After God has laid upon your heart the word He has for you, you choose 8-10 related words to help you clarify and broaden the scope of the word in your mind. The next step is to go to scripture and search for your word. Most often there are many verses using your word and you need to read through them to see which ones resonate with your heart and capture the broadened meaning of your word. This year’s word for me, Commit, was used over 150 times in the Old and New Testaments. I sifted through and saw various meaning’s or uses of the word. As I studied the passages I began to focus on 3 different scriptures: Psalm 37:5-6, Proverbs 16:3 and 1 Peter 4:19. 

Psalm 37:5-6 ”Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him, and he will act.
⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
    and your justice as the noonday.” 

I love these verses and included them in my book Promises for Dynamic Living. God promises that committing your way to Him and giving Him your trust allows Him to act on your behalf. He will bring forth good things, help you to shine for Him and see that you are treated justly. Those are mighty returns for your commitment and trust! There are principles about God and His character embedded within theses verses. 1. God is good and wants only good things for me. Those things brought forth through our trust and commitment are in the light, righteous and just.  2. Following God requires trust and commitment. God promises action only if we do our part- trusting and committing. We know God keeps His promises so to receive his blessings we need to commit and trust in Him. Blessedly God knows us and our weaknesses and often acts in spite of what I do. Then I thank God for his boundless grace towards me.  3. God has the power to mold and shape my character. His actions will bring forth from me new light and righteousness in Him. God desires to make us more and more like Jesus as we walk with Him daily. 4. God is just and righteous. These attributes are an intergyral part of God’s character and who He is.

Here are 2 verses from Isaiah about our Just God. 5:16 “But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.” 30:18 “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” 

Here are 2 verses from Psalms about our Righteous God. 71:19 “Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?” 145: 17“The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.”

I pray you will find just the right verses to go with your word so that God can use them to imprint Himself upon your life this year.  The other verses I’ve chosen will be written about in future blogs.

Linda