Looking to God

God is our Father. He is our king. He created all things, sustains all things and perfects all things through His Son, Jesus. We are His children, loved by Him, protected by Him and nurtured by Him. His heart is in us and we are joyful because of it.

Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his hosts!
Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!

(Psalms 148:1-4)

God stretched His hand over the waters and gave life to all the earth. The mountains sprung forth, the rivers gave way and the dust surrendered its firstfruits. The stars sang, glorifying His name: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

Great is our God. Great is His holy name. Great is all that He made. Great is His countenance. Great is His throne. Great is the government He established. Great is our God and king.

How great is the Lord Almighty? Measure the universe from edge to edge and His power is greater. His love overflows, pouring into His creation, giving birth to His children, who will praise Him night and day. Great is our God. Great is His name. Great He reigns forever and ever. Praise the Lord!

In all things, God is faithful. He begat us, is nurturing us through the Holy Spirit, and is preparing us for our ultimate purpose. We may sin, we may turn away, but God will never forsake us. He will always be there, loving us through everything we do.

“You are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

(1 Corinthians 1:7-9)

As we allow God to live through us, love will perpetually flow through us. As God is love, we then will love as He loves. His ways will be our ways and the fruits of His Spirit will be evident in our lives, for our works will manifest His love.

God gave us Christ Jesus as our Savior, our light and our hope. Through Him, we have peace. Through Him, we are whole. Whatever we lack, His spirit lives in us to make us complete.

God is our king, the great Creator, the wonderful Counsellor, perfect in all things, bountiful in all joy and generous in all goodness. His mercy for us will never fail, and His grace will always abound, for God is faithful.

Salvation is a free gift that God has given to all who believe Jesus is His Son. No other truth is as powerful, as perfect and as just as that purposed by the Father for our understanding. We cannot earn salvation. God gives it to us freely.

“But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.”

(Romans 5:15)

What would we gain if our works were a way to enter into the Kingdom of God? God’s mercy would not matter, nor would His forgiveness. Then by what standards would God judge us? If it were so, no one would be worthy of salvation. Thankfully, we have Jesus.

Adam’s sin required a blood offering; for through Adam, all have sinned, but through Christ, all shall live. God’s mercy is so great that He offered His only Son so that we might live. No longer does sin hold us in bondage, for Christ paid the price for us. We are free.

We do not have to be anxious for the day of salvation. God has given eternal life to us without further qualification. His plan includes us raised from the dead. We are His. He has saved us. How joyful a truth it is to know God’s free gift is eternal life.

How wonderful God is to have given us hope through the resurrection. How joyful a truth we have in accepting Jesus as our savior; no greater love had God than for Him to have given His Son as a sacrifice so that we may live.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 4:4-7)

Rejoice in the Lord always knowing He will one day vindicate us by raising us from the dead. No longer will death have dominion over our souls; we will live forever. His purpose is true, His plan is sure and His justice is swift. There will be no more tears, and we will one day praise Him forever in His presence.

Rejoice in the Lord always, giving Him the praise He so truly deserves. He made all things, blessed us with his presence and gave us His life so that we might draw breath. His light will never go out and His anointing over us, which He has foreknown since the beginning, will be sure, true and just.

Rejoice in the Lord always with hands raised, for He is performing a marvelous work. He is making a new creation in us. Through His Spirit, our heart of stone has become a heart of flesh, and His joy lives in us always. Great is our God, for there are no other gods before Him.

Rejoice in the Lord always.

When God sacrificed His only Son as payment for all our sins, He was showing just how great His love for us truly is. For as in Adam all are dead, we are now alive through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

(Colossians 3:12-13)

Unless it is a sin against the Holy Spirit, no sin is too great for God to forgive. For God is faithful in His promises, generous in His love, unwavering in His forgiveness, and kind to all. He provides us peace when everything seems to collapse around us, hope when there is no hope, grace when we need it most and joy when sorrow grips our heart.

In the same way, we ought to forgive others as God has forgiven us. Our lives depend on God’s mercy, so should we be merciful to others as a way to show them who God is and how His nature lives in us through Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Of ourselves, we are as specks in the sand. Had God not called us to Himself, we would be nothing. Our repentance through His Son reconciled us to our Father. He has forgiven us and forever we will be part of His eternal family, whose members of His household no one can remove. Therefore, forgive, as the Lord has forgiven us.

When Job questioned God about his suffering, stating how calamity is for the unrighteous, he was really saying that he was righteous and did not deserve what God had allowed upon his life. God had a plan, though. He was there with Job through the trials he endured. For through those trials God was showing his glory.

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.”

(Job 38:16-18)

There are moments in our lives when we believe God may have abandoned us. They are only moments; for in everything we suffer, God is showing His glory. Our true test as Christians is our faith we have in the Almighty. Will we abandon God if we did not receive the answer we wanted? The answer is God would never abandon us.

Through His Son, Jesus, we have salvation. God had allowed Jesus to suffer the cross as a way for us to understand God’s awesome grace. For through the cross, we also have hope of the resurrection. We will one day live again, and the devil cannot take that hope away from us.

Look to God for salvation and He will give it. Our sufferings are only for a moment, and then God will glorify us just as He did Jesus. Bless the Lord, for all things are for His glory.

Find gladness in God, for in Him is life. He separates the day from the night and there is no sorrow in His presence. His goodness is plentiful for the day and His love for us will never empty.

“For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.”

(Acts 2:27-28)

We are but a vapor, but in God, there is meaning to all we do. By the salvation we have in Him through Jesus, His son, our sins are no more. His grace is sufficient to quell our anxious heart. All joy belongs to our Father who is in heaven, and He freely gives it to us.

Look to God for gladness of heart, for He will not hold back His spirit from our bones. He will pour His love into us, so long as we ask with a penitent heart. We will inherit all joy when our deepest longing is to please Him, creator of all things, author and finisher of our faith.

Whatever ails us, let us fear not, for the Lord will prevail. His justice is righteous. Our patience is as a fine fruit He chose for us from the Tree of Life. Our happiness is in our Savior, for He is good, pure and just. He will make us full of gladness.