Psa 51:22 “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” And what Job depended on… (Job 42:10 “And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job…” And God promised through Jeremiah… (Jer 30:17 “For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord…”) Let Him who loves you more than you love yourself restore you (Psa 23:5).  You’ll find a beauty within that will resonate a love that causes others to thirst for!

He purchased you to restore you (Joel 2:25)

HSAY… Todd

Daily Wisdom

“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isa 43:18-19

Allow your past to make you better, not bitter. When you forgive, be it yourself or others, you in no way change the past, but you sure do change the future. The past can offer a great lesson from your own pain – learn to seek God, not in a single event or scene of history, but in your own soul as the constant verification of experience (Rom 5:3-5) in life and God’s love.  Just because your past didn’t turn out like you desired, doesn’t mean your future can’t be better than you’ve ever imagine. Anything in this world meant or resulting in hurt and pain, God can use for good. God is able to take the mess of your past and turn it into a message.  The past is where you learn the lesson, the future is where you apply it… just don’t give up in the middle!

If you carry the bricks from your past into tomorrow, you’ll build the same house!

HSAY … Todd

Daily Wisdom

“And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:”  Col 1:21-22

Satan has his way of belittling your worth and causing you to focus on your flaws rather than the favour of God.  Causing you to find yourself alienated and guilty by your wicked works that prey on your mind and creates a subconscious image that haunts us. Paul encourages us to fret not. By way of Christ having made peace through the blood of the cross, he has reconciled you unto himself (vs 20). And because of his work, no matter how you see yourself, the scars and blemishes you focus on are unseen by God! Through Christ, God sees you blameless and approved and has no memory of your sins: “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” Isa 43:25  What you hold against yourself you hold alone, God does not hold your sins to his thought. No matter how engulfing your fire of guilt burns a drop of God’s mercy distinguishes all. God’s love is not based on what you are, but in who Christ is!.

Holiness is not the way to Christ, Christ is the way to holiness!

HSAY… Todd

Daily Wisdom

“For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.” Isa 54:7

The promised covenant of the Lord is that the church would no more face the wrath of desolation, but rather the work of restoration through Jesus. In such a great promise we must remain humble knowing the Father's wrath is still justified by our actions. It’s by his great mercy (getting what we don’t deserve) that we can rejoice in his promised restoration. Our sin had provoked the Lord to hide his face for a moment (vs 8), but with his everlasting kindness and mercy our redemption rises with the promise of the morning sun. Never again to face the desolation of the Days of Noah (vs 9), but instead able to rejoice in the promise and eternal work of Jesus who bore the wrath for our sin and shame. Every ransomed soul owes his salvation to this promise and to the fact that during our days of sinning God keep the door of mercy open, refusing to accept any of our sinful acts as final. Only through God’s infinite mercy is he able to devise a way by which justice can be satisfied, and yet mercy can still be triumphant… Jesus! The divine justice that was accepted as an equivalent atonement for the wrath due us. The Lord tells us that time and matter will depart, but his covenant of peace and mercy will never be removed (vs 10). The mercy of God is the hope we have as an anchor for the soul (Heb 6:19)

A morsel of God’s mercy is greater than a mountain of our mistakes. (Lam 3:22-23)

HSAY… Todd

Daily Wisdom

“The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.” Isa 59:1

It’s not an issue of inability; it’s a matter of severability that hinders God’s blessings (vs 2); by way of our sin. We’ve lost our ability to even blush over our sin, much less to weep over it. One’s inability to separate himself from sin will soon discover that sin will separate him from God, and all that is good. But know this, no one can out-sin the work of Christ on the cross; thus victory can never be separated from him who chooses to stand with humility and righteousness on the promise of the cross.

“Be cautious in thinking little of sin, you may fall little by little.”

HSAY… Todd

Daily Wisdom

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me (Christ), because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings (gospel) unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.”  Isa 61:1

This prophecy was fulfilled and recorded in (Lk 4:18); providing Restoration to the (brokenhearted), Liberation to those (captive), Redemption for the spiritually (bound); all through our Salvation (good tidings). Rom 8:5 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Christ overcame everything that would separate you from His love by interceding on your behalf to provide you comfort in Him and not the world (vs 2).  Christ calls for your trust in Him, not to control you, but deliver you from the contempt of this world. Don’t hesitate in taking Christ serious, He took you serious when He chose to die for you. He loves you and loved you when you were unlovable and couldn’t love yourself. Christ goes before you making the crooked places in life straight (Isa 45:2); reassuring His love never fails; His forgiveness never ends, so your hope never has to stop. You’re loved more than you know by someone who died to know you.

The love of Christ, don’t miss it for the world.

HSAY…Todd

Daily Wisdom

“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged…” Lk 6:37

Unfortunately many who quote Jesus in saying “judge not, least you be judge” use it to judge others for judging! People are apt to judge in matters they don’t have full understanding and in doing so cause hurt, discouragement and confusion for others. But, we are directed by the scriptures that we must have judgment, but only when it comes to discerning character and/or teachings. Paul illustrated this many times (Mt 7:1; Mt 7:15; Rom 16:17-18; 1 Tim 1:20; 2 Tim 2:17-18) he even mentions names such as Demas, warns Timothy about “Alexander the coppersmith” who did much evil, Hymenaeus and Philetus who have gone astray and John warned of Diotrephes who loves to be first (3 Jn). These men were not wrongly judged by the apostles, but discernment was used against their ungodly character and false teachings. It’s not judgment speaking to one, privately, about such character flaws and teachings. But when criticism comes by means of jealousy, bitterness, selfish-ambition or any sin of your personal dislike and not for the purpose of building them up in Christ-likeness, such would be unjust judgment. It becomes judgment when we use human standards and opinions and not God’s word for betterment and encouragement. First and foremost, before you look towards others look inward first and see if it’s a worthy example.

Judge not what you see, but what you know to be true.

HSAY…Todd

Daily Wisdom

“…our flesh had no rest, were troubled on every side; Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus.” 2 Cor 7:5-6

In spite of Paul’s weariness and struggles, he found and saw Titus as a source of strength and encouragement in God.  God may not always give you the people you want, but He will send the people you need, to comfort you, strengthen you to be the person you’re meant to be in Christ. Simple thought, but do doctors encourage the healthy or do they work with those sick and in need of care? Yet, interesting how we often run from those who are sick or in need, fearful we’ll come down with their illness or maybe burdened ourselves in their struggles.  WE are called to comfort those who are troubled; by and with the same comfort and grace in which God has comforted us (2 Cor 1:3-4). We’re all different sinners in need of the same God; be faithful when others falter; loving when others are lonely; hopeful for those who are hopeless…when it comes to compassion, after all is said and done; make sure more is done than said.  

The power of Grace is the fact it meets you where you are, but want leave you where it found you!

HSAY…Todd

Daily Wisdom

“Brethern, if a man be overtaken in fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Gal 6:1

Are you a restorer or an accuser? We must be unwilling to look down on another unless we are attempting to lift them up; knowing the littlest of encouragement can be the single difference in one giving up or going on. The law of Christ calls us to bear one another’s burdens (vs 2); Paul shows us that faith expresses itself through our love for others (Gal 5:6).  Each one should use the gifts God’s granted them for the use of encouraging others as faithful stewards of His grace (1 Pt 4:10). We must not judge the lives and actions of others, it’s one thing to feel that you’re on the right path, but another to think yours is the only path to walk.

The greatest blessing in the world is being a blessing.

HSAY…Todd

Daily Wisdom

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”  Rom 8:18

Through the cause of suffering there can be great purpose.  If faced rightly it can drive us like a nail deep into the love and strength of God; bringing about great stability and spiritual power beyond what you can imagine. Remember Christ did not suffer so we would not have to; He suffered so when we suffer we become more like Him. God has called you for His good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you.  He is your example to follow in His steps (1 Pt2:21).  No character is truly revealed until it has endured its suffering. After your season of suffering, God in all His grace, will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you in His glory through Christ (2 Pt 5:10).

Joy is not absence of suffering; it is the presence of God.

HSAY…Todd

Daily Wisdom

“For we cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard…for all men glorified God for that which was done.” Acts 4:20; 21b

Every Christian has a piece of good news in them to share with others regarding Jesus. It cost you nothing, but your willingness, to encourage others by testifying of His greatness and exhorting one another daily…lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Heb 3:13)  By illustrating before others the love of Christ we reaffirm our own blessing and hope.  Before you put someone in their place, be willing to put yourself in theirs. There is no greater exercise for ones heart than their effort to reach down and lift another up in Christ. A humble and thankful spirit does not put others down, but lifts them up by speaking of Christ and glorifying Him for what He has done.

“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill

HSAY…Todd