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Tag Archives: heart of thanksgiving

This is our God

06 Feb

This is our God

Isaiah 25:9 And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

I wish every morning could be like this. God planted a partial worship song in my head early; and I knew I had to find it. I had a great prayer and began my search, which lead to being moved to tears running down my cheeks with my hands in the air upon hearing it. MOVED by the presence of God engaged in worship to him alone very early this morning. Setting the tone for the day in the realization of a heart of thanksgiving………I could not start the day better reciting the lyrics, “I will fall at your feet”. I decided to do a word search of “this is our God”. I came to the passage in Isaiah 25 above.

Isaiah is not only pointing us to his faith and hope of our God, but he is pointing us to the coming Christ. He speaks of how God will humble and destroy the prideful throughout this Psalm. Of how those haughty in spirit will be brought low with their cities. Of how He will judge the wicked and gather and 10b As straw is trampled down for the refuse heap. 11 And He will spread out His hands in their midst As a swimmer reaches out to swim, And He will bring down their pride Together with the trickery of their hands. There is God’s judgement that the wicked and those that deny him will pay the price for their decisions eternally in Hell coming. In this Psalm praise is woven in with the coming judgements; those secure in Him will be eternally blessed as a result of his removal of sin. 8 He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken.

I guess I don’t get it; I don’t understand how people don’t see the evidences before them; don’t see the need of a Savior for them; don’t see there is more to life than selfish desires for our time here. Surely in your mind somewhere you must realize that there has to be more to life than this. That ? is God stirring your soul. That ? is a small glimpse of God pursuing you. That ? has your eternity hinged upon your response to it. Deny it and He will deny you. Respond to it and your eternity will be paradise with the One who created paradise. You will possess the blessing of peace and security that will enable you to endure your time here until He returns. 4 For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, 5 like heat in a dry place. You subdue the noise of the foreigners; as heat by the shade of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is put down. (ESV) He is the answer to every ?; He is our God.

 
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Posted by on February 6, 2013 in Daily Devotions

 

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Not multi-tasking

24 Aug

Not multi-tasking

Colossians 3:2   Set your mind on the things above, not on things on the earth.

Where is your minds set to? Is it like mine and seems to constantly being re-adjusted to focus on another tasks outside the primary tasks at hand? I am very self motivated and it seems the older I get the less I desire to multi-task. I seem to have the desire to do only one thing at a time as well as I possibly can. But those distractions come every time to draw my attention away.

Colossians is where the apostle Paul was dealing with many problems in the church. False teaching was distracting from Christ’s deity, and Paul was warning them of their error. Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Paul knew the followers of Christ were becoming distracted from the messages of Grace; and they were led astray by false teachers in the early church. Paul spends much of this epistle pointing to whom Christ is, and how our lives should be focused on Him.

The entire 3rd chapter of Colossians is the application of living for Christ. Of a mind that is focused on the things above, and not the lusts of this world. Of a life before Christ and the death of that life. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. There is an ‘BC (before Christ) and an AD(after death) in the timeline of your life. When you heed God’s call on your life, and accept the free gift of Grace He offers through Christ; your life before that moment in time dies. The life after that mark should be a life focused on serving Him with a heart of thanksgiving for what He has done for you. That focus should not be distracted by the things of this world, but focused on eternity and the things above. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. This is the life of a disciple; one that is focused on Christ, and the things above.

 
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Posted by on August 24, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Comfort Fruit

08 Aug

Comfort Fruit

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I am struggling, in many ways, on many fronts. I can’t and don’t need to unpack all the details, and my struggles are not above yours I am sure. I have a struggling business that is in the center of my attention, and a school assignment that has brought about a huge case of humility. I am regretting the decisions of my youth, and the lack of education that came as a result. I have never felt so dumb. Where can I turn in these anxiety filled days? Now there is only one thing in my life that brings me comfort and that is seeking God and His Word daily. No substance abuse to numb the pain, but a cure to heal the pain.

Paul in these scriptures was speaking to the Philippians with a heart of thanksgiving and contentment. He found his contentment in Christ, not “stuff” that was held in high regard back then and even today. He was content wherever Christ had him, and he sought to serve Him well there. 11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. He was truly a focused man, one with eyes only for Christ; and as a result of that realization, every day he sought to draw glory to Christ wherever God had placed him.

Much of my study recently has been on the “fruit” of being a disciple of Christ. This morning as I went to Philippians for a word to encourage me, and I read through the scriptures, I came upon this verse. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. God gave me an encouraging word I did not even know was there, that spoke again of what I had studied last night. That is how He works when you seek your comfort from Him and His Word. He will place just the right words before you, and open your heart and your mind with them as only He can in the only Living Word. These things are only gained by a humble heart that opens the book looking for them. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God…..”

 
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Posted by on August 8, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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