Romans 4:18  In hope he [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19  He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 20  No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21  fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Hebrews 11:1  Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2  For by it the people of old received their commendation.

Photo credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ScoCen.jpg by Robert Mura - Public domain

  
yes, you struck twice for your own selfish gain
come out of the dark, for you the Lamb was slain

today's a new day, of this you can be sure
I am the LORD and My mercies forever endure

today's a new day, and I am your light
once fallen, now shake off the dust and arise

today's a new day, your confession complete
the contrite and broken I take delight to greet

today's a new day, heed not the liar
I am your Mediator, and I am your qualifier

today's a new day, o! glory-besotted
your scarlet sins forgiven and blotted

today's a new day, no more be ashamed
no longer be downcast, I carried your blame

today's a new day, past failures still taunting
slay by My sword, keep them from haunting

today's a new day, My blood has been shed
sifting's past, now go, My flock needs to be fed

today's a new day, I was sent to save
so send I you to exalt and hallow My name

today's a new day, I am the eternal King
discard Saul's armor, take staff, stones and sling

today's a new day, remember My fame
recount My deliverance, face Goliath in My name

today's a new day, be not alarmed
I see the enemy as bees surround and swarm

today's a new day, though you are worn
truly I will quench them all like a fire of thorns

today's a new day, have I ever lied?
have I not, will I not always fully provide?

today's a new day, take heed, My bride
will I ever divorce you or leave your side?

today's a new day, in My armor be dressed
for we wrestle against neither blood nor flesh

today's a new day, the battle is Mine
your weapons not carnal, but wholly divine

today's a new day, be not distressed
at Me do not stumble, resort not to your flesh

today's a new day, be not afraid
the sun will not smite for I am your shade

today's a new day, worship at My feet
the haughty I lower, the humble I cause to leap

today's a new day, take heart, do not fear
I will make your feet like those of the deer

today's a new day, I am the Almighty
on Me fix your heart, look not to the enemy

today's a new day, stand firm on the wall
am I not the King of kings and Lord of all?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

today's a new day, by grace my fears tame
no glory to me, for I change, You are the same

today's a new day, a pilgrim in this tent
My Shepherd, send me and I will be sent

today's a new day, by grace help me wait
in prayer persevere, so I will not tire or faint

today's a new day, pour down Your power
by faith I stand on You, my Rock and high tower

today's a new day, I will lift up Your name
no glory to me, but all to You for Your fame

today's a new day, of this I am assured
You are the LORD and Your mercies forever endure

Luke 22:31  Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32  but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

MIcah 7
7  But as for me, I will look to the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.
8  Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
the LORD will be a light to me.
9  I will bear the indignation of the LORD
because I have sinned against him,
until he pleads my cause
and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
I shall look upon his vindication.
10  Then my enemy will see,
and shame will cover her who said to me,
“Where is the LORD your God?”
My eyes will look upon her;
now she will be trampled down
like the mire of the streets.
11  A day for the building of your walls!
In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
12  In that day they will come to you,
from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to the River,
from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
13  But the earth will be desolate
because of its inhabitants,
for the fruit of their deeds.
14  Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock of your inheritance,
who dwell alone in a forest
in the midst of a garden land;
let them graze in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old.
15  As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show them marvelous things.
16  The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
their ears shall be deaf;
17  they shall lick the dust like a serpent,
like the crawling things of the earth;
they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;
they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God,
and they shall be in fear of you.

18  Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
19  He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities under foot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
20  You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.

I John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 2:1  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

• Psalms 18 and 118
• Links to my "Conversations with God about failure"
• Links to my series "Dealing with Past Sins & Guilt"
  
• Dealing with past sins & guilt: Micah 7-False guilt vs.Godly guilt
• Links to my series Kingdom-Obsessed People don't keep looking back in the rear view mirror
• What Is Success? What Is Making a Difference? (Series Links)
• My posts tagged "Ministry Encouragement"
• "Failure!"
• THE SIFTING OF PETER (Longfellow)
• Encouragements to press on in battling sin, # 2: moving beyond despondency | Scougal
• God uses men with "no outstanding abilities"
• our insufficiency for ministry
• "Satan tempted me to hold my tongue..." (Whitefield)
• William Perkins on Isaiah 6 and the tongue
• Forgiveness & cleansing of sin leads to God's Commission: "Penitents should be preachers"
• Naphtali News/Bible Reading: Isaiah-Looking at My Vineyard
• temptation, backsliding & God's immutability (Bible reading: Hebrews 6:17-18)
• the door, the sword, the crown ~ through faith & patience (Hebrews 6:11-12)
• Why do I write poetry?
• When they conspire, do I make my prayer to You? (Nehemiah 4:7-9)
• ministry & perseverance (Even after Kadesh "Moses did as the LORD commanded." Will I?)
• the laborer's lamentation and affirmation
• Letter 9 on assurance and fighting for joy in contending for the Gospel
• Letter 16 on assurance and fighting for joy (our prayers, His wise denials and joy)
• Letter 17 on assurance and fighting for joy (will we be diligent to enter into His joy?)
• How can I be joyful weeping over Jerusalem? (Letter 50 on assurance & joy)
• a conversation with Jesus about trials & joy (Letter 34 on assurance & fighting for joy)
• Why, Lord? (Letter 52 on assurance & fighting for joy)
• Rejoicing in Winter?
• Will you finish your course with joy? (Acts 20:24) - letter 71 on assurance & joy
• a conversation with Jesus about misplaced joy ("do not rejoice in this" - letter 73 on joy)
• He will abundantly pardon for your joy (Isaiah 55) | Letter 102 on assurance & fighting for joy
• Kingdom-Obsessed People don't seek "great things" for themselves (Baruch)
  
• even in my disappointment - still blessed by my Father
• every time (the prophet's affirmation in depression, doubt & distress)
• without Kingdom vision, my vision will perish (reaping from Livingstone's Kingdom vision)

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sonnenaufgang_New_South_Wales.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

II Peter 2:9a
the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials...
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations... (KJV)

By worldly wickedness oppressed
Be my stronghold in my distress
No other rescue or defense
But Christ, Zion's Sabbath rest

Though beyond all measure I be pressed
I look to Your sure deliverance
O, God of Jacob, my sole fortress
Be zealous, arise, ride through the desert!

In the midst of rising corruption
Vexed by taunts of ruthless nations
Flood down from Your holy habitation
Anchor me to preach Gospel salvation

Though beyond all measure I be pressed
I look to Your sure deliverance
O, God of Jacob, my sole fortress
Be zealous, arise, ride through the desert!

Everlasting strength in the clouds
Fill up my heart, may grace abound
O light and truth, descend, rush down
Silence the enemy's dark sound

Though beyond all measure I be pressed
I look to Your sure deliverance
O, God of Jacob, my sole fortress
Be zealous, arise, ride through the desert!

O, mighty God of Jeshurun
Revive me through Your risen Son
In every trial and temptation
Ride to me upon the heavens

Though beyond all measure I be pressed
I look to Your sure deliverance
O, God of Jacob, my sole fortress
Be zealous, arise, ride through the desert!

My only hope, though Your face You hide
My exceeding joy, the true vine
Kiss my lips with Your richest wine
Rejoice my soul, ease my wav'ring mind

Though beyond all measure I be pressed
I look to Your sure deliverance
O, God of Jacob, my sole fortress
Be zealous, arise, ride through the desert!

The song of the ruthless put down
For Your glorious name and renown
Rescue me from the lion's mouth
Songs of deliverance will ring out

Though beyond all measure I be pressed
I look to Your sure deliverance
O, God of Jacob, my sole fortress
Be zealous, arise, ride through the desert!

Psalm 43
1  Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people,
from the deceitful and unjust man
deliver me!
2  For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
why have you rejected me?
Why do I go about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?
3  Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!
4  Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
5  Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

II Peter 2:4  For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5  if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6  if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7  and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8  (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9  then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10  and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

II Timothy 4:16  At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! 17  But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. 18  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.

II Corinthians 1:8  For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9  Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10  He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11  You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Psalm 68
1  God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
2  As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
3  But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!
4  Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the LORD;
exult before him!

Isaiah 25
1  O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
2  For you have made the city a heap,
the fortified city a ruin;
the foreigners' palace is a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
3  Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
4  For you have been a stronghold to the poor,
a stronghold to the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;
for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,
5  like heat in a dry place.
You subdue the noise of the foreigners;
as heat by the shade of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is put down.
6  On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
7  And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations.
8  He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the LORD has spoken.
9  It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the LORD; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
10  For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain,
and Moab shall be trampled down in his place,
as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.
11  And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it
as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,
but the LORD will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands.
12  And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,
lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

• the devil and God, passion and vision, lies and truth
• THE SIFTING OF PETER (Longfellow)
• Bible Reading - Matthew 3 & 4: what we should expect after the baptism of the Spirit
• the devil and God, passion and vision, lies and truth
• Keep me away from the paths of the destroyer that I might behold Your face. (Psalm 17)
• even among the voices (Bible reading: Nehemiah 6:1-14)
• but not too hard with Me (calling, doubt & assurance)
• ML-J on depression in the ministry
• In this valley, in the midst of this valley (Ezekiel 37:1-14)
• year end reflections, # 2: rejoicing in "The Often Unwanted but Necessary Gift" | Letter 98 on joy
• "Going up?" | Discernment: "God's Breath ~ world's breaths" | my calling
• Nehemiah's Song ~ "even here, even in the night seasons, even in the ruins" | letter 106 on joy
• "Temptation" by Joseph Hart
• you are Mine, not of the world (ministry's temptation, sorrow & joy) | letter 122 on assurance & joy
• "Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation" by Joseph Hart
• "Who wants candles when he has the sun?" ~ Edward Payson | letter 124 on assurance & joy

Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lion_baring_teeth.jpg byWouter van Vliet / CC BY-SA 2.0