El Gibhor

The GT Weekend! ~ He Week 3

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The GT Weekend!

At Gracefully Truthful, weekends aren’t for “checking out”.
Use this time to invite the Almighty’s fullness into you life in a deeper way!
Saturdays and Sundays are a chance to
reflect, rest, and re-center our lives onto Christ.
Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with other women in prayer,
rest your soul in reflective journaling,
and spend time worshiping the Creator who
longs for intimacy with each of us!

Worship Through Journaling

Worship Through Journaling

1) On Monday, Paula wrote of the Lord being, “Someone fierce. Someone dangerous to their reign of deception. Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts.” The great I Am (Yahweh) is the Lord of Hosts (Sabaoth) and of Angel Armies. With His mighty force He pushes back the powers of darkness, for they hold no power or authority against Him. Truly, it isn’t even a fight, for just a word from Yahweh and enemies are vanquished. In your own life, where do you need to surrender your battles to Yahweh Sabaoth who is never defeated? Where do you hold more tightly to lies than truth? This is a battle for the Lord of Hosts! Where relationships crumble, where brokenness runs deep, where wounds are still felt, where the darkness in our minds or hearts is heavy, these are battles for Yahweh Sabaoth. Turn them over to Him and shelter in His hiding place as He fights for you!

2) “From everlasting to everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” Psalm 90:2 holds truth I need in my everyday life. He is the unchanging God. His promises are sure and certain. His hope is alive from eternity past to eternity future. He rules across all of time. Because each of those statements are true, it is utterly impossible for Him to be unaware of my mundane moments or be left powerless over them. Rather, this verse is a reminder to me that in every messy moment, He is God. When I’m weeping, when I’m dancing, when I’m breathless with excitement or heart-broken, He is God. Nothing is unseen by Him. Take this truth and breath it in and out. Make this verse your mantra, applying to every moment of hurt and joy because our God spans from everlasting to everlasting!

3) El Gibhor means Mighty God. Read, victorious in every way. No battle is too intense. No suffering too painful for His healing. Not even death holds the “win” against El Gibhor. Every broken aspect of our lives is an opportunity to surrender it to the power of the Mighty God, waiting for His timing and His wise, loving power to bring about redemption. For those who trust Christ with the full weight of their lives, Mighty God acts and moves on their behalf to bring about victory and redemption in every part of their lives. We might see that redemptive work in our lives now, in part, but one day, we will see the full working of El Gibhor as He has mightily worked for our good in all things! In the now, we wait with the certainty of coming hope, trusting our God! What heavy burden have you been carrying that you will choose to surrender to Mighty God in trust?

Praying Scripture back to the One who wrote it in the first place is a great way to jump start our prayer-life! Pray this passage from 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. 8 We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.

Prayer Journal
I am so weak, Lord! How could You even consider me as You operate within infinite power and authority? How could You show kindness to me, or remember my existence? How could You bother with seeing my mundane struggles? Even my biggest struggles, heaviest burdens, and deepest wounds are nothing difficult to You, yet You lavish love, tenderness, compassion, and Your own righteousness upon all who call on Your name for salvation! In my humanity, Lord, I admit that when I walk through difficulty or no longer feel close to You, I doubt Your goodness. I forget You are the One holding even my cell structure together. The true reality of Your loving character will never change. Never will you abandon. Never will you leave me hopeless. Never will You destroy the soul who has trusted You. May my tongue sing Your praise of goodness all my days!

Worship Through Community

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Send us an email at prayer@gracefullytruthful.com

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Share how God spoke to you today!
Comment Here or in our Facebook Community Group!

Worship Through Prayer

Worship Through Music

He Day 15 El Gibhor

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Isaiah 9:6-7
Luke 23:44-24:8
Isaiah 53
Romans 8:1-4
1 Peter 3:17-22

He, Day 15

When I first began reading the Bible, I didn’t understand much of it (can you relate?). I thought Revelation was the “scary” book and Isaiah was the unnecessarily long one. I found Jesus’ death tragic.

I also wasn’t sure how, or if, all the different books fit together. And finally, I was confused by all the different names of God. Fortunately, God is teaching me a lot about His Word, and I’m honored to share some of what I’ve learned.

Throughout the Bible, God is referred to by many names, each revealing something about His character. One name, El Gibhor, or “Mighty God,” is found in Isaiah 9:6. We frequently hear this verse at Christmas, in reference to Jesus:

“He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

But Mighty God is not only found in this verse; the book I used to think was unnecessarily long, Isaiah, contains many prophecies about Jesus.

Isaiah 11:1-5 foretells of a mighty God who will come from the line of King David. He will be full of God’s Spirit, wisdom, strength, and the fear of the Lord (Father God). He will be a righteous judge for the oppressed and slay the wicked.

The theme of our mighty God as defender of the oppressed is echoed in Daniel. In chapter 3, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fire because they would not worship false gods. And yet, they were not harmed.

Why? Because El Gibhor protected them by walking in the fire with them.
And then, all who witnessed this deliverance believed in Him and His mighty power. (Daniel 3:28-29)

Isaiah 42:1-16 speaks of a servant who will have God’s Spirit on Him. He will bring justice. He’s appointed to be a covenant to the people, a light bearer, and a rescuer of those imprisoned and in darkness.

Jesus refers to Himself as the light of the world in John 8:12-19. When the religious leaders question His authority, He tells the Pharisees that Father God testifies about Him. And God did, through Isaiah.

I can also personally testify Jesus is our light and rescuer. There was a time, not so many years ago, where I was deep in a pit of sin. I vacillated between wanting the sin and wanting to return to the Lord.

After months of turmoil, and feeling so broken and confused, I asked God to take it all from me if it wasn’t His will. My prayer seems crazy to me now, because of course sin wasn’t His will. But in the dark, you can’t see. 

Within the week, I was back in that same sin, but it felt different. I started thinking about consequences and reasons why I was even in this pit. And suddenly, what I was doing made absolutely no sense to me. El Gibhor had shone His marvelous light into the dark prison of sin and pulled me out. Praise Him!

And now we come to my misunderstanding about the death of Jesus. I’ve come to realize it is so much more than just a tragic story; it is the story of our mighty God.

First, Jesus died because of us. Jesus was rejected by sin-filled humans, just like us (foretold in Isaiah 53:3-9, fulfilled in Luke 23:13-25).

Second, Jesus’ sacrifice was necessary, as payment for our sin. Isaiah 53:5-6 describes how He was pierced, crushed, and punished for my sin and my rebellion.

For all of our sin.
Romans 3:23-24 reiterates, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Third, it was voluntary. Isaiah describes how the Lord’s “own arm brought salvation” when “he willingly submitted to death.” And in the New Testament, we need only peek into the Garden of Gethsemane to hear Jesus say, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39, echoed in Matthew 26:42)

And so, Jesus chose death . . . death unto life.  (Luke 23:44-24:8)
El Gibhor, our mighty God, conquered sin and the grave.  

You see, the death and resurrection of Jesus was a precursor.

As outlined in Isaiah 61:1-2, Jesus’ redemption of His children foreshadows Christ’s return to earth for His people, the ultimate defeat of His enemies, and the establishment of a new heaven and earth.

In Revelation, we see our mighty God, our resurrected sinless sacrifice, ending the rule of sin on this fallen earth once and for all. El Gibor alone is capable and worthy of final victory, final authority, and final creation of a perfect eternity.

Friends, only Mighty God can accomplish these things. There is no person or thing who can do what Jesus, El Gibhor, can. May we live in anticipation of the glorious day when all prophecies will be fulfilled and we will live and reign with Jesus forever.

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Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into He Week Three! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
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