April 25, 2024

God Has The Final Say

April 6, 2015 by

SeekingHimLogo

Recorded in the Gospel of John, our Lord made seven statements referring to Himself as I AM…

I AM The Light of the World
I AM The Bread of Life
I AM The Door
I AM The Good Shepherd
I AM The True Vine
I AM The Way, The Truth, and The Life
I AM The Resurrection and The Life

Each week during this season of Lent, here on the Seeking Him blog, we will be focusing our devotionals on a different aspect of Jesus’ revelation of Himself as I AM.  The aim of Lent should be to prepare our hearts for the remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice—His trial and torture, the Crucifixion and His death…and above all, the celebration of His Resurrection from the dead.  We pray that this will be a great encouragement to each of you who read them.  And that all of us will consider the significance of Jesus’ words and, through them, be helped as we remember and are thankful for all Jesus went through during the last few weeks of His life on this earth.

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“…I AM the Resurrection and the Life.”
John 11:25

“He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!
Remember what He told you back in Galilee—
that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified,
and that He would rise again on the third day.”
Luke 24:6-7

I know Easter is all about what Christ has done for us and our sins and our salvation.  Jesus IS the Resurrection and the Life, and because of Him we live. Here’s another way to look at it though…

God has the final say in everything.

When times look rough and just make no sense at all…when bad is just surrounded by bad and worse just keeps getting worse…we have to remember that God has the final say.

Jesus answered, ‘You would have no power over me at all
unless it were given to you from above…’
John 19:11a

  • At the Red Sea, when the Israelites appeared to be trapped with nowhere to go, God appeared and made a way. When Pharaoh and his army began to follow, God washed them away. (Exodus 14)
  • In the boat during the storm, the disciples were afraid they would die, but Jesus delivered them. (Matthew 8:23-27)
  • When Lazarus died and all hope was lost, Jesus brought him back! (John 11)

When life starts to beat you down and nothing makes sense, and the fight seems lost remember the next sentence in Luke 24:

“Then they remembered that He said this.”
verse 8

The great thing is this—when all else fails remember, no matter what you are facing, God has the final say.  It’s not over until God says it is, and (in case you forgot!) we win at the end!

Things in this life are simply things in this life.  1 John 2:17a says, “And this world is fading away…”  This is not the end.  Nothing can happen to us that can rob us of our ultimate prize.  Whether it be illness, death, sorrow, or fear…we still have a place in Heaven.

Yes, it would be awesome to have an easy life here on Earth, and for everything to be just comfortable and perfect, but that’s not how it works!   This is not the end, and nothing will be perfect until we are home in Heaven.   So, keep that in mind.

Yes, we are may face some horrible situations and circumstances
but, in the end, everything will be okay.

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Unfailing Love

February 1, 2014 by

SeekingHimLogo

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
Your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
Your justice like the great deep.
You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
How priceless is Your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
Psalms 36:5-7

“If God’s love is unfailing, then why does it <seem to> fail?”  This seems like a silly question, but as I read the above passage, statements like “it’s not enough,” and “it doesn’t feel unfailing” arose in my mind.

Memories of heartache, depression and disappointment flooded to the surface. At first I was scared—those type of thoughts are not good and, according to what I had just read, they were contrary to the word of God. I fought the urge to stuff the thoughts. I wanted to ignore them, but also felt compelled to examine them and whether I believed them or not.

Failure in itself is very subjective. What one may see as a failure another sees as a success. I don’t know about you, but my feelings and God’s words often clash. Thankfully, God’s Truth also trumps my feelings. So, of course for comfort, I went to my Bible.

God’s love never fails. By definition it’s unfailing. But I found some people who momentarily felt like it did.

  • Both Mary and Martha exclaimed (John 11), “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Even others in the crowd questioned, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?” God’s love had failed…or so it seemed. We know that Lazarus was raised from the dead.
  • The Israelites said, in Exodus 14, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt?” They were trapped by the Red Sea. God’s love had failed…or so it seemed. We know they crossed through the sea.

The more I thought on this concept of unfailing love, the more I realized that I myself have felt failed by God’s love, i.e., when He called me to Hermitage, alone and away from my support system. I felt failed then, but the Lord has showed me the truth of the this situation.
This is what it boils down to: the truth is that God’s Word is Truth. It says His love is unfailing…and so it is. Every situation needs to be viewed with this in mind and if you cannot see His truth, ask.

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Lord, thank You for awesomeness.  Forgive me for the times when I momentarily allow my feelings to trump Your truth and when I make my circumstances bigger than Your awesome power.  Thank You for Your unfailing love that never, ever, ever fails!  And for Your faithfulness and reliability. In Jesus name, I pray.  Amen.

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Winning Him Without Words – Weekly Review

November 2, 2012 by

 

This week marks the halfway mark on our journey through Winning Him Without Words. What a ride it has been, as we have laughed, prayed, and learned new insights together about how to live our life before our husbands according to 1 Peter 3.

Before we move on, may I share a scene with you of the Israelites on their journey to The Promise Land [Exodus 14]. Perhaps it will be an encouragement to us on our journey.

Moses had just lead over six hundred thousand Israelites, along with their herd of cattle, out of Egypt where they had been slaves for over 430 years.  At last they were on their way to Canaan, the land God had promised was theirs to inherit.

But Pharaoh, the Egyptian king and his army, came after them in hot pursuit.  When the Israelites saw Pharaoh and his army coming, they began to cry out to Moses:  “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die out here in The Wilderness.”

God spoke to Moses and said:

Tell the children of Israel to “GO FORWARD.”

“Go forward?”  “The Red Sea is in front of us!”  “Are you sure, God?”

But God knew what do about The Red Sea.  “Stretch out your hand over the sea,” were His words to Moses.  As Moses stretched his hand over the sea, the waters divided, the sea became dry land, and they crossed to the other side. The sea returned, and all the Egyptians drowned.  Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hands of the Egyptians, and they continued on their journey.

Now, one would think that after that miraculous delivery that the Israelites would never doubt that they could not make it to Canaan and receive the inheritance God had promised them.  However, only two people of the original group, Joshua and Caleb, made it to Canaan.

Why only two?  Could it be that Joshua and Caleb made it into Canaan because they never lost sight of the vision God had given them.  Not only that, but they acted upon that vision despite the circumstances they faced and the people around them who didn’t believe it was possible.

I believe that God is saying to us: GO FORWARD with the vision He has given us for our marriage!  And yes, He can part The Red Sea in our life to get us there.

This week, at our halfway stop in Chapter 5, Beverly, Jennifer, Donna, and Sarah gave us good insights to go forward by: Believing Our Marriage is Blessed.

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Let’s review their points now.

Monday:  Believe your Marriage is Blessed – The Way to Mismatchdom – -Beverly points to the question that we who are in an unequally yoked marriage are often asked:  “Did you know he wasn’t a Christian when you married him?”

In Beverly’s case, she did know that her husband wasn’t a Christian prior to marriage.  But, as she points out, she could not then and even now after all these years change him.

However, Beverly has learned powerful lessons in her spiritually mismatched marriage:

  • We aren’t better than our spouse just because we are the believer.
  • A superior attitude is not showing or providing a warm welcome to who Jesus is.
  • Don’t give up, God is fully aware of the situation.
  • Recognize God’s presence.
  • Relax and stop trying to do God’s job.

These lessons she has learned provides a real moment of truth:  Only then can we begin to enjoy marriage, tensions will ease, and we won’t have to constantly be talking to our man about our faith.  We are living it in front of them  (remember, actions speak louder than words) they will see!

May we do likewise

Tuesday:  “The Call to Obedience” / “God’s Plan for Your Marriage” – – Jennifer starts off on the call to obedience with Dineen’s statement on page 85.  “What God requires of all covenant relationships, including marriages, is that He be at the center, whether your husband believes in Jesus or not.”

Jennifer then asks us some very pointed questions:

  1. What defines your relationship with Jesus?
  2. Is it defined by whether or not your spouse comes to faith?
  3. Is it defined by you being able to pray with your spouse or being able to read Bible passages together?
  4. Is it defined by going to church with your spouse…or not?
  5. Why does my (or your) relationship with our mighty Savior depend on the actions (or inactions) of another sinful, imperfect human

Jennifer makes a very valid point in conclusion:  Since WE believe, WE bring Jesus into our marriage. And that, my dear friends, is powerful. Soak that it. Rest in that truth. Whether you see God in your marriage right now or not, I promise you HE IS THERE and HE IS WORKING

May we do likewise

Wednesday:  Are We the Sweet Aroma of Christ, Or the Stench of Death?  Donna had never given a thought before as to how she “smelled” as a Christian!

But, it made her think of a favorite aunt whose aroma was always so sweet, not only because of her perfume, but because she radiated love to her.  She made Donna feel special and that she mattered to her.  Her love was genuine and Donna could sense it, smell it, and see it.

Donna pointed out that is what is the kind of aroma God wants us to give off to our loved ones, according to 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.

Ask yourself:

  • Does he see me living out my faith as the aroma of Christ?
  • Does he something in me that he longs for in the deepest depths of his soul?
  • Or does he see an ugly example that turns him off?
  • Do I want to be the aroma of death, stinky, decaying, rotting, death? Or do I want to give off the sweet, loving, breathtaking aroma of Christ?
  • “I choose Christ.”

May we do likewise

Thursday:  Blessed Doesn’t Mean Easy – Sarah ends the week by bringing us back to “giving thanks” for being in a mismatched marriage or any problem, for that matter, that we encounter.

Our natural tendency, as Sarah pointed out, is to focus on the problem and not the blessing God is trying to show us, or the lesson He would like us to grasp.  However, that doesn’t help or fix the issue.

Sarah challenges us to “turn your thinking around and see it through God’s eyes.  Look out, because your whole demeanor is going to change. You will be happy, worry free, stress free.”

Sarah, herself, has started doing this in many areas of her life and, I quote:  “the transformation in me was almost instantaneous!”

May we do likewise.

Friday: Discovery/Prayer – Father, God, I thank you for what you have taught us during the first five weeks on our journey in Winning Him Without Words. Help us to Go Forward remembering as we go, that “we can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens us.” In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

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For those who are reading this blog and would like to join the Bible study, we would love to invite you to join us!  Click here and follow the instructions, (you can also click the SIGN-UP link in the menu bar above to be taken to the form). It’s that simple!  We hope to see you soon!

Above all, if you have not accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, and would like to have someone pray with you, please email us at Prayer@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com. and one of our prayer team members will contact you.

Have a blessed day,

Martha

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