Hey, this is Deborah Manchac with Relentless Woman. Welcome to God Today. I want to share a verse with you, and I also want to share with you what it means to me and how it’s impacted my life. This verse is Psalm 145:18, and it says, “You draw near to those who call out to you, listening closely, especially when their hearts are true.” Growing up, I was afraid of leadership and authority. I thought I couldn’t really get close to them growing up. I just learned that you had to deserve that spot. You had to feel like you were qualified for something like that, for having that community. And when I read this and it says, “You draw near to those who just call out to you.” And not only that, He doesn’t just draw near to us, He listens closely, like what I say matters just by calling out to Him. That was enough. “Especially when their hearts are true,” when it’s pure and honest and just me being genuine.
So it’s almost like that permission that God is saying you can come to the highest authority, which is Him. And not only that, I will listen to what you have to say. And not only that, I will especially listen to what you have to say when it’s authentically genuinely you, so you don’t have to pretend to be anything else. I actually rather, you be just yourself. And I love that, because through that, I’ve gotten healing in the church around me, work, community, where I’m not afraid or intimidated anymore by being myself, or speaking up because if God, the highest authority Himself feels this way about me, why should I fear anywhere else?
So I want to pray that for you. I want to pray that you feel this way, that this verse comes alive for you and becomes true for you. So God, I pray for every single person that is watching this right now. God, I pray that they draw near to you and that they know that they matter. Everything that they think, everything that they want to say, everything that’s living in their heart right now, that you actually want them to say it, to speak it and to draw near to you. I pray that fear goes away in Jesus’ Name, and that they can live a life of fearlessness and of being close to you at all times, Amen.