Thursday... Our power will increase.

Psalm 75:10 (GNT) says, "He will break the power of the wicked, but the power of the righteous will be increased." Now that is a good thing, isn't it? But what does that mean?

Jonah 1:1 - 3 says "The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: 'Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgement against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.' But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord." Now why would he do that? Why do we do that?

Because He knew what God would do and he didn't like it. In chapter 4 verses 2 & 3 Jonah said, "I knew that you were a compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people." And that is God's power over the wicked. It is His compassion and His unfailing love. It is through us living out this kind of love that the power of the righteous will increase.

We get it all mixed up what the power of the righteous means. Let's all get together and vote down the wicked. Let's increase our power and destroy the wicked. But that's not God's plan. Yes someday Satan will be put in chains but the power of the righteous is increased through God's compassion and unfailing love lived out through us. And God showed that love through the death of His Son and His resurrection. And that's when the power of the righteous really did increase.

Jonah 3:10 says, "When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened." Now that is real power, the power of His compassion and unfailing love. That is how the power of the wicked is decreased. It is decreased through repentance, through putting a stop to their wicked ways. And that must be our message. And that is where the power of the righteous really lives.

God doesn't want to destroy, He wants to save. And our message is, John 3:16 & 17 (NLT) "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him." Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Tuesday... It is so worth it. It really is!

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