On Worship

Gathered with our church family today for corporate worship and being reminded that...

When Man ceases to worship God,

he does not worship nothing 

but worships everything.

― G. K. Chesterton

Image via Pixabay, Gellinger

CCO Creative Commons

Recommending ~ The Master Designer: The Song

This documentary is sure to affirm and increase your faith in the Master Creator. Our world is filled with beauty, order and design, and the animals themselves give evidence that it couldn't have happened by random chance. They all show purpose in design, not happenstance.

We often preview videos on Amazon or Netflix that we think might be worthwhile for our grandchildren to watch when they come to visit for a week or so. This is definitely a keeper, one for the entire family. It's light-hearted, yet enlightening and filled with fascinating facts. If you click on the image, you can watch the trailer.

There are also interesting stories throughout the documentary of how some of the highlighted animals helped to change the course of American history. Bees thwarted a British attack in the American Revolution. Camels were brought the to U.S. during the Spanish-American War to cross the American desert.

Oh, yes, "The Song".... we wondered about that throughout the video. It's saved until the last. Beautiful music to the Master Designer's ear.

Image ~ The Master Designer, Exploration Films

The Most Important Event - God With Us

Annunciation to the Shepherds, Govert Flinck 1639

Sharing with you today a brief excerpt from my devotional reading. This comes from the devotional insights in the chronological Bible that I read in the morning hours. It's part of the introduction to the gospels of the incarnation of Jesus, the Christ. A thought from F. LaGard Smith:

All is now ready for the most important event in human history. It is an event planned even before the creation of the world. It is the keeping of a promise made to Abraham over 2000 years earlier. It is the fulfillment of a host of prophecies regarding a Messiah who would come to establish his kingdom. Most importantly, it is the beginning of a dynamically new relationship between God and man. The event is the coming of the savior of the world, the Messiah--or, as referred to in the Greek, the Christ.

BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL, which translated means, "GOD WITH US."

Matthew 1:23

from ~ The NIV Daily Bible in Chronological Order

Recommending: The Word Became Flesh with RC Sproul

Listening this evening to this beautiful interpretation of the carnation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It begins with the words, "In the beginning was the Word." It tells the plan of salvation as RC Sproul continues the narrative from the book of Genesis through Revelation, with familiar carols, hymns and newer choral pieces throughout.

I find it to be a thrilling narrative to listen to as I ponder the fact that God Himself became flesh and dwelt among. It gives me goose bumps!

We're listening on Spotify, but if you click the image above, you can listen on Amazon or buy the CD.

Sunday Ponderings ~ God's Holiness

Been pondering this afternoon on a comment made in our Sunday School class. The topic was God's holiness and how it affects believers and unbelievers. Part of the discussion was how a biblical understanding of God's holiness affects how we approach Him. The comment was made by someone in the class that prayer enables us to understand that God is far greater than we are, holier, more powerful, and all-knowing. We come to Him acknowledging our dependence on Him. In her words, "It puts us in our place, and Him in His." Much food for thought.

It makes me think of the current casual approach to God, that it is more self-focused and feel-good religion rather than an expression of understanding the majesty and worship of the Holy God. I couldn't imagine approaching Queen Elizabeth in the same manner as some 'worshipers' approach God. The queen is merely human, deserving of much more respect than some give to God Himself. How much greater honor and respect is due to God, but God is often approached buddy-style.

God chooses what He receives as worship.

Where is the honor? Where is the respect?

"A son honors his father and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?" ~ Malachi 1:6 

Painting ~ Afternoon-Yellow Room 1910,  Fredrick Carl Frieseke 1874-1939

The Gate to God

Thinking today about the way to enter through the gate to God. Who decides the way? Do I? Do you?  God Himself does. It's His gate. We enter only by the way He says to enter. Why? Because He is God, and it's His gate to His kingdom. His gate. His kingdom. His way. Not mine, not yours. Not anyone's but God's.

He has told us in His Word how to enter the gate. How kind and benevolent of Him--that not only has He told us the way, but that He actually wants us to come! You and me, and many others. He wants us to be forever with Him. So much so that He even provides the way there. Oh, glorious, amazing grace!!

I do hope that you know the way and are going to live with God when your days are done here on this earth. If you don't know the way, I'd like to tell you what someone told me, and then I read it for myself from Jesus Christ in God's Word. Actually, He wants everyone to know--you, me, everyone. Jesus is God, you know. There's so much to find out about Jesus and God and truth in His Word, the Bible.

This is what He says--

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

~ Jesus, John 14:6

"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all."  ~ 1 Timothy 2:5

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.      ~ Jesus, Matthew 7:13-14

Are you one of the few who have found the gate to God?  I do hope you've chosen the way to life. Not everyone is going through the gate, but I do hope to see you up there.

Photo ~ Garden Gate, Leo Reynolds, Flickr CC BY NC-SA 2.0

Where Mulling It Over Led Me

I've been mulling over the phrase "the fullness of God" after coming across it a few days ago. I was reading in Ephesians, chapter 3, verses 14-21. The phrase itself is found in verse 19.

"and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God."

In our Sunday School class, we've been talking about the power of the gospel, how it changes our hearts and minds and influences how we choose to live our lives. As I was reading, the phrase 'the fullness of God' caught my attention. What is the fullness of God? And is there a connection with that and 'the power of the gospel'? That thought struck me since I desire for the gospel to permeate my whole being, and I also desire to be "filled up to all the fullness of God," whatever that might be, especially since the scripture says so. I know about being filled with the Spirit, but is being "filled up to all the fullness of God" a bit different?

As I read the brief passage over and again, I began to see the connection with that and the power of the gospel. It was easier for me to see by starting with the phrase there in the latter part of verse 19 and working backwards, sort of like this....

Being filled up to all the fullness of God (v19b) is a result of being able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge (v. 18-19a). So the question begs itself... how do I "comprehend and know the love of Christ"? Surely that is incomprehensible, for his love is beyond understanding. Well, I may not be able to reason it out or explain it, but verse 17 tells me that it's "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." It isn't through any reasoning, but an outgrowth of faith in Jesus Christ. And as I keep moving backward in this passage to gain an understanding, I find in verse 16 that Christ's dwelling in my heart is through His own strengthening.

Coming full circle, I realize that the fullness of God is found in Christ's strengthening of my heart. He exercises my faith. The power of the gospel! Nothing that I have to do to get more of God. Simple faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and satisfies God's justice in his death, burial, and resurrection. He reconnects us to God. Sweet contemplation.

He wants us all to comprehend that. I do hope you do. He wants you to.

For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,

that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Ephesians 3:14-21

Painting ~ Woman Reading, Pierre Auguste Renoir 1841-1919

No Better News

I'm continuing to read Christ Our Mediator by C.J. Mahaney. Wanting to share my evening read with you. Wonderful thoughts to ponder before sleep.

And what does Christ's death mean for us--for all who turn from their sins and trust in this unique mediator?

First, we have peace with God--the actual, objective reality of peace with Him, because His holy hostility against us has been spent against Christ instead.

Second, we no longer face condemnation from God when our life on this earth is over. Every believer in Christ can know that the moment we pass from this world and stand before God the righteous judge, the verdict to be announced in our case will be "not guilty," by reason of the righteousness of Christ.

With full assurance we can anticipate and even experience that verdict right now. Our lives here and now are transformed as we live today in the joyful light of that day. We live today free from the fear of wrath on that future date.

What amazing grace! There simply isn't greater news we could give to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

I do hope you have trusted this unique mediator. If you'd like to learn more, here's a great place to start. Dig deeper, dear one, and you'll discover peace beyond measure.

To Be or Not to Be .... Noticed

Sharing with you from my quiet time today as I think through what I'm reading in Matthew 6. It helps me to write out some thoughts. Thinking about the first verse where it says, Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with our Father who is in heaven.  

That statement caught my attention as I thought back to Matthew 5:16 where it says, Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. What's this? A contradiction? Don't be noticed? Do be seen? 

But there's a big difference. It's all in the intent. If I'm doing some good thing for the purpose of being noticed and bringing honor to myself, that's worthless. Worse than worthless. It gets me nowhere, gains me nothing of eternal value. It's all about me.

On the other hand, if my intent is in bringing attention and glory to God, then He says to let my good works shine on! Let people see how good and gracious and kind and providing and all that God is. It's all about Him. He's the answer to all their needs. Not me. Not you. 

We are simply a window to be seen through, to get a glimpse of God the Father a little more clearly. We are His hands and feet, to bring help to the needy, encouragement to the fainthearted, admonishment to the unruly, good to all, especially those who are of the household of faith, prayer for those who misuse us, blessing to those who curse us. That's a hard one.

My takeaway from the Word today — 

Don't be hypocritical to magnify myself.

Do be humble to magnify God.

It changes people. It changes us.

Painting ~ The Thick of the Plot 1924, George Goodwin Kilburne 1839-1924
Wiki Commons public domain

God Is Our Refuge

This week during lunch I've been listening to Nancy Leigh DeMoss online at Revive our Hearts. Her current series is on Psalm 46 entitled A Mighty Fortress is Our God. I'd like to share a brief excerpt with you from yesterday's program, "Are You In Trouble?" It's a quote from Matthew Henry.

Are we pursued? God is our refuge to whom we may flee and in whom we may be safe. . . . Are we oppressed by troubles? Have we work to do and enemies to grapple with? God is our strength to bear us up under our burdens, to fit us for all our services and sufferings; he will by his grace put strength into us, and on him we may stay ourselves. Are we in distress? He is a help, to do all that for us which we need . . . a help sufficient, a help accommodated to every case and exigence [every emergency, every extreme situation]; whatever it is, he is a very present help; we cannot desire a better help, nor shall ever find the like in any creature.

Today's program is "When You Are Battered By Fear." If you'd like to listen in to the series or read the transcripts, you can find them here.

He Included Me

Sharing a few thoughts with you today from my devotional reading in  Romans 9-11. The context is Israel's rejection of God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ and His consequent extension of grace to the Gentiles. The Apostle Paul says, "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in..." I am grateful that God chose to include me in 'the fullness of the Gentiles.'

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek
for the same Lord is Lord of all,
abounding in riches for all who call upon Him.
Romans 10:12

I have nothing within myself that glorifies me or God. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Sin, going against God's holy ways, in my life brings death, separation from God. But God gave the gift of Jesus Christ to redeem me for eternal life with Him. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

God provided me with hope, grace, mercy, and eternal life. "For whoever will call upon the name of the LORD will be saved" (Romans 10:13).

Because I believe that Jesus is the Son of God whom He sent to die for my sins, I now have peace with God. "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).

No longer does condemnation await me. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).

Nothing can separate me from the love of God, because of Jesus Christ. "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).

Oh, the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments
and unfathomable His ways!
Romans 11:33

Do you have peace with God?

Do you have hope, grace, mercy, and eternal life?

You can read more about the good news here.

He wants to include you as well.

The picture is my quiet time corner. 

The framed piece above the chair reminds me to 

"Make time for the quiet moments as God whispers and the world is loud."

Inscrutable

Sharing with you today a brief portion from my devotional reading in Knowing God Through the Year with J.I. Packer.

Ecclesiastes is intended as a warning against a misconceived quest for understanding.

Look (says the preacher) at the sort of world we live in. What do you see? You see life's background set by aimlessly recurring cycles in nature (1:4-7). You see its shape fixed by times and circumstances over which we have no control (3:1-8). You see death coming to everyone sooner or later, but its coming bears no relation to whether it is deserved (7:15). The wicked prosper; the good don't (8:14).

Seeing all this, you realize that God's ordering of events is inscrutable. Much as you want to make it out, you cannot do so (8:17). The harder you try to understand the divine purpose in the ordinary providential course of events, the more obsessed you grow with the apparent aimlessness of everything and the more you are tempted to conclude that life really is as pointless as it looks.

... then I saw all the work of God, 

that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. 

However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. 

Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.

Ecclesiastes 8:17

Picture ~ Zinnias in my garden by the driveway

God Is Personal

The Earthly Paradise, Jan Bureghel

Sharing some devotional reading with you today from Knowing God Through the Year.

Right from the start, the Bible's story is told in such a way as to impress on us the twin truths that the God to whom we are being introduced is both personal and majestic. Genesis reveals the personal nature of God expressed in vivid terms. He deliberates with himself, saying, "Let us..." (Genesis 1:26). He brings the animals to Adam to see what Adam will call them (2:19). He walks in the garden calling to Adam (3:8-9). He asks people questions (4:9). He comes down from heaven in order to find out what his creatures are doing (11:5). He is so grieved by human wickedness that he repents of making them (6:6-7). Representations of God like these show us that God is not a mere cosmic principle, impersonal and indifferent. Rather, he is a living Person, thinking, feeling, active, approving of good, disapproving of evil, interested in his creatures all the time.

~ J.I. Packer

And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, 

and there he put the man whom he had formed.  

And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree  

that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.  

The tree of life was in the midst of the garden,

and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The LORD God took the man  

and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 

"You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 

but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,

for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; 

I will make him a helper fit for him."

Genesis 2:8-9, 15-18

Painting ~ The Earthly Paradise, 1607-1608, Jan Brueghel 1568-1625

Wikimedia Commons public domain

Having Faith~In Something

Sad Memories ~ Charles Rossiter 1854

As I've been listening to the audio book Defending Your Faith by R.C. Sproul, in which he uses rational inquiry and empirical evidence to postulate the existence of God, I often think of a young friend who gave up on her Christian faith a couple of years ago. I think of her more as her birthday is soon approaching, and wish I could take her back to the days before she was enticed away by a self-avowed atheist and declared that she no longer believes there is a God. She joined a group called Recovering from Religion, thinking that the myriad of problems she was having were caused by Christianity. Indeed, that may have been her error all along--mere religion and not a true, believing relationship with Jesus Christ, God's Son.

In Psalm 53 the psalmist says, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God,' ... God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks after God." 

My dear young friend understands so little about God. She says she is seeking truth, but she doesn't understand that God Himself is Truth. She wants to prove Him, but she is not pursuing Him, for He is not far off. If we draw near to him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8).

God through the Apostle Paul tells us in Acts 17:

The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each of us; for in Him we live and move and exist.

What my friend cannot understand, she does not accept. If we could wrap our meager minds around God, he would not be any bigger than we are. She wants her faith to be "based on evidence and reasoning that accords with her experience." Oh, my friend, the foundation of our faith cannot be our experience. It's the other way around. We interpret experiences based on our faith--be that faith in God or faith in reason. One may see death as the doorway to seeing Jesus face to face; another may see death as the end of existence. The experience, death, is the same. Faith is what makes the difference in how we interpret the experience. The real problem may be as Ravi Zacharias states in his book, Has Christianity Failed You that "It is actually a will seeking a reason to support it."

In reality, authentic atheists do not exist. The definition of an atheist is "one who denies the existence of god or gods." Someone or something rules each of us. We all set our faith somewhere--in a god, whatever we believe him or it to be. An atheist's faith is in reason or in himself or in whatever he chooses to rule him. That is an atheist's god. Paradoxical, to be sure. Even more ironic is that he defines himself by what he is not--forever drawn to the God which he shuns.

Our thoughts are not God's thoughts, nor are our ways His ways (Isaiah 55:8). I pray that my young friend will understand that the emptiness in her life (and much more is ahead with each approaching birthday without God than she can fathom) can only be filled with a vibrant faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that God will continue to draw her to Himself, for we cannot come to Him unless he draws us. I pray that He will open her eyes to see how she has been caught in The Enemy's snare as he seeks those whom he may devour.

My friend has moved hundreds of miles away and broken most contact, but I will email her soon and do more planting and some watering where others may have scattered other seed. Perhaps God will be merciful and rescue her from her desperate condition.

For it is the goodness and kindness of God that leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4). I pray that in His mercy, His goodness and kindness would lead her back to Himself and that she will begin her next year re-birthed in him. Oh, the love that will not let us go!

Sunlight in the Spirit

Morning Sunlight Through My Bedroom Window

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you,
that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:5

Isn't it amazing what sunshine does to the spirit? I can't even imagine what it might be like in heaven with the light of God's glory shining all the time!

I missed part of the early morning light this morning, though. One of the shades in the front bedroom broke, so we replaced the shades yesterday with blinds and moved the shade from the other window to our bedroom since one of our shades had torn. I had intended to get up a little earlier this morning since I have a class to teach this afternoon and wanted to get as much into the morning as possible. I usually just wake up at about the same time each morning, but when My Beloved awoke me this morning, however, it was an hour later than I'd planned. The shade we put in our bedroom was room-darkening. Ugh! There's not much worse to me than a room-darkening shade in my bedroom. I love to awaken to morning sunlight, and the glistening dusting of snow put an extra spring in my bounce this morning--which I needed to get exercises taken care of. I need all the motivation I can to tend to that part of my morning.

So exercises are done, and it's time to get ready for an afternoon jaunt out into this wonderful sunshine! I do hope your day and spirit are bright with heavenly sunlight!

 I am learning more each day the truths of this hymn:

Heavenly Sunlight

Henry Zelley, 1899

Walking in sunlight all of my journey;

Over the mountains, through the deep vale;

Jesus has said, "I'll never forsake thee,"

Promise divine that never can fail.

Shadows around me, shadows above me,

Never conceal my Savior and Guide;

He is the Light, in Him is no darkness;

Ever I'm walking close by His side.

Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight,

Flooding my soul with glory divine:

Hallelujah! I am rejoicing,

Singing His praises, Jesus is mine!