EP Member Spotlight ~ Joy Byers: Our Great and Awesome God

Every year, January comes around and I find myself looking back at the past year, thankful for what God has done in my life. Each year, I begin with good intentions, sitting with God in the Secret Place and promising Him that it will be better this year. That this year, the journey with God and I is going to be amazing. Alright God, let’s go – but alas, there is a problem. Once again, I have moved from allowing God to move in my life and determine what aspect of my life He wants to deal with, how He wants to do it and when He wants to do it.

Instead of just laying all of my good intentions before God, I hold tight to my grand plans. Like so many women, I have timelines, and I feel that I know best what I am comfortable dealing with in this particular season. If I am completely honest with myself, I struggle to let go, even with God.

We love to do this, don’t we? We make all sorts of resolutions and promises to be better, to be different, to eat healthily, spend time in prayer, read the Bible more and so on. But let’s face it. We're three weeks into the year and we’re failing miserably and beating ourselves up for our inability to get the thing done. Our aspirations and desires on January 1 were not bad ones, but the question remains: were the plans and good intentions we launched the year with actually what God had in mind for each one us?

Daniel 9:4 (NIV)

I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments..."

Deuteronomy 7:9 (NLT)

Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant...

Nehemiah 1:5 (NLT)

The great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love...

Nehemiah 9:32 (NIV)

Our God, the great and mighty and awesome God...

Scripture tells us of God’s power and faithfulness over and over again. No matter how we mess it up or get it wrong, God is faithful to those who love Him. He is the one who keeps the promise - we, human, flawed and frail simply can’t. We try but we fail.  So, what does that mean for us? Is it that we don’t make commitments? That we don’t give our word? Not at all - it simply means that we need to keep our focus in the right place.We step into the Secret Place and tarry a while with the lover of our souls. He will make His plan clear to us and He is the one who will bring them to completion. Three weeks in, you will find that there is a wind under your wings and a resolve of spirit that you did not know was possible.

How about you? What did you promise God at the beginning of this year that you are feeling like a complete failure incapable of getting done? How honest have you been as you prayed and confessed to God the burdens of your heart? Have you asked Him to give you the power to stand firm in resolve as He does the work in your life?

Sweet sister, He is the God who sees you. He is for you, He longs to give you the desires of your heart as you submit your will, your plans, your time to Him. The God who sees us is the great and awesome covenant keeping God. My prayer for each of us is that we would remember this every day and surrender our plans and our wills to His perfect plan. He will not fail us, ever... Yes, He is that awesome.

Joy Byers

A Montreal native, Joy found her way into the loving arms of Jesus much later in life. Joy is Mom in a blended family with four grandbabies and "Mama Bear" to many others that God has placed in her path. Joy loves using words and sounds to create and produce music and to encourage others. Joy is discipleship pastor at The Peoples Church in Toronto and is passionate about equipping the body to handle the Word of God.

To read the rest of Joy's bio, click here!

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