A Father speaks through His Word

My Child,

You may not know me, but I know everything about you. Psalm 139:1 I know when you sit down and when you rise up. Psalm 139:2 I am familiar with all your ways. Psalm 139:3 Even the very hairs on your head are numbered. Matthew 10:29-31 For you were made in my image. Genesis 1:27 In me you live and move and have your being. Acts 17:28 For you are my
offspring. Acts 17:28 I knew you even before you were conceived. Jeremiah 1:4-5 I chose you when I planned creation. Ephesians 1:11-12 You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book. Psalm 139:15-16 I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live. Acts 17:26 You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14 I knit you
together in your mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13 And brought you forth on the day you were born. Psalm 71:6  I have been misrepresented by those who don’t know me. John 8:41-44 I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love. 1 John 4:16 And it is my desire to lavish
my love on you. 1 John 3:1 Simply because you are my child and I am your Father. 1 John 3:1 I offer you more than your earthly father ever could. Matthew 7:11 For I am the perfect father. Matthew 5:48 Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand. James 1:17 For I am your provider and I meet all your needs. Matthew 6:31-33 My plan for your future has
always been filled with hope. Jeremiah 29:11 Because I love you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3 My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore. Psalms 139:17-18 And I rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 I will never stop doing good to you. Jeremiah 32:40 For you are my treasured possession. Exodus 19:5 I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul. Jeremiah 32:41 And I want to show you great and marvelous things. Jeremiah 33:3  If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. Deuteronomy 4:29 Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 For it is I who gave you those desires. Philippians 2:13 I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine. Ephesians 3:20 For I am your greatest encourager. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you. Psalm 34:18 As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart. Isaiah 40:11 One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. Revelation 21:3-4 And I’ll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth. Revelation 21:3-4  I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus. John 17:23 For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed. John 17:26 He is the exact representation of my being. Hebrews 1:3 He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you. Romans 8:31 And to tell you that I am not counting your sins. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you. 1 John 4:10 I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love. Romans 8:31-32 If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me. 1 John 2:23 And nothing will ever separate you from my love again. Romans 8:38-39 Come home and I’ll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen. Luke 15:7 

I have always been Father, and will always be Father. Ephesians 3:14-15 My question is…Will you be my child? John 1:12-13 I am waiting for you. Luke 15:11-32

Love Your Dad,
Almighty God

April 25, 2013

Psalm 131

² No, right now I am calm and quiet, like a child after nursing, content in its mother’s arms.

Is anything too hard for the LORD?

Sarah listening to the "visitors"

Devotion on Genesis 18 - Ray Stedman

Is anything too hard for the LORD (Genesis 18:14)?

Sarah's laughter is cynical, unbelieving. If this were all of the story, we would be tempted to say that this woman is no example to follow. But over in the New Testament, in the book of Hebrews, we get the rest of the story. There, in that hall of fame of the heroes of faith, Sarah's name appears: By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised(Hebrews 11:11 RSV).

Does it seem hard to you to be what God wants you to be? Is it hard to keep your evil nature in the place of death? It is not too hard for the Lord! Does it seem hard to you to be made sweet and gracious and forgiving and loving when down inside you know how nasty and devious and unpleasant and perverse you can be? It is hard for you, but it is not too hard for the Lord! Does it seem hard that the friend for whom you are praying should ever be converted, or the one that is now rebelling against grace can ever be changed? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Does some task that God is now asking of you seem impossible to perform? It may be hard for you, but it is not too hard for the Lord.

Lord, help me to believe in the midst of my own seeming impossible situations that nothing is impossible with You.

Life Application: When God asks something of us that seems impossible, do we lean harder on our own resources, or do we venture in faith based on His total adequacy? 

www.RayStedman.org

Listening to God's Word for my morning devotions with image(s)

April 16, 2013 

Psalm 130

Hope in the Lord’s Forgiving Love.

A Song of Ascents.

130 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord.
² Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
³ If You, ^[a]Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait,
And ^[b]in His word do I hope.
⁶ My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
⁸ And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.

I wait for the Lord
my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.

Piper's Prayer from Spectacular Sins

Gracious and glorious Father,

because you are rich in mercy, 

and great in love,

 and sovereign in grace, 

we ask that you would make this little book

a window on to the panorama of your glory,

and a skylight to your supremacy in all things.

By the truth-loving poer of your Holy Spirit

grant that the glass pane would be clean-

that what is faithful to your word would be confirmed,

and what is not would be forgiven, not confusing.

We ask that your cloud-banishing illumination

would be given to our minds,

and that spiritual understanding would fill our hearts,

and that according to the command of the apostle,

we would grow in the grace and knowledge

of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

(to be continued)

Piper's Spectacular Sins - A small book with a very important message for our times

April 16, 2013
From John Piper's Spectacular Sins:
" When you are tempted to forsake God because of the greatness of evil and misery in the world, may you remember the bible has prepared us for this temptation. It has shown us over and over that sin and sickness and disaster never escape the good governance of the infinitely wise God. Whether it is Satan or Adam or joseph or Judas, the great divine dictum holds: "You meant it for evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Gen. 50:20).
   The mosr spectacular sins are not signs of ultimate absurdity. Satan is the ultimately irrational being. And much of what he is allowed to do will have the mark of senselessness to it. .... there is another vantage point. Namely, God's: Yes, senseless at one level, but not ultimately.
             Far, far above thy thought,
             His counsel shall appear,
             When fully He the work hath wrought,
             That caused thy needless fear. ("Give to the Winds Thy Fears", Paul Gerhardt)
   The Bible does not say that perseverance in faith through the horrors of sin and misery will be easy. That is why it says, "The one who conquers" will not be hurt by the second death. The first death, yes, and it may be horrible. But not the second (Rev. 2:10-11). Maintaining the joy of faith in the face of horrific evil does not happen by coasting. It happens by conquering. That is my aim. That you would conquer unbelief and despair in the face of spectacular sin and misery."

I was reading Richard Foster last year (I am not sure which book) and he suggested a form of Bible reading where you take a short passage (10-20 verses) and read it once. Then read it a second time highlighting in some way the words, phrases, sentences, passages where God seems to be speaking to you. Then go back a third time just reading those passages. As I began to do my devotions this way I realized that doing it all on the computer was the best way. So I went to Bible Gateway each morning and copied and pasted the scripture passage.  

        I added a fourth and fifth step along the way as I began to do this daily. I chose one phrase or verse and added it at the end of the reading and enlarged it and changed the font to have a greater visual impact and to more firmly plant it in my heart for the day.. After doing that for a few months the LORD gave me the idea of finding visual images to go with the scripture passage I was reading that morning. That proved to be of great meaning and as I googled images to copy and paste it leads to much reflection and thought about the passage itself. An added benefit is that the images often lead me to wonderful blogs by other believers and the discovery of amazing artists both historical and contemporary. 

       Some days when I read something in a blog where I find the image I will copy and paste something from the blog or sometimes when I am reading some other devotional book I will put in a meaningful passage from the book. 

        Right now I am reading One Thosand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. If you haven't read it it is a wonderful book. I think it may become one of my all time favorites.

Judas hangs himself.

January 31, 2013 Matthew 27:1-10

Matthew 27

New International Version (NIV)

Judas Hangs Himself

27 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. ² So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

³ When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. ⁴ “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
⁵ So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
⁶ The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” ⁷ So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. ⁸ That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹ Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, ¹⁰ and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”^[a]

John 1

John 1

I am spending many hours of devotional time memorizing John 1. I have incorporated that memorization into my journal.

John 1

John 1