Posts Tagged ‘God’

God’s timing is unique. Be still and know that I am God.
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Silence, Please! September 2, 2010 Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn   READ: Psalm 46 Be still, and know that I am God. —Psalm 46:10 Our world has become increasingly noisy. But according to a news report, science has found a way to achieve absolute silence: “Scientists have shown off the blueprint for an ‘acoustic cloak,’ which could make objects impervious to sound waves. The technology, outlined in the New Journal of Physics, could be used to build sound-proof homes, advanced concert halls, or stealth warships.” When we seek out a quiet place for devotional time with God, we may wish we had an “acoustic cloak.” But even if we could silence all external sound, the internal noises of worry would still reverberate in our minds. We are told: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). But how do we calm our hearts in practical terms? God understands our dilemma and has provided His own “acoustic cloak” to quiet our hearts. It involves exchanging our cares for His peace. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7). As we place our concerns in God’s capable hands, we find a quietness that only He can provide. —Dennis Fisher Be still and know that He is God For pathways steep and rough; Not what He brings but what He is Will always be enough. —Anon. God gives peace to those who are quiet before Him.

From Gail:

I have found there is a time for quiet prayers.  There is also a time for speaking and a time for listening.  Quite often we quit waiting on God to speak because we are in too big of a hurry.  For God, there is no time as we know it.  When we ask God “when God, when,” his answer is “when the time is right.” 

Another way to look at it is like this–your pregnant but you are not willing to wait the nine months to have your baby.  You ask God to speed up the birthing process.  God says no because it would be all wrong because of the timing.  Wrong for you and the baby. 

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Promises, Promises August 21, 2010 Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn   READ: Gen. 12:1-4; 21:1-7 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. —Genesis 21:2 When people say with a sigh, “Promises, promises,” it’s often when they’ve been disappointed by someone who failed to keep a commitment. The more it happens, the greater the sadness and the deeper the sigh. Have you ever felt that God doesn’t keep His promises? It’s an attitude that can subtly develop over time. After God promised Abraham, “I will make you a great nation” (Gen. 12:2), 25 years elapsed before the birth of his son Isaac (21:5). During that period, Abraham questioned God about his lack of a child (15:2), and he even resorted to fathering a son through his wife’s handmaiden (16:15). Yet, through the ups and downs, God kept reminding Abraham of His promise to give him a child, while urging him to walk faithfully with Him and believe (17:1-2). When we claim one of God’s promises in the Bible, whether it is for peace of mind, courage, or provision of our needs, we place ourselves in His hands and on His schedule. As we wait, it may at times seem as if the Lord has forgotten us. But trust embraces the reality that when we stand on a promise of God, He remains faithful. The assurance is in our hearts, and the timing is in His hands. —David McCasland Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God. —Carter All of God’s promises are backed by His wisdom, love, and power.

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One Mysterious God August 14, 2010 Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn   READ: Isaiah 46:8-11 I am God, and there is none like Me. —Isaiah 46:9 My wife and I don’t always under- stand each other. For instance, it’s a great mystery to her how I can watch an entire baseball game between two teams that have no chance of making the playoffs. And I surely don’t understand her love of shopping. To love someone intensely doesn’t mean you have to understand him or her completely. That’s good news, because there’s no way we can begin to grasp the deep mysteries of the God we love. With our finite minds and our self-centered views, we can’t deduce why God does what He does. Yet some people look at tragedies, for instance, and turn their backs on God—assuming that their finite knowledge about the situation is better than His infinite wisdom. Indeed, if we could figure God out—if He were no more than a glorified human with no greater knowledge than that of the smartest person—where would be the awe and the majesty of the Almighty? One reason we know God to be so great is that we cannot reduce His thinking to ours. The apostle Paul asked, “Who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” (1 Cor. 2:16). Clearly, the answer is no one. Praise God that even when we don’t understand Him, we know we can trust Him. —Dave Branon Your ways, O Lord, are higher and Your knowledge is immense; So give us strength to trust You when Life doesn’t make much sense. —Sper To fully understand God is impossible; to worship Him is imperative.

From Gail

An attitide of gratitude is essential to maintain a healthy attitude during difficult times.  List things to be grateful for that you take for granted every day.  Are you basically living pain free?  Can you walk?  Can you see?  Do you take your freedom for granted?  The list is endless.  The way you perceive your life makes all the difference.

A grateful heart is a happy heart.  I giving heart is a happy heart.  Give of yourself today, even if it is just a happy smile!  The best therapy for depression is to give of yourself to make someone else happy.  As a psychology major, I know of a case that a depressed person, near suicide, starting making cookies for people in a homeless shelter.  Within a month, her depression had subsided.

 ³⁷“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged. Condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned. Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. 
 ³⁸Give, and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over…” (Luke 6)

Everything Is Meaningless

 ² “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”

 ³ What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? ⁴ Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. ⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. ⁶ The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. ⁷ Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. ⁸ Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.

 ⁹ History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. ¹⁰ Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. ¹¹ We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.

The Teacher Speaks: The Futility of Wisdom

 ¹² I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem. ¹³ I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race. ¹⁴ I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.

 ¹⁵ What is wrong cannot be made right.
      What is missing cannot be recovered.

 ¹⁶ I said to myself, “Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them.” ¹⁷ So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind.

 ¹⁸ The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief.
      To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.

Do you quite often feel like Solomon did?  Some say Ecclesiastes was Solomon’s search for wisdom.  I am not sure this is true.  It was apparently written after Solomon was old and he was looking back on his life.  He had it all–God gave him wealth, power, fame.  Like people of today, he squandered it all on himself.  Le’ts read on:

   ¹ I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless. ² So I said, “Laughter is silly. What good does it do to seek pleasure?” ³ After much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. And while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at foolishness. In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world.

Solomon’s famous words in direct translations from the Hebrew is “all was vanity–a chasing after the wind.”  What else did he try?

 ⁴ I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. ⁵ I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. ⁶ I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves. ⁷ I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. ⁸ I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire!

 ⁹ So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. ¹⁰ Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. ¹¹ But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.

Solomon finally came to two conclusions, and one final conclusion– The first is:

A Time for Everything

 ¹ For everything there is a season,
      a time for every activity under heaven.
 ² A time to be born and a time to die.
      A time to plant and a time to harvest.
 ³ A time to kill and a time to heal.
      A time to tear down and a time to build up.
 ⁴ A time to cry and a time to laugh.
      A time to grieve and a time to dance.
 ⁵ A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
      A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
 ⁶ A time to search and a time to quit searching.
      A time to keep and a time to throw away.
 ⁷ A time to tear and a time to mend.
      A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
 ⁸ A time to love and a time to hate.
      A time for war and a time for peace.

The second conclusion was to:

 ¹ Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator

The final conclusion and most important was to:

¹³ That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. ¹⁴ God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.

Solomon’s words shows the paths in life that lead to emptiness and helps us to discover true purpose in life.  Such wisdom can spare us from the emptiness that results from a life without God.  Solomon teaches the meaning in life is not found in knowledge, money, pleasure, work, or popularity.  True satisfaction comes from knowing that what we are doing, is part of God’s purpose for our lives.  This is a book which can help free us from our scramble for power, approval, and money, and draw us closer to God.

Another lesson to learn from Solomon and his fall from grace because of wealth and power, is that the nation of  Israel was split between  the northern tribes and the southern tribes.  Why?  He taxed the people “to death” so to speak to pay for his own worldly kingdom he created.  How can we apply this to the United States of today versus the United States of yester years?  The income tax was’t even around until the early 20th century.  This would have been unthinkable in past centuries.

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He Already Knows August 2, 2010 Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn   READ: Matthew 6:5-8 Do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. —Matthew 6:8 A friend who is a commercial pilot told me about a flight in which he encountered a serious mechanical issue—a problem with dangerous implications. When the situation occurred, the warning lights in the cockpit informed him of the problem and he monitored it all the way to the destination, ultimately landing safely. Once on the ground, the pilot immediately went to the maintenance staff and reported it. To his surprise, the mechanics responded, “We already know about the problem and are ready to fix it. When you got the cockpit warning, we automatically got an electronic warning as well.” As he shared that incident, I couldn’t help but compare it to Jesus’ words about our heavenly Father: “Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matt. 6:8). He said this in contrast to people who believe that they must “use vain repetitions . . . . For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (v.7). Jesus presupposes God’s knowledge of and concern for His children. Even though God knows our needs, He still wants us to share our hearts with Him. He stands ready to hear our prayer and to repair our brokenness by His grace. —Bill Crowder Although God knows our every need, His work He wants to share; He takes us into partnership By calling us to prayer. —D. De Haan Prayer is the voice of faith, trusting that God knows and cares.

 

From Gail:

“Be still and know that I am God.”  Psalm 46:10

We know and understand the second part of this verse, that God is who he says he is–it is the first part–”be still” we have problems with.

6/30/98 Faith

“Now faith is the ASSURANCE of things hoped for, the CONVICTION of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1

Faith is a difficult thing. It is difficult to understand as well as difficult to maintain once you have it. I’ve heard a simple way to explain what faith is. FAITH IS A: F Fantastic A Adventure I In T Trusting H Him “Him” would be God, by the way. It takes a lot of faith to believe in something you’ve never seen, heard, or felt. God provides us with the evidence we need to help us believe in Him. Of course, we have to be interested in believing. He isn’t going to force us to believe in Him. It takes work to keep faith alive. You can’t have faith in someone you never think about and don’t know anything about. If you ever have difficulty in maintaining your faith in God, you can always get more faith by asking God for it. One of the really great things about having faith in God is that you NEVER have to worry about anything. God is in control and can take care of things. You just have to put your faith in Him and allow Him to do what He does best . . . .love us.

Taken from www.clarion-call.org

From Gail:  I have found from personal experience that we define things from God as we would define them here on earth with our finite minds.  It doesn’t work that way.  Isaiah 55:8,9 states:

 ⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
       neither are your ways my ways,”
       declares the LORD.

 ⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
       so are my ways higher than your ways
       and my thoughts than your thoughts.

When we define the things of God as we would define them, we put God in a box and run into trouble with our faith just because God doesn’t answer when we want him to, or how we want him to.  We have a tendency to define God, our heavenly father,  as we would our earthly father.  If we had an abusive father, we will see God as abusive.  In my case, I come from a middle class home.  I didn’t have everything I wanted but always had everything I needed.  If I needed lunch money for school, for example, I just asked for it and got it, just like that.  When I got out on my own, I found out quickly that it doesn’t work that way with God.  I can’t ask things of God, and get it instantly, even though I didn’t ask for a lot of “wants” just needs.  God wanted to teach me to be resourceful, to exercise my mind,  He didn’t want me to turn into a spiritual “fat cat.”  

I believe the same concept works for most situations.  Maybe when God says no or wait, we need to examine our belief systems to make sure they are correct.  If we believe wrongly, God doesn’t want to reinforce it.  Perhaps God wants to teach you to be more resourceful.  If you have a money shortage, what can you do to improve it?  How can you cut back on expenses?  Can you sell something?  Are there certain food items you buy you could and should do without?

The phrase “God helps those that help themselves” is not in the Bible but the concept is true.  There is a Bible scripture in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, for example, that states 

 ¹⁰For even when we were with you, this we commanded you: that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some among you who walk disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.

  When we don’t work, we get ourselves in trouble.

So, in conclusion, what is faith?  It is trusting and believing that God works all things out for our good, sometimes sooner rather than later, and sometimes later rather than sooner.  Solomon put it all together in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

 ¹³Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. ¹⁴For God shall bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.

www.GotQuestions.org
Question of the Week

Question: “Who created God? Where did God come from?”A common argument from atheists and skeptics is that if all things need a cause, then God must also need a cause. The conclusion is that if God needed a cause, then God is not God (and if God is not God, then of course there is no God). This is a slightly more sophisticated form of the basic question “Who made God?” Everyone knows that something does not come from nothing. So, if God is a “something,” then He must have a cause, right?

Answer:

The question is tricky because it sneaks in the false assumption that God came from somewhere and then asks where that might be. The answer is that the question does not even make sense. It is like asking, “What does blue smell like?” Blue is not in the category of things that have a smell, so the question itself is flawed. In the same way, God is not in the category of things that are created or caused. God is uncaused and uncreated—He simply exists.

How do we know this? We know that from nothing, nothing comes. So, if there were ever a time when there was absolutely nothing in existence, then nothing would have ever come into existence. But things do exist. Therefore, since there could never have been absolutely nothing, something had to have always been in existence. That ever-existing thing is what we call God. God is the uncaused Being that caused everything else to come into existence. God is the uncreated Creator who created the universe and everything in it.

From Gail:  Hebrews 11:1-3:6

Now faith is the  assurance of things hoped for, the evidence[conviction] of things not seen. 2For by it the elders obtained a good report.

3Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

 6But without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Remember, that faith is complete in itself being that it originates from God.  Once He comes into your heart to live, the veil of mystery is destroyed, and God becomes very real.

20Behold, I [Jesus] stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.

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Beware Of What You Want July 7, 2010 Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn   READ: Exodus 20:1-17 You shall not covet. —Exodus 20:17 Sometimes I wonder why God didn’t list the Ten Commandments in reverse order, since the 10th commandment correlates to the first sin—desire. Eve’s sin wasn’t simply her desire for a piece of fruit; it was the desire for knowledge that Satan told her would make her like God (Gen. 3:5). Eve’s covetousness caused her to violate both the first and tenth commands that God later gave to Moses. When we don’t covet, we pretty much eliminate our reasons to disobey the other commands. Wanting what isn’t ours causes us to lie, steal, commit adultery, murder, and refuse to honor our parents. We refuse to rest because we can’t get what we want in 6 days of work. We misuse God’s name when we use it to justify something that we want to do. We make gods out of wealth and relationships because we don’t want to have to put all our trust in God. I have a hard time coming up with sins that don’t involve some form of covetousness. Yet because it’s the last in the list, we tend to think of it as being the least important. But it’s not. When we stop sin while it is still in our hearts and heads, we avoid making others the victim of our sin, and we avoid many of the serious consequences of sin. —Julie Ackerman Link When you covet someone else’s things, Thinking that they’re better than your own, Just remember that God’s gifts to you Were designed for you and you alone. —Hess Contentment is realizing that God has already given me all I need.

From Gail:

Remember, prosperity even for Americans only has been around since 1950.   It has always been a hand to mouth existence since the beginning of time except for a select few.  Don’t fall for the trap some in the Evangelical community set for you just to make themselves rich from huge salaries they bless themselves with.  God would rather have you give a small amount cheerfully than a large amount uncheerfully just to gain wealth.

I had a girlfriend once who never gave anything to God because the Church preached that you must give 10%, which is Old Testament Law meant for the Jews in that despensation.  She was only making $400/month, and $40 was a lot of money to her.  I told her about Paul’s teaching of giving cheerfully in II Corinthians 9:7.

 ⁷Each one must give as he has decided in his heart,not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

  I asked her how much could she give cheerfully?  Could she give $10 a month cheerfully, and she said she could.  The next Sunday she put $10 in the offering plate, and when she went to work on Monday, out of the “clear blue sky” her boss started to schedule her for 40 hours per week.

Has life ever puzzled you?  Have you ever asked God why?  Let’s delve into the mysteries of God as defined in the Bible.  The first is:

1.   The mystery of the Kingdom of God.   
 ¹¹And He said unto them, “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God; but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables. (Mark 4:11)

2.     The mystery of why God blinded, in part, the nation of Israel
 ²⁵For I, brethren, would not have you be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits: that blindness, in part, has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. (Romans 11:25)

3.  The Mystery of the purpose of Jesus on earth

     ²⁵Now to Him who has the power to establish you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began. ( Romans 16:25)

4.  The mystery of  the wisdom of God

⁷ But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, ⁸ which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  ( Corinthians 2:6-8)

5.  The mystery of the rapture

 ⁵¹Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed ⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ( I Corinthians 15:51-52)

6.  The mystery of His will.  

 ⁹He hath made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself,¹⁰that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him. (Ephesians 1:9,10)

7.  The mystery of evil

 ⁷For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now holdeth back will hold him back, until he is taken out of the way, ⁸And then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming–( 2 Thessalonians 2:7)

8.  The mystery of the faith

 ⁹holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience (I Timothy 3:9)

9.  The mystery of godliness

 ¹⁶And beyond controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (I Timothy 3:16)

10.  The mystery of the secret things

²⁹“The secret things [mysteries] belong unto the LORD our God; (Deuteronomy 29:29)

The key point I want to make is that  if we understood everything about God, we would BE God.  If you make a study of these 10 mysteries, I believe it will help you to cope better with life.  I know it is hard, mainly because the Christian community has failed so miserably in reaching out to people.  We are God’s plan to cope with His mysteries, and we have failed miserably by becoming spiritual “fat cats,” and not caring and reaching out as God commanded us to do.    It is equally divided between leadership and lay people. We would rather be part of a judging and jeering committee or a gossip center.  All I can do is apologize for the Christian community, at least here in America.  One of the mysteries of God I can’t figure is why God would allow such horrible leadership to emerge here in America in tele-vangelism.  It has been a horrible stumbling block to millions; and, millions are probably lost because of them.

I heard a testimony over TV that just made me cringe.  It involves a gay person that was very uncomfortable at a gay parade.  He felt the need to reach out to God but he didn’t know how.  He said that if someone had just come up to him in a kind loving way and shared Jesus, he would have accepted Jesus right then and there.  But, that is not what happened.  Some protestor pointed his finger at him and yelled “You are going to hell, you ____.”  Somehow, I don’t think people like that are true believers.  Many horrible things are said and done in the name of Jesus.  I am a victim of such, so I know exactly how people feel.  

Determine within yourself, you will not be like the status quo.  You will reach out and help a dying hurting world.

June 26, 2010

Guilty Of Plenty

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READ: 1 Timothy 1:12-17

The grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant. —1 Timothy 1:14

A man was filling out a job application when he came to the question “Have you ever been arrested?” He wrote, “No.” ?The next question, intended for people who had answered “Yes” to the previous question, was “Why?” The applicant answered it anyway: “I never got caught.” He evidently knew he was guilty of plenty!

So was the apostle Paul. He knew he had personally done wrong and sinned against God. He wrote, “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man” (1 Tim. 1:13). He even called himself the “chief?” of sinners (v.15).

We too were once separated from the Lord because of our sin and were considered His enemies (Rom. 5:10; Col. 1:21). But when we confessed our sin and acknowledged our need for His forgiveness, He cleansed us and made us new.

Those of us who have known the Lord for many years may have the tendency to forget what we’ve been rescued from and forgiven of. Sharing about our past and current failures and giving praise to God for forgiveness will help us not to come across as “holier-than-thou” to people who don’t yet know the Lord.

The truth is we’ve all been guilty of plenty, and God deserves the glory for His mercy toward us. —Anne Cetas

All that we were—our sins, our guilt,
Our death—was all our own;
All that we are we owe to Thee,
Thou God of grace, alone. —Bonar

Grace is everything for those who deserve nothing.

From Gail:  We may think we get away with sin, but God sees everything.  You will get caught eventually.  It may be sooner rather than later, or later rather than sooner but it will happen.  In the meantime, we live in bondage and fear, always wondering if today will be the day we will get caught.  Is it really worth it?