Category: promises

What’s Your Babylon?

On By vickleaIn encouragement, promises, Scripture, YouVersion App7 Comments

Fulfillment of God’s Promises (Daily Refresh 12-04)

Hundreds of years before Jesus, the people of God were in trouble. 

They were stuck in life, unable to help themselves, and perhaps beginning to doubt that God would save them. Have you ever felt the same way? If so, you might relate to the original audience of this verse—the exiles in Babylon. 

The Babylonians conquered God’s people and land, sending them hundreds of miles away. Maybe they thought that God had abandoned them, or that He couldn’t hear their cries. But God is always close—especially when His people call on His name.

Isaiah let his people know that God would provide a way out of Babylonian captivity. And God kept His promise, allowing His people to return home. 

Generations later, many of God’s people saw themselves as being in a new exile. They were home, but all was not well. So they remembered this verse and its promise—that no matter how dark or desperate our situation might be, God is able to provide a path out of brokenness, heartbreak, and despair into a whole, healthy future. 

Little did they know that an even more permanent solution to the darkness they lived in was coming. Isaiah 40:3 is a prophecy that was not only fulfilled when the exiles left Babylon and went home, but was also fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah. Through Jesus, God paved a permanent path for people to come out of darkness and find hope, strength, and peace. God provided a permanent way out of darkness and into light.

So what are you going through? What’s your “Babylon?” It might be a habit you can’t break, a loved one who keeps making self-destructive decisions, or a mental health challenge that feels overwhelming. No matter what it is, God can make a way out of brokenness and into life.

My Thoughts

Honestly, until I read this devotional, I never thought about it before. What is my Babylon? I think it is my health challenges and how discouraged I get sometimes because of them. But I also think it is being distant from children and grandchildren and feeling lonely at times. So, can God move me out of Babylon? I think He does that for me daily as I spend time with Him and have my soul refreshed by His Spirit and power. The aches and pains and illnesses don’t immediately disappear, but I am more able to cope with them and know that one day I will no longer have pain and that I will be able to breathe well without the help of nebulizer and inhalers. Jesus gives me that hope. The loneliness of not having grandchildren nearby doesn’t go away either, but God reassures me that He is close and that He will always be there. When I am feeling alone, I only have to speak His name.

So, what is your Babylon? What is holding you captive in the darkness of everyday life and its challenges. I would like each of you to think about it and release it to God so that it’s not a place of captivity but it becomes a place of looking up to the One who always offers hope. He has a plan for each of us, just as He did for captive Israel, and His plans are always good.

God’s Promises

On By vickleaIn Characteristics of God, promises, ScriptureLeave a comment

Cling to God’s Promises (Daily Refresh, 11-29, YouVersion)

What do you think about? 

The thoughts that fill your mind are crucial, because what you cling to influences your worldview. 

If you choose to dwell on God’s promises, you start to recognize God’s blessings during uncertain times. Trusting that God will redeem your present pain equips you to walk forward in faith and keep on fighting. 

Isaiah 12:2 reminds us that we belong to a God who is faithful to keep His promises. This God rescues us and fights for us. So when we belong to God, we have nothing to fear—all we need to do is cling to God and wait on Him to act. 

So as you walk forward today, reflect on some of God’s promises, and let them transform the way you think: 

God will sustain you. (Psalm 55:22)

God’s peace will guard your heart. (Philippians 4:7)

God delights over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

God will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. (Psalm 32:8)

God is your refuge and strength, your help in times of need. (Psalm 46:1)

In all things, you are more than a conqueror because God loves you. (Romans 8:37)

God will never leave you or forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

God’s perfect love casts out all your fear. (1 John 4:18)

Nothing can separate you from God’s love. (Romans 8:38-39)

God’s not done with you. God’s not done with you. God’s not done with you. (Philippians 1:6)

My Thoughts

First of all, the bold scripture passages are ones that I have memorized this year, but all of the promises of God are important.

Are you married or have you ever been married? Do you remember the vows you took that day? If you used the traditional vows, you and your spouse promised to love, honor and cherish until death parted you. That was a promise, a sacred covenant promise between you and your spouse, a covenant established by God when He gave Eve to Adam. I know that many have suffered the effects of divorce, and although my heart goes out to you, that is not the topic of today’s post. The vows remain the same, although some choices have been made to leave those vows behind and move on in life. God allows divorce but He doesn’t condone it because He is aware, as many of you are, that divorce hurts everyone touched by it and the healing is long in coming.

Back to promises. Has someone close to you promised you something and then didn’t carry it out? I don’t think I am in a minority when I say a resounding “yes” to that question. Whether the person forgot, circumstances got in the way or they didn’t prioritize the promise, I felt a little trust seep out. If this situation continues repeatedly, then trust evaporates and the relationship is likely broken, or at least irrevocably changed.

God does not lie and He does not break His promises. If He said it, we can trust that He will do it. He told Abram that He was taking him to a new land and his ancestors would be as numerous as the sand. He kept that promise, didn’t He? Even though Abraham was elderly and thought that he and Sarah would never have their own child, God blessed them with Isaac and the dynasty of Israel began. Think about the Biblical story that comes to your mind when you consider God’s keeping His promises. I think of David, Daniel, Moses, and yes, even Jesus. God promised a Savior and even though it cost Him a beloved Son, He fulfilled that promise.

Sometimes we want to force God into a corner somehow and remind Him of His promises, asking Him just when He plans to carry them out and make you the person He wants you to be. The answer is always the same. In His time, not ours. Remember that the Bible says, “When the fullness of time was come…” We are all a work in progress, but God is and always has been a perfect work, from infinity to eternity. One of His attributes is being a Promise Keeper.

I don’t know about you, but I think long and hard before I promise someone something. I want to be like the Father and keep my commitments, but sometimes I don’t and I always feel very guilty afterwards, even when I confess and the other person forgives me. God doesn’t have to be careful about making promises. They are already written in His Word, the treasure that we can find and hold on to in the hard times in our lives. Although other people may disappoint us with their lack of trustworthiness, God never will.

Names

On By vickleaIn God’s blessings, promises, Scripture2 Comments

What name did your parents give you when you were born? Me? I am Vivian Lea Watts (nee Wilson). I was named for my mom, Vivian Eleanor. But I have never been called Vivian except for those who don’t know me well, like telemarketers. My nickname and name were both chosen by my father and I am called “Vickie.” I often get asked how Vickie relates to Vivian. Answer: It doesn’t but it made it so that there were not two Vivians in our house.

When we were younger, I would dare to say that we had a lot of nicknames. Mine were things like “slow poke” and “wheezy” or “sneezy”. Because of my allergies and asthma, I couldn’t run and wheezing and sneezing were part of my everyday life.

I am very thankful that I will not have to introduce myself to God. In fact, He already knows me and will give me a new name, one uniquely mine. I don’t understand it, the whole white stone thing and the new name, but if God says it, somehow it will come to pass.

But I already have new names to add to my nickname. Here are a few that I treasure in my heart and that lift me up when I am feeling unworthy.

I am a child of God and so are you. Jesus made it possible for us to be adopted into the family of God so that we belong to Him and with Him.

We are God’s workmanship and just look around you! God does not make junk! Notice that God planned and prepared for us to do good works, using the talents that He gave us.

I am forgiven and if Christ lives in you because He is your Lord and Savior, so are you. Forgiven and redeemed, forever bound to the Savior who gave me new life.

Here is that name to which I previously referred. I am redeemed from my sins and from the “hand of the enemy” in order to say so. The hand of the enemy could be temptation and sin, but the greatest enemy is death. Death was defeated on the cross, so I am also alive forevermore. (🎶)

And ultimately, I am a brand new creation. People may refer to my past and sins I have committed, but in the eyes of God, I am totally new, with a clean slate and a white robe. The blood of Jesus paid a heavy price so that I could have this name.

Daily

On By vickleaIn Admonition, encouragement, God’s blessings, promises, Scripture1 Comment

The Cambridge Dictionary says “daily” means “happening on or related to every day.” Of course, you already knew that! And I am sure that you can think of more than a few things that you do daily. For me, what comes to mind immediately is brushing my teeth, taking my meds and checking my blood pressure. But did you know that the Bible talks about doing things “daily” also?

One of the first scriptures I learned about and took to heart was the one in Matthew where Jesus says to give Him your burdens because what He gives in return is easier to bear. In the Old Testament, Psalm 68 encourages us to praise God for daily bearing our burdens. Well, guess what? The Lord cannot bear for us what we are holding onto and refuse to let go of. So, we have to daily lay down our burdens, whatever is worrying us, and trust that God is taking care of it. It’s a habit that I plan to work on because I am not there yet.

I am almost certain that this scripture verse is familiar to all of the Christians here in the blogosphere. Deny, take up your cross and follow…did you see that very important word daily? This is not a once-and-done action. Daily, we deny ourselves. Daily we take up our cross, the life that God has gifted us with along with the purpose that we are fulfilling in Him. And we follow Jesus, daily. We cannot say that, “Well, back in 1973, I became a Christian, so that is all done and I’m on the right road to heaven.” Again, this is a daily commitment to the Lord, not a “I did it, I got the tee shirt and now I am securely on my way to heaven.” Maybe. The assurance comes because we daily re-commit our lives, our everything, to Him. Sometimes, it’s easy to walk backwards and get tangled up in the world’s standards and attractions. That’s why it’s important to daily commit ourselves to our life with God, in God and through God. He is the one who sustains our lives, in every way, including physically, emotionally and most importantly, spiritually. We cannot stay alive spiritually without daily spiritual food. I didn’t eat a meal back in 1973 and tell myself that was all the food I needed for the rest of my life. I need to daily soak in His truth from His Word and allow the Holy Spirit to nourish my soul so that bearing my cross is not a burden but an honor because I am carrying out God’s plan for my life, daily.

We walk by the Spirit daily, with God’s Word hidden in our hearts and with a day that starts right with time with Him. I would no more think of running out the door without brushing my nasty overnight teeth than I would go out without getting dressed first. We cannot even consider being ready to walk by the Spirit daily without preparing ourselves by immersing ourselves in His Word. You may have five minutes, ten minutes, an hour or more to spend in His Word. I don’t think God is as concerned about how much time you give Him as how much quality time you spend daily with Him, getting to know Him better through His Word and devoting time to talking to Him in prayer.

Apollos is named in the scriptures several times by Paul who knew him personally. This verse says he was a “learned man.” Some could say of me that I am “learned.” After all, I have a degree in Spanish and history and a graduate degree in educational administration. But what I consider when I desire to be “learned” is to be versed in the scriptures, in the things that really matter in life, This verse doesn’t leave us to guess what Apollos was learned in because it explains that he had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. That comes, I think, by daily spending time in His Word. In a world full of Katy Perrys and Taylor Swifts, I would rather be like Apollos. Thus, I need to give my time daily to what will benefit my most, to God’s Word, soaking it in and letting it bathe me in truth and light.

So, back to my first question? What do you do daily to spend time with your first priority, which should always be God? Think about it. Schedules may need to be adjusted and time managed differently in order to daily devote yourself to time with the Lord, but I consider it a habit well worth cultivating. Don’t you?

Broken and Fixed

On By vickleaIn encouragement, God’s blessings, promises, Scripture, testimony, YouVersion App1 Comment

I think that we can all agree that this toy car is past the ability to put it back together again. I remember when our children were young that they would break a toy and bring it to me to fix. Well, I am not good at those kinds of things, unless it was a wheel that needed to be put back on a car or a head back on a doll. I could sew eyes back on stuffed animals, too, as well as apply bandaids to their “owies” in order that my child was mollified and would continue to accept and play with the toy as it was. In general, my usual reply to the problem of a broken toy was that they needed to find something else to play with because that toy was headed to the trash pile.

I was once like that broken toy. I needed all new parts, a lot of banging dents out and a lot of careful attention to the details so I could work again. That’s when Jesus came into my life.

I am, you are, we all are healed by the Lord Jesus. That is not to say that we don’t have physical ailments. That would be a lie. Our bodies were not made to last forever; rather, they are a temporary abode for our soul that will go to heaven to spend eternity with God. Sometimes, God does heal us physically, but it’s not something that we can “name it and claim it” and it happens. I am thankful that God healed me when I had a stroke, but honestly, I was too unaware of what was happening to really know what He had done until after it was finished. Then, I realized what God had done for me and was thankful and amazed.

I think what I am trying to say is that Jesus healed our brokenness on the cross. He healed the relationship between us and the Father, and that is a healing that is always there for us because that was all part of God’s plan of salvation. But it upsets me sometimes when I see people desperately ill with terminal diseases like cancer and they are not healed of the sickness. Instead, they are generally taken to be with the Lord (if they are Christ believers). I have thought about that long and hard and come to the conclusion that that is the ultimate healing. There is no more pain after that. No, their physical bodies did not survive, but their soul is happily ensconced in heaven with the Lord, which is what we should all be looking forward to.

As I write this, I am having a stomach issue with a lot of pain and bathroom trips to eliminate whatever is making me sick. Would I like to be healed physically in this moment? Of course! It’s no fun becoming good friends with the toilet seat. And I prayed that God would take care of me and help me to get better. But if the instantaneous does not happen, I know that God is still working on the soul part of me to draw me closer to Him in spite to the illness. I don’t want to be like some and get angry with God because I prayed and He didn’t instantly answer. God is not my personal wish granter. He is my Heavenly Father and I trust Him to take care of me, even if it’s through the sickness instead of a miraculous healing. After all, I know what a miracle is. I had a massive stroke and I am still here almost eleven years later. I can walk, talk, eat, sing, smile and enjoy life because I was healed. I have been blessed with enjoying the company of ten grandchildren, after the stroke. I celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary, after the stroke. Even my neurologist says I am a walking miracle. Does God care about the little things like a stomach bug? I’m sure He does because I think He cares about everything that happens in our lives. Will He suddenly heal me? Maybe. But the healing of my physical body is not what I seek after. I seek after the spiritual healing, the touch I receive daily from the Lord that inspires my posts online and helps me to understand His Word and to get closer to Him.

God doesn’t want anyone that He loves to continue through life in the shape of that toy car, broken and discarded. He fixes us from the inside out, starting with our hearts. We were all once broken, but now we are “fixed” by the Master Craftsman who created us. He fixed us and continues to do the necessary repairs to make us whole and ready to live with Him forever.

Prayer from the YouVersion, Daily Refresh, 11-08-25

God Always Has a Plan

On By vickleaIn Admonition, God’s blessings, promises, Scripture, YouVersion App3 Comments

The Best Plans (Daily Refresh, YouVersion, 11-06-25)

Jeremiah 29:11 is a popular verse that’s often slapped onto journals, etched into coffee mugs, and printed on t-shirts.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

And God does have a plan for you.
God does want to bless you.
God does want to give you hope and a future. 

But, we should also pay attention to the original context …

In this case, God was speaking through the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Judah—people who’d recently been exiled to Babylon for 70 years. 

The Jewish people were banished to a foreign land because of their insatiable appetite for sin. In fact, for 23 years Jeremiah had been warning them to stop rebelling against God or prepare to face the consequences.

God is patient, but He is also just. 

In other words, the Jews were sent to timeout. And as you can read in the preceding chapters, God made a case against His beloved people …

They’d exploited foreigners, orphans, and widows. They’d denied the rights of the poor. They’d refused to stand up for truth or obey God’s instructions. They’d murdered the innocent and committed adultery. They’d rejoiced in doing evil and their lives were ruled by greed. They’d even built pagan shrines, sacrificing their sons and daughters in the fires. It was a dark time. And yet, somehow, God’s mercy always extends to the darkest places on earth.

That’s why, just a few verses later, God said they could seek Him and find Him, and He would bring them back from captivity (Jeremiah‬ ‭29:13‬-14).

That’s why he encouraged them—while in exile—to build houses, plant gardens, get married, have babies, and work for the peace and prosperity of their temporary home (Jeremiah 29:5-7).

He wanted them to know: He hadn’t forgotten them. He still wanted good for them. He still had plans to restore them.

God is serious about sin, but He’s just as passionate about redemption.

Though Jeremiah 29:11 was meant for a specific people at a specific time, God’s heart for the restoration of broken people is generationally timeless. 

Even when we feel stuck in the process, God still has a plan. 
We can put our trust in the God whose goal is always redemption.

My Thoughts

For many years, I took this verse out of context and applied it to my life personally. Then a good friend online who is also a Bible scholar corrected my assumptions and I stopped referring to this verse as one that points to God’s coming blessings. I appreciate this devotional because it gives the context and the fact that God does have a plan for each of us and that plan is our eternal redemption.

God is not planning to give us big houses, nice cars, and other worldly goods. After all, we cannot take those with us when we depart this life anyway. What He is planning for us is a new heart, one made of flesh and one that yearns to be close to Him. That is our hope and our future. The worldly things that we desire are fleeting. God’s plans for us are forever.

I’m thankful that God did not give up on Judah and He hasn’t given up on us either. As I read through their list of sins, I recognized that there are many that apply to people today. Many don’t stand up for truth because they deny that the Bible is the standard for all truth. They murder the innocent babies and call it “reproductive rights” and they commit adultery and call it “trying out marriage.” When I got to the part about pagan shrines, I almost stopped and said to myself that doesn’t apply. But doesn’t it? People today “worship” at the shrine of Apple, the latest electronic gadgets, a fancy Tesla or any other new and shiny purchase about which they can boast. I think our pagan shrine today is a worship of self and satisfying all of one’s desires, without regard to others who have little or nothing and need help just to eat every day. So, are we wicked? Yes, in every way. But God hasn’t turned His back on us and destroyed us…yet. Repentance is needed. We all need to turn and look to God for His plan of redemption and not for our plan of self-gratification. Nothing we give ourselves on earth is worth giving up eternity with God. Let’s put our hope in Him and count on a future with Him, forever.

Choosing an Epitaph

On By vickleaIn grief, promises, Scripture4 Comments

I have my burial all planned, with instructions sent to my daughter and her husband. But what I don’t have written is my obituary or my epitaph. The obituary is for the grieving family to write, as they ponder the life of the loved one and decide what to include. The epitaph may also be theirs to write, but you may consider some of these examples as fitting for you.

I like this one because it carries the truth that everyone dies. After all, the Bible says, “It is appointed to man once to die…” (Hebrews 9:27)
We all suffer in life, so this is another one with truth and hope for a better life to come. I would like to see a cross on it or something that signifies Jesus’s Resurrection.
This is a quotation from Psalm 63:7. I like using scripture for the epitaph, especially one that is meaningful to the person who died.
Another epitaph with a warning that everyone dies. How do you prepare for death? By believing in the Son, receiving the free gift of salvation and living your life for Him.
This is my favorite. Notice that it is not on a tombstone, but is a scripture verse from Paul as he prepares to die. Would that all of us could have this verse written on our tombstone and that it would bear the truth. I would like for others to be able to say of me: She fought the good fight, She has finished her race, She has kept the faith.

I am not planning on dying imminently, but the curious part of me would like to know what the most fitting epitaph for me would be. What do you think would be the most fitting words for your life?

God bless you as you follow Him!

Fighting for Us

On By vickleaIn Admonition, promises, Scripture, worship1 Comment

Let’s be honest with each other. There are some days when we feel as though we are on the front lines of a great battle and we are all alone. Now let me tell you why that is a lie from the pits of hell.

Satan wants to isolate us, to make us feel that we are alone in the battle against sin (in ourselves and in the world). If we think we are alone, then we give up, walk away, let sin win. We give in to Satan’s plan without even consulting God or leaning into His Word.

But we are never alone. God is always fighting for us. He sent His advocate, the Holy Spirit, to remind us of everything He has taught us in His Word and one of the most important things we can remember is that the victory belongs to the Lord. We are foot soldiers, a whole army of them, and we are never alone. We have His Word and all of the armor of God if we just take time to put it on before we march out into the daily grind of our life.

Finally, for me, songs of worship and praise direct my attention to where it should be. I just discovered a song by Hillsong that could be a theme song for each of us as we face the daily challenges of life. We battle but we are not alone, nor are we the losing side. We are on the winning side of God’s army, and He is always fighting for us!

Fighting for Us-Hillsong

Have a blessed day!

Purpose in Pain

On By vickleaIn Admonition, praise, promises, Scripture3 Comments

This morning during my online devotional reading, I was drawn to the devotional with this title. I read it through several times. The focus was on Paul. You know him, I’m sure, the one who was shipwrecked, beaten, tortured and imprisoned. But he also kept preaching the gospel.

Paul’s answer to his suffering is told throughout the many letters he wrote that are included in the New Testament. The focus of this devotional was on Philippians. According to the author of the devotional, Shawn Johnson, Paul says sixteen times in this book to rejoice.

Not once does Paul say to rejoice when all is going right and your world is just as it should be. He just says to rejoice in spite of challenges and difficulties, or actually, in the middle of them.

Like the author of the devotional, I tend to throw myself pity-parties. Then, when no one attends with me, I am disappointed, pull myself out of my funk for a little while until time to throw another party. Paul didn’t throw a single pity party. Instead, he exhorted anyone who would listen to rejoice, not to whine and complain about suffering. Paul knew more about suffering than I have ever known and yet he did not moan about it. In fact, do you remember that while he was in prison one time, he and Silas were singing praises? What a model for us!

Paul knew that his suffering had a purpose and set out to fulfill it.

He clearly states that the gospel has been advanced and that his suffering has helped to promote the spread of the truth about Jesus. Notice that Paul is not boasting here. He is stating facts that all of the palace guards and “everyone else” knows that he is imprisoned for Christ. He doesn’t say all of them have believed, but he does say “most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord…” And even more that they are not afraid to proclaim the gospel because they have seen Paul’s boldness. Now, my friends, that is boldness with a purpose!

I read all of this and pondered it, coming up with this blog post as I considered my “affliction” with my foot. I threw a pity party and no one came. I railed at God and I am sure He listened with compassion, but the injury is still there. Now, I am to the point that I want to know the purpose of this whole thing. God brings good from everything according to Romans, so although I don’t know what good purpose could come from a broken foot, I am willing to have God show me and use me. That is the best that I can do right now. But for me, I think that is enough. I have surrendered my desire to be completely healed to God’s will to use the injury for a bigger purpose. I hope you will join my in prayer that He will show me what that purpose is and give me the strength and grace to fulfill it. I am no Paul but I am a willing servant of the Lord, broken but not forsaken. And in that I am rejoicing!

Is Your Receiver Working?

On By vickleaIn Admonition, God’s blessings, promises, Scripture3 Comments

I got the idea for this post from the Bible Study I attended last night that focused on the first two chapters of I John.

The Holy Spirit is our Advocate, but even more, His presence in us creates a line of communication to our Heavenly Father whereby we can understand better what He has taught and learn how to apply it to our own lives. The speaker in last night’s Bible study presented a good analogy. It’s like having the satellite receiver on your television all set up, turned on and you get a signal, a clear picture and the words to go with it. The Holy Spirit is like our receiver, but we have to be tuned in and have our receiver turned on. What makes it go off? We do, when we focus on everything in the world and not on what God is trying to tell us or show us.

We need God’s Spirit to truly worship Him and to understand Who He is and why we worship. We are His creation and He has gifted us with a part of Him, His Holy Spirit, so that we can always be in touch with Him and be guided to choose to do right and to share His truth as He leads us.

When I think of anointing, I think of the oil being poured on David as he was recognized as king. God had chosen him for a special position and made it clear to all who saw him that he was the anointed king of Israel. It is mind-boggling to think that we all who have accepted Christ as our Savior have also received an anointing, one that doesn’t get washed away with the next shampoo, but one that is there forever. God anointed us so that we could be taught the things of God, the spiritual things that we would have difficulty understanding otherwise.

I confess that I do not understand all things about the Trinity, especially the Holy Spirit. But I do know that when I pray and ask for understanding as I read the Bible, if I will sit quietly and wait, the word will become clear to me. I think that is the Holy Spirit’s presence in my life. When I see a stranger and I am prodded to give them a word of encouragement, I think that is the Holy Spirit in my life. The anointing is always there. The receiver is always present. I have to turn it on and leave it on and be willing to wait instead of rushing to do my own thing. God moves in His time and in His way. And through His Holy Spirit, He is teaching me to move with Him and for Him.