Thy Word Have I Hid In My Heart

November 24, 2017November 24, 2017 ~ Suzanne Davis Harden

A couple of years ago the Lord inspired me to create an Encouraging Scripture Promise Wall Calendar based on my Encouraging Card Collection. I loved my calendar for it would encourage me each morning with a promise from God’s word.

Whenever I was discouraged all I had to do was look up at the scripture on my calendar; somehow the Lord always used the bible verse to speak to my heart.

The promises in the Bible give us hope. And no wonder, for our God is “The God of hope.”(Romans 15:13)

The next year, I had three calendars printed.

I hung one in my kitchen, one at my work chair, and one beside my bed.

Anytime I felt sad or discouraged I would look up at one of my calendars, depending on which room I was in, read the bible promise, and be filled with fresh courage.

This year the Lord inspired me to create a new Wall Calendar featuring twelve comforting Bible Promises, one for each month of the year illustrated with my scripture paintings and collages.

He impressed upon me the importance of meditating upon His word every day, reminding me of Jesus’ words in Matthew 4:4 when tempted by the devil to turn stones into bread during His wilderness Temptations. Jesus fought the temptation with scripture:

“It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4

In rebuking the devil with scripture, the Lord Jesus was teaching us how to fight the enemy: with His word. In Ephesians 6:17 Paul wrote “to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” as a vital part of our spiritual armor against the deadly attacks of our unseen spiritual foe who is out to destroy our soul.

Knowledge of God’s word is not only vital to our survival as believers in spiritual warfare, but the Psalmist said, “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.” Psalm 119:11

The promises of God comfort and give us hope, keep us from going astray, aid us in defeating our spiritual enemies, and they also guide us in the Lord’s paths of righteousness.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105

“Every word of God proves true…” Proverbs 30:5

The Apostle Paul wrote that we grow our faith by nourishing ourselves with a steady diet of God’s Holy Word. For it is our spiritual food, that will help us grow closer to our God if we will make it our daily habit to read it and obey it.

In this way we will learn to understand the Lord’s will for us, to discern His voice in our hearts, and find out what pleases and displeases Him.

This year the Lord has inspired me to study and meditate on the bible promises on my calendars each month in a new way.

Each morning I plan to meditate on the bible promise for the month and pray about how it applies to me and where I am on my life’s journey with the Lord.

I’m going to ask the Holy Spirit to teach me new insights as I study the scripture more in depth along with other bible study tools, like the Strong’s concordance, the Matthew Henry Bible Commentary, and my Study Bible.

I plan to pray over the scripture throughout the month and ask the Lord to teach me new things about that promise each day. I have learned that we can never exhaust all of the riches to be found in God’s holy word!

“In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:3

I hope by studying God’s promises in this way, that by the end of each month I will have memorized each of the bible promises featured on the calendar.

By the year’s end, if I meditate on these verses daily, then I will make them all my very own, for the Lord has shown me that this is one very good way to hide His word in my heart and make it my treasure.

I would be so honored if you would get one of my scripture calendars and join me in studying God’s promises each day.

May the Lord bless you!

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Help me to hide Thy word in my heart every day. Please use Thy word to help me become more like Thy Son Jesus Christ. Help me to always obey everything that You teach me from Your word, so that it doesn’t just go in one ear and out the other. I ask that You let Your word be my treasure now and for always. Thank you, Lord, I love you, In Jesus mighty name, amen.

For more information about my Bible Promise Calendar and Encouraging Scripture Promise Calendar see my Etsy Shop Listings below: (Links will take you to my Etsy Shop.)

2018 Comforting Bible Promise Calendar

The 2018 Encouraging Scripture Promise Calendar

Thy Word Have I Hid In My Heart, Angel Song © 2017 SD Harden All rights reserved. Scripture Paintings (Thy Word Is a Lamp To My Feet, Thy Word Have I Hid In My Heart, Faith Comes By Hearing © SD Harden 2017 All rights reserved./ Every Word of God Proves True via Pinterest/ Scripture Quotations KJV Bible/ 2018 Comforting Bible Promise Calendar & 2018 Encouraging Scripture Promise Calendar © SD Harden All Rights Reserved.

The Cherished Of The Lord

May 29, 2017May 29, 2017 ~ Suzanne Davis Harden

THE CHERISHED OF THE LORD

The cherished of the Lord

Shall dwell within His heart,

And God shall cover them with grace

And from them not depart.

They shall dwell between

God’s shoulders like a child,

And there shall they find peace and hope

Through every stormy trial.

God who robes Himself with light

And dwells in clouds above,

Will hide them from the wind and rain

And shield them with His love.

The cherished of the Lord

Will ever sing God’s praise

Extolling Him who gave them life,

They’ll worship Him always.

Psalm 68:4 (KJV) “Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Jah, and rejoice before him.”

Psalm 104:1-3 (ERV) “My soul, praise the Lord! Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with glory and honor. You wear light like a robe. You spread out the skies like a curtain. You built your home above them. You use the thick clouds like a chariot and ride across the sky on the wings of the wind.”
Deuteronomy 33:12 (KJV) “The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.”

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, may You bless all who read this prayer, poem, and bible verse to know that You cherish them beyond anything they could ever imagine.

Your word says that Your thoughts toward us outnumber the grains of sand by the sea in Psalm 139: 18, and Psalm 40 says You are always thinking about us.

You don’t ever forget a single one of us though sometimes we may feel forgotten in our pain, loneliness, trial, or whatever challenge we may be facing. You are with us. The Bible is true.

Isaiah 49:16 reveals that You have engraved a picture of us on the palm of Your hand and that “our walls” are ever before You. You see all our needs and the challenges that we are facing. You will never fail or forsake us.

You love us without measure and that love is unconditional. You forgive all our sins and wash them as far away from us as far as the east is from the west according to Psalm 103: 12.

That same Psalm declares: “The Lord has always loved His followers and He will continue to love them forever and ever!” Psalm 103:17 (ERV) Lord, thank You for Your great love for each of us!

Lord, thank You for Your grace and mercy, and for sending Your Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins so that we could be saved and given eternal life with You. We love You. In Jesus name, amen.

Angelsong © 2017 SD Harden All Rights Reserved. “Cherished Of The Lord Prayer Poem” & Scripture Painting © 2017 SDHarden All Rights Reserved. Scripture Quotations from The King James Bible (Public Domain) and The Easy To Read Version Bible © 2006 Bible League International; Paths of Hope, He Loves Your More By Far, © 2017 SD Harden All Rights Reserved. All Glory To God

Waiting On The Lord

April 10, 2017April 10, 2017 ~ Suzanne Davis Harden ~ 2 Comments

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. ~ Revelation 3:20

When Miss Phee, our little Yorky, was a puppy, she would sit up on the edge of our bed every morning the minute she heard my
husband Mark in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
She loved to eat breakfast with him. Mark would feed Miss Phee bits of his oatmeal while he ate his breakfast. Our dog loved this special treat and the time they shared together.

Most of the time, Miss Phee would sit quietly on the edge of our bed and wait patiently, trusting that any minute Mark would come for her. Every so often if he didn’t show up soon enough, she would start whining ever so softly.

My little dog was not worried about annoying me, mind you. No, Miss Phee’s chief concern was that I might wake up and horn in on her private breakfast with her daddy. Ha! 🙂

Sooner or later Mark always came to reward her faith in him by gathering her up in his arms and carrying her to the kitchen for their special meal together.

Sometimes though, Mark would be running late and had to rush off to work without his breakfast. That meant no special Breakfast time with Phee. Somehow it was just not the same when I fed her breakfast, so whenever she couldn’t have her special breakfast time with Mark she would pout for the rest of the day and refuse to eat. 😦

I think of the parallels between Miss Phee’s morning meals with Mark and our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus said that we must abide in him and spend time with God each day
in worship and prayer.

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Abiding in Christ is the same as eating at our Lord’s table, feeding on His word and allowing his Holy Spirit to teach us His wisdom and truth.

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ~Matthew 4:4

Even as Miss Phee wanted Mark all to herself in her morning quiet time with him, the Lord wants us to come to Him without any distractions. He wants us all to Himself, coming into His Presence without our cell phones, IPads, IPods, or video games, novels, or our work on our minds or whatever distracts us from His heart.

Anything that takes God’s place in our hearts is a rival for God for our affections and is an idol.

That thing might be something that seems so innocent and even good, like our job, a hobby, or even our ministry. But if it takes our time and attention away from God, and replaces our affection for God in our hearts, it is an idol.

Examine me, God! Look at my heart!
Put me to the test! Know my anxious thoughts!
Look to see if there is any idolatrous way in me,
Then lead me on the eternal path! ~ Psalm 139:23-24 (CEB)

We draw closer to Christ and abide in Him through regular times of worship, prayer, and bible study. Often in those times, we must wait on God as Miss Phee waited for Mark to come get her each morning. We must learn to wait in faith on God by abiding steadfastly in prayer and worship.

There may be seasons in our journey with the Lord when God seems distant. We may feel as if He is ignoring us when things we’ve prayed over for months or years go unanswered without the slightest ray of hope that things will ever change.

At all times God asks that we trust Him and wait and walk by faith, just as little Miss Phee always waited in eager expectation for Mark to come for her, so certain that he would come. Even though he was sometimes delayed, she never stopped believing and hoping the next day that he would come for her. She was absolutely confident that he would not forget about her, would not disappoint her faith in him. And eventually he did show up again~just like she hoped and believed!
I always thought, if only I had the faith and trust of my little Yorkie!

Psalm 130:5-6 “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

We must be still before the Lord, contemplating His mercy and majesty, as we come to Him in faith, believing that we will receive what we need from Him in prayer.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (NIV)

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (NIV)

God is our creator, He is omnipotent, meaning He is all-powerful. He is in control
of all things.
God is omniscient: He knows all things, He knows all about us, He knows all our
needs before we even ask.
God is omnipresent: He is everywhere present. Wherever we are, God is there.
And by His spirit, God lives and dwells within us.

God cherishes us, He cares very much about us. God feels all of our pain, since He
indwells us through His Holy Spirit.
God wants to share life with us. He says in the book of Revelation, “Behold
I stand at the door and knock; if any one will open the door I will come in and I will
share a meal with him. “

Just as Miss Phee and Mark would share a meal and have their special time
together, God wants to have a special time with us every day, He wants us to be
excited about it just as Miss Phee was excited about her time alone with her daddy.

God will never fail us. He

delights in our fellowship. It is sacred to Him. May it be as sacred to us.

For it is a great honor to worship and serve the Sovereign Lord of the Universe.

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” John 14:23

Prayer
Heavenly Father, please give us hearts that delight in worshiping and serving You.
May You give us hearts that will wait on You in faith and that will love You with all of our being, thank you, Lord, in Jesus name, amen.

Angelsong © 2017 SD Harden All Rights Reserved. Original Photos of Miss Phee & Mark from Suzanne Harden’s Photos/ Illustration of Jesus Knocking via Google/ Scripture Quotations: King James Version (Public Domain), Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

You Are Treasured

February 14, 2017 ~ Suzanne Davis Harden ~ 2 Comments

You Are Treasured

You are treasured by the One
Who made the moon, and stars, and sun,
Who formed the flowers and the trees
And set the ocean’s boundaries.
He rides the Heavens and He sees
Your heart and knows your every need,
He listens to your every prayer
He listens and He loves and cares.
Though He’s silent and unseen
He’s just as real as what you see;
He’s close enough for you to hear,
He’s ever present, very near.
His love for you is like the sand
And can’t be measured by your hand.
Like sandy grains upon the shore
It’s measureless and grows still more
He’ll love you as His precious child
Eternal ages for all time.
SD Harden (Prayer Poem) © 2017 All Rights Reserved

Happy Valentine’s Day, Dear Friends!
May you know that you are cherished by the God who loves you so much He sent His one and only Son Jesus Christ to die a cruel death on a cross for each of us to atone for our sins. When we invite Jesus into our hearts and ask forgiveness for our sins the Lord washes them all away “as far as the east is from the west.”

And we are justified by faith – or made right with God through faith in Christ. We won’t be perfect or without sin till we get to heaven, but the Lord puts a portion of His very own Spirit within our hearts to help us want to be good, and to make us more and more like Him. We get to know God because His Holy Spirit lives in our hearts. His Holy Spirit dwelling in our heart helps us to not only keep loving God, but to love Him more and more as we pray to Him and study His word and obey Him.

If you want to know God’s love, invite Jesus Christ into your heart. He is only a prayer away. Don’t take my word for it. Just close your eyes and ask Him to come inside your heart right now. He will fill you with love and rivers of peace and hope. He will wash all your sins away. He will fill you with His Spirit and make you His redeemed child forever. He will write your name in His book of Life. When you die, you will be with Jesus in Paradise for all eternity.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, may You lead souls to Thy Son Jesus Christ who need salvation, who need forgiveness, who need to know that You love them and will never reject or forsake them. May You fill their hearts with Thy holy measureless love for them, rivers of peace and hope, wash all their sins away as far as the east is from the west, and fill them with Thy Holy Spirit. May today they become Your very own precious redeemed children forever, in Jesus holy name, thank You, Lord, we love You, amen.

Scriptures to meditate on:

Jeremiah 31:3 (KJV) The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

John 3:16-17 (ERV) Jesus said, “Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world. He did not send him to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him.”

Romans 5:1-2, 5 (NLT) Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

John 6:29 (NLT) Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

John 6:37 (NLT) Jesus said, “… those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.”

Psalm 103:11-12 (NLT) For God’s unfailing love toward those who fear Him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

1 John 1:8-9 (NLT) If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

1 John 2:2 (ERV) Jesus is the way our sins are taken away. And he is the way all people can have their sins taken away too.

Hebrews 11:1-3 (ERV) Faith is what makes real the things we hope for. It is proof of what we cannot see. God was pleased with the people who lived a long time ago because they had faith like this. Faith helps us understand that God created the whole world by his command. This means that the things we see were made by something that cannot be seen.

Romans 10:17 (NASB) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Philippians 2:13 (ERV) Yes, it is God who is working in you. He helps you want to do what pleases Him, and He gives you the power to do it.

Romans 10:8-11, 13 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Philippians 1:6 (GW ) I’m convinced that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it through to completion on the day of Christ Jesus.

Angelsong © 2017 SD Harden All Rights Reserved /Prayer Poem “You Are Cherished © 2017 SD Harden All Rights Reserved./ Scripture Painting © 2017 SD Harden All Rights Reserved. /”Jesus Loves You” Photo via Pinterest

Bible Quotations: NLT (New Living Translation) © Copyright 2015 Tyndale House Publishers, Easy To Read Version (ERV) Copyright 2006 Bible League International, New American Standard Bible Translation (NASB) Copyright 1995 The Lockman Foundation, The King James Version Bible, (KJV), God’s Word (GW) ©1995 God’s Word To The Nations