What is your picture of God? Depending on how you were brought up, you probably view Him as anything from a deeply loving and compassionate Father to a strict disciplinarian who doesn’t tolerate any step outside of His direction. Some read the Old Testament and see God as overly controlling, jealous, and violent. They fear a God who might arbitrarily choose at any moment to strike them dead. These pictures of God have been perpetuated for years, and are a favorite ploy of Satan. If he can convince people that God is erratic and ultimately untrustworthy, he knows he can keep you far from God. He knows if you get too close you might actually discover the truth.
John
What Shapes your Mood?
“Let us beware allowing our spiritual comforts to rise and fall with world news or the changing world situations. We who lean upon Jesus and trust in the watchful love of a heavenly Father are not dependent upon these things for our peace. For children of the new creation, the darker the night, the brighter faith shines and the sooner comes the morning.” These are the words of A.W. Tozer, written over fifty years ago. They are eerily relevant to our world today. I am amazed and thankful, even awestruck, at how those who dedicated their lives to God continue to speak to us long after their time on earth has past. In this era of terrorism, disease, and constant unrest, followers of Jesus should not allow the circumstances around us to affect the purpose of our lives.
Expanding God’s Presence in your Life
Jesus made it clear that we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). The Bible also states that darkness cannot coincide with light (I John 1:5; John 8:12; John 12:46; 1 Thessalonians 5:5). We can’t fill our lives with darkness and expect the presence of God to be evident within us. We spend too much time pursuing our desires and counting on God to bail us out when things don’t go our way. If you’ve been following Jesus for any amount of time, you realize it doesn’t work that way. As creatures of freewill, we have the ability to limit the power and presence of God in our lives. The more we fill our lives with sin and things not of God, the less room we have for Him.
Getting What You Deserve
A phrase I’ve grown weary of hearing over the years is, “you deserve it.” It permeates the advertising world as well as our everyday speech. We tell colleagues they deserve their recent promotion or our friends that they deserve some time away. Commercials try to convince us that we deserve a new car or the latest electronic gadgetry. As followers of Jesus, I hope you recognize that what we deserve is an eternity separated from our Creator. We deserve nothing in this life because we have all squandered what God has entrusted to us. To be frank, we deserve Hell. I think that’s why we spend so much time trying to be comfortable and secure. We know what we deserve and yet do everything in our power to keep from thinking about it.
God’s Power in Us
Pastor Steven Furtick was describing a member of his congregation, Tonia Bendickson, when he said, “If it’s necessary and it’s never been done before, she seems to assume that’s because God intends for her to do it.” What an amazing thing to have said about you. How many of us react exactly opposite of the way Tonia does? We see a difficulty and give up before even trying to overcome it. We see a perceived impossibility and believe it instead of trusting God to do what others say cannot be done. Tonia has the proper attitude, the one all followers of Christ should have. She looks at situations through the eyes of Jesus rather than trusting in her own fallible vision.