April 1
“Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed . . .” (Ps. 25:3).
Beloved, God’s promises are true, for He cannot lie, because He is Truth. And His Word says that none who wait will be ashamed! How often do we hear how foolish we are to trust in our Lord, to put ourselves in the place where we could be mocked or hear “I told you so”? But He is the only One who can be trusted, Beloved. It is during the wait that so many, who do not see, taunt us and jeer as nothing happens. But those who wait, they alone will see the miracle come for all to see and believe.
April 2
“For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land” (Ps. 37:9).
Beloved, you have lost ground. The enemy has taken what was yours. But the Lord, He promises that some day, if we wait, we will inherit our ground back. And with this promised ground will be the fig trees and vines, and He will give to you “great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied . . .”
All that you forfeited for Him will be given to you in great measure, for the faithfulness of those who wait.
April 3
“Wait for the Lord, and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it” (Ps. 37:34).
Beloved, do not run ahead of the Lord, but wait. And while waiting make sure that you keep His way. The blessing He has is exaltation and inheritance. And His promise is that when, not if, the wickedness that is coming against you will be cut off, you will see it! Oh, how good are the promises of God!! Where else can we find—and who else can make the promises that the Lord has given us? Oh, bask in the goodness of the Lord and relish His promises to you.
April 4
“My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him” (Ps. 62:5).
Beloved, here is one of the most wonderful and awesome principles: to wait in silence for God only. Oh, how we love to tell, and talk about, and write about our troubles, our thoughts, and our fears. Oh, to be silent and allow God to change us and mold us through the silence! And in the silence, in the quiet, you hear Him because you’ve proven to Him and others that your hope is coming from Him. This is why you are able to wait in silence and in peace, because in Him alone can you trust.
April 5
“I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His Word do I hope” (Ps. 130:5).
Beloved, is this your response when others try to encourage you to move, to get ahead of the Lord and His timing? Beloved, if we move ahead of God, we will miss our connection. God’s timing is perfect. We say we believe this, yet we fret or move ahead before God opens the door or makes it happen. We create the Ishmael and, when our promise comes, our Ishmael mocks our promise.
However, many times we totally miss our promise because we have missed our connection. Think of it as taking the right train and, when we get to a certain point, we may have to wait to catch a later train. But if we catch the first train, rather than waiting, then we get the train that is not ours and we miss our connection.
Will you say, “I wait for the Lord”?
April 6
“For Your salvation I wait, O Lord” (Gen. 49:18).
Beloved, only the Lord can save you out of this situation. Is it for His salvation that you wait? So many seek help from everyone but the One who embodies salvation, our own precious Savior. Do you say to Him that you will wait for Him alone, for His salvation from your despair, from your situation, from your pain, and from your tears? Oh Beloved, He alone is worth waiting for because He never disappoints! And during the waiting, He blesses us by changing us through the suffering He allows. Will you join me in saying, “O Lord, it is in You, in Your salvation, that I wait”?
April 7
“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret, it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place, and he will not be there” (Ps. 37:7–10).
Beloved, do you wait patiently? Or does the wait increase your anxiousness? Do you allow it to encourage plans of things you “should” do to move things faster? Or are you settled knowing that God, in His perfect timing, is working things out for you?
Are you thinking about someone other than the Lord during this waiting? Or are your eyes fixed on the Lord, the Author and Finisher of the faith that He is building in you?
Beloved, it is so easy to see others who seem to be prospering in what they are doing. But to fix your eyes on this will cause you to stumble, to fall, never to finish the race. What you see is a lie. What they have is temporary. It is not happiness, for apart from God there is no peace. You, and you alone, can obtain peace, since the Lord is near to you. With this radiating from you, others will seek you out; desire you, for in the midst of this seemingly prosperous fun life they have sought there is pain and turmoil. They need peace. Will they find it in you?
April 8
“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret, it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place, and he will not be there” (Ps. 37:7–10).
Beloved, during the wait, do you fret? Do you feel sorry for yourself and your situation? Do you look at others and think they are happy? No, my Beloved, they are not. This is another part of the enemy’s schemes. Oh, how foolish. We are told to look at the things that are unseen.
Most of those whom you envy are without God since they are living in sin. And no amount of things or people on this earth can take His place. Continue to pray for others who “seem” to have it all and ask the Lord to show you their desperation and unhappiness in their eyes or in their voice the next time you speak to them. Seek your Father’s eyes, for only then will you be able to stop fretting and pray the way you should for the Lord to rescue those who do not know Him.
April 9
“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret, it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place, and he will not be there” (Ps. 37:7–10).
Beloved, this fretting and somber spirit will lead you into unfaithfulness with the Lord. It will lead you to false imaginations and plans of the flesh that will set you back in your walk with the Lord and His restoration. We are to think on “good things.” Beloved, the spirit of fretting also causes our countenance to fall. Our hope is in Him! Hallelujah!! Therefore, we can rejoice and let the world, and everyone around us, see the goodness of knowing and resting in the Lord through our joyful, exuberant, and expectant countenance. Rejoice!
April 10
“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret, it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place, and he will not be there” (Ps. 37:7–10).
Beloved, many seek the Lord to move on their behalf, but only those who wait—only those who rest in Him enough to wait—will inherit what God has for them. Most move on or change direction. Many will take matters into their own hands, and, once this confuses His plans, they will give up, consoling themselves that it would never have happened. No, you must rest and wait patiently since only those who wait will receive the miracle. Wait.
April 11
“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret, it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place, and he will not be there” (Ps. 37:7–10).
Beloved, what the enemy now has in its possession is being stored up for you. If you wait, you will be the one to inherit it. God’s ways never change. This is His method of testing our hearts, to see if we truly want His hand or His face. Do you seek to know Him in all of this? Do you seek His loving face? Or do you just seek His hand? Do you seek only what He could do for you or get for you? Are you still so determined to have the relationship you are fixated on and the relationship with the Lord is second to this pursuit? Beloved, you are waiting in vain. For the Lord looks at your heart and He searches to find a heart that is completely His. To whom does your heart belong? Whom does it long for?
April 12
“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret, it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place, and he will not be there” (Ps. 37:7–10).
Beloved, during the wait, the minutes seem like hours, and hours move so very slowly. Yet He promises that it is only a little while and your miracle will appear. Let each and every blessing from the Lord be celebrated along the way, for in this way you shall enjoy the journey and not concentrate so heavily on the destination, which causes you to become anxious and fretful. Praise Him for all He is doing for you, for He is worthy of our praise!
Too many cannot really praise the Lord, or they half-heartedly praise the Lord, because this blessing or that blessing was not the blessing they were “really” waiting for. They are temperamental and spoiled baby Christians pouting when they don’t get what they really want. But the mature believer knows that God’s promises are “yes” and “amen,” and so they rest in knowing yet in a little while . . .
April 13
“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret, it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place, and he will not be there” (Ps. 37:7–10).
Beloved, what a precious promise we have in Him! To know and have our confidence that in a very short time we will not see the wicked man, that he will be no more. Beloved, each of us has a wicked man that we long to see gone. Maybe your wicked man is the husband that once loved you, but now he is with another. Beloved, whoever is the wicked man who has caused you much suffering; God has promised that in “a little while” that wicked man will be no more. Mark it in your Bible and claim this verse since it is true and it will come to pass. Hallelujah, Jesus!!
April 14
“Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret, it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; and you will look carefully for his place, and he will not be there” (Ps. 37:7–10).
Beloved, is there a place where wickedness plagues you, a place that causes fear to rise up in you? Do you avoid a particular street or area because wickedness reigns there? Oh, Beloved, rejoice!! For in just a little while the Lord promises that you will look and that wickedness will not be there! He tells us that we will look carefully in that place and the wickedness will be no more.
Beloved, God is so good and He is so faithful. God is just and full of love to those who love Him. The next time your spirit rises in fear, remember, meditate, and say out loud the words of the psalmist: Yet a little while and wickedness will be no more. I will be able to look carefully in this place and it will not be there—hallelujah!!
April 15
“Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you” (Deut. 31:6).
Beloved, when you are afraid, when you tremble at the thought or sight of the enemy, you are vulnerable to attacks. The enemy, our adversary, walks to and fro looking at whom he can devour. He cannot touch God’s anointed! But through fear he can intimidate you, cause you to fear, cause you to run off a cliff, and terrify you with his roar. Yet those who do not fear, he cannot touch. Look at the verse: “For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you”! With that assurance, ask yourself why you fear. He has also promised that He will not fail you or forsake you. Can you not trust His promise to you? Remember, Beloved, only through fear and trembling will you fail.
April 16
“Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, ‘Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you’” (Deut. 31:23).
Beloved, our strength and confidence is in the fact that God promises He will be with us. And with this promise, He also shows us that by our moving forward and pushing the enemy back, our children and our loved-ones will be given all that was sworn to them—blessings that will be missed and forfeited if we fail to trust Him. It is not ourselves we trust, but Him alone. For in ourselves we are nothing, but with Him who is everything, we are everything! Hallelujah!!
April 17
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Josh. 1:9).
Beloved, God has promised to go with you on this journey. This keeps us from trembling or becoming dismayed, for He is our Guide, our Protector, our Lover, and our Friend. Do you acknowledge His presence? Do you seek His guidance for every road, for every question, for every fear? Do you lean on Him, or on your own understanding? Beloved, you are not alone. Begin to take the Lord’s hand and look to Him for everything. He will guide you to the promised land where your promise is waiting for you.
April 18
“Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight” (2 Sam. 10:12).
Beloved, we must show ourselves courageous for the sake of all others who are watching. Yes, inside we may experience fear in our souls, but no one needs to know, save God alone. All of us fear, we are all human, but it is the ones who fear yet press forward who are the heroes that encourage others to also move forward rather than retreat. However, when you speak fear, when your countenance shows fear, then all is lost. Get on your face, run to the Lord the next time you feel fear coming on. Don’t tell another—the adversary is listening. Ask God for the strength and then get up and move boldly forward for the sake of all, and for the cities, who will be watching.
April 19
“But you, be strong and do not lose courage, for there is reward for your work” (2 Chron. 15:7).
Beloved, what an awesome promise!! There is reward for the work that you are doing. That promise should help all of us to dispel all the defeating thoughts that we have when we do not see anything happening. The next time we are weak and wonder if it will be worth our effort, let us remember that God promises that there will be a reward for our work—hallelujah! Though we may not yet see it, we have His promise that it is waiting for us when we cross the finish line. Oh, Beloved, press on toward that prize!!
April 20
“Each one helps his neighbor, and says to his brother, ‘Be strong!’” (Is. 41:6).
Beloved, it is our responsibility to encourage others. However, we cannot encourage or “give” courage if we do not posses it. We live in a lost and dying world. Without the Lord, there is no hope. And when you give away what you have, God will pour more faith and hope into you, knowing that you have been faithful to give away what He has already given you. Beloved, if you lack faith and courage, go to the Source; go to Him who is the God of all. He has an abundant supply; He is just waiting for you to ask.
April 21
“But if you do go, do it, be strong for the battle; yet God will bring you down before the enemy, for God has power to help and to bring down” (2 Chron. 25:8).
Beloved, this is an enemy attack on you, and all those whom you love. We must continually gird ourselves in our spiritual armor daily and never forget that the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, is our only offense. We cannot defend ourselves. Unless we press forward with His Word on our lips, in our heart, and in the meditations of our mind, we will never gain what the enemy has stolen.
Beloved, do not fail to advance. Take hold of His Word. Write it down and carry it with you. Meditate on it. Memorize it. Use it immediately after an enemy attack and press forward to take your territory back.
April 22
“Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria, nor because of all the multitude which is with him; for the One with us is greater than the one with him” (2 Chron. 32:7).
Beloved, the onslaught of the enemy is no match for Him who is with us!! Oh, Beloved, if we could keep that in the forefront of our minds! Then, oh, how we could move forward, courageously and with strength! Yet, we fail to gird our minds and instead entertain thoughts of the enemy, thoughts of what we see as evidence that their side, the side of evil, is winning. But we must look with the spiritual eyes of faith that see beyond and above the natural.
April 23
“Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord” (Ps. 31:24).
Beloved, to be strong you must take courage. Daily and at every moment, your wonderful Lord is thinking of you, watching you, and helping you. How often has He sent you a message through a devotional, through your Bible, through a promise book? Oh, how wonderful are the blessings of the Lord because He is forever faithful to see our needs and hear our cries. He sees our heart that hurts, and the tears that are being held back, just barely.
Beloved, are you taking the courage that He is sending? Oh, how it grieves your blessed Redeemer when a message is ignored or reasoned away, when His child chooses to hold on to a heavy heart because of a bad report or maybe because of no word at all. Oh Beloved, He sees the future. He knows that the wait is not long and the future is worth waiting for. Take what He is sending you. It is a love letter of encouragement. Take the courage He sends.
April 24
“Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might” (Eph. 6:10).
Beloved, it is the strength of His might that will carry us through. Oh, how often we rely on ourselves, on our might, which is so very weak in our present circumstance. And not until we are weary to the point that we entertain giving up do we come to our senses and draw from His strength. Is it the human nature, or is it merely rebellion and pride, which motivates us to lean not unto Him? Oh, that we would have such oneness with and dependency on our precious Lord, the lover of our souls!
Beloved, let us train ourselves to be totally dependent on all that He desires to give us. Let us fasten ourselves to His yoke, for He promises that His yoke is easy and His burden is so light. And as we yoke, we learn from Him. We become like Him. We think like Him. Through this we can win the lost, set the captives free, and break every enslaving yoke of the enemy on our loved ones. Oh, Beloved, be strong in the Lord, in the strength of His might.
April 25
“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:1).
Beloved, oh, the grace of Jesus! Do we ponder this grace that gives us the strength to go on? Oh, how often we do not think of it, but take it instead for granted. Do you ever grieve for those who do not live by grace? Those who are in torment here in this world and are facing forever torment in the next? If we could only keep it forever on our minds, this grace that is in Christ Jesus, then we would hide ourselves there and bid all to come to the refuge that we have found.
Beloved, take a moment right now to acknowledge and meditate on this grace; think deeply on what He has brought you through. Think on His presence. Think how His grace showed up just at the very moment when your heart had begun to break or when fear was about to overwhelm you. Oh, if not for the grace that is in Christ Jesus, how could I live?
April 26
“Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord” (Ps. 27:14).
Beloved, does our precious Lord not take us back full circle? Through the courage that we take from Him, He bids our hearts to take it and to wait! He begins with wait, and He ends with the same. What a lesson our flesh and our mind must learn: to be full of courage in our heart. It is with this courage that we can endure. And if we endure, we will have all we need to glorify Him through the calling He has on our lives.
Beloved, never forget why He has allowed this trial into your life. He desires to see you fulfill the abundant life that He has promised to give to those who endure and faint not. It is in the waiting that we gain the spiritual strength. This is what exercises our spiritual soul—it is our connecting and drawing strength from Him, from His heart to ours. Oh Beloved, take courage, and, yes, wait for the Lord.
April 27
“. . . because I wait for Your Word” (Ps. 119:74).
Beloved, it is in the waiting for the Word of God—this is where it all is. The Word is our manna that nourishes us from heaven above. It is what gives us strength, hope, and direction. Do you long for time, more time to spend in His Word? Oh Beloved, have the cares of your everyday world choked the Word from you? Do not let anything steal what you must have not just daily but throughout the day. Can you imagine if regularly you did not get nourishment? How long could you really go on? Even after a fast, you later, once off, nourish your body carefully, but what about your spiritual food? Oh Beloved, feast on it, and, while feasting, fellowship with the One who has invited you to the banquet! He has spread a table before you, right in the presence of your enemies! Does your cup runneth over? Oh Beloved, surely goodness and His mercy will follow you and overtake you, and forever you will dwell in His house. Hallelujah!!
April 28
“My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your Word” (Ps. 119:81).
Beloved, as we wait and feast on God’s Word, because of this, we languish. We waste away from longing for Him while we wait until His salvation shows up in our circumstance. It is the Word that increases this longing in our souls. We know that our salvation will only come through the Lord, through His hand. Just a word from Him to our heavenly Father and then . . . our miracle is there, the tide turns, the victory is ours. It is only because we wait for His Word. Oh Beloved, do not wait for the call from the man in your life, for his words to you. Instead, we will hear what we truly long for written on the pages of His love letter to us. Oh, long, languish, until you waste away in a puddle at His feet. You will find it as you wait for your Beloved.
April 29
“You are my hiding place and my shield; I wait for Your Word” (Ps. 119:114).
Beloved, it is His precious Word we are waiting for, for it is there, in Him, that we find our hiding place. Oh, how heartrending when we think of those who don’t know Him or those whose sin has separated them from their Lord and His hiding place. It is there, in the presence of the Almighty, that nothing can touch us. It is in merely sitting in His presence that we are safe. We steal away time alone, where we are not alone, but with Him.
April 30
“You are my hiding place and my shield; I wait for Your Word” (Ps. 119:114).
Beloved, is the onslaught of the wicked causing you to fear? Oh Beloved, it is in the Word that you will find your shield. Nothing can penetrate it. No words can come round the sides. Hidden in Him, waiting for Him, devouring His Word as someone who is starving for food—this is your shield. Have you failed to put on your armor today, yesterday… for many days in a row? Oh Beloved, it is no wonder that you are wounded. Without your shield of faith, you are an easy target for the enemy. You are at His mercy. Our Lord and Savior warns us that we must wear our armor, putting it on daily. He is your hiding place and He is your shield—His Word, His love.