Category: Our Exceptional God

The Cards You’ve Been Dealt

Trusting God With The Cards You’ve Been Dealt

cards you've been dealt

Are you happy with the cards you’ve been dealt?

Is your life right now going “exactly” as you’d planned it?

Odds are, if you’re like many other people, your answer is probably “no.”

No one would ever wish for a debilitating illness, a contentious divorce, or their child addicted to drugs.

Those are just a few of the gut-wrenching challenges that can touch our lives and lead us down a path towards depression and anxiety.

Statistics for 2022 show that anxiety disorders of various types affect over 284 million people worldwide.

That huge number is close to the population of Indonesia, the 4th largest country in the world.

In other words, a lot of people are suffering, and you’re not alone.

Those childhood dreams we used to have of a perfect existence?

They quickly fade once harsh realities and the demands of this life darken those once, rose-colored, glasses.

Life is hard, and it’s getting harder.

Please, where’s that refresh button?

Are the difficult cards you’ve been dealt for a purpose?

That’s a hard question, especially for people of faith who think God has forgotten them in their troubles.

God Has Not Forgotten About You

God does not forget about us.

In fact, He cares more than we could ever imagine.

There is a peace that only He can give and when our hope becomes assurance – it’s grace.

Until man bows in humility and recognizes that God orders the sun to shine and the rain to fall and the stars in place and the planets in order and recognizes that a God who can control the whole universe is interested in the details of his life. Until a man or a woman bows in that posture of humility, there is ultimately no hope for their neurotic anxiety-filled lives.- Alistair Begg, Christian pastor and author.1

Recently, I watched a video from The Skit Guys that is really touching. If it can provide you with any encouragement at all, then I am thankful.

 

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1Alistair Begg quotation courtesy of truthforlife.org. From “A Biblical Approach To Anxiety – From Standing Firm in Shaky Times, Volume 3.” Podcast, [31:22-31:53]. October 21, 1990, Web. Accessed April 25, 2022. Retrieved from https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/a-biblical-approach-to-anxiety/

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Not Perfect But Redeemed By Grace

No, Not Perfect, But Redeemed

Nobody is perfect

Don’t you love how, in the Bible, the great men and women of faith whom God used for His glory were not perfect people?

Moses was a murderer  

David was an adulterer  

Rahab was a harlot

Jonah was angry and a flight risk

Thomas was full of doubt

See? There’s hope for you and me. (Just kidding)

The idea that Christians have always led “perfect lives” is a misconception.

We are all sinful, and responsible for owning up to our failings.

Salvation is a free gift, but not a free pass to boldly continue to purposely sin.

Perfect? Hardly.

There is only one who is perfect, and He is Jesus.

Jesus alone.

The Apostle Paul – Not Perfect But Redeemed

Take the apostle Paul (formerly Saul) as another example.

His beautiful letters to the churches reflect God’s grace over his changed life.

But, until his dramatic conversion, he was a legalistic pharisee who was actually in favor of the persecution of Christians.  There’s an accounting in the Book of Acts that Saul was in the crowd for the stoning of Stephen.

Even more disturbing, he guarded the cloaks of those doing the actual stoning.

What, then, caused Paul to become a man of faith and a follower of Jesus rather than a hater?

More like who.

Jesus.

Only Jesus saves.

Not perfect but redeemed

God’s Great Love

Like the apostle Paul, we all have sinful practices to be ashamed of, but we can take that shame and lay it at the foot of the Cross.

Here is an excerpt Paul wrote while in prison for preaching the gospel.

4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,7so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. – Ephesians 2: 4-7, (NASB).1

We may feel like a failure at times, but God can use us.

Pastor Alan Redpath (1907-1989), has this thought-provoking encouragement that rings true to this day:

The Bible NEVER flatters its heroes. It tells us the truth about each one of them in order that against the background of human breakdown and failure we may magnify the grace of God and recognize that it is the delight of the Spirit of God to work upon the platform of human impossibilities. – Alan Redpath, pastor, author, and theologian.2

To God be the Glory!

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1Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

2Quotation courtesy of Alan Redpath, former pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, as quoted from https://quotefancy.com/alan-redpath-quotes

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Happy Easter 2022

Happy Easter 2022

Happy Easter 2022

He is Risen!

He is Risen indeed!

Every time I hear those words, whether it’s in church or being said among friends, I get goosebumps.

We have a risen Savior!

Recently, I saw a short video that was filmed in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Could it be any better than this?Wishing You A Happy Easter 2022

Tell the world we have good news.

Our Light of the World, Jesus, is Risen!

May the wondrous Resurrection of our Savior be an encouraging reminder to all of us of His love and grace and promise of eternal life.

On behalf of Delight-in-God.com,

we wish you and your loved ones a very

Happy Easter 2022!

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Do You Hear What I Hear?

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Listen . . .

Do you hear what I hear?

I’m talking about that beautiful sound in your soul that rises above all the noise of this world – a sound straight from Heaven.

It’s the sound of God calling you to trust Him, no matter what happens.

As the Apostle Paul assured the Corinthian church in his letter, God is faithful.

God is faithful

God “is” faithful.

If you love Him completely, have a repentant heart, and trust that your salvation comes through His Son, Jesus Christ, you are saved.

All glory to God!

Can we even fathom how amazing that is?

do you hear what I hear

Known and Loved

What is man that You think of him,
And a son of man that You are concerned about him? – Psalm 8:4, (NASB).2

The Almighty knows yours and my name.

We have countless reasons to let our lights shine – a reflection of His goodness.

Those that wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ will be kept by him, and confirmed to the end; and those that are so will be blameless in the day of Christ: not upon the principle of strict justice, but gracious absolution; not in rigour of law, but from rich and free grace. How desirable is it to be confirmed and kept of Christ for such a purpose as this! How glorious are the hopes of such a privilege, whether for ourselves or others! To be kept by the power of Christ from the power of our own corruption and Satan’s temptation, that we may appear without blame in the great day! O glorious expectation, especially when the faithfulness of God comes in to support our hopes!  – Matthew Henry, Christian minister and author.3

Do you hear what I hear?

It’s God’s call for His children to come to Him.

We can’t earn our salvation through our deeds.

We simply need to open our hearts and respond to His amazing free gift of grace.

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1 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

2 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

3 Matthew Henry quotation, “Bible Commentaries”. [1706.] Courtesy of Studylight.org., https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhm/1-corinthians-1.html, n.d. para. 6. Public Domain. Web. Accessed 29 March, 2022.

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My God is in Heaven, Not in The White House

My God is in Heaven

breaking news

Every day on the news we see the results of SIN making headlines.

Clearly, our world is broken and in need of a Savior.

No matter where we live (or who is in charge there) the entire world is in a mess.

Without a doubt, it’s tempting to blame political leaders, but the bottom line is that our real enemy is Satan – the father of lies. 

A wise veteran once told me, “My God is in Heaven, not in the White House.”

My God is in Heaven

He’s absolutely right.

There’s only one Savior of the world – Jesus Christ.

And, until He comes again, we will continue to see terrible headlines.

Our Sovereign God Has No Equal

It’s a misconception to think that Satan is equal to God in any way.

The devil fights hard, but rest assured, the Enemy’s time is short.

It will be scary at times.

But, for those of us who believe in salvation through Christ alone, our Victory is assured and on the horizon.

I’m not afraid of the devil. The devil can handle me – he’s got judo I never heard of. But he can’t handle the One to whom I’m joined; he can’t handle the One to whom I’m united; he can’t handle the One whose nature dwells in my nature. – A.W. Tozer, Christian theologian and author.1

Aren’t you thankful that God loves us so much He sent us His Son?

If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me! – Pioneer missionary to America, Robert Murray McCheyne.2

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1 A.W. Tozer Quotation, Christian theologian and author, courtesy of AZquotes.com

2 Robert Murray McCheyne quotation, as quoted is courtesy of bible.org. from “Christ Prays For Us!” Our Daily Bread, May 28, 1995. Web. Accessed March 21, 2022.  Retrieved from https://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-137-difficult-words-true.

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