Today’s Reading:
Hebrews 10
Hebrews 11
Matthew 7
So now wrap your heart tightly around the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises! Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love.
Hebrews 10:23-24 TPT
I heard the Spirit of the Living God say,
Look up child. Look to Me, the author of your faith, the fountain of every blessing, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Whom or what should you fear? Am I not the one who set the stars in the sky and the one who knows them all by name? And I Am near you. I Am right here with you. You have nothing and no one and no circumstance or possibility to fear. Simply trust in Me. Simply have bold and increasing confidence that I Am who I say I Am, I never change, and I always come through for you. It’s that simple. It boils down to faith and perspective.
And he also says, “My righteous ones will live from my faith. But if fear holds them back, my soul is not content with them!” But we are certainly not those who are held back by fear and perish; we are among those who have faith and experience true life!
Hebrews 10:38-39 TPT
Perspective will bolster or diminish your faith. And a heart of faith can cause your vision, your perspective to become more expansive. The ways of the world are narrow, rigid, fixed and small. The ways of the Lord God Almighty are creative, enduring, delightful, hilarious and fun. Why should you care to go their way? Your perspective and your faith determines how you plant the seeds and the root stock I give you. I want you to think expansively, to tap into the recesses of your holy imagination, and blow the limitations off of what these seeds and this strong but dried tree could become — because I intend for you to feed many with them. I intend for this seemingly unremarkable dried young tree to become a great place that shades and delights many, so you have to plant it in good soil. You have to plant it in such a way that that it has plenty of uninhibited space to grow. You have to plant it where it is accessible for the people to reach and enjoy.
Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen. This testimony of faith is what previous generations were commended for.
Hebrews 11:1-2 TPT
Building with a mindset of fear is no good. You will protect what you build so tightly that no one can see, reach or help you. It causes you to build in a way that is rigid and small. But when you build by faith, you can build flexibly. You can add on, prune and take away; and it doesn’t inhibit the growth or integrity of the structure. I’m not calling you to have it all figured out. I’m calling you to plant well, plant wisely, to look at the world, the scene and what I’ve put in your hands with eyes of great faith and a perspective that is expansive, creative and even mischievous. The planting and the building can be messy. Just remember to choose your location well, to set your foundation well. And everything after that can be flexible.
How to Respond
- Pray, Lord thank You that You teach me how to plant and build. Help me to cast off the structures, procedures and ways of convention of the world. Help me to open my imagination wide, to expand my perspective and to completely remove limitations from my mindset. I want to plant and build by Your guiding and in the ways of the Kingdom.
- Declare, Jesus said “Everyone who hears my teaching and applies it to his life can be compared to a wise man who built his house on an unshakable foundation. When the rains fell and the flood came, with fierce winds beating upon his house, it stood firm because of its strong foundation. “But everyone who hears my teaching and does not apply it to his life can be compared to a foolish man who built his house on sand. When it rained and rained and the flood came, with wind and waves beating upon his house, it collapsed and was swept away.”
—Matthew 7:24-27 TPT - Decree, I cast off the limitations of my mindset and perspective. I am moving forward in bold faith and confidence, because the Lord God Almighty has given me seeds and root stock to plant. He has given me broad plans with which to build. I will not go about my planting or building by mimicking the work of others. I will be led by the Spirit. I will choose my locations well. I will set my foundation wisely, and I will be flexible and adaptive for everything else.
For more encouragement from The Glory & New Wine, check out the post from this day in years past:
2025:
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2023:
2022:
2021:
