Let me dare to guess that we share a favorite TV program. Know what it is? Bob Ross’s The Joy of Painting. It is the only program able to bring everything I’m doing to a grinding halt to let me get lost in pure wonder.Read More »
“Purer faith is seeing things through heaven’s eyes rather than from the ground view of our circumstances. This is why Paul is always reminding us to set our minds on ‘things above’ where our real selves reside—with Christ seated in heavenly places.” Mel Wild, from “Thanks Series” Guest Post
Psalm 119:175 says, “Let my soul live that it may praise You.” The idea in these words is something I often pray on the behalf of people who don’t know the Lord, a very broad category of people.
I think about all of those who are indifferent toward God and faith and don’t perceive their need for either. I reflect on the headstrong and the hurting who hate God. Others are running trying to get far away from him, although his hook is in them.
They are without Christ whatever their state. And more than the destruction that lies in their path is all the love, acceptance, freedom, and delight already offered to them by Jesus.
So I pray. I pray that God will not let sin and Satan destroy them. I pray that Jesus will confront them along their Damascus road and send them in a new direction. I pray because it crushes me when I learn of one who leaves this life and enters eternal perdition.
I long to see these folk caught up in worship in the Lord’s house. I want to hear their testimonies of how God mercifully rescued them from their folly at the last moment. I hope to see those testimonies nudge other sin-whipped souls toward the Cross to relieve their burdens.
And I get a little excited that perhaps one day in Heaven Jesus might find me and say, “Michael, you interceded and brought this one to me.”
The Unfailing Love of God Series
Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” IN ALL THINGS, God is at work. Often we do not read this scripture correctly with God as the subject of the verse.
“All things work together” because God causes them to do so. The family member’s addiction, the boss’s malice, and the devastating illness are incapable of rendering good of their own accord. Evil, sorrow, and the fallen, sinful world do not produce or lead to good things. So we may not be able to thank God for all things, but we can learn to thank him for refining our lives in our trials.Read More »
The Unfailing Love of God Series
God only loves us. The hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” signals this by saying, “There is no shadow of turning with Thee.” Our Father evinces no hint or trace of dishonesty or grudge.
He is indeed dissatisfied that a sinner should remain in sin and that a believer should cling to it in some way. But his affection for all of us is our contentment and prosperity in every way. Such personality will force people to wonder, Who is this God? His profile is so different from ours and contrary to the image many hold of “God.”Read More »
The Unfailing Love of God Series
I’m not a parent and I wonder if parents might possess a fuller understanding of God’s love. Still, the picture gets clearer for me when I consider my relationship toward some in my family.
I have a young nephew who esteems his uncle more than he does any other aunt or uncle in the family. I’m not sure how this happened, but, boy, does it feel great! A photo of us together makes me teary because I know he loves me unconditionally when I know how many unlovable things there are about me.Read More »
The Unfailing Love of God Series
Sometimes I have to remind myself of the magnitude of God’s love. I think if most of us were honest about it, we would admit that we don’t always grasp the Father’s love. We don’t get it because it is not only on television and in our lust-ridden society that love has lost its sanctity, but also in our churches and spiritual thinking where the great story of God’s love has become glamorized and trivialized.
Moreover, Paul expresses the scale at which we compare to understanding God’s love for us when he says, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all God’s people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ our Lord” (Eph. 3:17-18).Read More »
Psalm 119:140 declares, “Your promises have been thoroughly tested; that is why I love them so much” (NLT). The understanding is that the words of God have endured rigorous trial and have performed exactly as they promised.Read More »
Psalm 130 is one of the fifteen “Songs of Ascent” and its author is unknown. This psalm is the deeply anguished and moving prayer to God of one wrestling with sinful guilt. Yet the writer’s focus does not linger there; instead, the forgiveness of God is the subject. Notice how honest he speaks and how lucidly he contrasts his guilt with the Lord’s mercy. There is no person who cannot discover him- or herself in these words. (You may wish to follow along in your Bible.)Read More »
A 'Mike' for Christ 