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Names of God: Through Thanksgiving & ChristmasSample

Names of God: Through Thanksgiving & Christmas

DAY 8 OF 30

Isaiah prophesies and shares the role that Jesus would play in His people’s lives. He will care for, nurture, protect, and guide His people as a shepherd does with his sheep. 

Believers are privileged to go boldly to the throne of God for our every need. We can rely on His unlimited supply of grace and mercy without fear, without doubt, without hesitation. We have an open invitation to draw near to Him especially in our weaknesses and our failings. Jesus is not unmoved or indifferent to our pain, our struggles, or our sorrows. He has endured everything that we will ever face and because He is God He did not sin. Therefore He knows that in those times of temptation and weakness, we need God more than ever and urges us to come to Him.  God is not surprised by our failings, by our mistakes, or by our struggles. He is never caught off guard, but is waiting with open arms for us to run to Him for grace, mercy, and help.  Human nature is to hide our weaknesses from others, to put on a happy face around people, to swallow our sorrow to make others comfortable. But Jesus has a tender heart for His people that melts for us, that moves for us, that yearns for us, that endures with us, that will comfort us, that pours out mercy on us… so that we need not fear God’s judgment, ridicule, disappointment, rejection, or frustration when we come to Him just as we are.  

Are you misjudging God’s character as one of a distant, disappointed Judge instead of as our nurturing Shepherd? What are you failing to surrender to God out of fear of judgment, ridicule, or frustration? Believers can go boldly to the throne because only love, grace, and mercy is found there. We have a God of love who is never surprised or discouraged by what we do. He is simply waiting with compassion for us to run to Him with anything and everything. 

Father God, I thank You for sending me a Savior, because I needed rescued and I continue to need Him each day. I thank You for witnessing without judgment my agonizing struggle with temptation, and for knowing my deepest heart’s desire is to live for Your glory. When my instinct is to run from You, when my inclination is to hide from You, when my urge is to lie to You…remind me that You know my frailties intimately, and have compassion and mercy stored up for me to overflowing when I come humbly to seek You and lay it all at Your feet.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.  
 

Scripture

Day 7Day 9

About this Plan

Names of God: Through Thanksgiving & Christmas

What’s in a name? The many beautiful names of God reveal something about who he is and why he functions the way he does. Names of God – specifically written to help us focus on our Lord during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons – walks us through the study of six of the names God has given himself. Time is spent looking at the truths these names reveal about God, and how this knowledge should practically impact our everyday decisions, emotions, and relationships. “For what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?” ~ J.I. Packer. Come join us as we get to know God more fully and spend time adoring him for who he is. God shows himself to us through his names because of his great love for us. We, in turn, have the privilege of loving, worshipping and resting in Him on an even deeper level during this reflective time of year. Journal with us as we go through this study for the next six weeks…reading and writing what God speaks into our hearts.

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