O Lord, I will honor and praise Your name, for You are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now You have accomplished them. You turn mighty cities into heaps of ruins. Cities with strong walls are turned to rubble. Beautiful palaces in distant lands disappear and will never be rebuilt. Therefore strong nations will declare Your glory; ruthless nations will fear You. But You are a tower of refuge to the poor, O Lord, a tower of refuge to the needy in distress. You are a refuge from the storm and a shelter from the heat. For the oppressive acts of ruthless people are like a storm beating against a wall. [Isaiah 25:1-4, NLT]
Holy Spirit, You inspired Isaiah to write, and I pray this morning with my heart back to You: You will keep me in perfect peace, because my mind is stayed on You. After all, I trust in You. I will trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord I have an everlasting rock. For He brings down those who dwell on high, the lofty city; He lays it low; He lays it low, even to the ground; He brings it even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy. The way of the righteous is smooth; O Upright One, make the path of the righteous level. In the way of Your judgments, O Lord, I have waited for You eagerly; the desire of my soul is Your name, even Your memory. With my soul I have desired You in the night; my spirit within me seeks You diligently; for when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Though favor is shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals unjustly and does not perceive the majesty of the Lord. Lord, Your hand is lifted, but they do not see it. They see Your zeal for the people and are put to shame; the fire of Your enemies shall devour them. Therefore, the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to me; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on me. For the Lord is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him. [Isaiah 26:3-11; Isaiah 30:18]
Grace and peace will be multiplied to me through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given to me all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of God who has called me to His own glory and excellence, by which He has given to me exceedingly great and precious promises, so that through these things I might become a partaker of the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. For this reason, help me to make every effort to add virtue to my faith; and to my virtue, knowledge, and to my knowledge, self-control; and to my self-control, patient endurance; and to my patient endurance, godliness; and to my godliness, brotherly kindness; and to my brotherly kindness love. For if all of these reside in me and abound, they will ensure that I will neither be useless nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord. Help me to diligently make my calling and election sure so that when I add all these areas into my life I will not stumble and will be able to enter into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ which will be abundantly provided for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 2 Peter 1:3-11 MEV version