Mandy Woodhouse
 
mandywoodhouseoutrageoushope.com
 
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While recently driving to an appointment that I was a bit nervous about, I found myself singing the lyrics to an old song which is actually from Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy follow all my days, and I will worship You…”
 
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (ESV)
 
And I love how the Passion Translation puts it: “So why would I fear the future? For your goodness and love pursue me all the days of my life. Then afterward, when my life is through, I’ll return to your glorious presence to be forever with you!”
 
I heard the Lord say to me while singing, “MY CHILD…surely…SURELY, my goodness and my steadfast love chase you down. I am in constant pursuit of YOU, because I am utterly enthralled by the beauty of My creation. Why would you worry? Why would you fear? Regardless of the outcome, My steadfast love pursues you! I would not pursue you with love if I didn’t care….”
 
He also reminded me of Lamentations 3:22: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end.”
 
The footnotes in biblegateway.com says that another way of stating this in the Hebrew would be: “Because of the steadfast love of the Lord, we are not cut off.”
 
In the car, I felt a tangible Presence surround me and He reminded me that He will never, EVER cut me off, leave me or forsake me (Hebrews 13:5).
 
Suddenly I looked into the sky and saw a RAINBOW! This is huge since I live in Australia where we have had a severe drought and horrific fires for many weeks. I was overcome by the love, kindness and mercy of our God who would prove Himself FAITHFUL even in the midst of such severe circumstances.
 
The rainbow disappeared after just several seconds, and I literally (supernaturally in the natural) heard His heart beating. I asked Him what I was hearing, and I began to sense His immense love and grace for those who were a little knocked about by circumstance, by anxiety, worry and fear.
 
HIS HEART BEATS FOR YOU.
 
1) I feel that the Lord would say to some to firstly REMEMBER HIS KINDNESS. Remember the times that He has poured out His kindness upon your life. Remember WHO HE IS. Remember His great love that captured your heart and that gave itself for your freedom.
 
Psalm 103:1-5: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
 
Jonah 2:7: “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord…”
 
1 Chronicles 16:12: “Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered.” 
Psalm 42:4-5: “These things I remember, as I pour out my soul:
 
how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation.”
 
2) Secondly, I feel the Father’s heart for you to READILY SHAKE OFF THE DISAPPOINTMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS OF OLD. I heard Him say that we must turn our eyes, with great anticipation, toward the future. “I am doing a new thing that will blow you away,” says the Father. “I will outdo your wildest dreams. I will do even greater things than your finite mind can understand. Your coming years will be your best EVER. Have I not promised you that I will work out EVERYTHING for the GOOD of those who love me and are called according to My good purposes?”
 
Haggai 2:9: “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.”
 
Isaiah 42:9: “Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
 
Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
 
3) Lastly, I felt the Lord say to RECOUNT HIS PROMISES. Speak life over yourself and your circumstances by remembering and recounting all of the promises, prophetic words and scripture that the Lord has used in your life in the past. Timothy says to “wage war” with the prophetic promises, which means recounting them, speaking them aloud and believing that they will come to pass.
 
1 Timothy 1:18: “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare.”
 
Romans 10:17: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
 
Proverbs 18:21: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
 
Just as the rainbow is a PROMISE from our covenant keeping God, so is His WORD. The Bible is full of the promises of God over our lives, and I feel the Holy Spirit drawing many back to its pages in this season. “Is not My word like fire [that consumes all that cannot endure the test]?” says the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks the [most stubborn] rock [in pieces]?” (Jeremiah 23:29, AMP). To know His promises, we must know His Word.
Genesis 9:13-15: “ I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
 
HE ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES.
 
For those of you who still feel the fear of disappointment, I hear Him say, “Sever ties with the OLD! Sever ties with the OLD! I am doing a NEW THING. I have not given you spirit of fear or anxiety, but of POWER and of LOVE and of a SOUND MIND. Your mind can be sound and secure in the knowing that I am the Great Promise Keeper over your life! I have NOT changed my mind….”
 
Numbers 23:19: “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”
 
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