Word of the Day
Beloved, I look at you and see an oak tree of righteousness planted besides My streams (Psalm 1:1-3). You are dripping with the fresh rain of My presence. My glory is all around you like a thick, dense fog. The light of Heaven is dancing across in the beams of sunlight penetrating the moisture laden heavenly air around you. Like a covey of geese flying through the air singing a joyous, rapturous song of coming spring, I sing over you My love. I am rustling through the wind chimes of your heart, singing a bird song of new love…a new song to awaken your heart to the complete fullness of delighting in Me as I delight in you. It pleases Me to awaken love (Song of Solomon 8:4).
I am granting consolation and the oil of joy to the mournful places of your heart. I am draping you with beauty. I am calling forth expressive praise which has the power to transform. You are lofty, strong and magnificent to Me. Oh that you would know how much I love you. I have written so many words of love that if spoken in a continuous stream they would have the power to transform deserts into oceans. You are distinguished and stand with uprightness…with right standing in Me…completely accepted in the Beloved (Isaiah 61:3).
Beloved, today new growth is emerging in your life. One day you look out and the trees from a distance seem brown yet they are teeming with new buds of life indiscernible to the eye. Soon they are an abundant display of green. So it is with you. Change your perception and do not base it on what you see or don’t see, for I have made all things new. I take every misgiving and replace them with promise. Have a heart of praise and gratefulness. Draw near for I am near.
BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.
But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.
And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity]. (Psalm 1:1-3 Amplified)
To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion–to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit–that they may be called oaks of righteousness [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. (Isaiah 61:3 Amplified)
Prayer
Lord, I am a tree…an oak tree planted by Your streams of living water ready to bring forth fruit in due season. My leaf…my life will not fade or wither but everything I do shall prosper and become mature according to Your purpose. Joy has come to abide in the places where I have mourned. I receive an expressive garment of praise as I cast off heaviness of any kind. I declare that I walk in strength and I am not easily dismayed. I am the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified. I am the Lord’s garden.
I hear the new song the Lord is singing over me…a song of acceptance and beauty. I do not have to act right or perform for the Lord. I am hidden in Christ. I am accepted in the Beloved. I am loved. Though some of my promises are yet unfulfilled they will come to pass. The buds are on the trees and will open according to His timing and purpose. I will not reject the timing nor will I walk in doubt and unbelief because the leaves on my tree are not completely open. I will not base my perception on what I see or don’t see. I will base it on the Word and the Promise. I lay my heavy burdens down. I lay my failures down. I lay my successes down. I lay all things down and I rest and listen to the heart beat of my Good Shepherd. I am loved in the Beloved. Amen.
Reflect and Journal
1. Once again the Lord is talking about how He sees you. Do you realize the Word is full of beautiful thoughts toward you and I. Often we only focus on the “do this” and the “do that” and miss the relational words of love spoken so often. It is about time we agree with Him about who we are. In this Psalms 1:1-3 we are oaks of righteousness. Of course we are. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:22-24). Take some time to use your imagination for His glory. Close your eyes and see yourself as a tree with His wind rustling through you, around you. See birds singing…see wind chimes ringing and rejoice. Agree with Him. Thank Him that in Christ you are an oak of righteousness planted by streams of living water.
2. Find a scene in the natural somewhere, somehow like this one and delight in Him…even a video if in the natural it is impossible. He delights in you always but I can just see Him delighting with sighs of pleasure when He sees us enjoying Him…enjoying the things He has made…when we agree with Him about who we are in Him and how He sees us.
3. Are there brown trees in our life that you are looking at in a distance kind of way…looking at without hope because you can’t see the indiscernible buds getting ready to emerge? Name them out loud to the Lord. Thank Him for having experienced spring in the past and that you will again. Thank Him that His unfailing love will not fail…unfailing means certain, reliable, consistent, unshakable, enduring, able to be relied on at all times, never used up or exhausted, always accurate (unfailing eye for beauty and symmetry). He has an always accurate and without fault view of you and it is this: you are like Him for you are created in His image. Selah (Meditate).