Tamar Knochel

Tiny Terrorists

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Tamar

“For it is absolutely true that the LORD sent me to speak every word you have heard.” Jeremiah 26:15

This morning when I went to put my daughter on the bus one of the other moms was walking her little one to the bus with her two year old lagging behind them screaming at the top of his lungs. I smiled, I remember those days.

They were hard! But we survived them intact and have wonderfully respectful children today because of it. When Mom got up to Anna and I, I praised her for sticking to her “mommy guns” and not letting him win the argument through screaming. She gave me a forlorn exhausted look and sighed, “Thank You”. Why was he screaming you ask? He didn’t want to put his coat on in the 50 degree chill of the morning. We got our kiddos on the bus, with the two-year-old terrorist howling the entire time. I laughed a knowing laugh on my way back into the house, picked up my phone and sent my neighbor a text of congratulations for hanging in there and not giving in to him. The rest of her day would have been so much worse if she had let him win. And she thanked me for encouraging her in her moment of weakness. She said if I hadn’t been there she might have caved. And then it hit me, that is PRECISELY what I feel we can learn from Jeremiah today too. In Today’s Word of the Day he was put under tremendous pressure, the threat of death, to cave and relent on the message that he had been sent to deliver. But he didn’t, he stood his ground and would not cave against the pressure they were putting against him.

God has called each and every one of us to DO something, it’s part of being on this Earth. He may not have called you to write a daily blog, or preach to thousands, but He may have called you to care for orphaned animals in your home or tend to those precious little tiny terrorists that nip at your heels all day long trying to get their own way. Motherhood is a gift, but It’s also a calling. It’s hard and time consuming not to mention, at times, sucks your will to live right from your soul! (Trust me I’ve had my moments!)

And no matter what we’ve been called to, whether it’s tending to His little lambs, or feeding His sheep, you can bet your buttons that simply because God is the One who asked you to do it, it will have its pressure-filled moments of terror when you’ll be tempted to just throw in the towel and cave to that pressure. But you can’t!

When those two year olds get their way just one time by screaming, then they will continue to use that tactic to get their way – because it WORKED. So they will continue doing just that, screaming, every time until it stops working. It is SO MUCH EASIER as the parent to simply stand your ground than to cave into their temper tantrum because they begin to realize who the boss really is and accept that for how it will be. Satan is just like those little two-year-olds! He will stand there and scream until he is blue in the face in order to try and get his way. And we get oh so tempted to cave under his pressure. But we CAN’T because if we do, then it will just be harder for us later on. We CAN’T CAVE. We have to remember in those moments who the boss really is. He may be the ruler of this world, but we are the Children of the King of kings and Lord of lords! WE are seated beside Jesus in heavenly places, not Satan. Jesus has taken the keys to Hell; Satan doesn’t hold that kind of authority anymore. WE DO!

Those tiny terrorists can’t steal our peace. Not if we don’t let them!

Categories: 365 Life, Jeremiah, Season 3, The Crazy Mom Blog, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Leave a comment

The Pen IS Mightier than the Sword

Posted on October 19, 2014 by Tamar

Jeremiah 23:1-25:38

“‘Let My true messengers faithfully proclaim My every word. There is a difference between straw and grain! Does not My word burn like fire?’ says the LORD. ‘Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?'” Jeremiah 23:28-29

I have an insatiable hunger to record perfect moments forever in ink. The curl of steam from a mug of coffee on a quiet crisp fall morning, the laugh of an infant playing innocently on the floor unaware of the turmoil of a parent’s concerned heart, the relief of a gentle wind in the heat of a summer day, the way the stillness of the falling snow can calm my soul… all moments that make my hunger to write grumble until I press the record button of my heart and inscribed them in ink – for no real reason other than to celebrate what God has made. No one will see those scraps of paper; I myself haven’t seen them in years probably tossed out with the old bills long ago. And yet, there they are, still inscribed on my heart in indelible ink.

Then there are other moments in my life that are not the most pleasant of memories, those too are inscribed on my heart. I’m not sure what kind of ink was used to write those down, but I know that it’s the kind of ink that hurts like the dickens when it’s first carved in and the longer it sits untouched by Holy Hands, the more it hurts and festers and infects. That ink has a tendency to spread and blur lines that weren’t meant to be crossed until it absorbs into the heart and goes places it’s not been invited into. It’s a dark ink that covers much of the color and joy that the first ink leaves. But there’s something about this ink that I do love, its reaction to Light. You see in the darkness of sorrow and pain this ink spreads and darkens once colorful inks. But in the presence of Light it dissipates like the fog in the morning sun. Not all at once, but in varying degrees and more rapidly with more exposure. After enough time in the Light this ink changes, the original outline of the painful memory still remains, but it’s… different, in the Light of the Word. It’s not nearly as painful as it once was, at least not in the same way that it was. The Light shows that ink for what it really is, the work of a Brilliant Master who works in ALL the colors, even the dark ones. He uses shadow AND light to create the most amazing masterpieces you’ve ever seen. And the beauty of the masterpiece is that you get to come face-to-face with it each and every time you glimpse yourself in a mirror.

There is NO ONE on this planet whose heart has been pierced in exactly the same way that yours has been. There is no one whose shoes have been sodden and muddied the way yours have been. But there is One who has been right there with you each and every single step of that painful journey. His name is Jesus. He was right there with you when your heart received that sword filled with venomous ink. He was right there with you when your foot sank into the mire of muck and grime. Why didn’t He keep that sword from inflicting its pain or that pit from sucking at your feet? I don’t propose to know all the answers, but I do know this, He can be trusted. My dearest friend, I don’t know why it was important for you to go through what you’ve been through but I can guarantee that what you’ve been through – the good and the bad – it has shaped you and made you who you are today. In Jeremiah’s story he describes a time when God takes him to a potter’s shop and has him watch the potter molding the clay to form a vessel. God explains to Jeremiah that He is like that potter and we are like that clay. While the clay has no real say over what kind of vessel it will become, there are two things that are certain: 1) it will become a vessel that is useful to the purchaser and 2) it is worth the price that was paid to purchase it. My Dear One, YOU are that vessel. You were and are still being created in the Master Potter’s hands and while that formation process (at times) involves sharp instruments that dig at your flesh and cause you to wince and cry out in pain that doesn’t mean that you aren’t still in the Master’s hands. It doesn’t mean that at any point you’ve become a useless vessel or that you aren’t’ still worth the price that Jesus paid to purchase you. Your life has tremendous meaning and importance. Don’t forget that. Don’t ever lose sight of that. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, it’s important to the Kingdom of God because it’s important to the King, God. YOU are important to the King. More important than a mere wordsmith like myself could ever import with mere words and ink. Though I will continue to do my best to try because like Jeremiah says in chapter twenty verse nine of his book, “His Word burns in my heart like a fire; like a fire in my bones! And it wears me out trying to hold them in.” So I stopped trying long ago and I let them fall out of my fingertips daily from this platform where I beg Him to use me to help you fully receive His love for YOU today. He has, is and will always speak His Words of Love in wonderful ways to us if we simply open our ears to hear them and our eyes to see them every day.

Categories: 365 Life, Jeremiah, Morning Prayer, Season 3, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Leave a comment

Forever in Ink

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Tamar

Jeremiah 19:1-22:30

“But if I say I’ll never mention the LORD or speak His name, His word burns in my heart like a fire. It’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can’t do it! The LORD stands beside me like a great warrior. Before Him my persecutors will stumble. They cannot defeat me.” Jeremiah 20:9&11

I can not think of a verse that speaks more truth about my life and ministry than these two verses right here! I can’t remember a day when I didn’t have a Bible in my room reading it. I’ve always been connected to the Word of God. It’s always been an umbilical cord connecting me to the lifeblood of my Savior. It has ALWAYS been a constant guide and source of comfort for me. On THE worst days of my life I knew that no matter how horrible life was at that moment I would find solace between those covers of love. I knew that even when the friends outside those pages weren’t proving very reliable, the friend inside those pages would never leave me, forsake me, or call me names that hurt.

Throughout my life I’ve had two constant passions, a passion for teaching and my friend Jesus. Strangely enough, it wasn’t until the last five years that those two passions collided to form what we now know and love as Tamar Ministries (aka TamarKnochel.com). And the way that God made that happen is such a wonder to me! In the Spring of 2009 a long-dormant hunger for writing re-awakened in me. It didn’t matter if it was a list for groceries or a note to a teacher I was hungry to write like I’d never been before and I couldn’t explain it or tame it. Nor did I wish to, I wanted to use it! The opportunity presented itself most brilliantly through one of the most difficult moments of my life followed by one of the longest months in history! A month that I FILLED with research and journaling that later became the book of my birth as an author and our family into ministry: True Intimacy Challenge.

That one day changed my entire life forever. That day that was so difficult turned into something more beautiful than I EVER could have imagined at that very moment. I suddenly had a direction for that writing itch to take and I took it! At the tip of a pen I took that itch and I’ve been scratching it ever since. God’s Word flows through me like ink flows through a pen, and when I try to stop it up and hold it in it burns like fire in my bones! I can’t do it! I can’t stop, nor do I want to. This fire inside me burns with an insatiable passion to get the word out that Jesus loves YOU. It drives me and directs me in ways that I never expected. Ways that haven’t always been pleasant, but have always been good… eventually.

To date we have created 21 printed and digital materials for purchase, all focused on teaching people to know Jesus more through His Word. Why? Well, I tell people that one of the best ways to get to know me is to read what I write because it is where I am the most honest, vulnerable and open. I put my heart; beating, bleeding, wounded and worn, right out there on the page for all to see. Would the same not also be true about God? He is the true author of all 66 of those books in the Bible, reading them helps us know Him better. And if I can encourage people to peek between those covers, even for the briefest of moments, so that they too might glimpse the naked beauty of a Creator Savior then I’m going to do whatever I can to make that happen for them; even if that means forever recording my life in ink.

Categories: 365 Life, Jeremiah, Season 3, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Leave a comment

LORD, You Know

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Tamar

Jeremiah 15:10-18:23

“LORD, You know what’s happening to me. Please step in and help me.” Jeremiah 15:15

I have a friend who is very down at the moment as she sits on pins and needles in a hospital waiting room to hear more news of her mother’s health (or lack thereof). I’ve been praying for her all day long today and I can’t seem to get her off my mind to write, so I’m including her in this post. It’s dedicated to her today, but I have the feeling that some of you all may find comfort in its words today too. I’m going to keep it simple and just include uplifting sections from today’s Word of the Day. God’s good that way isn’t He. I love His reading plan! It ALWAYS fits.

The LORD replied, “I will take care of you, Jeremiah. Your enemies will ask you to plead on their behalf in times of trouble and distress. (15:11) They will fight against you like an attacking army, but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze. They will not conquer you, for I am with you to protect and rescue you. I, the LORD, have spoken! Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked me. I will rescue you from their cruel hands.” (15:20-21)

Jeremiah said, “LORD, you are my strength and fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble!” (16:19)

The LORD responded, “Now I will show them My power; now I will show them My might. At last they will know and understand that I am the LORD.” (16:21) “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.” (17:5-8)

“LORD, if You heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for You alone! People scoff at me and say, ‘What is this message from the LORD you talk about? Why don’t your predictions come true?’ LORD, I have not abandoned my job as a shepherd for Your people. I have not urged You to send disaster, You have heard everything I’ve said. LORD don’t terrorize me! You alone are my hope in the day of disaster.” (17:14-17)

He alone is our only hope in the day of disaster, let us say together with Jeremiah today, “LORD, if You heal me, I will be truly healed; if You save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for You alone!”

Categories: 365 Life, Jeremiah, Season 3, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Leave a comment

Leopard Print is God’s Favorite

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Tamar

Jeremiah 12:1-15:9

“Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard take away its spots?” Jeremiah 14:23

I love the truth of this statement don’t you? We can’t change the color of our skin, a leopard can’t take away its spots, an elephant can’t become a mouse and a dog can’t become a rabbit – although why they would want to do any of that is beyond me! I just got back from a trip where I drive past a small community theater located inside a church building. They had two signs out front today. The first was their normal sign that always lists their current play, today it read: “God’s Favorite” in black letters with red dates under it for show times. The second sign was leaning in front of the first sign and it said: “Auditions Today” in black letters with an arrow pointing toward the building. I really wish I had had time to stop and take a picture because it was a sight for my record books Friends!!! They were holding auditions today for God’s Favorite!!!! You know, six months ago, before I started working on this whole insecurity thing I think I would have about driven off the road to get there and audition first to be God’s favorite. Today I know that I don’t have to do that, because I already am.

A leopard can’t change its spots; that’s the way that God made it and that’s the way that it will stay. God made you to be His Beloved Child: the receiver of His adoration, needer of a Lord and Savior and lighter of dark paths for the lost. That’s the way that God made you and that’s the way you will stay. There’s nothing that you can do, there’s nothing that you can say, there’s NO WAY that God is going to turn His back on you and forget all about you. There’s no way that He CAN do that, because if He did then He would have been lying when He said that He would never leave you or forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5) And it is impossible for Him to lie. (Hebrews 6:18)

He also said, and,

Which of you being worried can add even a single moment to your life? None of us. Just like we can’t change our skin and a leopard can’t change his spots, worry does absolutely nothing to improve our lives. Nothing. While I have been working on rejecting Insecurity for the past six months (through a methodical reading of Beth Moore’s So Long, Insecurity You’ve Been a Bad Friend to Us) a parallel has emerged that I wasn’t expecting. Worry. I didn’t realize how closely tied Worry was with Insecurity – until now. The two go hand in hand together playing Red Rover with our emotions calling us to “come over” only to clothesline us when we get to the other side. Insecurity breeds Worry and Worry breeds Insecurity, it’s a vicious cycle.

For as long as I can remember I’ve been a worrier filled with insecurity. I’ve always been worried about what other people thought of me, and how they would react to me. I desperately cared if they liked me or not, I wanted EVERYONE to like me. And if I thought that they didn’t like me, well then I would try to change my spots in order to help them like me. I never thought about the fact that if I changed in order to make them like me, then they wouldn’t actually like ME then would they? That completely defeats the purpose of making friends now doesn’t it.

But therein lies the beauty of a friendship with Jesus. He doesn’t love you for who you pretend to be, in fact He doesn’t like that person very much at all. He LOVES the real you, the you that’s deep down in the core of yourself. The one who struggles with insecurity and how people see her, He loves the girl who had braces for four years and was teased mercilessly for them while her classmates had perfectly straight teeth and gorgeous hair that stayed wherever they put it and never got frizzy… or maybe that was just me… Anyway! He loves THAT person, the one deep inside that’s wounded from childhood and desperate for someone to just love her the way that she is; not caring what she looks like or what she sounds like. He loves you, not for what you can give Him but for what He can give you. My darling, He GAVE you those spots, why would you want to change them? They’re His favorite because YOU’RE His favorite. When He knit you together in your mother’s womb He looked at you and said, “It is good, she IS fearfully and wonderfully made” and He wants you to know that full well!!! Leopards can’t change their spots because those spots are part of what makes them leopards! And leopards are cool! (I have a LOT of leopard print stuff in my house…) While a leopard’s spots are part of what makes them the leopards God created them to be, your human weakness is part of what makes you who God created you to be. Why would you want to change that?

Categories: 365 Life, Insecurity, Jeremiah, Season 3, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Leave a comment

Rain, Rain, Don’t Go Away

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Tamar

Jeremiah 8:18-11:23

“When He speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from His storehouses.” Jeremiah 10:13

I. Love. Thunderstorms! I have loved the rain for as long as I can remember. When I was younger and still living with my parents we had a sliding glass door in the dining room and when it was storming we would pull the dining room chairs up to the glass and sit and watch the storm and applaud God’s handiwork just the way we would applaud the fireworks on the Fourth of July. In more recent years I’ve developed a love of writing during thunderstorms because I’ve noticed that God seems to speak to me in the falling rain. It’s like each tap of these keys seems to echo the tapping of the rain on the windowsill. The way the thunder rolls, it fills my soul with the depth of its reverberations. Yes, I love the rain. I love the God that I see in the rain. I love the God who sends the rain.

Categories: 365 Life, Jeremiah, Season 3, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Leave a comment

You Are

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Tamar

Jeremiah 6:1-8:17

“They cling tightly to their lies and will not turn around.” Jeremiah 8:5

Lord,

I know that there are lies in my life to which I have clung relentlessly. Lies that have done nothing but hurt me mortally and yet, I’ve clung to them without daring to let go for fear of change or pain or harm. And yet by clinging to them I’ve done nothing but cause myself pain and harm which causes fear. Lord, I’m not sure what lies I’m clinging to right now, but I’m sure there’s at least one. Father I beg you to free me from that/those lies by releasing Your absolute truth into my life right now. I know that while Satan is the Father of Lies, You are the Father of Light. You are the One of whom it is said, “it is impossible for Him to lie.” Lord I am desperate for the Light of Your Truth right now. I desire it more than gold or diamonds. I need Your Truth to light the way to peace and salvation. I need to cling to Your Word, rather than his lies. His lies destroy but Your Truth builds up. Your Truth embodies Life and Peace and Passion. Your Truth is Grace and Mercy and Love. Your Truth is Love never ending, never failing, never quitting, and it never falls short when we need it the most. Lord I need that Love to hold me up right now and let me know that no matter comes next, You’re there to hold me through it.

I feel change on the horizon and I fear it. I beg for it to be a good change and yet I know that even good changes are difficult to deal with. Please help me to survive this! I know that sounds so silly to You, of course I will survive it – You’re with me. And yet that lump in my throat that threatens to choke the life from me betrays any bravado I would so love to portray at the moment. And I thank You, the everlasting, that I don’t have to portray any kind of bravado before You! I don’t have to be strong for You. I don’t have to be brave for You. It is before You that I can be weak and afraid and vulnerable and SAFE. It is in Your very arms that I find my safety and security from my weak-willed fears. Thank You for that.

Thank You for calling me to, “Come and be still” in order to know that YOU are God.

Thank You for calling me to know that You ARE God!

Lord Jesus, Thank You for calling me to know that You are GOD!

You are my Beloved, You are my portion and my prize. You are my provider and my healer, my counselor and my guide. You are my purpose, you are my song. You are my lover, you are my peace. You are my refuge when I am weary. You are my consolation when I am despondent.

You are THE I am.

You are MY I am.

Lord, when my entire world begins its chaotic spinning around me, You are The Anchor for my soul. You are the fixed point in the horizon when I am sick of this sea of tossing emotions. You are GOD and I am NOT and I PRAISE You for that!

Lord, I praise You! For I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and I know that well.

Lord, I thank You for all that You are to me!

Categories: 365 Life, Jeremiah, Season 3 | Tags: fear, prayers, truth | Leave a comment

Sunday SHMILY

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Tamar

Jeremiah 3:15-5:31

“Only in the LORD our God will Israel ever find salvation. ” Jeremiah 3:23

An unexpected field trip to the zoo with my daughter!

A new bird friend at our feeder that proved next to impossible to photograph! A white breasted nut hatch. 😀

Fall break selfies at the theater where we watched Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie was based on Romans 8:28 that’s certainly the message behind it! P.S. the movie was GREAT!

Categories: 365 Life, Jeremiah, Season 3, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Leave a comment

What Frightens You?

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Tamar

Jeremiah 1:1-3:14

So, what are you afraid of? Is something holding you back from the best God has to offer? It’s highly likely that Fear is either driving you where you shouldn’t be going or holding you back from where you want to be. And it’s high time you identify that Fear and trade it in for TRUST!

You might not be able to trust the government, money, health, your spouse, your friends or maybe even me, but you can ALWAYS trust God to do what is in your best interest. Even, if it doesn’t always look like that’s what’s happening.

In the words of *Beth Moore, from So Long, Insecurity You’ve Been a Bad Friend to Us (page 323), “Fear consumes massive amounts of energy and focus and can chew a hole through our intestines, our relationships, and countless great opportunities. At the risk of oversimplifying, the kind of fear we’re talking about is a colossal waste of time.”

Seriously, if I can’t count on God, who can I count on? Certainly not myself!!!

Isaiah 33:6 NET says that “[God] is our constant source of stability.” The NLT version says that God “will be your sure foundation, providing a rich store of salvation, wisdom and knowledge.”

In other words, you can trust God, He’s not going to move or change an inch causing everything you’ve built on Him to fall. He is a solid foundation upon which to put your hope, your trust and your life. Those things that cause you to fear and ruffle the feathers of your insecurities have no power over you when you’ve given them to the LORD to handle.

Harry S. Truman had a sign on his desk that said, “The Buck Stops Here“. Ultimately meaning that anything that happened during his presidency he was prepared to take responsibility for because he was the one in charge and making the decisions. When we hand our fears over to God, that’s the sign He puts on His desk. “I am in charge of this thing you’re afraid of. And I will take care of it in the best way possible.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.”

In Beth Moore’s book, she details a conversation she had with the LORD where He completely addressed and nullified her worst fears by playing them ALL the way out. And I’d like for us to do that too in order to allow the LORD to completely address and nullify our worst fears as well. All you have to do is answer two simple questions:

What’s the thing you’re most afraid of right now?
Now let’s say that thing actually happens. Then what?

I’ll go first.

What’s the thing you’re most afraid of right now?

Not becoming the author/speaker that I dream of becoming. And although God has shown me countless visions and told me, “Thus saith the LORD, I have called you to be My prophet and speak My word to My people around the world.” I’m still afraid that I have the ability and power to screw that up somehow and maybe not become everything He created me to be. This would cause me to disappoint Him – which would kill me. The last thing I want to do is disappoint the One who died to save my soul from eternal damnation.
Now let’s say that thing happens. Then what?

If I don’t become the famous author/speaker that I dream of, then I stay where I am. I’ll write on the blog that sends emails out to 36 people daily and has been viewed over 8,830 times from over 107 countries around the world since February 25^th, 2012. I’ll work a day job where the people I serve adore me and thank me for brightening their day. I’ll stay in the house I’ve been working on personalizing for the last seven years and finally have it just the way I like it. I’ll stay where my family lives, breathes and loves. I’ll keep writing the bi-weekly articles for our county paper and occasionally have complete strangers come up to me just to say, “I love your articles!”

And while Fear is trying to tell me that I have the power to undo what God has proclaimed over me, the Truth is that I actually have the power to undo Fear itself! Fear is doing his best to distract me from the Truth that no matter how far along I am in the building process, my blueprints still say, “Skyscraper: Mightily Anointed Child of the One True King.”

And as far as disappointing my Daddy God; how can you disappoint someone whose already seen how it all turns out? How can you disappoint the One who MADE the plans? He knows your very nature because He created it to be weak and fragile and susceptible to temptation in order that you would reach out for Someone strong and solid and completely insusceptible to temptation – God. No matter how hard you try you don’t have the power and authority to wreck God’s plans for you and your future. If you did, what kind of all-knowing God would He be?

Hallelujah! I’ve got to say that again because you KNOW it’s the TRUTH!

No matter how hard you try, you don’t have the power and authority to wreck God’s plans for you and your future. If you did, what kind of all-knowing God would He be?

Be still my Beloved Friend. Be still and know that HE is God! (Psalm 46:10) Not you. Not me. HE is God.

“That’s right, and it means that I am watching and I will certainly carry out all My plans.” Jeremiah 1:12

* Moore, Beth. So Long, Insecurity You’ve Been a Bad Friend to Us. 2010. Tyndale House Publishers.

Categories: 365 Life, Jeremiah, Season 3, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Leave a comment

Tomorrow

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Tamar

James 1:1-5:20

“How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?” James 4:14

You know, that’s so much easier to say than to actually do isn’t it? And yet, who knows what tomorrow will REALLY bring.

You never know, tomorrow may not hold anything that you fear and everything that God had planned for you long ago.

I know that the moment you’re standing in right now may seem dark and hopeless and you might even be tempted to believe that God’s plans are to harm you. But the Truth of His word reassures us that it’s not His plan to harm us, but to prosper us. Because, you see,

Behold my friend,

My friend, you ARE His Beloved. He delights in your prosperity because you are His Beloved people. There is no reason for anxious toil or burning the candle at both ends, so to speak, for the LORD gives rest to His Beloved.

“Oh Lord Jesus, I need rest! I thirst for the quiet waters and the green pastures. My body aches for respite from the toil and the anxiety and the stress. Lord, I don’t know about any of the others out there reading this, but I for one am in need of some solid, soul-deep rest. Psalm 4:8 says that

You alone, O Lord, can make me dwell in safety. Only You my Savior, my God, have the ability to make me lie down AND sleep IN PEACE.

Jesus, thank You for putting forth the effort and dealing with the pain that comes with overcoming; as many Christians through the ages have experienced victory in Jesus is not easy, but You tell us that it is worth it. Please help us to take heart from Your Word and to actively encourage each other in our faith so that,

And to remember:

Repeat after me,

I HAVE been given authority over ALL the power of the Enemy and I will use it every chance that I get! Because people need to know that Jesus loves them.