“This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118: 24)
Every day is a great day to have a lovely day simply because of the fact that God has given us grace and mercy to live to see another day. Every single day comes with its challenges, but the blessings will follow as we seek out the Lord for help, strength and comfort. New mercies everyday with each demon who stands in our way as we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, purpose, significance and our destiny. That moment we become God’s children is vitally important as we learn to walk as Kingdom representatives, special, peculiar people. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8: 16-17)
The promises of God are sure to see us through each and every battle we face as we purpose in our hearts and minds to get the victory with the Word of God. He will back us up to ensure that the victory is ours when we place our faith and trust in Him and determine that we will not be defeated. “For Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.” (Psalms 61: 3) It honors God when our enemies don’t have power over us. He is glorified to see the willingness of His saints who refuse to not give Satan any power over us as we fight to the bitter end of every situation that rises up against us.
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10: 3-5)
You are the greatest project you’ll ever work on and the Christian walk is by far the most complex. We win some, we lose some, but we restart, reset and refocus as many times as we need to. “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed…” (2 Corinthians 4: 8-9) Just don’t give up. “Neither give place to the devil.” (Ephesians 4: 27) The same lessons will appear sometimes in different forms until we learn to respond differently. Every moment is an opportunity to change your perspective. The self-work that you do in silence will echo all throughout every part of your life.
The act of faithfulness is a testament of our allegiance to Christ when we stand firm to overcome and win so that God can be pleased at the battle that He knew we could win. Sometimes we may struggle but it is when we don’t stay focused or we are not vigilant is when our enemy gets the victory here and there. More tests are on the way to ensure us that we have the power to prevail when we rely on God with unwavering faith that we can do this test and pass it. What a joy it is to endure trials and not act out of the flesh.
Hard trials do sometimes send us in despair. We always continue to fight knowing that God is on our side and that He will help us win one way or another. One of our problems is that we are impatient and don’t like to wait on God. Patience is not just the ability to wait, it is the courage to endure the waiting without losing hope. “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience…” (James 1: 2-3) and that “In your patience possess ye your souls.” (Luke 21: 19)
When Job had everything he worshipped God. When he lost everything he worshipped God. Worship isn’t about our circumstances, it’s about Who God is. “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1: 20-21)
No matter how impossible the situation, no matter how hopeless it may seem, no matter how grim it looks, God can transform it for good. So have a cheerful spirit when things don’t go your way. Pray for courage to do whatever needs to be done. Even in trials, losses and disappointments it is still a lovely day. “And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8: 28)
Each and every day brings new mercies, favor, hope, God’s never-ending love and an outpouring of grace and blessings. “Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.” (Psalm 68: 19) God gives us many reasons to celebrate, rejoice and give thanks to Him for the many blessings that we receive all the time. Blessings are constant and comes in many forms. They are spiritual, material and supernatural. The kind that nobody can do but God. The kind that leaves us speechless and in awe at the wonderful works of God. God blesses His children every day. For starters we are forgiven, redeemed, adopted, chosen and sealed with the Holy Spirit. Through obedience, blessings overtake us and our final destination is eternal life in heaven. “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.” (Deuteronomy 28: 1-2)
MERCY: God, by His acts of kindness, compassion and pity, withholds His wrath and punishment from us that our sins deserve. It is a gift that He chooses to show us according to His will because He loves us so much, despite our sins. We obtain mercy through repentance and confession of our sins. “It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.” (Lamentations 3: 22-26) “For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee.” (Psalm 86: 5) “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” (Proverbs 28: 13)
FAVOR: We cannot earn favor and we are never entitled to it. God’s favor flows to a life that is totally surrendered to His will by walking in obedience, serving others in love, persistence in prayer and worshipping Him in spirit and in truth. As we honor His Son, favor follows us wherever we go. We have an advantage and an empowerment that God gives only to His children. Favor brings opportunity into your life that skill, qualification and hard work cannot bring. It will take you places and in front of people that you could never access on your own. "And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house." (Acts 7: 9-10)
HOPE: The foundation of our hope is the Bible as it contains the inspired Words from God Himself. We have confidence in Him because we trust His character. What He says will surely come to pass. It is with expectation that we trust His faithfulness no matter the circumstance. Hope gives us strength to endure as it develops our character. It is where faith and hope go hand-in-hand. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11: 1) “But I will hope continually, and will yet praise Thee more and more.” (Psalm 71: 14) “The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy.” (Psalm 147: 11)
LOVE: “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3: 16-17) One of God’s greatest attributes is His love for the world. His love is unconditional and everlasting. By nature He is kind, compassionate, patient, etc., etc., etc. This is the one area that God expects us humans to reciprocate love. He loves us and He expects us to love Him back. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments. He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” (John 14: 15 & 21)
“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4: 7-12) Love is a commitment that will be tested in the most vulnerable areas of spirituality. A commitment that will force you to make some very difficult choices. It will demand that you deal with pride, patience, lust, greed, power, your temper, your desire to control and every area of temptation that the Bible clearly talks about. It demands the quality of commitment that Jesus demonstrates in His relationship to us.
GRACE: This is a love that has nothing to do with us but everything to do with the One from whom it is derived ….. God. It is a powerful, divine and vital piece of our existence and it is the only reason we are able to open our eyes each morning. God’s grace is more than a second chance, it is a third, fourth and fifth. It is a love that keeps on giving over and over regardless of our past. Grace is unmerited favor that is free and undeserved. It is not based on our actions or worthiness but on God’s love for us. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2: 8-10) A good read on grace is the woman caught in adultery (John 8: 1-11), the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32) and Paul’s conversion (Acts 9: 1-19)
As children of God we open His Word, read His promises and trust His plan of salvation. We are to put Him first in everything. Period. That’s non-negotiable! His Words must be so strongly fixed in our minds that it becomes the dominant influence in our thoughts, our attitudes and our actions. And for certain we get to see the mighty power of God work in our lives in unimaginable ways. Every challenge is an opportunity to trust God deeper. Use every hard season to get to know Him better. In times of darkness we get to experience a safety only found in God’s everlasting love.
Spiritual growth is the process of growing in Christ-likeness of how we think, talk and act. We sign up for the Lord’s righteous standards. You will build your belief system based upon what you think about, experience and meditate on. With every lovely day always begin your day with gratitude. Make it a part of every experience, even in the storms of life. Unexpected turbulence creates an opportunity to experience more of God. His greatest work happens in the most impossible situations. Let His will be done and trust that it will work out because God really does have it all worked out. The gaps are filled, the heartache eased, the provision is ready and the needs are met fully, completely, perfectly. In Him, with Him and by Him, His timing is 100% right in all that He does.
We will always have more blessings than problems. Problems seem more because we tend to count them, measure them and analyze them. Count your blessings and thank God for all He’s done. Then thank Him for all that He didn’t allow to happen. Trust and obey Him, not out of fear or obligation, but out of a deep love and a strong devotion to Him. Where your heart is your treasure is there also.
And finally, a lovely day is determined by what you make of it. God understands that we do get discouraged when our hearts are overwhelmed with manifold temptations and when our faith is being tried. But at some point we must rise up out of the ashes to give God the glory. Help is on the way to give us back our comfort, strength and joy. “…to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified.” (Isaiah 61: 2-3) “Now know I that the LORD saveth His anointed; He will hear him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.” (Psalm 20: 6 & 9)
Remember that Jesus didn’t give up His God-given assignment, neither did He fight back to prove His worth as being the mighty Son of God. He just kept on following His purpose where He overcame, conquered and prevailed.
Thank You Father for Your Son and for the blessings of yesterday, today and for all of our tomorrows. “The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works. (Psalm 145: 8-10)
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