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

Published March 10, 2023

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!

10 Things to Pray for Friends and Family

The Bible instructs us to bear one another’s burdens.

Many problems are too heavy for us to bear alone.

Faced with extreme hardship, Paul wrote that he counted on the prayers of his friends for victory (2 Corinthians 1:8-11, Philippians 1:19, Romans 15:30-32)

1. Pray that their love for others will grow. 1 Corinthians. 13:4-7, Philippians 1:9-11.

2. Pray for unity, agreement, unselfishness, humility, and oneness in Christ.
Philippians 2:1-5, John 17:11, 21.

3. Pray that they will have the mind of Christ and acknowledge the Lord daily to direct their lives. 1 Corinthians 2:11-16, Proverbs 3:5-6.

4. Pray that they will present themselves as living sacrifices to God. Romans 12:1-2.

5. Pray that they will know who they are in Christ. Colossians 1:28, 2:10, Ephesians 1:3-4, 7-8.

6. Pray that they will hunger daily for the word of God and grow daily in Christlike maturity. Matthew. 4:4, Ephesians 4:11-16, Philippians 2:12-13.

7. Pray that they will put on the full armor of God and be alert to Satan’s strategies. Ephesians 6:10-18.

8. Pray that they will not love the world system but set their mind on Christ.
1 John 2:15-17, Philippians 4:8.

9. Pray that they will have a servant’s heart with a spirit of brokenness and humility.
Mark 10:44-45, Psalm 51:17.

10. Pray that they will develop a praying heart, worshiping, praising, and thanking God as they see His hand of blessing extended to them. Psalm 103:1-2, 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18.

Holy Spirit, enable me to pray for my family and friends according to the mind of God. Thank You, God, for answering my prayers according to Your will as I plead Your promises.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Taken from Prayer Portions p. 321, © 1991, 1992, 1995 by Sylvia Gunter.
Available at www.thefathersbusiness.com

What Is God Saying To Me?

We’re all on pilgrimage with God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. I do not want to miss the lessons of the journey or forget His words of intimate delight, wise counsel, and gentle correction.

God means what He says.
God is serious with us in the matter of complete obedience. Ninety-eight per cent conformity to his will and his ways is not obedience. We want to say, “Cut us some slack, God,” but it costs not to obey him all the way. Remember Lot’s wife. Remember King Saul in the matter of the king of Amalek. If we compromise and treat God’s holy character lightly, we lose.

Only weakness will break strongholds.
God asks us to lead from weakness, not strength. God loves us too much to let us succeed in our own strength. William Gurnall said, “We have embezzled his strength, and he calls an audit.” His name is I AM. I rest in the fact that He is. Without Him, I can do nothing, a big zero. God asks of us what He can do.

I try to live by grace, but unless God does a work of grace in me, I can’t.
I try to speak grace words, which are words of life, and only God is sufficient for that in me. I fully take all His love, but my life presents at best only snapshots of His grace.

God will not go any further than His children are willing to be pure.
Purity before God is the cutting edge. We must obey Him and not reserve the right to discard any part of His truth. We reject His holiness at our own peril and that of others in our sphere of influence. It is not just a personal issue. It also has consequences for those we will affect in this generation. King David sinned against the counsel of his closest adviser. It cost the whole nation of Israel thousands of lives (1 Chronicles 21). That is sobering. God says to us, “I can do all things. Will you repent of your willful ways and see My glory?”

God has been gracious to cover our ignorance.
God has been merciful up till now, but He may no longer cover us concerning what we are not ignorant of. Presumption will result in disaster. God is doing a new thing which will lead to more freedom and at the same time require greater accountability to Him. He has new directions for us and deeper levels for us with Him, if we have ears to hear and eyes to see Him and respond to Him. He wants new wine skins for a outpouring of His Spirit in this generation.

I must not listen to seducing voices.
Seducing voices will suggest we take the easy road, or take matters into our own hands by our own power, or follow the dramatic or sensational. We must give no ground to comfort, deception, or denial of reality. This will require a very fine-tuned antenna, homed in on God’s voice alone.

I have missed eternal moments that sneaked up on me when I was oblivious.
We often expect Jesus to come in the front door, and He comes in the back way and tries to tap us on the shoulder to turn around and see Him. I feel dull of hearing, about as sharp as a bowling ball much of the time, so it all has to be God. We know nothing but Him. We are clueless without Him. I am as weak as I have ever felt. I am exposed and vulnerable. I don’t want to miss God as He moves in power among His people.

I am passionate about ministering to God, tuning into His heart, honoring Him, receiving from Him.
The heart of Jesus is ravished for His bride. He is jealous for our affection. He will not share us with another love. He wants to captivate us for Himself as His beloved.

Get still with God in your favorite “Bethel,” your place of meeting with Him.

Let Him open up His heart to you personally, between you and Him.

Prayerfully reflect on your life in Christ. What is He saying to you? Let Him review the traces of His hand in your life. Ask Him to speak to you intimately and powerfully in a key of music you can hear.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Overlook an Offence

Offence is the act of provoking, annoying, irritating, or causing pain or injury. It is also the reaction the offense produces, like indignation, resentment, or anger, which can lead to breach in a relationship. When someone sins against us, our flesh rises up and demands retribution. But the way of grace must watch over our hearts, guard our mouths, and release the offender.

The writer of Proverbs urges us to respond to offenses by giving evidence of the grace of God. Read these pairs of statements from a very wise man, and ask God to reveal how you responded the last time you were offended.

A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense (Proverbs 19:11). Patience is wisdom, and wisdom lets an offense pass by without responding sinfully. Love keeps no record of wrongs suffered.

Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city (Proverbs 16:32). It is better to be patient than warlike or contentious. A Spirit-controlled response wins battles.

An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city, and disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel (Proverbs 18:19). A hostile relationship is hard to win back. Contention separates people into opposing sides. Jesus died to break down the dividing walls.

He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity (Proverbs 21:23). When our unguarded mouth gives vent to our unhealed heart, we unleash words that hurt deeply.

Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, Do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared (Proverbs 22:24-25). Don’t take personally the anger of angry people, or you will find yourself reacting to them in the same destructive way.

Calmness can lay great errors [offenses] to rest (Ecclesiastes 10:4). A quiet spirit will overcome great anger and turn aside the hurtful actions of others.

“Let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle (offense or occasion to fall) in your brother’s way” (Romans 14:13). Identify the redemptive purpose of Jesus in each situation and relationship. Our motivation is in the great forgiveness of Jesus. We overlook offenses because Jesus took our offenses and bore them to His cross.

“He was delivered over to death for our sins (offenses)” (Romans 4:25). Those who have been forgiven much will forgive much.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

God’s Perspective on Hope in Disappointment

Listen to the Word of God for you in Romans 15:13.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Be blessed to let God separate you from the soulish bonds that have held you captive in disappointment and hopelessness. Be blessed by your Father’s will, His heart, and His words. Let Him do His perfect work to enlarge you to receive more of His fullness spirit, soul, and body. Look to Jesus for ministry. He will shine the light of His Spirit in you to show you who you are and who He is in you and for you. Welcome His light.

The God of hope calls you to hope (Ephesians 1:18). You were designed for hope. You are His own special creation. He determined for you an appointed place and time. He has given you the good gift of Himself to live in you. He has deposited in you His great love in making you just the way you are, the real you, your true essence. You are blessed as He celebrates, affirms, and validates your unique identity for your authority, calling, and birthright in Him. You can hardly receive these words if you have received wounds of disappointment. Your soul has done everything it knows to do to heal them, but still disappointment gnaws deep inside you beyond reach. Jesus, your Kinsman-Redeemer, is ready to redeem the years that the locusts have eaten when you cancel your soul’s expectations.

You were created by God for eternity forever with Him. Satan can’t take that away from you, so he has sent fiery arrows to rob you, deeply penetrating missiles of disappointment with others, with yourself, and with God.

Jesus your Redeemer wants to pull the poisons out of the wounds in your spirit and your soul. He wants you to know and respond to Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, because He said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And when the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:32,36). God is inviting you to see truth with Him. That’s a powerful invitation. It is life-changing to own up to what you are seeing and hearing from Him, coming out of denial and truly allowing God’s truth to come into you. Be blessed as you let God reach into the deep places of your being. Be blessed as He wants you to exchange disappointment for His hope and love (Romans5:5, NLT). Be blessed to receive His hope that does not disappoint.

Be blessed in the name of the God of hope who fills you with all joy and peace as you trust Him (Romans 15:13).

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

If you don’t see our comment form you can find it here: https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/sylvia-gunter_perspective-disappointment

Blessing Of Your Heavenly Father

God rejoices as your Abba.

You are His child on the authority of His Word. He ordained you and brought you forth.

Hear God’s Word for you in Psalm 22:9. The psalmist said,

“You brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother’s breast.”

And in Psalm 71:6. “From birth I have relied on you…I will ever praise you.”

Receive God’s work as He cleanses deep wounds that you received from words and actions in your family of origin. Receive the ministry of Jehovah-Rapha, the healing covenant name of eternal God, as He works in the core of your being. Receive His healing, blessing, and deep release. The Spirit of your Father lives in you to heal and make you whole.

The Spirit of truth and the God of all mercy is ready to bring new life. Receive His cleansing from all hurtful memories, feelings, and emotions. Jesus died to set you free. Release all pain to Him. God promised in His word that He would wash you and make you whiter than snow (Isaiah 1:18).

Be blessed as God fills up the hole in your heart, those empty spaces, that bottomless pit that craves nearness, affirmation, connection, and significance, and yet fears it, is unable to receive it, and runs away from it. Be at peace, and receive healing from wounds caused by lack of bonding. Receive cleansing from attachment wounds, as Father-God binds you to Himself with cords that cannot be broken.

God fed His Son with His words of approval that nourished Him emotionally.

“A voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased‘” (Mark 1:11).

These words strengthened Jesus in His inner being. If the Son of God needed these words of affirmation from His Father, how much more do you!

You longed to hear words like that from your earthly father. Receive your heavenly Father’s words, “I love you. I am pleased with you.” Let your heavenly Father, father you.

Be blessed to rest secure and safe in His love.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

If you don’t see our comment form you can find it here: https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/sylvia-gunter_blessing/

God is Able

Able is the Greek word dunatos, related to dunamis, meaning ability, abundance, capability, mighty works, miraculous power, prevailing strength.

“God is able” means God has the mighty power to do a miraculous work out of His abundance and strength.

Romans 16:25 says God is able to establish you. Listen to the richness of the verse when read with its full definition “God has mighty power to do a miraculous work out of His abundance and strength to establish you.”

Bring your inability to the ability of God.

As you read these verses drink in the bigness of God as you replace “able” with “has the mighty power to do a miraculous work out of His abundance and strength.”

God is …

Able to give much more.   2 Chronicles 25:9
Able to deliver from fire.   Daniel 3:17
Able to raise up children of Abraham from stones.   Mathew 3:9
Able to give sight to the blind. Mathew 9:28-29
Able to destroy in hell.   Mathew 10:28, James 4:12
Able to perform what He promised.   Romans 4:21
Able to graft in the Gentiles.   Romans 11:23
Able to make you stand.   Romans 14:4
Able to establish you.   Romans 16:25
Able to make a way through temptation. 1 Corinthians 10:13
Able to make all grace abound to you.   2 Corinthians 9:8
Able to do exceedingly beyond all your asking.   Ephesians 3:20
Able to subdue everything under His control.   Philippines 3:21
Able to keep all we have committed to Him.   2 Timothy 1:12
Able to help the tempted.   Hebrews 2:18
Able to save from death.   Hebrews 5:7
Able to save completely, to the utmost.   Hebrews7:25
Able to raise men from the dead.   Hebrews 11:19
Able to keep you from falling and to present you before His presence without fault and with great joy.   Jude 24

To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 25

Be blessed in the name of God who is able.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by permission
from: Prayer Essentials For Living In His Presence, Vol 1, page 74 © 2000 Sylvia Gunter

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Praise as Warfare

Praise is adoration of God for who He is, His person, His character, His names.

It is loving God because He is God. The Bible gives more exhortations to praise than to pray, because God is altogether lovely, holy, and completely worthy of our worship.

Reasons to praise

Praise is the atmosphere of the throne room of heaven. Revelation 4

Praise is where God lives. Psalm 22:3

Praise provides access into His presence. Psalm 100

We are created for praise. Ephesians 1:12, Isaiah 43:21

We are saved to praise. Psalm 106:47

God delights in it. Psalm 149:1, 4

God inspires it. Psalm 40:3

God is due it. Psalm 29

God commands it in the Scriptures. Psalm 34:1, 3

Jesus modelled it by example. Matthew 6:9

Praise is the God-given garment in exchange for spirit of heaviness. Isaiah 61:3

Praise stirs up faith. Romans 4:20-21

You are probably facing a battle today. Praise is a strategic weapon that comes before spiritual victory or deliverance. God releases power against the enemy when His people praise. Praise has been winning wars throughout the ages. Look at these biblical examples.

Joshua 5:14-15, 6:2 Joshua bowed to worship, and God told him that Jericho was already in his hands. As the Israelites marched around the city, they walked out the victory already won in worship.

Judges 7:15 Gideon bowed to worship, returned to his camp, and reported, “Arise, God has given the enemy into our hands.”

2 Chronicles 20:22 “When they began singing and praising...” The Israelites used praise at God’s direction for winning a tremendous victory. They had not even reached the battlefront when God acted and completely destroyed their three-fold enemy.

Acts 16:25-26 Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns. Suddenly a violent earthquake shook the foundations of the prison. The prison doors flew open, and prisoners were set free.

It is sometimes more important to persevere in praise than to continue to petition. Why?

Because in praise, we take our eyes off people and stop struggling on the human level. We focus our spiritual eyes on God and see beyond ourselves and our problem. Then we can lay hold of His infinite ability, availability, and sovereignty. Praise stirs up our faith to stand in His mighty name.

Because God has already judged the adversary, and he is a defeated foe. Praise executes upon him the judgments that God has already written (Psalm 149:6-9).

Because praise acknowledges the victory Christ already won. Jesus is far above all rule, authority, power and dominion, and every name in this age (Ephesians 1:20-21). His victory over Satan was legally accomplished at Calvary. Praise speeds victory. Let’s use our valuable weapon of praise for the battles we are facing today.

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

Fruit of Joy

Beloved child of God, listen to your Father’s heart and his ways for you in Galatians 5:22-23,25.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control… Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.“

Listen to God’s Word for you in Nehemiah 8:10.

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

God’s purpose in his creation was his own pleasure. He rejoices in all his works (Psalm 104:31). Job 38:7 says that God laid the foundations of the earth and marked off its dimensions and did all his work of creation while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy. Imagine the same joy of God when he created you! Your Father is joy, and he plants his joy inside you in the person of his Son. Jesus lives in joy in you.

Be blessed to drink deeply of the joy that God your Father has in you as his beloved. Be blessed with his understanding of joy, not the world’s fickle happiness. Be blessed to know the joy of the Lord that gives you the strength to go forward, to press on, to endure hardship. Be blessed with the oil of joy that flows from heaven. God commands for you the blessing of life in his joy, defeating depression, destruction, and death.

Joy is the quiet, inner sense of well-being in Jesus, but it also can be intense motion. Be blessed with rejoicing with intensity that words cannot fully express. Be blessed with Christ’s overflowing joy that bubbles up in you to flow out of you (Philippians 1:26). He promises joy that nobody and nothing can take away (John 16:22). Be blessed as you are filled with the joy that the Holy Spirit imparts in your place in the kingdom (Romans 14:17).

Joy can also be a daily decision and a battle. You can count it all joy in trials of any kind, when you know that your Father does all things well for you. Be blessed as you pursue Jesus who is joy. He came so that you can have this kind of joy. It is his gift to you (Romans 15:13). Be blessed in the incomparable joy of Jesus (Hebrews 12:2). Be blessed to be energized for each new day and each new challenge with joy that comes from him.

Have you ever been blessed to watch someone laugh? You laughed too, for no other reason than that they were joyful. Be contagious with joy in gratitude that you share in the inheritance of his holy people who live in his light (Colossians 1:11-12). Be blessed to be an ambassador of joy in a world filled with stress and sadness. Be blessed as you spread joy wherever you touch the lives of others. Be blessed to lighten the load of others and strengthen weary hearts with the joy of Jesus. Be blessed to brighten and refresh the weary spirits of others with joyful confidence in Jesus.

Be blessed with the joy that the Spirit of joy produces in you, your response to his joy (Galatians 5:22).

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Brokenness and Glory

Don’t miss the weight of these words from God, one phrase at a time. Tell your mind to let your spirit lead in connecting with the Spirit of truth in this passage.

1 Peter 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...”
Resonate with the words “living hope through Jesus!” He gave you birth to new abundant life in him. Be blessed as your life in him unfolds daily, one step of faithfulness at a time. Seasons end, new birth happens. It can be confusing, because God doesn’t give you neat signposts. He wants you to keep your eyes on him, as Jesus is your living hope. Be blessed with glimpses of God’s purpose in it all.

1 Peter 1:4. “…into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you...”
You are an heir to a rich inheritance, all the riches of Christ Jesus. His purposes for you are in his keeping power. They can never die, or spoil, or fade away without fulfilling his heart for you. You are right in the middle of God’s process for you. You don’t have to settle for God’s second best because of somebody else’s choices or your own. As you are being who you are in him, you can do what you are supposed to do. You may have disappointments, but your life is his story with depth, adventure, suspense, surprising plot turns, and darkness that Jesus defeated. Be blessed as you understand more of his story that he is writing in your life.

1 Peter 1:5. “…who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
God surrounds you with his favor as a shield. You are shielded by his power, so that in every dark thing you’ve experienced, you can live large and strong. God put you on earth in your exact place for his specific purpose, and you are living in that purpose, even when you don’t know it. Your soul may be grumbling and resisting, but you are living the story that God is ready to reveal to you. God is a lot bigger than you expect him to be. He’s a lot bigger than your circumstances. He is the God of detail. When you seek his face, he is deeply involved in the small details of your life, but he has a “bigger yes” for you. Your true glory is the revelation of his splendor, revealed in you day by day.

1 Peter 1:6. “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”
As Jesus is revealed in you, you can rejoice no matter what. The display of his glory often comes through your wounds. Your dark nights showcase by contrast his splendid dawns, your griefs contrast with his glorious joy. In brokenness, God works in you something beautiful, deep, and substantial to offer others. You are developing inner strength as you are being blessed, broken, and given as an offering in your trials. True strength comes from your desperate need of God. You are a joy to him as you offer your true self as a spectacle of his sufficiency. Paul said he wanted to know Christ and be conformed to the fellowship of sharing his sufferings, knowing there’s a resurrection coming (Philippians 3:10).

Be blessed to know that your Father created you for this time, for these very circumstances. He knew exactly what would be happening in your life as you are living it now. He knows the impact for which he is preparing you that still awaits you. Be blessed to live into the purpose for which you were created, in spite of difficult people, through hard circumstances, and through tough challenges. Your purpose is in process. You won’t get there overnight. You won’t magically wake up with it one morning. But today you are closer than yesterday, and tomorrow you will be closer than you are today. Be blessed in him to know these things and rejoice in him.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

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

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

The Bible instructs us to bear one another’s burdens.

Many problems are too heavy for us to bear alone.

Further Reading

Get still with God in your favorite “Bethel,” your place of meeting with Him.

Let Him open up His heart to you personally, between you and Him.

Further Reading

Further Reading

Be blessed in the name of the God of hope who fills you with all joy and peace as you trust Him (Romans 15:13).

Further Reading

God rejoices as your Abba.

Further Reading

“God is able” means God has the mighty power to do a miraculous work out of His abundance and strength.

Bring your inability to the ability of God.

God is …

Further Reading

Praise is adoration of God for who He is, His person, His character, His names.

Reasons to praise

Further Reading

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Further Reading

Further Reading