I am so excited about this month’s letter, as I have been mulling over it for weeks and know it’s going to bless you. First though, Mandy and I want to wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving! We pray that this time with friends and family is filled with laughter and joy as you remember the fullness that God has brought to you this year.
We have all faced moments in life that leave us looking for a way out, longing for a change of events. Thoughts like, “Can it get any worse?” plague our minds as these events try our trust in the Word of God that we have come to believe and live by. No matter the situation, what we are looking for is a turn around in the circumstances. This letter I pray gives you exactly that, your Jesus bought and blessed TURN AROUND!
The moment that Adam and Eve bowed their knees to Satan in the Garden of Eden, making Satan the new god of this world, mankind began looking for a turn around. He’s been looking for that moment in time where the hurt and pain would end, where the battle would go from loosing to winning again. God, more than man, wanted a change of course for His most prized possession and valued creation. This most needed about face was what set Gods love into action. God the Father has never been ok with the distance and forced gap that was placed between Himself and His man through sin. God gave the law through Moses so that man would have a choice, a place to turn his life around. Deuteronomy 30:19 says, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life an death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;” The option to escape death and cursing was found in the u turn called the law. All you had to do was love God with all your heart and soul, obey His voice, and cling to Him by fully trusting Him. Seems simple enough and yet man still found himself going in the direction that left each day full of the suffering, defeat and disappointment that he had come to despise so much. It seemed as though this was his inevitable future.
I found in Deuteronomy 23:5 where the law was being read to the children of Israel and the encounter with Balaam who was hired to curse Israel by Balak was brought up. The children of Israel had never been able to keep the law perfectly, and truth be known, no one has. The law was simply given to bring us all to an end of ourselves, and to the recognition of our need for a savior. But, even with this lack of ability on mans part; Gods love was stirring, longing to be fully manifested and experienced by His people.
Deuteronomy 23:5 says, “Nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. May this be our word in every moment where it seems as though life is running down hill with no end in sight to the upsets that persistently pursued us. May we declare with boldness, “NEVERTHELESS, GOD HAS TURNED IT AROUND FOR ME, BECAUSE HE LOVES ME! I AM BLESSED AND ALWAYS VICTORIOUS THROUGH CHRIST!”
Don’t be waiting for your turn around, the wait is over; the turn around is here, NOW! Ephesians 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HAS blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” God HAS BLESSED YOU, IN LOVE and ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PLEAUSRE OF HIS WILL! The Fathers decision was made in Christ, which brought compete fulfillment to all who will simply believe in Him.
I want to end with this encouraging verse that sums up this letter. Jonah 2:7-9 says, “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple. Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy (or loving-kindness – Gods eternal covenant) But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of THANKSGIVING; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.”
Four steps to your NOW Turn Around:
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Remember the Lord – His love for you
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Pray to Him
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Let God be the only holder of your trust; for salvation belongs to Him (Jesus, your deliverance, prosperity, healing, and help!)
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Always lift up your voice of thanksgiving in all things