“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;” (Joel 2:12, ESV)
Yet even now! Nothing is so broken that God cannot fix it. Nothing is so lost that God cannot find it. Nothing is so sick that God cannot heal it. Nothing is so bad that God cannot redeem it. Nothing is so dead that God cannot resurrect it.
It is not enough for God to just say this. He declares it. He proclaims. He announces it. He shouts it out. This is no offhand comment. God means what he says and says what he means. There is no mistake. This is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
There is emphasis. It is CAPITALIZED, bolded, italicized, and highlighted. God wants you to know this.
Why?
Because we forget it. The pressures and the pull of the world often seem more real than what God says. The power of doubt can be overwhelming. It clouds the truth.
So you are invited to come back to what God declares. To do it regularly and often. Not just seasonally during Lent. Not just weekly in worship. Not just daily in your devotions. But throughout the day. All day. Every day.
God declares for you to know it. To internalize it. To believe it. To trust it. To make more of it.
Something I have learned is that the best way to comprehend and understand something is to articulate it. That is to declare what God declares. It can be with our voice, but there are other ways.
Here are some ideas:
- Speak It – The words you speak out of your mouth are powerful. Speaking the words out-loud has a way of making the words more real.
- Memorize It – Memorize one verse each week, and you will memorize 52 verses in a year.
- Sing It – The Psalms were the Old Testament hymnal. There are so many verses in Scripture that instruct us to make music.
- Write It – This is how I articulate for myself (and for you) what God declares.
- Draw It – A few days ago, I shared with you a great visual faith resource to declare the voice of God through art.
- Display It – Put the words of God in the places where you will see it often.
- Read It Some More – Here is a daily Bible reading plan.
- Pray It – Use the Scripture to guide your daily prayers.
How will you emphasize, articulate, proclaim, and declare God’s eternal truths?
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