For most of us, when we look outside, we see new life all around us. Spring is here. Grass is green and growing, birds are raising their babies, flowers have poked their heads out and are now blooming in full array, the air is light and warm, and the breeze carries that smell of spring. Everything is new.
Those of us who have personally accepted Christ as our Savior (check out this page if you'd like to know what that means!) are called and are new creatures in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.") But how often, even though we're still saved, do we revert back to the habits of the former creature that we were? Maybe it doesn't stand out to us as blatant sin, but it's subtly still there. How many times do we fear doing what God has called us to do (whether that be in telling someone about Him or in living the life and taking the simple but often-difficult daily steps that He wants us to take) when "...God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7)? How often do we fear our Father in an unhealthy way, holding back from truly believing the love and forgiveness and compassion that He offers us even after we are saved, when "...ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15)? How often are we tempted to think of God's work as our own, having this idea that we are the ones that are supposed to do the work of saving the world and that it is all dependent on us, when we are told that it is God's work and we are simply to obey Him in sharing the gospel so that He can bring lost souls to Himself? (1 Corinthians 3:5-7: "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.") Why do we carry around burdens too heavy for us to bear, burdens that drag us down and make us miserable and prevent us from living our lives for God in the way that He wants us to, when we have been told to cast our burdens on Him? (Psalm 55:22: "Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved"). (1 Peter 5:7: "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.") Why do we dwell on our past mistakes or sins when we have been given forgiveness and should be "...forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14)? We could go on and on and on with ways that we often fail to fully live in our Savior, but I think we get the point. Today (and every day!), let's live in our Father, fully embracing the love, peace, rest, purpose, and everything else that He offers us so that we can live for Him and through Him in the way that He desires for us to! What promises of Christ are you living in today?
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So, remember how we talked about God's moral attributes a couple weeks ago, and we looked at the verses that we can claim to show us that God really is all of those things? Well, we're going to do the same thing today, but this time with His natural attributes. Let's give these things some thought and be reminded of how great and wonderful our God really is! TranscendentThis means that God is higher than we are and superior to us. "...the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity..." ~Isaiah 57:15 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." ~Isaiah 55:8-9 EternalGod never began to exist, and He never will end to exist. He has always been. "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." ~Psalm 90:2 InfiniteGod is not limited. "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD." ~Jeremiah 23:24 OmnipresentGod is everywhere at the same time, something that is hard for us to even imagine. "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" ~Psalm 139:7 "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." ~Proverbs 15:3 OmniscientGod is all-knowing. "O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether." ~Psalm 139:1-4 OmnipotentGod's power is unlimited. "For with God nothing shall be impossible." ~Luke 1:37 ...with God all things are possible." ~Matthew 19:26 "Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:" ~Jeremiah 32:17 ImminentGod is above us and higher than us, but He also operates within His creation. "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." ~Ephesians 4:6 "... I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit..." ~Isaiah 57:15 ImmutableGod never changes. "For I am the LORD, I change not..." ~Malachi 3:6 Which of these attributes stand out the most to you today?
March seems to be the month where we really get to see spring come and stick around for at least a little longer than it did in the past couple of months. I know not every place is quite like this yet, but here the sun has been out, most days I can go outside in a tee-shirt, and the birds have been singing! In fact, there's one singing right now, as I write this. :D But let's get into some favorites from this month! Don't forget to leave a comment letting me know what some of your favorites from the month were! Some Favorite Events
A Favorite SongThis song can bring tears to your eyes (happy ones though!)! A Favorite Verse (or Verses)"But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble. And the LORD shall help them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him." ~Psalm 37:39-40 A Favorite Story
A Favorite PoemTreasures One by one He took them from me, All the things that I valued most, Until I was empty-handed; Every glittering toy was lost. And I walked earth's highways, grieving, In my rags and poverty. Till I heard His voice inviting, "Lift your empty hands to Me!" So I held my hands toward heaven, And He filled them with a store Of His own transcendent riches, Till they could contain no more. And at last I comprehended With my stupid mind and dull, That God COULD not pour His riches Into hands already full! ~Martha Snell Nicholson What were some of your favorites from this month?
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