Who Is God?

August 1, 2018 Gracie

Who is God and What is He Like?

If someone were to ask you that question, would you have an answer?

It’s a pretty important question, judging by the amount of people on their computers asking it.

According to the search engines, they number in the thousands every single month.

Can you see what an opportunity this is?

As Christians, we can’t keep the knowledge of the Blessed Savior to ourselves.

When an opportunity to share our testimony presents, please tell someone!

Look Heavenwards

Have you ever visited a place that is jaw-dropping in its beauty?

For my husband and me, it was the view from a mountaintop in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It took my breath away and it wasn’t from the altitude.

The realization that God created all of that for us is too extraordinary to comprehend sometimes.

Author of the Universe

This treasured verse from the opening lines of David’s Psalm 19 speaks volumes.

The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. – Psalm 19:1. NASB.

The heavens declare His glory

Fellow Christian writer, Sandra Boyte, wrote a beautiful poem about this I thought you might enjoy.

God Is

by Sandra Boyte
06/13/10

“God is kinda boring!”
I heard the young man say.
And I wondered at our message
Which made him feel that way.
Do our orchestrated lessons
Reveal or conceal His Glory,
Honor, strength, and wisdom,
The wonder of His story?

The Sculptor of deep canyons,
And Painter of the skies,
Maestro of all music,
Composer of lark’s cry…
Conductor of the thunderstorm,
Source and Designer of creation,
Dreamer of the rainbow’s arc,
Architect of every nation!

“God is simply irrelevant!”
I heard the Academic rebuff.
And I marveled at the void
Of a live without hope or trust.
Where love, faith, right and wrong,
Are held as empty conceits,
Ideals can have no anchor
But drown in unbelief.

Oh, Author of all languages,
Instructor of all knowing,
Mathematician, Physicist,
First Gardener of all that’s growing…
From anthropology to zoology,
All that is seen, or felt, or heard,
Atomic to astronomic
Begun with just one word!

“God has been replaced!”
I heard the politician preach.
Supposing that man could control
Things placed outside his reach.
Sinfulness exalted,
Righteousness ridiculed,
God’s laws met with scorn,
His word is over-ruled.

Eternal God and King!
Judge of all mankind!
Great Warrior in battle,
Outside both space and time!
Ruler of all beings,
Of earth and heaven above,
Administrator of justice,
Your name is Truth and Love.

God Is Who He Is,
Beginning and the End,
Alpha and Omega,
Master, Father, Friend.
Mere words can never express
His Grace and Majesty
Whose Presence fills the heavens,
Yet stoops for one like me.

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**Poem shared, courtesy of Sandra Boyte, from article url: https://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=185177

Our Exceptional God

Delighting In God

October 3, 2017 Gracie

Delighting In God When It Hurts

Delighting in God when the world appears to be falling apart seems almost impossible.

People who are unsaved might say something like this:

We’re supposed to what?

I can never praise God as long as there is evil in the world.

As the remarks demonstrate, these folks are deeply hurt, and we need to pray for them. I understand their anguish as they desperately search for answers.

So, how can we delight in anything when people are murdered, like what happened during the mass shootings in Las Vegas recently?

Las Vegas tragedy 2017

Gaining Perspective

As Christians, we know that we are all sinners in the sight of God. We also know in our hearts that evil people do evil things.

The breaking news is devastating. It isn’t easy to wrap our finite minds around evil in its brutal form.

We see it, we hear about it on the news, and our tears are flowing.

Political parties, the media, even late-night talk show hosts want to pass blame – it’s gotta be the guns themselves, they say, or they blame who is in the White House.

I’m not buying into that, and I hope you don’t either.

Ultimately, this is a sin problem.

What does the Bible say?

⁸If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. – 1 John 1:8-10. NASB.

Our life vest in every storm is the saving grace offered by Jesus Christ. Jesus, as the only Way, is the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. In that, we can rejoice.

In the meantime, we have to contend with sin and its ramifications. Unfortunately, some misguided people don’t even want to talk about it.

Ignoring Sin

Some Christians, sometimes churches, won’t talk about sin anymore because they’re afraid nonbelievers might get offended.

But, what they don’t seem to get is that not talking about sin and forgiveness takes away from the beauty of God’s gift of grace.

Please watch this short video highlighting one of the many problems with the Emergent Church.

Hurricanes and Fires

What about the recent storms?

How can we delight in anything when people from south Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico are still suffering after the devastating hurricanes?

We also can’t forget about those awful fires that quickly spread in the western United States.

Wildfires in the West

Why, God, why?

It’s natural to cry out to God in our distress.

We hurt for these victims.

Some people will look at tragedies and foolishly claim that God doesn’t care.

But, He does care.

We can’t even imagine the entire depth of how much He cares for us.

God has nothing to prove, including His love.

The Bible tells us the ending. As Christians, we can delight in the future return of our Lord and Savior and an end to our suffering. He is our only hope.

Seek Truth in Scripture

There are difficult times up ahead, much like what we’ve already seen the world. Scripture tells us that it will get worse.

Sugar-coating what happens in the end times helps no one.

There’s an urgent need for the preaching of the gospel.

People need the Lord.

Have you heard the Casting Crowns song called, “Just Be Held”?

I wanted to post it here.

Our prayers for peace may seem unanswered, but there is only One who offers true peace. Our peace comes only from Jesus Christ.

The world is not falling apart. It is “falling into place.”

Delighting In God When We Hurt

rose for the fallen

Most Heavenly Father, we love You.

Thank You for Your infinite grace.

We pray for the victims of these horrible tragedies.

We also lift up their friends and families and ask for Your peace

and comfort for them during this sad time.

Thank You, Father, for handling these spiritual battles

that we can’t fight on our own.

We don’t completely understand the reason for every trial,

but we know that You do.

The enemy wants to confuse us

and stir us up to reject Your promise of salvation

through Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Help us, Lord, to continue to trust You

when the world seems like it’s falling apart.

Amen.

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Our Exceptional God

Do You Need To Laugh?

September 26, 2017 Gracie

Do You Need A Break From It Too?

I don’t know about you, but I need to laugh.

There’s a lot of joy kill going on.

And, if you’re not careful, it can ruin your day pretty darn quick.

Can’t we even watch football anymore just because we enjoy the game?

Maybe it’s time to take a break from Facebook for awhile.

Anyone else needs a break from all the madness?

Here’s what Solomon, the son of David, said about a joyful heart in the Book of Proverbs.

*A joyful heart is good medicine,
But a broken spirit dries up the bones. – Proverbs 17:22, NASB.

God Created Laughter

Understandably, it’s hard to feel joy when stress levels are running high. A continuing crushed spirit can wreak havoc on your body.

There’s so much more to be grateful for than there is to bring us down.

Sometimes We Need To Laugh

In the spirit of trying to lighten things up a bit, I thought a few cute videos might take your minds off the News for awhile.

I’ve mentioned Christian comedian Tim Hawkins before in another blog post. If you haven’t heard of him before, he is downright hilarious.

I love his take on married life.

Did you ever see the movie, “A Few Good Men,” with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson? It’s an oldie (1992), but a classic for some of its memorable movie lines.

Remember this one: “You can’t handle the truth!”

If a couple of funny Tim Hawkins videos didn’t give you at least a chuckle, aren’t you glad God didn’t make you an Alpaca?

And I thought I had bad hair in the morning.

Do you need to laugh

Thank You, God, for laughter and the joy that it brings.

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Our Exceptional God

A Solar Eclipse And The Son

August 25, 2017 Gracie

A Solar Eclipse

Did anything big happen this week?

Just kidding.

You and I both know that millions of people watched the solar eclipse as it traversed across North America.

What a stunning sight it was!

A solar eclipse and the Son

We were on vacation at the time visiting family and dear friends in Santa Barbara, California.

While we weren’t in the direct path of the total eclipse, we were delighted to watch the eclipse live online.

No solar glasses required. 😉

As we watched, I couldn’t help but think how amazing and powerful God is.

The moon, the sun, and the stars all answer to Him.

How could we not delight in God?

O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! – Psalm 8:1, NASB.

A Solar Eclipse And The Son

While the majority of world attention was on the sun, I was thinking about the Son who gave His life for you and me.

I wanted to share this lovely poem with you from a fellow Christian writer.

It’s called “Eclipse.” I hope you enjoy.

Eclipse

by Margaret Kearley

A morning dusk descends,
A new day early ends
As if prepared for fall of night
And passing of the day’s daylight.
Her shroud to day, night lends
As morning dusk descends.

Birds still their morning song
Their clocks disturbed – and gone
Their daily greeting – in its place
A stillness falls upon the face
Of day, and night seems long
As birds desert their song.

Brief minutes pass – the sun
Resumes her day-route run.
Increasing brightness from her rays
Dispels the misplaced dusk-like phase
And the eclipse is done.
Welcome! Bright Morning Sun!

When dusk and night descend
Upon my soul – My Friend,
My Saviour, Lover of my heart,
Walks close beside me, through the dark
Until the night-time ends
And His Pure Light descends.

Source: www.FaithWriters.com.
Read more articles by Margaret Kearley

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Our Exceptional God

Happy Easter 2017

April 12, 2017 Gracie

Happy Easter 2017!

Are you ready for Easter?

We sure are!

Easter 2017

It’s such a beautiful and blessed time of year.

We are celebrating life at our house, in more ways than one.

Spring flowers are blooming in our garden.

Easter 2017

The weather is getting much better, and hopefully, no more hail stones for awhile. Our flowers took a pounding from the recent storm, but they’re coming back, more beautiful than ever.

Life in all its beauty, given to us by God alone.

An Easter Surprise

*NG just sent us her latest coloring project.

Isn’t she talented?

We love this little Easter blessing from one of our sponsor children.

Easter is here

He is Risen indeed!

Christ alone is our hope, and through Him, we can have salvation and eternal life. Praise the Lord!

Victory, Not Failure

The Cross was not a failure.

Please don’t let anyone steal your joy saying something heretical like that.

As Christians, we know by our faith that we have victory through the Cross, not defeat.

Did Christ rise from the dead?

Jesus told his disciples it would happen. See Matthew 20:18-19. Not believing these very words of our Savior is a marker that a person’s faith is on shaky ground.

The Key To Life Everlasting

We deserve nothing more than God’s wrath. Our penalty, rightfully, is death, but God loves us so much that He sent His Son to bear our punishment.

**Only God could know what it would take to make a sinner acceptable to Him so that that sinner could escape eternal hell and live in the very presence of God in His own house.

Only God could determine how the spiritual nature and the supreme authority and the unchangeable perfection of His law which is holy, just and good could be completely satisfied and the lawbreaker completely justified and rightly and purely forgiven and accepted, though fallen, guilty and depraved. – Pastor-teacher, John MacArthur, from Grace To You.

Forgiven And Accepted

Christ died for those He saves. As wretched sinners deserving only God’s punishment, we can fully embrace His love in our brokenness.

Happy Easter 2017

From our home to yours, wishing a joyous Easter to you and yours!

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*NG’s fullname withheld for privacy.
**John MacArthur quote is from a sermon originally appearing here at Grace to You.

Our Exceptional God

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