thoughts by Sylvia Gunter Archives - Daily Devotionals by Thoughts about God

Published September 22, 2023

Top 10 Ways Not to Hear From God

Top 10 Ways Not to Hear From God

1. Take no time for margins in your life. Fill your life with so much activity that there is no room to “Be still, cease striving, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). When we live in the tyranny of the urgent, we can be so busy that two-way conversation with God is not a priority.

2. Don’t admit that you have any needs. Be so self-sufficient that you don’t need a prayer base. We all need personal intercessors. Yet, as I ask most Christian leaders if they have a prayer base as a necessity of their life and ministry, they reply blankly, “Uh… no.”

3. Respond to every need as if you are the only one who can fix it. Jesus did not respond to every need. From our people-pleasing natures, it is not easy to see that every need is not our call. Our valid call is only from God, not from the pleading voices around us.

4. Don’t ask God any questions. People have questions, and they will look for the answers somewhere: psychics, self-help books, friends, talk-radio shows, the internet, etc. Only God is the source of eternal Truth. He is available for our questions, toll-free, unlimited access.

5. Be so exhausted that your physical, mental, and emotional fatigue cries out to be satisfied louder than the still, small voice of God. To hear from God, we must take adequate time off to get much-needed rest and refreshment. Burned out, we are no good to ourselves or anybody else, much less to God.

6. Completely ignore the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit speaks words of truth and comfort and enables us to grow in spiritual awareness. By slighting His work and failing to rely on Him, we short-change our ability to hear from God.

7. Insist that God must conform to your comfort zone. Be so comfortable that if God did speak, it would upset your status quo. Self-satisfaction kills our hunger to hear from God. So does lack of vision that there’s more beyond where we are. When we are busy perpetuating a personal agenda, we will not hear the voice of God, especially if it means change.

8. Be religious. “Religion” is characterized by tunnel vision that thinks it has all the answers. Religion does not deepen us in the grace of God. Look at the Pharisees. They were preoccupied with keeping every jot and tittle of the law. Jesus called them whited sepulchers, full of dead men’s bones. They kept a form of godliness and missed God walking among them. God calls us to cultivate a living relationship in intimacy with Him at all costs.

9. Be ignorant of the warfare. We must not see only the surface of things. We are not fighting flesh and blood but unseen spiritual battles (Ephesians 6:12-13). Paul instructed us not to wage war on the horizontal level as the world does. The informed and armed soldier overcomes everything that sets itself up against the righteousness, peace, and joy of the kingdom of God (2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Romans 14:17).

10. Tolerate unconfessed sin in your life. The psalmist said, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18). Our sin and flesh must not be allowed to dominate so loudly that they drown out God. We must draw near God with a clean conscience (Hebrews 10:22).

Follow the example of Jesus, who often slipped away from
the crowds to spend time with the quiet loving voice of his Father.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

A Season for Everything

Listen with your spirit to the Word of God in Ecclesiastes 3:1.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

Beloved, your Father has appointed time as the stage for his eternal purposes in your life. I bless you with knowing that he has appointed and oversees your point in history, the times and seasons, the events and the experiences, the character and significance of all things that pertain to you. I bless you with knowing his direction of your life, when he doesn’t let you see the end from the beginning, so that you will seek him, his heart, and his wisdom at all times. Time serves his overarching plan, even when life seems senseless and without aim or explanation. I bless you with knowing that everything unfolds under the eye of his providence, even when the pieces don’t seem to fit, and his ways are a mystery to you. I bless you with knowing the certainty of how you fit into his time and space, history and the future. As it was said of Queen Esther, “Who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

I bless you with knowing that your Father’s appointed and anointed time for everything is beautiful from his perspective of eternity. I bless you with trusting his bigger picture, when you can only see some of the particulars. I bless you with being right in step and on time, not running ahead or lagging behind. I bless you with sensitivity to the seasons of the Spirit, the movement of the Spirit, and the moment of the Spirit.

I bless your spirit with an anointing for time and timeliness. I bless you with knowing your Father’s birthing seasons and with letting die those works that are not his. I bless you with knowing his timing to plant a new vision or dream and to pluck up something that is past its season. I bless you with not erecting idols or monuments to works that he is not presently blessing.

I bless you with your Father’s time to laugh about what makes him laugh and to weep about those things that break his heart. I bless you with your Father’s time to dance with abandon with the Lover of your soul. I bless you with your Father’s time to scatter seed and time to rejoice gathering in the harvest. I bless you with your Father’s time to embrace those people, values, and purposes that he blesses and to refrain from affirming anything that is not his vision for you. I bless you with his time to search for the hidden treasures of love and wisdom, for hope and faith, and to give up as worthless all self-effort and striving. I bless you with his time to keep that which is silver, gold, and precious stones and to throw away all that is wood, hay, and stubble.

I bless you to mend some relationships and to tear away from soul ties which your Father did not author. I bless you to know his time to be silent, and when it’s time to speak, I bless you with knowing the time of his dealing in another person’s life and whether you are to be involved and how. I bless you with your Father’s time to love what he loves and to hate what he hates with righteous passion. I bless you with his holy time for war with the real enemy and his time for peace because of the grace of the cross.

Beloved, your times are safely in his hands. I bless you with enjoying your Father’s good gift of time. I bless you with savoring all the richness of the present moment. I bless you and entrust you to God and the word of his grace, the message of his heart that builds you up and gives you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself. I bless you in Jesus’ name.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

What to Pray in Difficult Situations

Use this prayer as a guide to pray for whatever is concerning you to day.

He is the God of the impossible, and He is near.

Lord, I choose to do whatever it takes to be able to pray the following prayer in complete surrender to Your perfect will regarding (this person, situation, or problem).

Lord, help me to learn everything You are trying to teach me in (this), and please don’t stop until I have learned everything You want me to receive.

Help me to seek You and not just relief from (this). I pray that You and only You will be glorified and that I will know You better as You give me greater revelation of who You are.

Holy Spirit, I humble myself before You and ask You to search my heart and convict and cleanse me of pride and any other spiritual darkness that might hinder me from repenting of my sins. I relinquish myself to You and ask You to do whatever it takes so that I might walk in the light of truth. I want to pray effectively for (this); therefore, expose to me my sins, so that I can confess, repent of them, and cover them with the blood of Jesus.

Lord, do what it takes to get my complete attention. I put on the altar my entire family and those you have knit me together with in the Spirit. I surrender myself and all those you have brought close to me and dedicate them to You. In Jesus name, I ask You to bring revival to my life and theirs.

Remove from me all bitterness, resentment, and anger. Give me Your total love even if (this) should never change. Help me to confess, repent, and make restitution where necessary for Your honor and glory and my release from all bondage.

Lord, help me to obey you completely. As You direct me to pray and fast, speak to my spirit clearly concerning (this).

As I stand against the enemy, I am clothed in Your full armor covered with the blood of my Redeemer in whom resides all power and authority. I thank You, Father, that You defeated Satan and all the powers of darkness when Jesus died for me on the cross.

I plead Your promises and character over (this). I acknowledge that Your Word never comes back void, and I stand on the following Scriptures and promises to which Your Spirit has lead me. (Make note of the Scriptures God leads you to pray).

I offer up to You my sacrifice of praise and acknowledge by faith that You have already won the victory. I choose to rest in You whatever the outcome, however You choose to answer. Thank You that You never change and that Your goodness and mercy are everlasting. I ask You in faith to do Your will, to reveal Yourself, to turn hearts and put a godly fear in all concerned about (this) and to bring Your Word to bear on all involved.

Father, I give You all praise, honor, and glory for what You are doing and are about to do. I thank You for the blessings of obedience and acknowledge that every answer I receive is from You, through You, and for Your glory alone. In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Fast Of Words: A Different Kind of Fast

Time and again God brings me to my knees over my heart attitude expressed out of my mouth. More than once, God has led me to fast of negative, critical, judgmental, and complaining words. Why a fast of words? Is that a legitimate application of fasting? The Hebrew word fast means to cover the mouth. For me, it is harder to fast from words than from food. Abstaining from negative words may be as powerful as fasting from food, because it is a particular battlefield for most of us.

A fast of words is one of the fasts in Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58:9b lists not pointing fingers in judgment and no wicked words as conditions of great blessings listed in verses 10b-12.

I remember the first time God led me to fast for 40 days of all negative, complaining, critical, and judgmental words. At first, it was one of the hardest experiences of my Christian life. The problem is not my mouth but my heart. Proverbs 4:23 says

“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”

About two weeks into my fast, I was treated haughtily at a store. As I left the store, I said to myself, “I’ll just take my business elsewhere. That is the second time she has had an attitude with me.” Immediately I heard in my spirit, “No, you are the one with the attitude.” I wanted to fall to my knees on the sidewalk, crying out, “I am so sick of me!” I know how Isaiah felt when he told God, “Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). O God, take a coal from the altar and purge this wicked heart of mine. God showed me that He was dealing with a root of pride (Isaiah 57:15, 1 Peter 5:5-6). I was puffed up, with no sense of my own spiritual need.

I struggled for a while in this fast of words in what felt like hand-to-hand warfare, but God softened and sweetened my heart. After that season, I felt like a dog in a yard with an invisible electric fence. Every time I opened my mouth to say anything critical, I would get a zap from my loving Father. I reviewed my prayer notebook and was amazed at how many Scriptural insights God gave me during that time. God was being faithful to reveal more of Himself.

For several months I have been keenly aware of living with a grateful heart, thankfully noting God touches great and small. Recently I read a devotional on a thankful heart. The author set up a contrast between thankfulness and negativity. He quoted Paul, when he said

“And do not grumble, as some of them did and were killed by the destroyer” (1 Corinthians 10:10).

That puts the choice all of us have in very stark contrast: choose thankfulness in all things or choose sides with destruction.

Ask God if He is leading you to do a forty-day fast of critical, judgmental, negative, complaining, gossiping words. You may be amazed what God will do through it. At the very least, your family and friends may be amazed at the change in you, from destruction to blessing.

by Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Worship the Lord Your God

I heard the car door slam in the driveway, and I raced to the front door. I was just in time to see my granddaughter’s fabulous blue eyes under cupped hands, above an ear-to-ear grin, peering through a window pane of the French doors. I was opening the door from the inside as she was pushing it open from the outside. I reached down to her, and she leaped up toward me as I picked her up. She locked her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. We hugged each other fervently. I kept saying, “I am so glad you came to see me,” while she smothered me with kisses. She did not want to let me go. She kept saying, “I want to stay here with you always.” So we sat down on the stairs, with her still entwined around me, and we continued our life-and-death embrace for minutes on end.

That is worship.

Do you feel the passionate heart connection that marks worship? Each day your Abba Father in Heaven awaits that type of connection with you. Worship means to throw kisses toward. Jesus told us that people who “throw kisses to God” are the kind of worshipers God seeks. The Greek word “worship” in John 4:23-24 is proskuneo, to throw a kiss toward someone in token of respect or homage, to adore, to show respect, or to kneel or fall prostrate before in reverence. The ancient manner of greeting between persons of vastly different ranks was that the one who was inferior fell to his knees and touched his forehead to the ground, throwing kisses toward his superior.

My prayer for you is that as you awake every morning, your heart would be full of worship for our almighty and loving God. May you press your face up to your Abba with anticipation of connecting with Him in a real and powerful way, locking onto Him, not wanting to let Him go.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

How To Wait When God Seems Slow

In a fast paced world where we want everything now, waiting can be hard.

Nothing tries our faith like waiting on God for answers to prayer.

If we run ahead of God, we will be painfully chastened by turmoil, exhaustion, and failure. Taking matters in our own hands has ample instructive precedent in God’s Word. Think of Abraham with Ishmael, Saul’s usurping the role of a priest, Israel looking to Egypt for help (Isaiah30:1-3), or walking in the light of our own fire (Isaiah 50:11.)

God is all powerful, so why does He make us wait? Perhaps the waiting is less about the answer to our request and more about God revealing more of who He is and who we are in Him. God is revealing His perfections, His impeccable ability to be in charge of every detail. His timing is split-second. He is omniscient, omnipresent, and omni-caring. He works all and in all. He gives confirmations of His ever-presentness. He gives us assurances of His real power over the enemy that is not seen.

His Holy Spirit focuses us. We want proof, but faith is the substance (not the evidence) of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The Holy Spirit says, “I am giving you the substance of faith.” He gives the grace to await His purposes until the precise moment when He gives evidence that He was working all along.

Waiting is not necessarily resignation from all activity; it is submission to God’s better idea.

Waiting on God means that all of our life is brought under God’s umbrella of authority and direction.

How Do We Wait?

Prayerfully Psalm 25:4-5
With strength and courage Psalm 27:14, 31:24
Rejoicing and trusting in His holy name Psalm 33:21
Based on the fear of the Lord and His unfailing love Psalm 33:18,22
With hope Psalm 33:20, 39:7
Patiently Psalm 37:7, 40:1; Habakkuk 3:16, Romans 8:25, Hebrews 6:15
Obediently Psalm 37:34, 119:166; Isaiah 26:8-9
Desiring Him Isaiah 26:8-9
Single-mindedly Psalm 62:5
Expectantly Psalm 123:2, Micah 7:7
Believing His Word Psalm 130:5
Assured He is all we need, He is our portion Lamentations 3:24
Quietly Lamentations 3:26
Always Hosea 12:6
In anticipation of joy John 3:29
Eagerly Romans 8:19,23

In community with other believers, as we humble ourselves and open up to receive from the body of Christ, we will be strengthened to see the full kaleidoscope of His plan and be encouraged in the grace of waiting.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

The Battle is the Lord’s

Our enemies are God’s enemies, and He is an active and aggressive Mighty Warrior against them.

We face an enemy that has already lost the war but won’t concede without a fierce fight. Many of the Psalms could appropriately be called “Battle Psalms.” It was not by accident that the most excellent worshiper in the Bible was also the most successful warrior. David focused on praise in one of the great spiritual warfare passages in the Scriptures.

“Praise be to the LORD my Rock,
Who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.
He is my loving God and my fortress,
My stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge,
Who subdues peoples under me.” Psalm 144:1-2

Throughout His history of dealing with His people, God asserted that the battle is the Lord’s. Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:13-14).

David gave God all the credit for His defense. “With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish” (Psalm 44:1-2). Generations later, God was still reassuring His faithless people, “Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them, not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God” (Hosea 1:7). In all ages, the purpose of battle is always to exalt the Lord and to cause us to draw near to Him, to see His glory, to praise Him for His victory. In fact, the psalmist prayed for God not to take away all his enemies, lest the people forget their God (Psalm 59:11).

O that we would not be fainthearted when God has provided Himself as our El Gibbor, the mighty God; the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle; El Shaddai, almighty God; the Lord our defense; the Lord our deliverer; Jehovah Sabaoth, the Captain of the Lord’s heavenly armies. Isaiah said, “They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you’ “(Isaiah 35:2-4 NKJV).

Take God’s Word to heart for your defense and victory as a vital part of the whole armour of God. It is the sword of the Spirit that is ever-ready in the mighty hand of God.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

From: Prayer Essentials For Living In His Presence,
Vol 1, page 260-261. © 2000 Sylvia Gunter

Jesus Is Risen. He Is Risen Indeed

In Luke 22:15 Jesus told His disciples,

“I have earnestly and intensely desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Amplified Bible).

He used a strong word for “earnestly and intensely desired.” He was saying, “I long eagerly to have communion with you. My affections are deeply directed toward sharing this significant holy feast with you.” Jesus passionately wants our fellowship. Jesus yearns to intimately share a special meal with us, in the long leisurely custom of those days (Revelation 3:20).

This is my watchword for the Easter season. This is a great time to pause and remember the ways Jesus has shown His love to you during the past year. What are the times or situations since last Easter that you have sensed His presence or received His passionate covenant love and kindness or basked in His intimate goodness? Thank Him for those moments and journal your great gratitude for Him alive, present, and active in your life and in your world.

There can be some seasons in life in which it can be hard to really “see” Jesus. When Mary Magdalene met Jesus at the garden tomb after He had been risen, she didn’t “see” Him (John 20:11-18). Of all people, she knew Him so well that she should have recognized Jesus immediately, but she didn’t. She thought He was the gardener. Jesus was there for her, but she just couldn’t see. But then Jesus said her name “Mary,” and she immediately knew it was Jesus.

This Easter be blessed to know and appreciate the many ways Jesus is present for you, even if you think He is just the gardener. Ask Him to open your eyes to know Him as His words burn within you on your road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Remember a time when you were toiling away at your ordinary duties, and Jesus addressed you gently as “Friend” and then did something so awesome that you knew immediately that it was He (John 21:1-7).

Read the Easter week narratives in your Bible from your spirit, as if for the first time. Ask God to immerse you deeply in some of the other rich imagery of Easter… “be there” as the triumphant King enters to waving palm branches, “be there” at the Passover meal, “be there” in Gethsemane with the agonizing submitted Son, “be there” at the cross with your crucified Savior, “be there” seeking your Lord in the garden.

Be touched by the thought in a song from decades ago: He paid much too high a price for you to be merely inspired but not truly changed.

For reflection:

Ask God to help you remember times when He was with you. Remember the emotions and stirring of your heart in those times. Ask Him to give you a glimpse into His heavenly realities concerning those times. Ask Him for fresh eyes to see Him in the dailies of life, when He crowns them with His glory. Ask Him if there is anything He wants to say to you today. Open your heart and your spirit to hear Him afresh.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

2011 by Sylvia Gunter and Elizabeth Gunter.
An archive of past devotionals is available on the website. www.thefathersbusiness.com

My Beloved Child

I am writing you today to let you know I am thinking of you. Actually, I am always thinking of you, because you are the apple of my eye. I created you unique and special. There has never been anyone else in the history of the world like you, and there never will be again. You are perfectly accepted in my beloved Son. You are never alone. You are hidden under the shadow of my wings. As you start your day today, I want to remind you that you are who you are because of who I am.

You are secure.
Deuteronomy 33:12 Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long…

I am your defender and defense.
Zechariah 9:15 (NKJ) The LORD of hosts will defend them.

Your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:3 … your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

I am your hiding place.
Psalms 32:7 You are my hiding place…

You are lifted out of the depths.
Psalms 30:1 You lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.

I am your burden-bearer.
Matthew 11:30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

You are clean.
John 15:3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

The blood of the Lamb cleanses you from sin.
1 John 1:7b The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

You are refined by fire.
1 Peter 1:6-7 … your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-

I am your God, a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:29 Our God is a consuming fire.

You are my handiwork.
Ephesians 2:10 We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus…

I am your Creator.
Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth…

You are encouraged.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts…

I am your comforter.
Isaiah 51:12 I, even I, am he who comforts you.

You have a place prepared for me.
John 14:2-3 In my Father’s house are many rooms… I am going there to prepare a place for you.

I am your dwelling place through all generations.
Psalms 90:1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

You are a friend of God.
John 15:15 I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

I am your friend.
John 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

You have rest in me.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. … you will find rest for your souls.”

I am God of stillness.
Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God.

You know all things work for good.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God…

I am good.
Psalms 100:5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever…

You abide in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 13:14 May the…fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

I am the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 2:13 You were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.

You are mine.
Isaiah 43:1 Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

I am the I AM.
Exodus 3:14 “I AM WHO I AM … say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’

You are an heir of all things.
Galatians 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

I am your inheritance.
Ephesians 1:11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance…

You are not lacking wisdom.
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally… and it will be given to him.

I am your teacher.
Psalms 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go…

Your days are ordained by me.
Psalms 139:16 Every day ordained for me were recorded in your book before one of them came to be.

I am the keeper of your times.
Psalms 31:15 My times are in your hands…
(http://www.biblegateway.com/)

With love from,
your Abba

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

God’s Competence in Clay Pots

Hear God’s Word for you in 2 Corinthians 4:7. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

Your Father wants you to be completely whole in belonging and worth, in identity and legitimacy.

Be blessed to know without question what a treasure you are to Him. Be blessed to live as the special treasure you are. As you know who you are, you will understand the “why” of what you do. Be blessed with knowing your purpose and the specific blessings that God has stored up for you.

Be blessed in the name of the One who is all-surpassing power. Be blessed with knowing experientially that Jesus is the “how” of everything you are and do. Paul asked the rhetorical question, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). And the answer is nothing. God is your competence (2 Corinthians 3:5). Know that it is “not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the LORD Almighty (Zechariah 4:6). You can be confident, knowing that apart from Him you can do nothing (John 15:5), but in Him you can do everything (Philippians 4:13).

You can be confident in the core of your being in following God’s will, not your own; in speaking His words, not your own; in doing His work, as He does His work of intimately revealing Himself. Thank God for your God-given competence, but don’t allow your competence to become your identity. Be blessed with healing in your deepest doubts and your deepest wounds of identity, so that you do not have to strive to prove that you are worthy, legitimate, significant, and deserving of honor.

God designed you for unique good works in Christ (Ephesians 2:10). There are some things He placed you in the world to do that you can do better than anybody else, because of who He designed you to be. Be blessed in everything He designed you to be to fulfill His purpose on the earth. As you align yourself with who God designed you to be, you will be fulfilled, and the world will be blessed.

Be blessed in the name of the One who is your all-surpassing power (2 Corinthians 4:7).

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

From: You Are Blessed In The Names Of God (page 31)

Expect God’s Favor

Psalm 5:12 “For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”

And

Job 10:12 “You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.”

Beloved one, know the assurance of your Father’s blessing, his presence, his favor, and his surrounding grace. Who you are and everything you have is the result of his favor. He is your sun and shield, and his honor validates you (Psalm 84:11). Your Abba wants to take you as his precious child right up next to his heart today. He will keep you close and make his face shine on you and be gracious to you (Numbers 6:24-25). Your Father smiles on you today with his compassion and his full blessing as you seek him (Isaiah 30:18). He has written this day of your life in his book. He knew you before you were born (Psalm 139:16). You are constantly on his mind (Psalm 139:17-18).

Be blessed to know that your Father’s providence goes before you to provide for your every need. He is with you to strengthen you and keep you from harm (1 Chronicles 4:10). Be blessed as his favor rests on his appointed work through your hands (Psalm 90:17), because his purposes and power for you are great.

Dear one, you need favor with your authorities whom God has placed over you and with those in decision-making positions (Ezra 7:27; Nehemiah 1:11). His Word says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases” (Proverbs 21:1). Be blessed as God breaks through all hindrances and uses all concerned with you to fulfill his will on your behalf.

Let your Abba protect your emotions, as he surrounds you with the shield of his presence (Psalm 5:12). He promises that weeping may endure for a night, his anger is but for a moment, but joy comes in the morning, and his favor lasts for your lifetime (Psalm 30:5). He keeps you today in the favor of his love and faithfulness (Proverbs 3:3-4). He withholds no good thing from you as you live before him blamelessly (Psalm 84:11).

Be blessed in the name of the One who rejoices today in doing you good. (Jeremiah 32:41).

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission
From: www.thefathersbusiness.com

The Lord Your God is with You

“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.” Listen again from the Amplified Bible. “The Lord Your God is in the midst of you, a mighty One, a Savior who saves! He will rejoice over you with joy. In his love he will rest in silent satisfaction. He will exult over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

Receive your Father’s smile today. All the affectionate imagery you can muster is only a dim picture of how he feels about you. You have not yet heard or seen or known the majesty of all his great love. You have longed and ached for a father’s embrace, and you have a Father whose heart longs for you. Be blessed as you receive his embrace. Look into his eyes to see him and yourself reflected there. He loves you in the way you were created to be loved. He loves you with his love as strong as death. He has come to overwhelm you with his love. He will pour out over your life everything you need. He has saved the best till now.

One thing is necessary: live at his feet and rest in his presence. Let his peace permeate your mind. Let his love calm your heart. As your Abba delights in his Beloved Son in whom he is well pleased, he delights in you in the same way, because he is in you and you are in him. The prayer of Jesus was “Father, let them know deeply that as you love me, so you love them, they in me and I in you” (John 17:21,26 paraphrased). He loves you beyond anything you deserve or can earn.

Let his love be the foundation of your life, and you will be filled again and again in all the promises he has spoken to you. He wants you to know that you are beloved in the Beloved Son and complete in the finished work of the cross, where he dealt with all sin, wounds, words, and other hurtful things that separate you from his love. God delights in you. There’s power in that little phrase. “I am the one God likes.” We need to live in this truth: “God LIKES me” today, every day, every moment. That doesn’t mean we do everything right, but when we do something wrong, we come to a throne of grace and find mercy to help us in our need. Be blessed as you receive mercy and grace there, that empowering presence of the Spirit to believe the truth and live in it. Allow God to remove all that causes offense.

Coach your soul to let go of the past, the pain, the problems. Turn your back on them as you face your Father. Be blessed with joy and a different peace and a greater rest than you have ever known. Be blessed with refreshing and renewal in his presence, as you pursue all that he has created you for.

Be blessed in your Father’s house where there’s a party in your honor, to celebrate you, just as in Luke 15. He is an extravagant Father. Be blessed as he rejoices over you with great gladness. Be blessed in the wonderful sound of the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song.

Be blessed in the name of your Savior who rejoices over you (Zephaniah 3:17).

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Blessings of Time

Beloved child of God, listen to God’s Word for you in Ecclesiastes 3:1.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

And in Ephesians 5:15-16 (NKJV).

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time.”

Your Father loves you so much that He has given great thought and care to the days and times of your life. He planned you in His mind before the foundation of the world. He has recorded all your days in His book, and then He spoke you into existence. In the instant of your conception, He said, “Let there be you!” He placed you in this place and in this time to display His heart and His purposes in your generation. Be blessed to know that He determined for you an appointed place, time, and purpose (Acts 17:26).

God is outside time as we know it on earth. He is the eternal I AM. The past, present, and future are all the same to Him (Hebrews 13:8). God’s reality is a present-tense now. But we live in the chronology of time and history. There are some things that only make sense in the convergence of events and people in this particular time. If they had happened or been spoken or written at any other time, they would not have the same meaning as they have now. Be blessed as God causes these things to come into alignment in this precise window of time. God is synchronizing and aligning your spirit, soul, and body with time, space, matter, energy, light, and revelation. God will redeem time. Receive the significance of His alignment of time.

Jesus said in Luke 4, “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me… to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor...” The favor of the Lord in this time is your rightful spiritual inheritance in Jesus. It is the fruit of His incarnation into earth time and existence. Be blessed in God’s appointed time for you. He chose for His Son to live in you in this time. Receive and agree with the seasons of God. Be blessed as God’s favor permeates His time for you. God invites you to see with your eyes, to hear with your ears, and to understand the time of His favor.

Recognize the time, seize the moment of God’s favor, and open the door for yourself and others. Expect and receive the acceptable time of His favor. This is a time of sowing and a time of reaping. Sow to the Spirit to reap the things of the Spirit. Be blessed in the law of Spirit and life. Be blessed with sowing some things that others will reap. Be blessed with a harvesting time for which you have not sowed, as you reap good things others sowed. Be blessed to reclaim the righteous deposit of your godly ancestors.

Be blessed with the full purposes of God, which He planned before time, to be released to you in this time, in this season. Be blessed with anticipation, active participation with Him, and hope of fulfillment. Be blessed in the dawning of greater light within you in the Spirit of God. Be blessed as His light radiates and shines forth from you in this time.

Be blessed in the name of the eternal I AM (Exodus 3:14).

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission
From www.thefathersbusiness.com

Strength to Equal Your Days

Listen with your spirit to the Word of God in

Deuteronomy 33:25b. “Your strength will equal your days.”

2 Corinthians 13:4 “Jesus was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him to serve you.”

Beloved one, by your Father’s strength you have life.

I bless you with strength in your spirit for each day. I bless you with waking up every morning knowing that the living God is sustaining, strengthening, and renewing your spirit, soul, and body for the opportunities and problems that he sets before you today. I bless you with knowing that your Father’s power provides everything you need today for being who you are called to be and doing acts of obedience to him that he appoints for you to do in Jesus’ name. I bless you with the assurance of inner quiet, security, and strength for each day for as long as God chooses your lifetime to be. I bless you with assurance of his help and presence in all the majesty of his glorious detail with which he has ordained your days. I bless you with a constant and growing sense of his presence with you for his purposes and his pleasure.

By your Father’s promise you have life. Beloved one, listen with your spirit to God’s Word in Psalm 119:50. “My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.” Your Father renews your heart and your spirit with his promises. I bless you with recalling the many times that your Father has been with you, has loved you, has taken care of you, has blessed you. I bless you with holding on to promises that he is making to you from his Word and by his Spirit. I bless you with deep understanding that his words are your very life. I bless you with knowing that your faithful Father is watching over his purposes that await a future time for fulfillment. I bless you with enjoying life, being renewed, refreshed, and restored in your relationship with God and his faithfulness expressed in his Word.

By your Father’s life you have life. Beloved one, listen with your spirit to God’s Word in John 5:26. “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.” Your Father has life, and he has given his Son life in himself. I bless you with the life that Jesus has in you. I bless you with knowing the life of your Father and of his Son living in you and enlarging your spirit to know him better and love him more. I bless you with knowing that you are alive and well and awake and fully present to life today by the power of his Holy Spirit.

By the power of the Living One you have life. Beloved one, listen with your spirit to God’s Word in John 11:25. “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live...’ ” I bless you with believing that the Living One lives in you as your life for today. I bless you with appropriating with your spirit the full measure of the life of Jesus within you for the here-and-now.

By the light of Jesus you have life. Listen again with your spirit to John 1:4. “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.” I bless you with light that comes from the life of Jesus living in you and through you. I bless you with his life that lights your way, your relationships, your time, your decisions.

By the words of Jesus you have life. Beloved one, listen to John 6:63. “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” I bless your spirit with hearing and knowing the words that Jesus speaks to you. I bless you with meeting him daily spirit-to-Spirit. I bless you with not doing anything by mere human effort. I bless you with being energized with the life of eternity upon all that you are, and think, and do.

Be blessed in the name of Jesus who is your life.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Intimacy with God

Hear God’s Word to you in Psalm 25:14.

“The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.”

And in Genesis 3:8.

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.”

God wants to walk with you and talk with you.

Welcome Him to come into the garden of your heart and fellowship with Him… no books, no Bible, no sermon, no ritual, no expectations, no agenda. Just be, spending time with Him. Be free of chains of expectation or performance in worship. Your Father’s heart will minister to you, and you will respond in adoration. Be blessed to be filled with new worship that is deeply satisfying to God and that exceeds all your previous definitions of “good worship.”

Be blessed in your time with the living God as you are spirit-to-Spirit with Him. Be in touch with the Spirit so that you enter into new communion. Hear the sounds of heaven as you fellowship with Him in intimacy. Let Him touch you deeply. Experience love, trust, and deep emotional satisfaction in Him. Intimate friendship with God is reserved for those who are crazy about Him. Be free to know your First Love and to come into harmony with Him. Nothing compares with intimacy with Him in richness and beauty when you meet Him in surrender and wait on Him in faith, hope, and love.

God confided in Abraham and Moses. He called them His friends. Christ said to the disciples, “You are my friends,” and He says to you, “You are my friends if you obey my Father’s commandments.” Friendship with God is cultivated by authenticity in loving obedience. You were designed to live in friendship with Him and share your life with Him. Claim your friendship with God by coming boldly to His throne of grace. Since friendship is mutual, you give to Him, even as He meets the needs of the depths of your being.

John 1:14 says that Jesus the Word “became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” His presence is your true home. Sit on His lap, feel His arms around you, listen to His voice, hear His heartbeat. Fall in love with Him. Be bathed in His love and experience His presence. Your true identity is beloved of God, not worker for Him. Know Him intimately, and relentlessly pursue Him with steadfast hunger for more. Live with humility of heart before Him, and ascribe “worth-ship” to Him. Reflect Him in your life.

John 1:14 also says, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” See His glory that Jesus brought from His Father. Receive the fullness of His grace and truth.

Be blessed in the name of the One and Only (John 1:14).

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission
To learn more about Sylvia Gunter visit www.thefathersbusiness.com

Are you at a place in your life where you want to know Jesus – walk and talk with Him? You can start a life surrendered to Christ today. This is a sample, simple prayer, but the words are powerful and full of meaning. If you believe them Christ will make something beautiful out of your life:

Lord Jesus, I want to know You personally. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to You and ask You to come in as my Savior and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.

It starts now!

Category: <span>thoughts by Sylvia Gunter</span>

Further Reading

Photo Credit: Meg Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

Further Reading

Use this prayer as a guide to pray for whatever is concerning you to day.

Further Reading

Further Reading

Further Reading

In a fast paced world where we want everything now, waiting can be hard.

Waiting on God means that all of our life is brought under God’s umbrella of authority and direction.

Further Reading

Our enemies are God’s enemies, and He is an active and aggressive Mighty Warrior against them.

Further Reading

“I have earnestly and intensely desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Amplified Bible).

For reflection:

Further Reading

Further Reading

Your Father wants you to be completely whole in belonging and worth, in identity and legitimacy.

Further Reading

Be blessed in the name of the One who rejoices today in doing you good. (Jeremiah 32:41).

Further Reading

Further Reading

Be blessed in the name of the eternal I AM (Exodus 3:14).

Further Reading

Beloved one, by your Father’s strength you have life.

Be blessed in the name of Jesus who is your life.

FURTHER READING – Poems

God wants to walk with you and talk with you.

Further Reading

Photo Credit: Meg
Creative Commons License:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/