He Is Awesome, No Matter What

 “He Is Awesome, No Matter What”

Psalm 44:8 NLT

O God, we give glory to you all day long and constantly praise your name.

I know that I should give glory to God all day, every day, but there are days when I just don’t feel like doing that because life just gets discouraging and challenging.  There are days when I know I should be doing more for Him, but I just want to do my own thing and bury myself in my own selfish desires.  It’s often hard to know that you should be doing something you know is right, but you just don’t feel like doing it or just aren’t up to it.  This is just how life sometimes is.  It’s not that we don’t love God, but often we just don’t feel like praising Him because of what we are dealing with.

I have learned and continue to learn that no matter what I am dealing with or what I experience that is frustrating, it never changes how awesome and amazing God has been and continues to be.  I need to remember that no matter how I am feeling or what I experience that discourages me, I should still praise Him because He is always working in my life and that He deserves all the glory.

No matter what we deal with in life, He still deserves praise.  It’s often easy to sulk and mope because something or someone did put us in a bad mood, but we always have something to praise God for.  No matter what, He always deserves praise.  No matter what hardships or confusion life is throwing at me, there is always something I can praise God for. 

This psalm is great to remind us that we need to be giving glory to God all day long and praise His name because He is always working in some way in our lives.  He never stops working and never leaves our side. 

I know there are a lot of people out there going through some seriously difficult life circumstances right now and they need a lot of encouragement.  It’s easy for me to sulk and mope often times, but then I am reminded that there are always other people who are experiencing much more difficult things that I cannot comprehend.  Many of these people are probably still praising God even in their storms!  That gives me no reason to mope and sulk.  I need reminding to praise God and keep my eyes completely focused on Him.

I hope that no matter what you are experiencing today, this week, this month or this year, you will pull through, lift your head up and know that God is still working in and through your life to do wonderful things.  As hard as it might be to see and feel it, believe that He is and give praise to Him.

No matter what, nothing ever changes how awesome and amazing God is!

 

We Always Need Reminding

 “We Always Need Reminding”

Isaiah 46:9 NLT

Remember the things I have done in the past.  For I alone am God!  I am God, and there is none like me.

It seems the older I get, the more things I need to remember.  Usually they are things that I need to get done or want to accomplish.  Whether this be at home, work or church, there are so many different tasks and other things that I need to be reminded to do. 

At home, I have a routine list of chores to take care of each day and through the week.  Then there are the projects I am trying to take care of.  At work, I have responsibilities to take care of and remember all day long.  That can get very exhausting if it’s a busy day!  Then at church there are things to remember to do as well whatever the situation may be.  Wherever I am, there are things I need to be reminded of.  As you all will probably relate to and agree with, all the things we need to remember to do can be very mentally draining.

With all the things we try to remember to take care of, the most important thing we must always be mindful of is all that God has done in the past for us and all that He continues to do for us.  How much effort do we put into remembering all that God has done?  How often do we need reminded how amazing and wonderful He is and what He has done?  Out of all we have to keep track of and remember each day, the most important is taking time to be mindful of our Awesome God and all that He has done. 

As important as it is to keep in mind and remember our responsibilities each day at home, work, church and other places we go, we should never forget and always be reminded all that we have because of what God has done for us. 

Maybe we need to set reminders around the house, in our vehicles or at work to remind us to praise God and to take time to remember His great sacrifice.  There are so many options and ideas of ways to remind ourselves these days.  Take advantage of these ways and get creative to set reminders.  God loves when we take time to remember how great He is and spend time praising Him for all He has done and continues to do.

We always need reminding, don’t we?  No matter what we do or where we go, we always need some kind of reminders.  We need the same in our walk with God.  We need daily reminders to keep us in step with Him and to never forget or take for granted how awesome He is!

Let us always be reminded!

Are We Connected

“Are We Connected?”

Exodus 33:18-20 NIV

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”  And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.  I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.  But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

One of many amazing encounters we see in the Old Testament between Moses and God.  Moses was connected and was about to have a major connection session with Him!

As I think about how we connect these days, I feel like we are focused on connecting every way we can in our world and with our world these days.  We want to be connected on social media.  We want to be connected with events happening in our church.  We want to be connected to events happening in our community.  We want to be connected with what is happening in our children’s schools.  We try so hard to stay connected so that we don’t miss anything!

With all of the technology we have available today, we are so concerned to miss anything that we peruse our social media accounts and check to see what texts and e-mails are coming in.  We seriously do not want to miss ANYTHING!  I admit I have become one of these people.  I don’t want to miss any important info that I need to know from whatever sources I feel are important for me to stay up with.

As much as we have become addicted to staying connected in whatever ways possible to not miss anything, it breaks my heart when I think how unconnected we have become in our relationship with God.  I’m not saying we don’t care about growing in our faith, but we have to admit we focus a lot more on staying connected in our world events rather than with what God wants to teach us. 

How often do we find ourselves with the deep desire to connect with God as Moses did?  He wanted to be so close to God and he made it a priority.  That’s what we need to take time to consider in our lives these days.  How important is it for us to be connected to God and what are we willing to do in order to make that happen?  Do we really want to connect with Him?  Will we let all the other connections we try so hard to maintain go by the wayside in order to make sure God remains our top priority? 

This doesn’t mean we ditch other things in our lives, but it does mean that God needs to be our main connectivity above all!  What are we willing to do about this and how badly do we want to connect with Him? 

Are we connected more with Him or with the world?

Strategies To Defeat

“Strategies To Defeat”

Ephesians 6:10-11 NLT

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.

We all have experience with putting together different strategies for various things we’ve been involved with through our years of life.  There are many different situations and activities in which we put much effort into strategizing. 

In school, we may develop certain strategies to accomplish things in our classes or extra-curricular activities. 

At our job, we may come up with certain strategies to do the work better and build up to more promotions. 

We become involved with various sports and develop strategies to not only work together as a team, but to defeat our opponents during games.

In different hobbies we have, we can develop certain strategies to learn more and get better at what we learn.

When we buy a home, we can develop strategies to make the house better and build equity.

There are so many different ways in life that we become involved with developing strategies to do different tasks for various reasons, whether professionally or personally.  The list could be endless!

As we consider different strategies that we put our time and energy into through the years, I cannot help but to think how much more effort we often put into the strategies of earthly matters and how much less we focus on the strategies of growing in our relationship with God by defeating our enemy, Satan.  How much time and energy do we invest each day by reading God’s Word and developing mental and spiritual strategies to defeat the flaming arrows of what Satan throws at us? 

I so often find myself becoming defeated because I have put so much time and effort into other worldly things in my life and much less time and effort being smart about how the enemy might attack me.  I don’t build my spiritual ammo up to defeat Satan. 

What would our spiritual lives look like if we put much more effort into being prepared daily for spiritual battle?  Paul meant it when he told us to be prepared.  We should heed that encouragement and always be prepared for the strategies the enemy throws at us.

Just Like He Said He Would Do

 “Just Like He Said He Would Do”

Matthew 28:6 NLT

He isn’t here!  He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen.  Come, see where his body was lying.

I think we would all agree that we like when people follow through on what they say they will do for us.  We like it when our food comes out fresh and hot in a fast food place or restaurant.  We like when installers show up on time to do what they say they will do and do it correctly.  We like when repair people show up on time and get the job done that they promised to do.  When a good friend or family member says they will show up to some event, we appreciate them making it a priority to actually be there.

As we like it when people do these things for us, the exact same is expected of us when we give our word to doing something or being there for other people.  When we say we are going to do something, people put trust in us and expect us to follow through.  Granted, life happens and there are understandable things that come up to prevent this at times, but we must always make the very best effort to be there and do what we say we will do.

As we celebrated Easter, the great story of the amazing Resurrection of Jesus Christ this past weekend, I got to thinking more about this passage.  What stuck out to me was the phrase “just as He said he would happen”.  Jesus predicted what would happen and it happened.  People were totally amazed and dumbfounded at all that happened.  It is truly amazing to remember that Jesus not only died, but He rose again victorious! 

I was reminded this weekend, and am reminded each day, that He keeps His promises and does what He says He will do.  He has never let me down and He has always come through.  He always will!  As we continue our thoughts of Easter weekend and the praise of Him rising from the grave as He said would happen, I think it would be good for us to all do some soul searching and examine our lives to all the things that we “say” we will do. 

When we say we will do something, let us make the most effort to keep the commitment.  People are counting on us just like we count on others.  None of us are perfect, I get that, but we definitely need to do better on what we commit to and actually following through.  Look at all that Jesus followed through on and He went through more than anyone in history will ever go through.

Let it be said of us from others that we did “Just like we said we would do”. 

Giving It Up To Truly Follow

“Giving It Up To Truly Follow”

Luke 9:23 NLT

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.  If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.  But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”

I’ll be perfectly honest with you all in that I like to do things my own way.  I also like to hang on to things that I think are important.  Pretty much any day, I want to do things the way I think they should be done and go my own way.  I also want to hang on to things that I think are important and have a hard time letting go of what so often shouldn’t be important to me at all.

This passage has been heavy on my heart the past week or so and I just wanted to share the real struggle this has been for me as I take inventory of my life and how I want to grow closer to Christ in giving up my ways and my life. 

We so often want the better life and the better ways that Christ offers us, but we do NOT want to and are so often NOT willing to give up our own ways to do so.  It’s like we think we can do our own thing and have the better life Christ offers us to have the best of both worlds.  It does not work that way and we are well aware of that!  However, we continue to convince ourselves that we can do what we want and when we want.

Two things I find fascinating when Jesus talks about the cost of following Him.  First, He makes it very clear the cost of following Him and how hard it will be.  Second, I’ve often found myself thinking that He almost tries to talk people out of following Him in a sense because He wants people to really consider the huge cost.  He wants us to follow Him and desires that above all, but He absolutely wants us to count the cost of what it really means to give up our own way and our own life in order to do so. 

Friends, do we REALLY count the cost???  I don’t think we often do.  We say we do and we say we understand what it means to follow Him, but I don’t think we totally understand the depth and magnitude of what this truly means.  I know I don’t.  It is very difficult to daily give up our own way.  As much as we are all so accustomed to a self-centered life and culture, it is so challenging to surrender every day and give control over to Jesus. 

My prayer is that we all make a true and honest effort to daily commit to giving up our own ways and our life so that Christ can really be in control and lead us.

For God So LOVED That He GAVE

“For God So LOVED That He GAVE”

John 3:16 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

I have heard this Scripture cited so much through my years of life, but the past few weeks something really stood out as I heard it again.  Two words stood out to me and really stuck with me as I thought more about this passage I’ve heard so much.  The two words are “Loved” and “Gave”.  They are not only action words, they are also very intentional.  What greater message could be shared with a dying world than to tell them that God Loved and He gave? 

No one else in the entire world has ever loved and given more than God.  This is a model for us to truly live by.  God so loved this world that He gave.  He loved more than anyone of us could ever love and He gave more than any of us could ever give.  This is a model of the greatest love ever shown and given to anyone. 

As I pondered this thought the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking of the absolute greatness of the love God gave in sending Jesus Christ to redeem our lives.  Let’s just consider this thought and let it sink in for a while.  Take a few moments and just think about this passage and those 2 action words.  God so LOVED that He GAVE.  It’s really breathtaking if you stop to consider this!  We didn’t do a thing.  He did it all!  He love us so very much that He gave everything. 

Friends, I encourage you over the next several days and weeks to take time to think about these intentional action words and what they mean to you and your life.  Consider the impact they have not only on your life, but what they could mean for others who need to hear of the great Gospel message!

I just don’t ever want to take for granted (even though I have way too often) how intentional God’s love was that He truly gave it all for us.  He so very much loved us that He gave His only Son.  There is so much power packed in those words!

I hope that we all keep these intentional action words etched in our minds each day as we remember how very amazing it is and was that God so loved us that He gave the most anyone has ever given.

For God so LOVED that He GAVE!  Let us NEVER forget how amazing and powerful these words are!