If you struggle with feelings of worthlessness, invalidation, or emptiness…this Scripture is for you today. Think of this – before you were even born – God knew everything about you and consecrated you to Himself. Isaiah 49:1 says that before you were born the Lord called you, and He set you apart as His very own. (John 10:36) So no matter your past…and no matter how you feel about your life today…God loves you! You are very important to Him, and in His eyes are worth everything.
Month: September 2019
I John 3:20 ” For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.”
In I Corinthians 4:5 it tells us that God will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. The life of our heart is a hidden life…or so we think. But God knows all, sees all, understands all, and will forgive all if asked. And in doing so we’ll be given a new heart…exchanging our heart of stone for a heart of flesh.
II Chronicles 6:18 ” But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens cannot contain You. How much less this Temple I have built! “
Ok, I have two very diverse images I want you to think about today. The first is that God is limitless. Isaiah tells us that God sits enthroned above the circle of the earth and stretches out the heavens like a canopy… that His throne is heaven and His footstool is earth. (Isaiah 40:22 & 66:1) While the second image is of God’s very intimate and personal relationship with all Believers…of us actually becoming a dwelling place for His Spirit to live in. (Ephesians 2:22 & I Corinthians 3:16) To the world, this is a total contradiction…but to the Believer, it’s what our faith is built on.
Luke 21:1-4 ” As He looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the Temple Treasury. He also saw a poor widow putting in two very small copper coins. ‘I tell you the truth,’ He said, ‘This poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’ “
You may think you’re stingy with your money…but I know something else of yours that you’re even more tight-fisted with…it’s your time. We all act like our time is more precious than others. And when asked to volunteer, our stock answer usually is, “Sorry, but I just don’t have the time for that.” I can dare say for the most part we are more selfish with our time than with our money. But in II Corinthians 8:12 it talks about giving generously and having the desire and willingness to give what you have, not what you don’t have. We’ve all been given the same amount of hours in the day…but it’s what we do with them that will make a Kingdom difference in this hurting world.
Job 20:4-5 ” Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since man was placed on the earth, that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.”
We think we’re getting by with it…that no one knows, and we’ll never get caught. But whatever that addiction or guilty pleasure is…God knows all about it. I saw statistics the other day on the percentage of Christian men who confessed they were hooked on porn and it was jaw dropping. We think if we just call ourselves Christian somehow we’re above God’s law and His rules don’t apply to us…but they do. And the destiny of all who forget God is the same…sudden and complete destruction.
Psalm 112:4 ” Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.”
In those times of obscurity and uncertainty there is only one light to seek out…for it will illuminate and give you the spiritual perspective you are searching for. It’s God Word. Not man’s word written about it, or feel good flowery prose that tend to water it down. No, the enlightenment you are seeking can only come from God’s Word and spending time in the Bible. Psalm 18:28 promises that God will turn my darkness into light, but I have to be willing to go to the source of that light…His Word.
Revelation 12:17 ” Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
The battle for the human soul is real. It’s been going on ever since Satan got booted out of the Garden of Eden…and he hasn’t been happy about it since! But we need to remember that his power over us is limited, for it tells us in Revelation 13:7 that he, (the beast), was given power to make war against the saints. The control Satan has on earth was granted to him by God…and it is only by God’s permission that he can function here on earth. So if you think about it… as Believers, with the indwelling Holy Spirit living inside us, we too have the same authority over Satan…for it says, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. ” (I John 4:4)
Galatians 3:22 ” But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.”
We are all sinners. We are all caught up like fish in the net called evil. There is not one among us that is righteous…for we are all bound over to disobedience. But we have a Savior…His name is Jesus, who came to save us from our sinful life and give us hope. For when we put our trust in Jesus and the Good News of the Gospel…that promise spoken about in this Scripture is made alive in us…the wonderful promise of eternal life in heaven through His Son, Jesus.