Sometimes we manage to banish ourselves from God’s presence by bad decisions we’ve made…sometimes the Lord disciplines us by starkly exposing our disobedience and lets us think about it in the desert for a while. Either way, God promises His forgiveness and reconciliation to all who seek Him.
Month: April 2016
Jeremiah 29:13 ” You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”
God wants the best of you…not the leftover dregs. He wants your total heart, mind, and soul in pursuit of His will for your life. That means setting aside a time daily to be in His Word and pray…whether that means early in the morning, over the lunch hour, or in the evening when the house quiets down. Don’t squeeze God into your schedule…but rather work your schedule around Him and the things that have eternal consequences.
Jeremiah 29:12 ” ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.’ “
When we seek the Lord…He will be found, and He will listen. When we summon His aid…He’s right there to help. When we plead for mercy…He hears and moves on our behalf. You have God’s undivided attention anytime you call to Him…for He wants to shoulder the burdens you’re carrying.
Jeremiah 29:11 ” ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ “
The plan and purpose for your life was written before the beginning of time. Every goal, aspiration, and ambition has been planned for you beforehand…every aim, consideration, and course of life has been especially designed for you only by the Lord Himself. He desires only the best for you.
Romans 15:14 I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.”
Multi-generational Discipleship is a wonderful way of handing down Godly wisdom…from generation to generation. When old and young are paired together in cross-generational activities, wisdom and sage advice are shared…enthusiasm and energy are appreciated. The personal knowledge gleaned from a long-lived Christian life teaches far beyond what any class could do.
I Chronicles 15:29 ” As the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal, daughter of Saul, watched from a window. And when she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart.”
She could have been down in the street with the rest of the people singing and praising God…for the Ark of the Covenant was finally coming back to Jerusalem. But instead, the bitter Michal watched from afar. And when she saw her husband, King David, acting quite unbecoming for royalty , she publicly mocked him. Her contempt continued to fester, blinding her from the true jubilation of the people and their sincere thankfulness to God. King David attempted to explain this gratitude and joy to her in II Samuel 6: 16-23, when he told her, “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.” When the masks come off…when the pretentiousness is dropped…when we get real before the Lord and worship with all our might… Heaven moves – hearts are changed- the Lord is pleased.
II Timothy 1:5 ” I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”
Paul was a “spiritual” father to Timothy, but it was at his mother’s knee as a toddler he truly learned about Jesus. (II Timothy 3:15) It was the consistent teaching of both his grandmother and mother that established Timothy’s firm and confident belief in Jesus Christ and His Gospel…which gives all Christian women hope for their children regardless of the family dynamics.
Joshua 22:5 “But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to obey His commands, to hold fast to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul.”
This verse brings together the very essence of what every Christian strives to do on a daily basis. We are to love God and in doing so, love others. We are to imitate His ways… obey His word…and resist the pull of the world, cleaving only to God…for in that is eternal life and unspeakable joy.
Mark 4: 26-29 ” He also said, ‘This is what the Kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed spouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces the grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.’ “
The Kingdom of God is within the human heart, and just like the Spring soil, the seed is planted and grows. We may not totally understand how both happen…but by faith and trust we have this assurance…that our personal relationship with Jesus will grow within us, just like the life found inside that seed.
Isaiah 1:18 ” ‘Come now, let us reason together’, says the Lord, ‘though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’ “
The Children of Israel had veered far off course…they had rebelled against God and were “off doing their own thing.” Now God was calling them back…repent or face judgment…turn back to Me and be forgiven.
Safetypinlove 