thoughts by Sylvia Gunter Archives - Page 3 of 11 - Daily Devotionals by Thoughts about God

Seeking God

Published October 20, 2021

Seeking God

Be blessed in his name Rewarder of those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6

Listen to the Word of God and be blessed with the passionate cry of the psalmist in Psalm 63:1.

“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you.”

And in Psalm 42:1.

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”

Be blessed to live from that deep cry of seeking God in your innermost being, longing for more of him, digging in to know him more intimately. Your Father desires constant communion of your spirit with his Spirit. Be blessed with directing the thirst of your soul to communion with him. Be blessed with getting out of your head and into your spirit, meeting God personally and profoundly.

Be blessed to know that God is who he said he is, and he can do and will do what he says he can do and will do, and he can presently do it in your life. He is the I Am to do it in you today. He is personal and powerful, and he alone satisfies. Jesus is standing and knocking at your heart’s door, waiting for you to open up to him for satisfying fellowship (Revelations 3:20). Jesus invites you to a table set for two. He wants your love, and he will be satisfied when you fulfill his heart by opening up to him.

Be blessed with knowing your covenant-keeping God of promise as you seek him and keep company with him in Spirit and in truth. Be blessed with more of his Spirit, not more how-to’s to make you feel guilty or more religious. Be blessed to discover him more as his Spirit lives in you to fulfill your deepest cries. Be blessed to encounter him in such dimensions that you feel as if you have never breathed spiritually before.

Be blessed in his name Rewarder of those who earnestly seek him.
(Hebrews 11:6).

by Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission
From: You Are Blessed In The Names Of God

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Those Who Mourn

Published October 16, 2021

Those Who Mourn

“Bring Him your grief and pain as often as you need to and receive His crown of beauty and oil of gladness. Allow Him to heal all your wounded places and restore you with His love. He is more than enough for your every need.”

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me… He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted … to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” Isaiah 61:1-3

Your Heavenly Father is faithful to comfort you in your grief.

These days may not feel like His goodness or His faithfulness. Be blessed to trust that God is good and kind even if it doesn’t feel like it in this moment. Hear His gentle invitation to come to Him and receive His love, comfort, and guidance. The indwelling Christ is anointed in your life to bring good news to you, to bind up your broken heart.

He hears your prayers and your tears when there are no words. He counts them as liquid intercession, which is precious to Him (Psalm 56:8a). Be blessed to know Him as your Father of compassion and God of all comfort, who comforts you in all your troubles (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Receive the covering of His sweet presence and peace that passes all understanding. Be blessed with strength and courage as you face the days ahead. You are not alone. He is your Mighty Warrior and contends with those forces that are contending with you (Isaiah 42:13; Psalm 35:1). May you be at peace with a still heart, while He fights for you (Exodus 14:14; Psalm 46:10).

Be blessed in His covenant of love that can never be taken from you (Romans 8:35, 38-39). He will never leave you. His promises can never be broken. He never loses sight of who He created you uniquely to be.

Bring Him your grief and pain as often as you need to and receive His crown of beauty and oil of gladness. Allow Him to heal all your wounded places and restore you with His love. He is more than enough for your every need.

By Sylvia Gunter and Elizabeth Gunter
Used by Permission

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Fruit of Goodness

Published October 8, 2021

Fruit of Goodness

Be blessed with active goodness that does not think to repay evil with evil but considers how to leave a blessing from the goodness of Jesus in you. Be energized with your Father’s kindness and goodness for others.

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 Exodus 33:19. “The LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence.”

God is perfectly good. He forever linked his goodness, his name, and his presence. He invites you to taste and see that he is good (Psalm 35:8, 34:8) and that his name is good (Psalm 52:9). What he does is good and what he gives is good because it flows out of who he is (Psalm 65:4). Out of his goodness he created you and redeemed you. His enduring goodness showered on you his covenant mercy and forgiveness and compassion. Be blessed as you enjoy the unmerited goodness of God in caring for you (Nehemiah 1:7).

Because he is good, he is your merciful and forgiving Father who welcomes a prodigal with a hug, a feast, and a party with music and dancing. Because he is good, he wants good things for you. He is giving and generous and enjoys blessing you. He cannot change, his goodness is constant, never wavering or failing (James 3:17). When you receive his goodness, you receive something of himself.

He is good when he allows tests to refine you into purest gold, and he is good to display his quick sympathy and his tender heart to you when you fall or fail. He is good as he picks you up and holds you in the palm of his hands and will not let you go. His faithful goodness continues through all generations.

Celebrate his goodness with thanksgiving (Jeremiah 33:11). Thank him for being good and for loving you with his abounding love that endures forever (Psalm 118:1,29). Be specific in thanking him for his goodness in everyday things: a sunset, a beautiful fountain, a child’s hug, answered prayers, the kindness of a stranger, a tear of empathy. His goodness is always in evidence, if you are looking, for he is good.

See the acts of goodness in the parable of the Good Samaritan. His pity on the man who had fallen among thieves was the fruit of goodness and nobility of character. He was touched by the helplessness and the distress of another. He reached out to do something about the consequences of sin that were causing the man to suffer. Be blessed as you, too, bind up the wounds of others, minister to their hurts, and bring them to the house of your good Father for his care.

The angels at the birth of Jesus connected the highest glory of God with his good will to men. They announced God’s goodness at the entrance of Jesus to earth. Jesus went about doing good, and he imparts many expressions of his goodness into your being. Be blessed with the virtue of the goodness of Jesus worked into your life. Be blessed to feel the zeal of Jesus for goodness and be energized with his kindness and goodness for others. Be blessed with active goodness that does not think to repay evil with evil but considers how to leave a blessing from the goodness of Jesus in you.

Be blessed with the fruit of the goodness of God that the Holy Spirit produces in you, your empowered response from his goodness (Galatians 5:22).

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Shield of Trust Prayer

When you don’t understand, God invites you to lean into Him and to trust. The following prayer guides you how to pray holding up your shield of trust, regardless of what is going on around you.

Father, when things are shaky or dark and I don’t understand, I redirect my focus to Your great heart of love for me and Your power and presence.

When I don’t know what to pray,

I trust Your goodness. Psalm 31:19, 34:8, 100:5, 119:68, 136:1, 145:7

I trust that You are sovereign. You have all authority and all power. Matthew 28:18

I trust that nothing takes You by surprise. You know the end from the beginning.
Isaiah 46:9-10

I trust that Your Word is forever settled in heaven. All things serve you. Psalm 119:89,91

I trust that there is no circumstance, person, place, or time that the blood of Jesus does not cover. I trust that You who spared not Your own Son will freely give me Your best. Romans 8:31-32

I trust that You are for me, and nothing can separate me from Your love. That was settled on the cross of Jesus. Romans 8:35-39

I trust that Your loving kindness never ceases. Your compassions never fail. They are new every morning. I trust Your great faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

I trust that You know and care about me. The very hairs of my head are numbered. I trust that You supply all my needs through Your riches in Christ Jesus. Matthew 10:30, Philippians 4:19

I trust that You supply Your abundant grace to me in this situation, so that in all things, at all times, I have all Your sufficient grace I need. I trust You to show Your perfect power in my weakness. 2 Corinthians 9:8, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

I trust that You are my shield, my strong tower, my refuge, my hope, my joy, my peace, my everything, my all. Psalm 18:1-3, Colossians 3:11b

I trust that You renew my strength as I wait on You. Isaiah 40:31

I trust that You never leave me or forsake me. You are with me, a very present help. You never go back on a promise. Hebrews 13:5-6, Joshua 21:45

I trust that You guard what I have entrusted to You. 2 Timothy 1:12

I trust that You are God of all comfort, Father of mercies. I trust that You have a heart that tears can touch. You invite me to climb up in Your lap and cry. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Hebrews 4:15, Psalm 56:8

I trust that You give gladness instead of mourning and praise instead of fainting. Weeping may endure for a night, but You give joy in the morning. Isaiah 61:3, Psalm 30:5

I trust that You do all things for my good and Your glory, to make me like Jesus.
Romans 8:28-29

You are enthroned on the praises of Your children. When I lift You up in a sacrifice of praise, I glorify You in this situation in the here-and-now. Psalm 22:3 NASB,
Hebrews 13:15

Father, glorify Yourself this hour. John 12:28a

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Praying the 23rd Psalm

To enter the sheepfolds of the Middle East, a shepherd’s sheep had to pass under his rod for him to inspect their condition up close. The shepherd would tend to any obvious needs one by one. Then when all the sheep were in the fold, he lay down across the opening with his own body. Through the 23rd Psalm we better understand our Good Shepherd in a personal way. Ask God to show you about himself in this classic psalm, which unfortunately is so familiar that we can recite it without receiving its revelation deep in our spirits. Listen for what God wants you to know about who he is, what he does, and what you have in your Shepherd.

As you cultivate your personal communion with God in prayer, let him lead you to pray this psalm for others.

The Lord is my Shepherd.
Jehovah-Rohi: God my Shepherd
Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd who knows my own sheep by name” (John 10:11). The Lord of the universe knows you personally! Thank Him for your relationship with Him.

Pray it for others: Jesus is the great Shepherd of all His sheep. Pray for someone who is discouraged and thinks God has forgotten them. Pray for them to know God as their Shepherd.

I shall lack nothing.
Jehovah-Jireh: the Lord my Provider
If God provided so much in Jesus to meet your spiritual needs, will He not also take care of your daily practical needs? Pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” (Matthew 6: 11) and name specific needs you are trusting him for. Thank him he is your provider.

Pray for others: Pray for those who have real financial needs and for those who are discontent with what they have. Pray they will know Jehovah-Jireh.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside quiet waters.
Jehovah-Shalom: God my Peace
Pray about anything that is disquieting your peace. Affirm that God is your peace. Pray about God’s leading in His work and decisions.

Pray for others: Ask God how to pray for someone in a hard place. Pray for Him to calm all fear, doubt, worry, inadequacy, and anxiety with the Prince of peace in their heart.

He restores my soul.
Jehovah-Rapha: The Lord my Healer
Where do you need the healing and restoration of Jesus the Healer?

Pray for others: Pray for God to heal the hurts, bitterness, control, judgments, differences, separation, wrong priorities, apathy, etc., of someone else.

He guides me in paths of righteousness…
Jehovah-Tsidkenu: The Lord my Righteousness
Pray for God’s guidance as you dedicate yourself to follow Him as Lord.

Pray for others: Jesus declares us to be righteous, not for what we have done, but because of his perfect righteousness. Pray for salvation for somebody who has not received Jesus as God’s perfect sacrifice for their sin.

For His name’s sake.
Jehovah-M’Kaddesh: God’s name is holy.
He says, “I the Lord alone am holy, and I make you holy because you are called by my holy name.” Pray that you will not dishonor his name.

Pray for others: Pray that someone away from God will desire to bring glory and honor to his name.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Jehovah-Shammah: God who is there
Jesus promised his disciples, “I have all authority, and I am always there for you.” (Matthew 28:19, 20) Affirm his presence with you that dispels fears and unbelief.

Pray for others: God promised his presence in Exodus 3:12 for leading the children of Israel out of Egypt. In Exodus 33:14 reaffirmed his presence to finish what he began. Ask God to reveal himself to your family and friends in powerful new ways.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You can depend on the rod of His protection and the staff of His correction and rescue. Receive the protection and correction of your Good Shepherd.

Pray for others: His comfort is as warm and tender as that of a mother for her child (Isaiah 66:13, 49:13, 52:9). Who needs you to pray God’s comfort for them?

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
Jehovah-Nissi: The Lord my Banner of victory
Praise God that He gives victory over your enemies and sins, as you depend on the authority of your crucified, resurrected, victorious Redeemer.

Pray for others: Pray the same prayer for your family and friends.

You anoint my head with oil.
Oil was used for medicine, sanctification, appointment to office, and as a sign of fellowship. Oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit, who is all these things. Thank God for the power of the Holy Spirit to heal, restore, soothe, cleanse, appoint to His work, and give a sign of your fellowship with the Father and his Son.

Pray for others: Pray that your family and friends will walk in the Spirit.

My cup overflows.
Exercise your attitude of gratitude.

Pray for others: Pray that your family and friends will praise God continually as their Source.

Surely goodness and love with follow me all the days of my life.
Thank God for a specific evidence of His goodness and love He has shown you daily.

Pray for others: Thank God for people who have shown His goodness and love to you. Tell them so at your first opportunity. Pray that they will see God’s goodness to them.

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Ask God to show you how to practice His presence with you continually.

Pray for others: Ask God for the body of Christ to worship Him with their whole heart and be committed to living in His presence daily.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Wholehearted Trust

Recently I read again what Jesus said in answer to the question of the disciples,

“What must we do to do the work of God?” Jesus replied, “Believe… “

(John 6:28-29). That is our work. Paul wrote, “God’s work, which is by faith” (1 Timothy 1:4).

This is good news. My work for Him is faith. I remembered that in the Complete Jewish Bible faith is always translated TRUST, for that’s what it means. That puts a different spin on it, doesn’t it? My work for him is TRUST.

Romans 1:17 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) “But the person who is righteous will live his life by trust.”

Hebrews 11:6 (CJB) And without trusting, it is impossible to be well pleasing to God, because whoever approaches him must trust that he does exist and that he becomes a Rewarder to those who seek him out.

Ephesians 6:16 (CJB) Always carry the shield of trust, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (CJB) But for now, three things last – trust, hope, love...

So let’s return to the question:

“What must we do to do the work of God?” Jesus replied, “Trust…”

God asks us to trust
that He loves us.
that He is with us this moment.
that He rewards those who seek Him.
that He will provide in the future as He has in the past.
that He is working all things together for our good.
that He is directing us and living His life through us.
that He continually gives the wisdom we need.
that He hears and answers our prayers.

Easy to say, harder sometimes for the heart to fully do. Father, we want to trust you with all things today.

By Sylvia Gunter and Elizabeth Gunter
Used by Permission
From: Finding The Love You Have Always Wanted

A Prayer For The Nations

Through prayer we can have partner with God to impact the nations without leaving home. Use this prayer as a guide to pray for your own nation as well as others.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all glory and honor are Yours. You have complete rule, authority and sovereignty. You reign over all nations. You are seated on Your holy throne (Psalm 47:8). Your dominion endures forever (Psalm 145:11-13). You are King of kings and Lord of lords.

In Your powerful name and by Your power, we stand against all spiritual forces that are operating in our nation. Everything is subject to You (Ephesians 1:21-22). To all opposing powers we say “The Lord rebuke you” (Jude 1:9). Your name is the name above all names. At Your name every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).

Holy Spirit come. Rend the heavens and come down to make Your name known to Your enemies and cause the nations to quake before You (Isaiah 64:1-2). Create in each of us a clean heart. Search our hearts and cleanse us of all unrighteousness (Psalm 51).

Awaken Your church. Awaken our hearts to call out to You in humility and seek Your face. Only You can heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14). Empower Your church to move in unity and love by Your Spirit (John 17:23, 24, 26).

We pray for our pastors and Christian leaders to be in tune with Your heartbeat for the people You have given them to shepherd. May they demolish every argument and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

We pray for our political leaders to know You. May they govern righteously according to Your will. We ask for You to call forth just men to rule in the fear of the Lord (2 Samuel 23:3).

Draw all people to Yourself. (John 12:32). Call forth your sons and daughters. Awaken the slumbering spirits in our nation so that they might find everything they are searching for in You.

Father, glorify yourself in all the earth

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

From: Prayer Portions, page 306

Finding the Love You Have Always Wanted

A.W. Tozer said “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Pain and disappointment have a way of distorting in our minds what is true about Heavenly Father. When life gets hard, the temptation is to believe that God is uninterested and uninvolved. Yet, He is near and He cares. Regardless of what your current or past circumstances try to tell you, take a moment to meditate on this portrait of your Heavenly Father.

Your Father is perfectly faithful.

Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

Your Father is a generous provider.

Matthew 7:11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!

Your Father is loving and compassionate.

John 17:23 (Jesus speaking to His Father) “You have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Psalm 103:13 As a father has compassion on His children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

Your Father is forgiving and accepting.

Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Your Father is a patient teacher.

Isaiah 30:20-21 Your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. (NASB)

Your Father is an understanding counselor.

Isaiah 9:6 He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Your Father is a wise communicator.

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

James 3:17 The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

Your Father gives good gifts.

James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Your Father is attentive to your needs.

Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Your Father is strong yet personal.

Isaiah 40:26 He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing

Matthew 10:30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

And so much more. He is more wonderful than our mind can comprehend. He is there, even if we feel that He has left or that He ought to leave, and even when we turn our backs on Him. Our Father is love, pure love, and He does not change.

By Sylvia and Elizabeth Gunter
Used by permission
From Safe In The Father’s Heart

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The Fathers Beloved

Published August 2, 2021

The Fathers Beloved

Listen to God’s Word with your spirit.

“Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders” (Deuteronomy 33:12).

You can rest in the truth that you are your Father’s beloved. Taste deeply of the love of God. Know the treasure you are to him. You are a chosen one, a special person, noticed in your uniqueness, eternally valued. You are priceless and irreplaceable, safe in his everlasting embrace, at rest in his non-comparing love. Be increasingly aware of your belovedness.

You are precious in your Father’s eyes. Receive this so that you live with a stable, settled sense of true belonging. Your real gift is not so much what you can DO; it is who you ARE. The good things you DO reveal what a beautiful person you ARE.

Your beloved Father provides a safe, secure environment, and you don’t have to test him continually, fearfully asking questions, such as “Are you still with me?” “Will you still be with me if...?” “Prove it by...” Be blessed to choose against the accuser’s lies about your adequacy, identity, legitimacy, your past, present, and future. Be blessed to know that you can never be rejected or abandoned by your Father. He never leaves you alone. His love is your companion every step of the way.

Be blessed with knowing his heart that nurtures belonging, inclusion, and worth. Be blessed with healing of your soul’s rejection wounds and the abandonment wound that is deeper.

Discover more fully who God is and whose child you are. Your life is an opportunity to become who you are, to affirm your own true spiritual nature and to say “Yes” to the One who calls you the beloved. Your legitimacy is settled in him. Trust what he wants you to see and hear. He gives you great gifts of inner peace, joy of living, sense of well-being, solidness and strength inside, and healing. Share your life in encouragement, hope, and trust. When you are secure, your presence is a joy to those who know you.

Get quiet and listen to the voice of love saying good things to you. Trust God’s voice of affirmation; it is persistent, strong, and deep. It will never let you go. Don’t be pulled out of your center in your belovedness.

Be blessed to be attentively present to him to see his fingerprints and feel his closeness. Drive a stake in this blessing as the truth that shapes your daily life. Synchronize with the voice calling you the beloved, and continually align yourself with your belovedness.

Be blessed in the life of the Chosen One (Luke 23:35).

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission
From: You Are Blessed In The Name Of God

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Psalm 91 – God’s Protecting Presence

Published July 29, 2021

Psalm 91 – God’s Protecting Presence

Psalm 91 Begins with: Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. …

One of my greatest privileges is to try to express what Psalm 91 means to me. There is no way to overstate its importance in my life and yours. God’s covenant promises in Psalm 91 are dear to his heart. It deals with warfare, relationship, and intercession. In some Bibles, it is subtitled “The Security Of The One Who Trusts In The Lord.” I have stood in Psalm 91 many times, defensively to plead God’s shield of protection and offensively to push back the adversary, for myself and others. It is particularly powerful when prayed out loud.

Psalm 91 pictures Biblical confidence and poise. The heart of it is the protected place of abiding safely in God, as we run to our covenant position of settling down under His defense. After establishing who God is, the psalmist describes the work of the enemy. Spiritual warfare is, first of all, about experiencing all the majesty and supremacy of God, who assures us that He is committed to defending us. His commitment is based on his deep covenant love relationship between Him and His people, which the psalm affirms and celebrates in the closing verses. We can confidently claim His rest, refuge, protection, safety, covering, faithfulness, freedom from fear, angelic watchers, deliverance, and salvation.

Take time today to meditate on Psalm 91 in several translations. Do word studies on it. I have written a verse-by-verse reflection on Psalm 91 many times. Write a personal paraphrase. Cross reference supporting Scriptures. Add other verses that God whispers to you that confirm and expand the truths in Psalm 91. Take them deep into your heart, spirit, and life-experience. Most crucially, apply them and see God’s power.

Pray, “Most High God, my El Shaddai, teach me to be biblically fearless, based on my covenant love relationship with you.”

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

Psalm 91 in Prayer Essentials For Living In His Presence, Vol 1, page 209-211. © 2000 Sylvia Gunter.
There are also reflections on Psalm 91 on pages 60-67 and 173-174 of Prayer Essentials For Living In His Presence, Vol 2.

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The Lord is My Shepherd

Published July 11, 2021

The Lord is My Shepherd

The Lord is my Shepherd –
Thank your Shepherd that He knows you by name and wants to communicate with you. Talk to Him about your intimate relationship with Him.

I shall lack nothing –
Thank your good Shepherd that He provides all your needs, beginning with redemption. Ask Him to carry all your worries, burdens, and cares.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters –
Thank Jesus your Peace for His attention to the details of your life. Tell Him you want to see Him more clearly in your daily living. Let Him speak to you.

He restores my soul –
Because Jesus your Healer became man, He understands everything you have experienced. Thank your Healer for healing the hurts. Remember His times of restoration.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake –
Thank the Righteous One that you are accepted in Him and completely forgiven. Thank your Shepherd for His guidance of your life for His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for You are with me –
Thank God who is always there for you. His presence with you dispels all fear. Your Shepherd is always there for you. Thank Him that He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Thank God for His loving authority in your life to discipline and correct you and give you the security of loving limits. Thank Him that you can never mess up so bad that you fear punishment by Him.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies –
Thank your Banner for His presence with you dispels all fear. He is strength and protection against the enemy. Thank Him that Jesus lives victorious in you.

You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows.
Thank your Shepherd for His grace and favor that He gives you so generously. Thank Him that you can enjoy fellowship with Him.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Thank your Shepherd that you can continuously sense His presence because of His faithfulness. Worship Him with a song that speaks of His goodness and love with you that dispels all fear. He is eternal nearness and love.

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

“Praying The Character Of Your Father From The 23rd Psalm,
” Prayer Portions p. 245-246, © 1991, 1992, 1995 by Sylvia Gunter.
Available at www.thefathersbusiness.com

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Favor

Published June 25, 2021

Favor

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

Who you are and everything you have is the result of God’s favor. He has blessed you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3). You are surrounded by His grace.

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 with His compassion as you seek Him (Isaiah 30:18).

Your Father’s providence goes before you to provide for every need. He is with you to strengthen you and keep you from harm (1 Chronicles 4:10). The Lord God is a sun and shield; He bestows favor and honor; no good thing does He withhold (Psalm 84:11).

He has written this day of your life in His book. Be blessed as His favor rests on His appointed work through your hands (Psalm 90:17). See the great thing He is about to do (1 Samuel 12:6). 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 hindrances and uses everything to fulfill His purposes. He rejoices today in doing you good (Jeremiah 32:41).

Even if circumstances make it hard to believe, trust in His unfailing love. He is not slow in keeping His promise. He surrounds you with the shield of His presence (Psalm 5:12). He promises that weeping may endure for a night, and His anger is only for a moment. Joy comes in the morning, and His favor lasts for your lifetime (Psalms 30:5). He keeps you today in His love and faithfulness (Proverbs 3:3-4). He is inviting you to live in the assurance of your Father’s blessing and favor. Be blessed to trust His goodness toward you today.

By Sylvia & Elizabeth Gunter
Used by Permission

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Why Know the Father’s Heart

Published June 20, 2021

Why Know the Father’s Heart

I never tire of talking about or receiving the Father heart of God.

We have a crisis of fathering in this country. A hundred years ago Teddy Roosevelt said,

“What we need in our public officials is not genius, not even brilliancy, so much as the exercise of the ordinary, rather commonplace qualities of honesty, courage, and common sense — the qualities that make a man a good husband, a good father, a good neighbor.”

Our crisis in good fathering is ultimately more serious than any economic or political crisis. Very few people have been fathered in their spirit and soul. We need to receive from Father God his re-parenting us as true sons and daughters. The good news is that God wants to be our Father. Jesus came to show us His Father and ours.

Receiving the perfect Father nature of God is essential if we are to love Him and be assured of His love, trust Him, be secure in Him, pray to Him, yield to Him, live holy before Him, receive His guidance, serve Him, be like Him, and much more.

Spend time with your Father in His Word, His love letter to you. Receive His Father love for you. He is our Father by right of the blood of Jesus (John 1:12).

Our basis of eternal security is being in the Father’s hand (John 10:28-29). We pray to the Father in Jesus’ name (Matthew 6:9).

God’s Father love for us is our highest motivation to holiness (1 John 3:1-3). His Fatherhood is the basis of understanding His guiding hand (John 5:20, 10:3-4, 27).

Every family derives its name from the Father, so God the Father is the model for headship in our families (Ephesians 3:14-15, Psalm 68:5-6).

Our Father wants us to yield to His gentle parental authority (Hosea 11:1, 3-4, Ephesians 6:4).

The basis of trusting Him is seeing Him as our totally able and faithful Father (Matthew 18:19-20, Hebrews 13:5, 2 Timothy 2:13).

When we know Him as Father, we will trust His generosity (Matthew 6:32-33, James 1:17, Psalm 37:3-5).

Knowing Him as Father is the basis of receiving His affection (John 17:23, Hosea 11:4, Jeremiah 31:3, Deuteronomy 33:12).

His Father-heart is the basis for His parental attentiveness (Matthew 6:25-26, 31; 1 Peter 5:7).

When we rightly knowing Him as Father, we are secure in his acceptance and rest securely in Him (Galatians 4:5-7, Romans 8:15-16, 32-33; Zephaniah 3:17).

His relationship to us as Father is the legal basis of receiving all our inheritance in Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14, Colossians 1:12, 1 Peter 1:3-4).

The Father is seeking worshippers. When we understand His Father heart, we will worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24).

Knowing our loving Father is the foundation for intimate relationship with Him.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is a picture of our Father’s love. Personalize it, and receive it for yourself.

My Father who loves me is patient with me, kind to me….
My Father’s love is not rude, nor self-seeking, not easily angered, and keeps no record of my wrongs.
My Father’s love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
My Father’s love always protects me, always trusts me, always believes the best about me, always perseveres and never gives up on me.

My Father’s love for me never fails.
That’s shouting ground!

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission

If you don’t know Jesus and would like to start the special father – child love relationship you can do that right now by talking to him (Praying). You can submit to him with a simple but powerful prayer. This is a sample.

“Lord Jesus, I want to know you and be loved by you and know your heart. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.”

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Never Leave or Forsake You

Published June 12, 2021

Never Leave or Forsake You

Hebrews 13:5

Father God has promised that He will never leave you or forsake you. He has not abandoned you. His perfect love casts out all fear. Rest in His love. Receive from your heavenly Father all the father’s blessing that you craved from your earthly father.

Be blessed with life-changing encounters with the Father heart of God. Be blessed to receive His perfect healing that can make you whole. Allow Him to bring healing, recovery, and restoration of your broken trust.

Your Father’s best healing work restores your heart and soul according to His design that He had for you before He laid the foundations of the world. As you drink in your Father’s love, He will re-innocence you, restoring your childlike faith and trust.

Respond this way:

God, I choose to trust you today. I choose to believe Your heart toward me is kind, good, loving, approachable, and accepting. I choose to bind my will to Your will. I bind my mind to the mind of Christ. I bind my emotions to the Holy Spirit for healing and alignment.

Thank You for wanting to be my Father, not my taskmaster or my boss. You are indeed loving Master, Sovereign, Judge, King, and so much more. How majestic is Your name in all the earth (Psalms 8). I am in awe of all You are, but You are first of all my “Abba, Papa.”

Thank You that You created me to be loved as Your child and for me to love You. It’s that simple. You like me and You like having me around. Thank You that the greatest blessing is nearness to You, and You want me near You. Thank You for inviting me to draw near to You so that I may experience joy and peace in Your presence. Thank You for Your promise to hold me in Your everlasting loving arms.

I accept Your invitation to come closer to Your Father heart.

By Sylvia and Elizabeth Gunter
Used by Permission
From: Safe In The Father’s Heart: Finding The Love You Have Always Wanted

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When You Don’t Know What to Pray

Published May 27, 2021

When You Don’t Know What to Pray

Have you ever been so burdened by a problem that you say “I just don’t even know what to pray?” When the circumstances of life seem too big or complex to comprehend, shift your focus to who God is by praying God’s character.

For every circumstance I believe and proclaim…

God is sovereign. All authority and all power is His. Mathew 28:18.

Nothing takes Him by surprise. All circumstances serve Him. God knows the end from the beginning. Psalm 119:91, Isaiah 46:9-10.

His word is forever settled in heaven. Psalms 119:89.

God does all things for our good and His glory, to conform us to be like Jesus. Romans 8:28-29

The blood of Jesus covers all circumstances, people, places, and times. The One who did not spare His own Son will freely give us all His best. Romans 8:31-32.

God is for us and nothing can separate us from His love. That was settled on the cross. Romans 8:35-39.

God’s loving kindness never ceases. His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23.

God supplies all our needs by His riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19.

God knows and cares. The very hairs of our head are numbered. Mathew 10:30.

He is God of all comfort and Father of mercies. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.

God is able to supply His abundant grace to us, so that in all things, at all times, we have all His sufficient grace we need for strength, encouragement, and hope. 2 Corinthians 9:8.

God is able to show His perfect power in our weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.

We can know with certainty that He is able to guard what we have entrusted to Him. 2 Timothy 1:12.

He is our strength, our shield, our strong tower, our refuge, our hope, our joy, our peace, our all. Psalm 18:1-3, Colossians 3:11b.

God renews our strength as we wait on Him. Isaiah 40:31.

God promises that He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He is with us, a very present help. Hebrews 13:5-6, Psalm 46:1.

God never goes back on a promise. Joshua 21:45.

God has a heart that tears can touch and invites us to climb up in the Father’s lap and cry. Hebrews 4:15, Psalm 56:8.

God gives gladness instead of mourning and praise instead of fainting. Weeping endures for a night, but He gives joy that comes in the morning. Isaiah 61:3, Psalm 30:5.

God is enthroned on the praises of His children. Psalm 22:3.

When we lift God up continually in a sacrifice of praise, we glorify Him in this situation in the here-and-now. John 12:28a.

Father, glorify Yourself this hour. John 12:28

By Sylvia Gunter
Used by Permission
From: For The Family (1994)

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Be blessed in his name Rewarder of those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6

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“Bring Him your grief and pain as often as you need to and receive His crown of beauty and oil of gladness. Allow Him to heal all your wounded places and restore you with His love. He is more than enough for your every need.”

Your Heavenly Father is faithful to comfort you in your grief.

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Be blessed with active goodness that does not think to repay evil with evil but considers how to leave a blessing from the goodness of Jesus in you. Be energized with your Father’s kindness and goodness for others.

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“What must we do to do the work of God?” Jesus replied, “Believe… “

“What must we do to do the work of God?” Jesus replied, “Trust…”

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

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I never tire of talking about or receiving the Father heart of God.

My Father’s love for me never fails. That’s shouting ground!

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For every circumstance I believe and proclaim…

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My Father’s love for me never fails.
That’s shouting ground!