Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you; the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. NIV
Zephaniah 3:17
New Living Translation (NLT)
17 For the Lord your God is living among you.
He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With his love, he will calm all your fears.[a]
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
I cannot tell you how much I feel like God has wrote this scripture especially for me! First of all, 3/17 is my birthday. I know it's probably just a coincidence, but I love that little trivial fact. I mean, look up a scripture passage with your birthday and I bet you can find some good ones too. Or maybe not. Anyway, the first line starts out - BOOM - God is with me. He's there. When I cannot feel him, when I'm absolutely totally scared outta' my wits, whether I am EMOTIONALLY connected to God or not... none of that matters. He's there no matter what I "feel" like. Not only is God there for me no matter what, he is MIGHTY to save me. He's a warrior, ready to fight for me and my honor. Alright, I get a mental image of Braveheart here. A little Mel Gibson, "You can take my land, but you can't take my freedom!" That is true in Christ, as well. But the passion of a warrior...that's the passion God has for me. He is MIGHTY (what a big word) warrior with intentions to save me! Save me from what? My fear, worry, anxiety, hopelessness, bitterness, resentment, anger, etc, etc, etc...
I love that after God states clearly that He is with me, He's a passionate warrior ready to fight for my salvation...after all that...he says that he takes great delight in me! He will delight in me with gladness. I now have something to compare that to. My baby, David. I LOVE that kid so much. He's a ten month old bundle of PURE absolute joy! I delight in EVERYTHING he does. I am willing to be a Mighty Warrior, ready to fight for him. I am WITH him. I can understand how God feels about me, way more, now that I have a baby. I feel that way about my baby and I'm just a human. How much MORE can God, who is flawless, feel that way about me? The thought is overwhelming.
The next line in the New Living Translation is the #1 reason I am in love with this verse. With His love, he will calm all my fears. I've spent SO much of my life (even and especially as a little girl) being scared, terrified, anxious. I've always dealt with fear, my fatal flaw. Satan gets me that way. He knows I'm prone to it. He knows how to attack. So, to know that God will calm all of my fears with His love...it's like an ocean of peace settles all the billowing winds of my heart. It's a beautiful picture of stillness I have in my mind when I think about God ...very gently...coming up and using his love to just say, "Peace be still." Calm. The winds and the rain immediately obey and my heart is still. God is the maker of peace, the author and perfecter of peace. With His love, He will calm all my fears. When I was at the end of my pregnancy, I was dealing with High Blood Pressure, dangerously high, constantly TERRIFIED of stroke or seizure. Just not knowing what the outcome was going to be... my heart was in complete turmoil all the time. I didn't FEEL like His love would ever calm my fears. That's where my faith had to come in. I knew God would heal me, in His time and His way, despite whether or not I FELT it.
The last part of this verse I also love. You see, music is very important to me as it is to you, I'm sure. It's ALWAYS a medium that speaks straight to my soul. God knows that, and that's one of the reasons we worship Him through music. He created melodies that would touch our heart, harmonies that would speak straight to our souls, and chords that would make us cry. He gave us music as a gift because God is the creator of Romance, love, passion, and all the emotions you and I don't give him credit for. He is the giver of music. He SINGS over me songs of peace, songs of deliverance, songs of joy! What a great and Mighty God that would be 1)WITH me 2)my Mighty Savior 3)Take GREAT Delight in me 4)Calm all my fears 5) Rejoice over me with singing!
Praying that you realize how much this verse can mean in YOUR life, too!
Kari Jobe's My Beloved:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hQRgyr5uko
Hillsong's Mighty to Save:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR8rlTIU8_Y
Zephaniah 3:17
New Living Translation (NLT)
17 For the Lord your God is living among you.
He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With his love, he will calm all your fears.[a]
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
I cannot tell you how much I feel like God has wrote this scripture especially for me! First of all, 3/17 is my birthday. I know it's probably just a coincidence, but I love that little trivial fact. I mean, look up a scripture passage with your birthday and I bet you can find some good ones too. Or maybe not. Anyway, the first line starts out - BOOM - God is with me. He's there. When I cannot feel him, when I'm absolutely totally scared outta' my wits, whether I am EMOTIONALLY connected to God or not... none of that matters. He's there no matter what I "feel" like. Not only is God there for me no matter what, he is MIGHTY to save me. He's a warrior, ready to fight for me and my honor. Alright, I get a mental image of Braveheart here. A little Mel Gibson, "You can take my land, but you can't take my freedom!" That is true in Christ, as well. But the passion of a warrior...that's the passion God has for me. He is MIGHTY (what a big word) warrior with intentions to save me! Save me from what? My fear, worry, anxiety, hopelessness, bitterness, resentment, anger, etc, etc, etc...
I love that after God states clearly that He is with me, He's a passionate warrior ready to fight for my salvation...after all that...he says that he takes great delight in me! He will delight in me with gladness. I now have something to compare that to. My baby, David. I LOVE that kid so much. He's a ten month old bundle of PURE absolute joy! I delight in EVERYTHING he does. I am willing to be a Mighty Warrior, ready to fight for him. I am WITH him. I can understand how God feels about me, way more, now that I have a baby. I feel that way about my baby and I'm just a human. How much MORE can God, who is flawless, feel that way about me? The thought is overwhelming.
The next line in the New Living Translation is the #1 reason I am in love with this verse. With His love, he will calm all my fears. I've spent SO much of my life (even and especially as a little girl) being scared, terrified, anxious. I've always dealt with fear, my fatal flaw. Satan gets me that way. He knows I'm prone to it. He knows how to attack. So, to know that God will calm all of my fears with His love...it's like an ocean of peace settles all the billowing winds of my heart. It's a beautiful picture of stillness I have in my mind when I think about God ...very gently...coming up and using his love to just say, "Peace be still." Calm. The winds and the rain immediately obey and my heart is still. God is the maker of peace, the author and perfecter of peace. With His love, He will calm all my fears. When I was at the end of my pregnancy, I was dealing with High Blood Pressure, dangerously high, constantly TERRIFIED of stroke or seizure. Just not knowing what the outcome was going to be... my heart was in complete turmoil all the time. I didn't FEEL like His love would ever calm my fears. That's where my faith had to come in. I knew God would heal me, in His time and His way, despite whether or not I FELT it.
The last part of this verse I also love. You see, music is very important to me as it is to you, I'm sure. It's ALWAYS a medium that speaks straight to my soul. God knows that, and that's one of the reasons we worship Him through music. He created melodies that would touch our heart, harmonies that would speak straight to our souls, and chords that would make us cry. He gave us music as a gift because God is the creator of Romance, love, passion, and all the emotions you and I don't give him credit for. He is the giver of music. He SINGS over me songs of peace, songs of deliverance, songs of joy! What a great and Mighty God that would be 1)WITH me 2)my Mighty Savior 3)Take GREAT Delight in me 4)Calm all my fears 5) Rejoice over me with singing!
Praying that you realize how much this verse can mean in YOUR life, too!
Kari Jobe's My Beloved:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hQRgyr5uko
Hillsong's Mighty to Save:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR8rlTIU8_Y
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