Immutability of God
I had a devotion today (8/13/21) about the immutability of God. Of all God's attributes, this one is one of my favorites. Honestly, whatever I am studying or learning about God or the Bible is my new favorite! But this fact is absolutely AWESOME! Immutability means that God can never change, nothing from inside or outside of God can cause Him to be anything other than what He has always been from the beginning of eternity and forever and ever - HALLELUJAH!!!!
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17 This is the verse they based their devotion on, and I would like to take a moment to break it down for you now. What a promise this is with so many deep implications and applications to our lives as His children. In fact, it is true and impacts all of life, not just the lives of Believers, because this is Absolute Truth. Everybody is on this kick of questioning God because of evil or of pain. They say, "If God is all powerful and good, why does He allow evil and suffering?" This verse blows their inquiry out of the water! They are asking the wrong question. It is not about what a sovereign, good God is allowing, it is about all the good that is embedded into every facet of creation. Everything that is good and perfect is from God! The evil is not from Him. The good is from Him. He is the Father of Lights and has NO shadow in him at all. He is pure unadulterated light, full of holy love and power. He cannot be darkened out or dimmed. His existence equates pure light beyond what the human mind can comprehend. He does not change! Everything in our human existence is due to change. We expect it. We need it. We fear it. We love it. We cannot stop the change that comes in this life, it is an ever turning wheel. So having an Anchor that never changes or shifts with shadows or blows with the wind is the greatest Rock to hold fast to in every moment of life. Our great God is unchangeable in all His attributes: Goodness, Holiness, Righteousness, Power, Love, Wisdom, etc. How assuring to our ailing souls!!! Thank you Father for all that you are and all that you do that is good and perfect pouring down from your throne of holy love and light! We praise you and worship you for your immutability! Hallelujah! In Jesus' name, Amen. |
SunrisesYesterday (8/17/21) morning I was driving home from taking my mom to work and I looked to my right and saw an amazing display of light and color. My heart swelled with love and hope, adoration and worship to God. After a scary battle with covid, everything is more beautiful than it was before, everything inspires so much more thanksgiving and praise to God. I remember being overwhelmed with God's faithfulness. I felt so full of God's love. Despite all the scary events of life, despite illness, loss, financial stress, physical weakness, personal attacks, failures, despite all things good and bad - God is faithful! He speaks life and light into every day. He fills the earth with his goodness. The sun rises in consistent succession every single day. It sets every single day. The seasons are the same. They are predictable. We can know that if we are alive, we will see the sun crest the horizon every single day until the end of the Age. And Christ will be with us and filling us every moment through every trial, storm and mountain top experience, even unto the end of the Age! He is coming back with more awe and glory than the most beautiful sunrise, pure light and all will see Him as He comes from the clouds to reign and defeat evil once and for all. HALLELUJAH!! His mercies are new every morning! We can awaken and rejoice for the breath in our lungs, the beat of our hearts and the Light surrounding us coming down from God. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty! Let the Light of God shine into your heart and soul and fill you up to overflowing! Submit to God's searching eye and let Him overwhelm your soul with his loving light, it will heal all the broken pieces of your heart and renew your soul. In Jesus' name! :) "To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."
Jude 24-25 |
Jesus is Everything
One of the biggest things God taught me during the darkest days I had with covid was that Jesus is everything. When you can't eat, can't breathe, can't function your nausea and dizziness is overtaking you entirely, and you don't have the strength or stability to get your phone out and send a message for help or call someone or anything - All you have is Christ. He hears your thoughts, he knows your heart. When you draw near to Him, He draws near to you. You don't have to speak audibly for Him to commune with you. You don't even need to know what to ask for or thank Him for or anything, He knows everything and he fills in the gaps with His Holy Spirit filling in with words what only we can grown out of our deepest tears. I mentally and physically could not bare one more minute of the torture raging withing my soul. The darkness was real, it was heavy and laying on top of me like a million ton weight I couldn't lift off. All I could do was lay on my stomach and cry out in my mind and heart, "Jesus! pray for me!" I didn't know what to pray for, or ask for or even what I needed or what was going on in my body or what would come ahead or when it would end. I just claimed the promise that Jesus is interceding at the right hand of the Father for the saints (Romans 8:34). I begged Jesus to pray for me over and over again. Until I fell asleep for about an hour. The next morning I had enough strength to send messages to everyone I know that is a prayer warrior and knows and loves us and asked for prayer. God sent His servants out of the wood works. I could feel prayers pushing back the evil and the sickness and depression and despair. People showed up for 4 days straight bringing us groceries, medicine, electrolyte drinks, dinner, animal supplies, and nonstop support and checking on us until we finally started to turn a corner and pull out of it slowly. The next day after that desperate prayer, God also blessed us with the most amazing, loving, gentle, affectionate, special kitten I have personally ever owned. She showed up out of the woods and ran headlong to our front door. She brought hope and joy and peace every time I was able to go outside or see my youngest son, whom she targeted with her love, spend hours outside with her loving on her and playing with her while I recovered slowly. She gave him the affection and hope and attention he needed while I was unable to care for him myself. Jesus' prayers are perfect. He is perfect, all-knowing, all-powerful, and the definition of Love. He interceded for us and brought us the perfect supplies at the perfect time from the perfect sources. My lifelong take away that I remember and it give me joy and hope and trust every day is that Jesus IS Everything! He is all we need and the fullness of all that is good. In every moment, whether good or bad, He is absolutely the exact person that we need to talk to and ask for help. Hallelujah forever to the Name above all names, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, forever and ever! Amen.
Don't hesitate to call upon the name of the Lord. You will be saved! Jesus is often a last thought and prayer is thought of as a last resort when we can do nothing ourselves. This is such a LIE! Jesus should be the first person we go to IN prayer. Prayer is where we have the most power, the most influence and can achieve beyond our wildest wishes, because in prayer we talk to our Heavenly Father in whom all power, wisdom and goodness rests. He is every ready to answer any and all prayers lifted to His throne according to His grace, mercy and Will. Please remember, no matter what you are going through today...Jesus is Everything! :)
God bless you, this day and every consecutive one unto eternity.
His,
Alice
"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work withing us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
Don't hesitate to call upon the name of the Lord. You will be saved! Jesus is often a last thought and prayer is thought of as a last resort when we can do nothing ourselves. This is such a LIE! Jesus should be the first person we go to IN prayer. Prayer is where we have the most power, the most influence and can achieve beyond our wildest wishes, because in prayer we talk to our Heavenly Father in whom all power, wisdom and goodness rests. He is every ready to answer any and all prayers lifted to His throne according to His grace, mercy and Will. Please remember, no matter what you are going through today...Jesus is Everything! :)
God bless you, this day and every consecutive one unto eternity.
His,
Alice
"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work withing us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
- Ephesians 3:20-21
You Are Known & Loved
One of the Old Testament names for God is El Roi (ehl - rahyee). It is the name Hagar gives to God as He reveals who He is to her, the slave of Sarai, who bore Abram's first born son-Ishmael. Sarai had given her maidservant to her husband in order to allow him to pass on his bloodlines since she herself was still barren and aging. God had already promised Abram and Sarai that He would give them a son. They waited excruciatingly as years and decades passed and God's Word did not come to pass. Once Hagar had assurance she was carrying Abram's child, she began to despise Sarai. Sarai then blamed Abram for the situation. He told her to do as she saw fit. Apparently what she saw as right and fit was to mistreat Hagar. Due to the mistreatment of her mistress, Hagar fled into the desert to escape her.
"The angel of the LORD found Hagar" (Genesis 16:7a). He spoke to her and asked her where she was from and where she was going. Then He tells her to return to her mistress and submit to her. Then he blesses her and her descendants with a similar blessing as he promised Abram - her descendants will be too numerous to count. He told her she would receive a son and to name him Ishmael [Ishmael means "God hears"] "for the LORD has heard of your misery" (Genesis 16:11c). He prophesies about the type of man he will be and the type of life that would lead him to live-one of hostility.
After the LORD finished speaking, Hagar gave him the name "You are the God who sees me" (Genesis 16:13), then she named the well she had been at the "well of the Living One who sees me". Then she obeyed what the LORD had told her to do because she believed Him.
Was Hagar a believer? Did she know the God of Abram personally before she found herself face to face with Him at a well in the desert at the end of herself? I don't know. What is inferred from this passage is that she believed the words of the One who spoke to her. The fact that she named the well the Living One who sees me may imply that she knew who she was talking to, the God of Abram, because He is the only Living God, no other god bears that name.
Ultimately, the point of this passage is to reveal more of the God of the Bible to us. He is holy, his standards do not change. She would only receive blessing through following His Word and His Ways and only through submission to her mistress. Rebellion does not EVER bring blessing, only cursing. She believed, she obeyed, she returned, she submitted and God's Word to her and God fulfilled his Word to her.
The biggest take away is God sees YOU! He knows right where you are right now. He knows your pain. He knows what you need to rise above discouragement. He knows our every thought, move and motivation. He knows our hearts. He knows when we rise and when we fall. He knows every hair on our head and every tear we shed. He sees us. We are not invisible or unimportant. The God of the universe sees you. Stop hiding, stop running, stop trying to escape and make it on your own. Stop and drink deeply of the Well of Living Water who sees you and hears you. Look up, for He is coming to help you and speak words of life and blessing over you. Be still and listen, look and taste that the LORD is good, and HE sees and hears you and cares for you.
"The angel of the LORD found Hagar" (Genesis 16:7a). He spoke to her and asked her where she was from and where she was going. Then He tells her to return to her mistress and submit to her. Then he blesses her and her descendants with a similar blessing as he promised Abram - her descendants will be too numerous to count. He told her she would receive a son and to name him Ishmael [Ishmael means "God hears"] "for the LORD has heard of your misery" (Genesis 16:11c). He prophesies about the type of man he will be and the type of life that would lead him to live-one of hostility.
After the LORD finished speaking, Hagar gave him the name "You are the God who sees me" (Genesis 16:13), then she named the well she had been at the "well of the Living One who sees me". Then she obeyed what the LORD had told her to do because she believed Him.
Was Hagar a believer? Did she know the God of Abram personally before she found herself face to face with Him at a well in the desert at the end of herself? I don't know. What is inferred from this passage is that she believed the words of the One who spoke to her. The fact that she named the well the Living One who sees me may imply that she knew who she was talking to, the God of Abram, because He is the only Living God, no other god bears that name.
Ultimately, the point of this passage is to reveal more of the God of the Bible to us. He is holy, his standards do not change. She would only receive blessing through following His Word and His Ways and only through submission to her mistress. Rebellion does not EVER bring blessing, only cursing. She believed, she obeyed, she returned, she submitted and God's Word to her and God fulfilled his Word to her.
The biggest take away is God sees YOU! He knows right where you are right now. He knows your pain. He knows what you need to rise above discouragement. He knows our every thought, move and motivation. He knows our hearts. He knows when we rise and when we fall. He knows every hair on our head and every tear we shed. He sees us. We are not invisible or unimportant. The God of the universe sees you. Stop hiding, stop running, stop trying to escape and make it on your own. Stop and drink deeply of the Well of Living Water who sees you and hears you. Look up, for He is coming to help you and speak words of life and blessing over you. Be still and listen, look and taste that the LORD is good, and HE sees and hears you and cares for you.
What You ARE
"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14
You are loved. You were in the mind of God before you came into being. You were in the heart of God before creation. You were never an accident. It doesn't matter the way you were "conceived" or the situation you were born and raised in-the truth remains, that you are a unique, individual, eternal being. You are known intimately and loved perfectly by your Creator.
It doesn't matter what others say about you, what you feel about yourself, or what society labels you. It doesn't matter what you look like, how old you are, or what your past is. It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, fat or thin, happy or sad. What matters is that you are made in the Image of God. You were planned. You were intricately designed by a perfect, wise God. You were willed to be born exactly when and how God ordained for your life. In all these things, the good and the bad, the sad and the triumphant, make you who you are today.
God is worthy of praise for that. Life is a precious gift. The bearer of new life doesn't have a say over whether that life gets to live or not, EVERY life matters. EVERY life has God's breath in its lungs. Every beat of your heart is overseen and orchestrated by a loving Creator.
And He wants an intimate, eternal relationship with you, to bring you into His family and into His Home for right now in this life and for eternity. We may have this relationship with the Father God, when we believe in and accept as our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God's Son, born of a virgin woman, who lived a perfect life, proved His God-ness by the miracles He performed while here. He died a sacrificial death, innocent blood shed for sinful man, in his place, on the cross, and He most powerfully showed He is God through His rising from the dead bodily on His own authority. Jesus makes the Way to God possible, through faith in Him and accepting His price paid against our account.
It is mind boggling, that God Himself went through this same design process every human goes through in the womb of his mother! All the while not losing His essence or identity as God!
Hallelujah forever! We can be saved from sin, death, and the eternal wrath of God, through Jesus Christ! :)
Dear Heavenly Father, Please open our minds to see your Hand in our design. Open our hearts to believe in You and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Fill us with your Spirit that we may live by faith and not by sight. Thank you for all you have given us, chiefly life itself and salvation of our souls at your cost. Hallelujah! In Jesus' name, amen.
You are loved. You were in the mind of God before you came into being. You were in the heart of God before creation. You were never an accident. It doesn't matter the way you were "conceived" or the situation you were born and raised in-the truth remains, that you are a unique, individual, eternal being. You are known intimately and loved perfectly by your Creator.
It doesn't matter what others say about you, what you feel about yourself, or what society labels you. It doesn't matter what you look like, how old you are, or what your past is. It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, fat or thin, happy or sad. What matters is that you are made in the Image of God. You were planned. You were intricately designed by a perfect, wise God. You were willed to be born exactly when and how God ordained for your life. In all these things, the good and the bad, the sad and the triumphant, make you who you are today.
God is worthy of praise for that. Life is a precious gift. The bearer of new life doesn't have a say over whether that life gets to live or not, EVERY life matters. EVERY life has God's breath in its lungs. Every beat of your heart is overseen and orchestrated by a loving Creator.
And He wants an intimate, eternal relationship with you, to bring you into His family and into His Home for right now in this life and for eternity. We may have this relationship with the Father God, when we believe in and accept as our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God's Son, born of a virgin woman, who lived a perfect life, proved His God-ness by the miracles He performed while here. He died a sacrificial death, innocent blood shed for sinful man, in his place, on the cross, and He most powerfully showed He is God through His rising from the dead bodily on His own authority. Jesus makes the Way to God possible, through faith in Him and accepting His price paid against our account.
It is mind boggling, that God Himself went through this same design process every human goes through in the womb of his mother! All the while not losing His essence or identity as God!
Hallelujah forever! We can be saved from sin, death, and the eternal wrath of God, through Jesus Christ! :)
Dear Heavenly Father, Please open our minds to see your Hand in our design. Open our hearts to believe in You and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Fill us with your Spirit that we may live by faith and not by sight. Thank you for all you have given us, chiefly life itself and salvation of our souls at your cost. Hallelujah! In Jesus' name, amen.