W/out the sovereign protection/covering of the Lord,all life is left exposed 2 the wiles of an enemy we all have,the enemy of all that is righteous & holy;the enemy that only seeks to destroy...Satan and his minions. They r constantly scheming 2 have all life destroy itself....especially us.This is what The book of Zephaniah opens with.The Lord is essentially telling of the coming destruction due 2 people succumbing 2 the wiles of The Enemy of all mankind!Bcuz of the rejection of God’s instructions 4 protection,there have been all sorts of evil&deceitful “mechanics of destruction” put n place through mankind’s rejection of the Lords efforts 2 protect & save them.N Zephaniah1:6,God articulates how “simple” it is 2 have our lives under His Sovereign Protection by telling how the people “missed” His Protection ->”those who turn back from following the Lord & neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him”. God loves us so very much,& He knows we have this enemy w evil plans 4 us 2 destroy ourselves n 1 way or another...so HE makes it “slam dunk simple” 4 us 2 find His protection!Just TRUST & TURN back TO HIM-Follow Him-Seek Him-Inquire of Him! This is a complete “instruction cycle” 4 us. One that grows our strength n The Lord as we “practice” it n our lives!Through His Spirit, Almighty God is always calling 2 us & 4 us. We begin to answer His Calling when we start TURNING AWAY from what we r currently following in order to TRUST & TURN BACK to Him.This leads us 2 a decision to truly TURN BACK to HIM by SEEKING HIM, or not, w all our heart(Jeremiah29:13”You will seek me& find me when u seek me w all your heart,I will b found by u,”declares the Lord).When we r trulyTURNING BACK to HIM, we will begin SEEKING HIM & talking w Him about “life stuffs” constantly, & trusting that He leads us 2 only “what’s best” 4 answers&instruction, no matter what. The next decision we have, after TURNING TO HIM & SEEKING HIM, is whether or not we will progress to the “FOLLOW HIM” part of the “instruction cycle” in His Protection/Guidance PROMISE. Our lives must stand on all these 3 of these “Legs”(Trust Him; Seek Him ; Follow Him), or we will lose(by our own design)our firm foundation of Relationship w The Lord.Just as the balance & firmness of a 3 legged stool is dependent on those 3 legs, so r our lives dependent on the “3 legs” of real relationship w The Lord!His Love pleads w us 2 TURNTO HIM & TO SEEK HIM & TO FOLLOW HIM. This is a cycle that hopefully becomes the way we do life! Especially because HE promises that when we sincerely SEEK HIM in this full cycle of TRUST& FAITH, that "HE will be found by us”! -> First we TURN AWAY from following the things that are NOT HIM, and we TURN our minds/hearts/lives toward the things that ARE HIM; then we SEEK HIM, and then if we persevere in FOLLOWING HIM… and HE will be found by us…and our lives will be changed from the inside-out by the new direction of all we are - because of a living relationship with THE ONE that reveals HIMSELF to us…SO HE can be found! And if we live in HIS CYCLE of LIVING - TURNING to HIM/SEEKING HIM/FOLLOWING HIM/TURNING TO HIM/SEEKING HIM/FOLLOWING HIM….we will continue to learn and find more and more of HIM and HIS LOVE AND GRACE for our lives…Lord,I break the “cycle of relationship&protection” w You all the time n 1 way or another. Make me aware of the times when I am doing this, & help me step back n2 Your “cycle” of relationship&protection so that I may know You more & more w every thought&decision I make.Help me 2 always Follow You;Seek You;& come 2 You w my concerns&questions.Then Help me 2 have the discipline/courage needed 2 Follow You...back n2 Your “sovereign cycle of relationship/protection”!

N this life we will have many battles that are part of the WAR for our lives...especially our ETERNAL LIVES! Our Father in Heaven’s Love 4 us makes HIM so very concerned about the War 4 our Eternal Lives... that from the beginning of time through HIS Creation, and through HIS Word, and throughout all “HIStory”, and through HIS intervention n our lives...God has given & continues 2 give us endless reasons 2 trust Him & 2 have an AWE of His Glory revealed through ALL things, & 2 trust HIS SOVEREIGNTY no matter what. ! By the time Hab gets 2 chapter 3 he has seen & experienced battles of many kinds (Habakkuk 3:1-17 ,”O Lord, I have heard report of your work....His were everlasting ways...You went out 4 salvation of Your people...You crushed the head of the wicked...Yet will I quietly wait (trusting n God’s Ultimate Love&Sovereignty)…yet will I rejoice n the Lord; I will take joy n the God of my salvation.”). Through all things Hab remains steadfast n his TRUST in THE LORD. This is part of the character of true FAITH...remaining STEADFAST in TRUSTING THE LORD through ALL THINGS! Because there is a WAR 4 our Eternal Lives, we need 2 not let our perspective become skewed away from an ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE, and become overly focused on the Temporal aspects of life. This kind of “shortsightedness” n our lives will cause us 2 have a faith that waxes & wanes w the “ups&downs” of life, & ultimately lead us n2 the “spiritual thorns” that Jesus talks about n Matt:13...”thorns” that rob us of True Faith and TRUE ETERNAL VICTORIES in and around our lives! Hab “maintains” an Eternal Perspective 4 life through his persevering TRUST n the STRENGTH from the Lord & an Eternal Perspective 4 life-Hab3:19, ”God,the Lord is my strength; HE makes my feet like the deer’s; HE makes me tread on my high places (Eternal Perspective of life!).” Hab must have drawn some of this FAITH from what David wrote n Psalm:18 when David writes n the middle of distress & battles about the “strength. & perseverance” he draws from his true relationship & true FAITH n the Lord...& from having a persevering ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE (Ps 18:31-33, ”For who is God but the Lord? Who is a rock except our God? The God who equipped me w strength...He made my feet like the feet of a deer & set me on the heights (ETERNAL PERSCECTIVE!)”. Dear Lord, my Perspective 4 life so easily & so quickly focuses on the here & now instead of persevering with an Eternal Perspective for life...and I lose many battles because of this. Lord Jesus, help me 2 have Your focus & Your Perspective n my life, & I ask for my strength and my perseverance to be lifted up by Your Strength & Your Perseverance...as You did n David’s life, & Hab’s life, & so many other heroes that chose to TRUST YOU with a TRUE FAITH in YOU AND YOUR WORD!

Joshua was getting ready to go into not just one battle, but a series of battles that would be the process for himself and the Israelites to realize the promises of God giving them The Promised Land! God knew the battles were going to be scary & ferocious, and there would be numerous times of discouragements and fears. So God gives Joshua the WORDS he will need to remember throughout all the battles to come. God says, ”Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”(Joshua 1:7-9). God tells Joshua that the ONLY WAY that he is going to have the endurance & strength necessary for victory after victory through the daily battles to come, is going to be to TRUST God and HIS Word so faithfully that Joshua turns to God’s Word for every way he lives his life and how he thinks about everything, & that this is how Joshua will stay true to the course that God is paving the way to victory after victory in all the battles to come....and THIS is where we find REAL ENCOURAGEMENT/COURAGE,& the STRENGTH that only God can enable in us....by seeking God’s Voice for us every day in His Word...and the encouragement we need for all the battles we daily fight....and stay this course with courage & endurance/strength.

Habakkuk has a personal “2way” relationship with The Lord, evidenced by him asking questions and then preparing to LISTEN to what the LORD may have to say! In many relationships there is one person that “does the talking/asking”, and doesn’t “listen” very much, if at all. Many times, this is true of our relationship with The LORD. We talk and ask, but don’t take time to “listen”...don’t seek to know what God REALLY “thinks” or has to “say”, let alone prepare our hearts & minds to tune in to GOD’s VOICE. This kind of relationship takes us down a path that leads to not truly knowing what God “thinks” or has to “say”, & therefore we have wrong thoughts about Who God is/His Character/His Love/His Mercy/His Grace/His Instructions/His Help, etc. When we don’t take time to prepare our hearts & minds to seek to know what God says, we will invariably “put words into God’s mouth”. This will lead to bad decisions; heartache; discouragement; disillusionment; & ultimately take us far from the kind of relationship with The LORD that we need to have, & far away from the relationship that HE desires for us to have with HIM! When Habakkuk asks his questions, he makes a “commitment” to know what God has to say, & what instructions HE may have for Habakkuk-(Habakkuk2:1, ”I will stand at my watch & station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what HE will say to me, & what answer I am to give to this complaint.”). The 1st thing Habakkuk commits to, is to “stand” & ”station” himself “ on the ramparts”! Habakkuk is faithfully committing to protect his personal thoughts & ideas & desires with the “fortress” of God’s Word by standing firm on what God has already given Habakkuk about the Character of God & HIS Trustworthiness - Habakkuk had at least the 1st 5 books of the Bible, & more than likely much more. Habakkuk is “protecting his ears” from wrong ideas by filtering everything through what he has of God’s Word. If we do not station ourselves on this same rampart, we will succumb to the “interference” of wrong ideas/thoughts/desires. ONLY when we are “stationed on this rampart” of filtering/protecting everything we hear and see with what GOD gives as instruction in HIS WORD, can we in confidence “look 2 see what HE will say” & what instruction HE has for us. And this is what Habakkuk has readied himself for now, as he earnestly seeks to know what God will say! Habakkuk is also perseverant & patient in his waiting on The Lord’s response as he conveys when he says, “I will stand at my watch and station myself…”. This lesson through how Habakkuk would pray to the LORD is a wake up call for how I pray, and how I seek to know what The LORD has to say to me. Habakkuk committed to persevere in not quitting his conversation with the LORD until he heard something about the LORD or what the LORD would instruct him about - and he was diligent in making certain that he prepared himself to be tuned in to what GOD would say, and not what all other noise(s) were about. Lord, I often do not give YOU a chance to answer, nor do I “station myself on the ramparts” of Your Word so that hear YOU clearly….HELP me to “slow down” when I talk w You, and take time to remember what YOUR WORD has taught me about YOUR Character/Love/Mercy/Faithfulness and YOUR PROMISES...so what I “hear & see” is filtering out the “noises” from the enemy, & true to Your HEART/Your WORD for me…

A theme in Micah’s recording of what the Lord said to him (Micah1:1,”The word of the Lord came to Micah..”) is our ETERNALITY, & God’s infinite desire for us to live throughout Eternity in the place that Jesus has gone to prepare for us (John14:2b, ”I am going there to prepare a place for you”). And God’s Heart is broken over any that will not live n Eternity with Him (2Pet3:9, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance”.) In Micah, God is reminding the people of His sovereign intervention in their lives for the sole purpose of getting their attention about Eternal Things & “life matters” that impact their Eternal Destiny. God is so concerned about our Eternal Destiny that HE makes us aware that our desiring of “Worldly Comforts/security” can so overwhelm us so that we make temporal choices & decisions that have little to no concern about where we are headed to live n Eternity...the very decisions & choices we make that may “impact” our Eternity”. The people hearing & reading what God was saying through Micah had let their lives & hearts & minds become so entangled with selfish desires/thoughts/ideas/opinions,etc., counter to God’s paradigms for thought & life that they had “lost their way” & gotten far off the path that would lead them to living in The Place that Jesus is preparing for us. God’s LOVE is so GREAT that HE makes it “simple” for them/us in Micah6:8 to fully understand what is “required” of us in order to secure our ETERNAL life with HIM - >”He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love Mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” To “act justly” is living according to principles & precepts that are RIGHTEOUS & HOLY...which just happen to be The Best for us! God gives us instructions for these in His Word. They are not complicated, in fact very simple if we don’t COMPLICATE/TAINT them with our personal versions that fit our “selfishness”. To “love Mercy” is to know our personal need for a MERCY that will wash away all our sin (through Christ alone), and to have this MERCY change our lives as we truly LOVE as God LOVES us with HIS AMAZING MERCY. To “walk humbly” with our God, is to get up every morning seeking to know where HE is, and then grab His Hand & follow His Lead as we “walk” through our day. We are His Children! And He so desperately desires for us to live throughout all Eternity with Him n Heaven that HE “makes it simple” ,through the Mercy of The Gospel of Christ! Dear Lord, I make this complicated throughout my day with so many selfish desires/ideas/thoughts/opinions, etc., that lure me away from Your Guiding Hand. Forgive me, and help me to place my hand n Your Mighty Hand to guide me through my days, falling more & more n Love w the Mercy You provide for me through Christ!