“No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.” (Isa. 54:17 ESV)

The Lord will rescue you

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (2 Tim. 4:18 ESV)

God’s righteous hand will deliver you

“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me.” (Psalm 138:7 ESV)

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isa. 41:10 ESV)

He will save you from your enemies

“My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” (2 Sam. 22:3-4 ESV)

Therefore

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Rom. 12:19 ESV)

“Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” (Jer. 33:3 ESV)

Deep and hidden things

“He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.” (Dan. 2:22 ESV)

The things that are revealed belong to us

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deut. 29:29 ESV)

The hoards in secret places

“I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.” (Isa. 45:3 ESV)

Therefore…

“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:6 ESV)

“What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?” (Rom. 3:3 ESV) 

He remains faithful and true

Occasionally, someone will tell me they do not want to be a Christian because of bad examples. They talk about famous preachers who have failed publicly, religious hypocrites, or others they have known who did not behave in a “Christian” manner. When they tell me this, I always say, “Yes, what you say may be so, but don’t let it stand in the way of your own personal relationship with Christ, because He always remains faithful and true!”

Always faithful

“If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Tim. 2:13 ESV) 

To a thousand generations

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.” (Deut. 7:9 ESV)

Therefore

“God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Cor 1:9)

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” (Heb. 10:23 ESV)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 ESV) 

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” (Col. 3:23 ESV) 

Who do you work for?

If you believe that you are working for your boss or for yourself as a self-employed individual, that is only partially true. As a follower of Christ, your employer is God, regardless of what you do. Understanding this clearly will significantly alter your work behavior, including your focus, work habits, and attitude, which will affect your happiness. The top passage says you must work “heartily” for the Lord in everything you do. What does that mean? The dictionary defines heartily as sincerely, genuinely, warmly, profoundly, with all one's heart.

Work with all your might

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” (Eccles. 9:10 NIV)

Be fervent in spirit

“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” (Rom. 12:11 ESV)

Here is the promise 

“Rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.” (Eph. 6:7-8 ESV)

“For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” (Col. 1:29 ESV) 

Out of gas on the Golden Gate Bridge! 

Sometime in the later part of the 1970’s, I ran out of gas on the Golden Gate Bridge! I still don’t know how I hadn’t noticed that the gas gauge was on empty; I usually pay attention to such things. Susan and I were in a small hatchback car with our small son, Matthew, in the back, and suddenly we just ran out of fuel right there on one of the busiest bridges in the world! The engine just quit, and we stopped without any power to move off the bridge. The situation looked hopeless. I felt panic rising within me. And I said a desperate prayer for help. Then, suddenly, a large 4x4 pickup pulled up behind us, put its bumper on our bumper, and pushed us safely off the bridge to a place where we could get some gas. It was an amazing, miraculous, and most welcome rescue in our desperate time of need! After we reached the clearing off the bridge, the truck sped off as fast as it appeared. We did not even get a chance to say “thank you” to the driver. The power of that rescue truck gave us the needed energy to move our vehicle when we had none of our own! In a way, it’s a picture of how God rescues us with His energy in times of need. (Phil. 4:19).

Strengthened with all power

“May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.” (Col. 1:11 ESV)

God gives power to the faint

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isa. 40:28-31 ESV)

Therefore…

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13 ESV)

“Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” (Eph. 5:19 ESV)

Ella Fitzgerald, known as the “Queen of Jazz,” once said that she lived “With a Song in My Heart,” the title of her 1959 jazz classic, to express the deep joy and happiness she felt from music. The Apostle Paul, in the passage at the top of the page, described singing psalms and hymns as “making melody to the Lord in your heart.” The literal translation of the Greek phrase “making melody in your heart to the Lord” is “to sing praises from one's inner self to the Lord; sometimes with accompaniment of strings or other instruments.” From the earliest days of the church, singing and making melody to the Lord continued to be an essential part of the believer’s life and worship (see Matt. 26:30; Acts 16:25).

Therefore

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Col. 3:16 ESV)

“My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody!” (Psalm 57:7 ESV)

“Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!” (Psalm 149:1-3 ESV)

“He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” (Psalm 107:20 KJV)

When a Roman centurion asked Jesus for his help because his boy servant was ill, Jesus offered to go heal him. But, the Centurion told Jesus to send His Word to do the job. Jesus did, and the servant was healed.

Jesus sent His Word to heal the servant boy

“When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (Matt. 8:5-9 ESV)

Jesus marveled at a Roman centurion’s great faith

“When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.” (Matt. 8:10-13 ESV)

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4 ESV) 

Delight: pleasure, happiness, joy, glee, gladness; excitement.

How God shows His delight

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zeph. 3:17 ESV) 

“But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (Jer. 9:24 ESV)

“He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.” (Psalm 18:19 ESV)

Delight in the law of the Lord

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2 ESV)

“If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.” (Psalm 119:92-93 ESV)

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matt. 11:15 ESV)

Pay attention to what you hear

“And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.” (Mark 4:24 ESV)

Faith comes from hearing

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Rom. 10:17 ESV)

Listen with faith

“Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?” (Gal. 3:2 ESV) 

Hear the Word and hold it fast

“As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” (Luke 8:15 ESV)

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness.” (Heb. 3:7-8 ESV)

Take care how you hear

“Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” (Luke 8:18 ESV)

Hear the Word, accept it and bear much fruit

“But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” (Mark 4:20 ESV)