Presence of God
It's very easy to complain. It's easy to imagine that our sufferings, our struggles, are unlike any that others have experienced.
It's harder to see, especially in the tough times, that God's blessings are still around, that God remains faithful.
Look now to see what blessings God has in store for you today, especially if you are finding that hard to do.
Word of God
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.
Philippians 3:7-9
Devotion
We are thankful for the blessings that God has showered upon us, but we are not supposed to mistake those blessings for some kind of evaluation of our worth or value. We are valuable because we are children of God and we are loved. The “rubbish” Paul is casting aside here is any status he may have been accorded by society because of his birthright and even his honorable behavior. He wants to clear away his ego in order to make room for salvation. He wants to clear out pride to make room for faith.
Our motivations matter to God. The next time you do the right thing, consider your driving force – is it pure love for God, or is it to preserve an image of yourself as a good person? Can you let go of your status in exchange for your true nature as someone who is eternally saved?
By Denise Nickerson-Caudéran
Oh, how I DO LOVE the HUMOR and IRONY of our God! Just last night I shared a beautiful ‘poster’ on facebook of a dove and the words “Faith is seeing light when all you eyes see is darkness” – which I had immediately associated with the first verse from Hebrews 11 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It was created by a page called ‘Positive Inspirational Quotes’. So of course, I shared it. Only to notice an hour later, when a parishioner reposted it from me, that there was one of those links below it to the full story about how Jane and John Doe made $50+ in 3 months...
Well, I was steamed at myself for not noticing and felt I had to put a disclaimer up about THAT part of the post. Here’s part of it (edited for brevity):
I abhor this so-called 'prosperity gospel' that is simply a way of letting people believe that those who have more wealth are being rewarded for having a stronger or better faith than those with less monetary wealth. That is bull-'stuff' and no more biblical than thinking people who get cancer (or leprosy) are being punished by God for their 'extra-bad' sins. Much of Jesus' ministry was to counter these false notions.
If we do something because we think it will show our great faith in God we will be disappointed. Faith is pure grace – unadorned love. Knowing that, our only motivation for any action in our lives should be a response of equally unadorned love. Nuff said.
By Norma Prina Murphy
Conversation with God
Lord, you have blessed me with an eternal spirit through salvation. Cleanse me of attachment to my position and ambitions on earth. Open my heart to receive your most precious blessing so that I may live through your righteousness. Amen.
Benediction
God's blessings are raining down.
Walk with your face lifted up;
Lift your hands also to receive
The gift of God's presence,
The embrace of the One who is near.
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| And
Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matthew 21:21-22 |
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| “Faith expects from God what is beyond all expectation.” ~ Andrew Murray |
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| For by grace you have
been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift
of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 |
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