Friday, June 5, 2015

RJD June, 2015 God's Grace




RJD June 2015 God’s Grace

In looking through an old journal, I ran across these thoughts on God’s grace and His blessings. God has been good to my family and my friends I rejoice in all He does for His children.

“From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.” John 1:16

3/4/2010  What We Receive From God
From God’s great love we receive:

1. Salvation            2. Eternal Life
                   3. Fellowship with Jesus 4. Skills and Talents
  5. Our Families        6. Our Friends
       7. Our Homes           8. Our Health
     9. Our Leisure         10. Our creativity

We receive these blessings but we also receive innumerable more.


3/18/2010  All His Children Receive His Blessings

               God is not stingy with His blessings. He doesn’t sit in heaven and say, “One to a customer.” Neither does he stand at the gate and say,” You received a blessing yesterday; you can’t have another until tomorrow.”

               God gives blessings out of His great unmerited love for His children. We cannot imagine how much grace God possesses.

               The hymn, “Count Your Blessing” tells us to count each one and to name them. We might even want to study them individually. As we look at each blessing we might become more appreciative of what God has done for us.

               God blesses each of us every day.


4/28/2010 How big is God’s Grace?

His grace reaches all God’s creation. We see grace in nature—the sun, the moon and stars, the rain, and, yes, the snow. When we watch the fireflies light up the summer evenings and hear the sounds of August nights, our hearts witness His grace and blessings.

               When we hear of a baby’s birth, we silently give thanks for the new life. As the child grows and matures, we pray for his or her safety.

               As we interact with one another we show God’s grace by giving words of encouragement, by keeping confidences, by praying for each other. Daily, we receive the Father’s grace. We don’t always recognize it. At first, but it flows from God to each of us.

               God’s grace covers us from conception to our time we will spend with Him in heaven. It is as big as His kingdom and, yet, he extends that love to those searching for the unconditional love found with Him.

7/17/2010 From His Grace

               God’s love for us comes from His vast store of grace. He uses this grace as the basis for all His deeds.

               He answers prayer out of His great love for us—the love we don’t deserve. He doesn’t evaluate a person’s request and respond to those that rank in the upper percentile of requests.

               Even though we don’t receive the answer we expect when we want it, He holds that request until He sees fit to answer as He sees fit.

               Hymns speak of His grace being wonderful, matchless, amazing, and marvelous, redeeming. It is limitless, deeper than the seas, higher than a mountain and all-sufficient, broader of the scope and greater than our sin.

               His grace is awesome; I am humbled each time I realize I have received it.

Update: A friend recently sent me a note. In that note, she reminded me of how God works through our mishaps to speak to us. She had told me this in a phone call and I responded that He already had told me things I would have not paid close attention to if I hadn't fallen and broken a rib. He uses our down time to get us to concentrate on what He has for us.

Linking to enthusiasticallydawn./2015/06/05/random-journal-day-51

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

God







     
“God grant me the serenity to change the things I can; courage to accept the things I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference.” Reinhold Niebuhr
            
               God: the first word of this prayer, our Creator, the giver of life, the giver of all good things.
               God: the maker of stars, the One who keeps them in balance.
               God: the one responsible for all our growing plants.
              
               “God is great; God is good.” We learned this table grace as children. Yes, God is great and God is good—very great and very good.

               God, our Father, protects us from evil and from willful sin. God, our help in ages past, present and future, help us to work for You; help us to live for You. Help us to share the good news of Your love.
  
              From time to time, we may have doubts about God. We may even find we are angry with Him. These emotions are okay because He created these emotions. But we must deal with them by giving them to Him and allowing Him to guide us through to His peace about the issue that bothers us.


 God, Healer, Heal us from all our infirmities physical, emotional, and spiritual. These things, I ask, believing in You. AMEN

Monday, June 1, 2015

Some Thoughts on Prayer




Imagine with me that you have made friends with a neighbor and were able to introduce that person to the Lord. He or she accepts Jesus into their heart and then wants to know about what a Christian does, specifically about prayer.

What is prayer?
   
               Prayer is the way we talk to God, through Jesus.

 Why do We Have to Pray?

               We pray because Jesus set the example for us.

               He spent time alone in prayer on a regular basis.
“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
(Luke 5:16) (NIV)

               In the garden of Gethsemane, He prayed for His Father’s will to be done.
(Matthew 26:36-45) (NIV)
              
               He taught the disciples how to pray
(Matthew 6:9-13) (NIV)

He prayed for Himself.
“Father, now glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
(John 17:5) (NIV)

               He prayed for the disciples.
(John 17:6-19)(NIV)
   
               He prayed for those who would believe because of the disciples’ ministry.
(John 17:20-21)(NIV)

When Can We Pray?
                
               We can access God through prayer at any time of the day or night. Even when we can’t sleep, we can pray.

What about the things we can’t have any control over?

               We can still pray because our God is in control. People need to remember that God is in control of all that happens in our world.

Do our prayers really matter to God?
              
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)


“The prayer offered in faith will make a sick person well. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:15a, 16b (NIV)

God Alone

  Jesus and the children at our church's prayer walk.          I will both lie down in peace and sleep;  For You alone, O LORD make ...