God is a Person

It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. LAMENTATIONS 3:22–23

When I was a small boy, I thought of God as an old man with a long white beard.  After all, hadn’t Michelangelo painted Him that way?

Later, as I read the Bible, and after I had accepted Christ as my Savior, I realized that God is a spirit, yet He has the attributes of a person:  He thinks; He speaks; He communicates; He loves; He becomes angry; He grieves.

Because God is a person, He feels that which we feel.  After all, we are made in His image, so it is to be expected that we would be able to communicate our deepest feelings and emotions to God.

God communicates with us in two ways.  First, He communicates with us through His written Word, the Bible.  It tells us who God is, who we are, and why we need a Savior so that we might have that relationship with God which sin has broken.

Second, God communicates with us through His Son.  Jesus said that no man can come to the Father except through Him.  We have that access to Jesus, and thus to God, through salvation.

God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He never changes.

Our Father and our God, sometimes I can’t express my deepest emotions. But I know that Jesus can express my very heart to You and that You understand.  Thank You, Father, for Your great compassion and faithful love.  In the name of Christ, amen.

[From  UNTO THE HILLS  A Daily Devotional by BILLY GRAHAM]

God's Goodness

Psalms 34:18  "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”[NIV]  The Good News: Though you may feel defeated, God is closer than you realize.  He is always with you and can heal your heart.

The heart of a Psalmist is familiar with suffering and consistent in hope. This pattern emerges time and time again. The writer expresses an honest struggle, makes a request, and ends with a choice to trust in God.  Some Psalms focus on lament, which means to grieve the loss of something or someone.  Some focus on praise.  But many combine the two, even when several verses reveal the pain of suffering.

The power of God’s love has a way of enhancing our ability to believe.  When we experience a deeper connection to love, the tank of our ability to believe gets filled and empowered.  On the other hand, our ability to believe can feel like it is getting shipwrecked with our hearts are struggling with disconnect to love.

When you see someone struggling to believe, you will often find someone who carries a broken heart and the absence of the power of love in their life.  Disappointment has taken over.  Weariness has gotten the upper hand.  Life has a way of beating the belief out of you.

That is why the healing power of love is needed in our lives every day.  We need it to heal and recover from all the experiences we are going through.  When love has not been imbedded in someone’s heart, it can be so easily to lose hope and struggle to believe.

Many believers are trying to help their belief with a “I think I can” kind of approach.  They try and try harder, but struggle to make progress, because there is a love issue missing in their heart.

When you love someone in a way that it impacts their heart, it can literally bring their belief system back to life.  That’s what love does.  It revives hope, renews your perspective, gives you meaning and purpose.

For many of us in our journey, we just need the experience of being loved back to life. 

THE POWER OF INTERCESSION

THE POWER OF INTERCESSION

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Ephesians 6:18

I once received a message with the following words: “I will be requesting a doctor's report on the wear and tear of your knees any time soon.  Hope you are still remembering me in your prayers.”

As I meditated on the words I realised how easy it is for our prayers to become selfish and how we approach the Lord all the time and it is all about us.

The Father wants to use us as instruments to reach out to others that are hurting, He wants us to learn the discipline of desiring the best for others before we have even received it ourselves.

The day you learn to reach out for others in prayer is the day you will learn the highest expression of love for others.  You have to pray with all kinds of prayer and you have to persevere in your supplication for all the saints.

Your prayers have the potential of winning mighty victories for someone else.  Someone at this moment needs someone to call on the Lord on his or her behalf.  They need someone to cover their backs...

When last did you take someone as your prayer assignment and prayed consistently for them?  What is the wear and tear of your knees like?

When Job prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes.  In fact, the LORD gave him twice as much as before! Job 42 v 10 [NLT]

When Job obeyed this principle of interceding for others, the Lord restored his fortunes.  Many people have battled to receive something from the Lord because all they have done is to selfishly pray for themselves.

Learn the discipline of standing in the gap for others, that alone can open doors of for you.  It does not matter what the people you have to pray for are like!

They might have hurt you and they might not even be able to reward you for being there for them.  Realize that your reward is with the Lord.  Job prayed for his friends with no regard of how they had criticized him.

Someone is in need of your prayers today, doors for you when you learn to stand in the gap for others.

FROM THE SHEPHERD’S DESK DAILY DEVOTIONAL VOL 1 by Charles P. Magaiza