Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” – Exodus 14:13-14

God has always been about setting people free. In today’s verse, He set the nation of Israel free from slavery to Egypt in a wonderous miracle at the Red Sea.

God hasn’t changed from then to now. He’s still setting people free from the things that enslave them. So whatever it is that has bound you, know that God desires to fight on your behalf. He wants to set you free.

So whatever has bound you, you can be free. You simply have to place your faith in Jesus and know that He wants to fight for you. He wants you to walk in the freedom He provided for you at the cross.

So whatever has bound you in the past, look to Him for your freedom today.

Today’s Truth: God is About Setting Us Free!

It’s not easy being courageous. Fear sometimes seems so real. So how do you stand up and be courageous when you feel like all odds are against you?

Often being courageous won’t make sense to your senses. You might see all the reasons you can’t do what God is calling you to do or go where He’s calling you to do. Yet, if you feel like God has called you, then you’ve got what you need.

Be courageous, and let us show ourselves courageous for the benefit of our people and the cities of our God. And may the LORD do what is good in His sight.” – 2 Samuel 10:12 (AMP)

In today’s Bible verse, we see an army getting ready for battle, and they are choosing to be courageous. That wouldn’t be easy, would it? Think about going to fight someone. That wouldn’t be easy. However, when you know God, courage becomes easier.

As you read through the Bible, you see that God has always loved humankind. God has always provided and come through for the people who trusted Him and loved Him. And the same is true for you. God wants to provide every need you have for the calling He has for you. It’s just up to you to trust Him, and that when He speaks, it’s truth. Regardless of what you feel or see around you if you have a word from God, it has to come to pass in your life!

That’s good news. So encourage yourself today. God loves you, sent His son to die for you, and wants to provide for you in every way. That means you can be courageous, knowing that you’ll have everything you need for the battles that you face.

It can be easy to think that all the prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament don’t really have much to do with your day-to-day life. How does knowing Jesus fulfilled a bunch of prophecies really help you with your math test? Or how does that help you in your struggle with fear?

Here is one of many ways it can help. Fulfilled prophecies give more weight to the rest of the Bible. So if you can believe that the Bible is accurate because the prophecies are specific and point to Jesus, then it helps you believe that Jesus is your solution to fear or that dreaded math test.

When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. – 2 Samuel 7:12-13 (NIV)

God said that He would establish his kingdom forever in today’s prophecy. And while that might not directly relate to math or fear problems, it does show us something important.

It shows us that there’s a bigger story going on. It’s easy to get caught up in all the daily problems that we forget that life is bigger than just us. God has been working behind the scenes to bring us a solution to our fear, our pain, our misery. And not just ours. He’s the solution for the entire world.

So today, know that God has been working behind the scenes, since the beginning, bringing the world a solution to all their problems.

There are many examples of God’s plan to rescue us from our sin found in the Old Testament. In reading these, we see that there are many prophecies and patriarchs that spoke about Jesus.

Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.” – John 1:45 (NLT)

In today’s verse, we see that Philip was familiar with many of these. When Philip learned of Jesus, he realized that Jesus was the one the Old Testament and the prophets had written about.

What good news! Jesus is the one that the Bible is all about. It’s the story of how He came to be the solution for the problem Adam had created. God the creator stepped into our story and decided to make things right. He was going to do what we could not do on our own. He was going to pay the price once and for all for our sins.

The message of the Bible is that our creator became our savior. We were undeserving, helpless, and without hope. And yet God loved us. The Bible points to Jesus. As we read more each day as Christmas approaches, realize that the reason for all of this is love. God loved us. When we didn’t get it. When we didn’t deserve it, in spite of it all, He came. That’s good news! And it’s what Christmas is really all about!

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT)

Have you ever had one of those days when everything that can go wrong does? I remember one morning, I woke up and my pet fish was dead, my parents were going to Hawaii later that day on vacation and they weren’t taking me. And to top it all off, things weren’t going well at school and each day I went stressed me out. That day, I felt like everything was going wrong and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

I’m sure you’ve probably had a day like that where tons of things were going wrong for you and it just felt like your world was spinning out of control. In moments like those, it is a challenge to get out of bed, let along be thankful like today’s Bible verse encourages us to do.

God wouldn’t tell us to do something that we couldn’t do. So it must be possible to be thankful in all circumstances. How do we do it? I think it’s just by finding one small thing you can thank God for. Maybe it’s the fact that you didn’t have to go hungry at breakfast. Or perhaps simply the fact that you woke up in the morning. There’s power in finding a small thing to thank God for. As you focus on that small thing, others will come to your mind. The more you focus on the things in life that you can be thankful for, the more thankful you’ll become.

Today’s Truth: As you focus on being thankful, the easier it is to be happy

So choose today to find small ways to be thankful. As you focus on being thankful, the easier it becomes to be happy. So develop a lifestyle of thankfulness today.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. – 1 Chronicles 16:34 (NIV)

Aren’t you glad that you can give thanks to the Lord? God is good to you. You didn’t deserve His love but He gave it to you anyway. God since the beginning of time has been chasing after you and desiring a relationship with you.

Today you can give thanks to God. Your life might not be perfect. Things might not always turn out as you’d hoped, but regardless of what you see around you, what God has done for you is a reason to give thanks.

God is good and his love endures forever. God isn’t going to get tired of you one day. His love is for you and it’s forever. That’s good news.

Today’s Truth: God’s love is for you and it’s forever.

Today, choose to spend some time giving God thanks. Thank Him for His great plan to rescue you from sin. Thank Him for His love that never gave up on you. Tell God how great it is to know Him and to be His child.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. – 1 Chronicles 16:34 (NLT)

It’s easy to forget the things that God has done in our lives. We just get so busy. And in our busyness, we forget the time that God provided a way for us.

What if we took a few minutes today and thanked God for His faithfulness in our lives? Can you think of two or three things that God has done for you, and then take a moment to thank Him for those things?

It’s powerful for our outlook on life if we’re able to thank God. It helps us be more thankful and more in love with God when we take the time to remind ourselves of what God has done and to thank Him for His goodness. Today, take that time. Make some space in your life to thank Him.

Today’s Truth: Take time to thank God.

Have you noticed how it’s so easy to become ungrateful? We can slip into it without even trying. It’s so easy to look at the things others have and wish you had them. Then you begin to be ungrateful for the things you do have.

However, God’s word challenges us to be thankful in all circumstances.

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT)

So begin small. See if you have a favorite food that you could be thankful for. Then look to see if you have a piece of clothing that you can be thankful for. How about a favorite scripture that you could thank God for? If you begin to look, you’ll see that while you might not have as much or the same as someone else, you do have things to be thankful for.

So take some time today to find things you can be thankful for. If you’ll look, you’ll realize that even if you’re in the middle of some bad circumstances, there is still something to thank God for.

Today’s Truth: You have something to thank God for.