Misty - How do you receive a gift

Today, I was leaving a fast food restaurant after purchasing two items of the dollar menu, because I am fully aware of our economic crisis. Not the country’s crisis but the one in my own bank account. I bought a burger and an apple pie. (I know it is not nutritious, but I got the pie and it does have apples in it. :) The burger was consumed in a matter of seconds and then the pie was left for safe keeping until I finished arranging some items in my car. Once I was done with my task the only thing left was for me to fully enjoy the dessert that I had put on standby. As I was getting ready to enjoy a few morsels of sweetness a woman calls to me from the side of the road. Her name is Misty. Misty, as far as I could tell through her somewhat slurred speech, was asking if I could spare some change. I didn’t have any change, but I did have a pie and I offered it to her. (Maybe I should start carry some change just for occasions like this one.) After receiving the pie she did something that really caught my attention. She graciously accepted the pie and kneeled, repeatedly. It was one the most gracious ways I have seen anyone receive any kind of gift, especially a gift as meager as a slice of apple pie from the value menu. As she walked away and approached the next person I began to think of how I accepts gifts from God. The big, jaw dropping ones seem pretty easy to receive and those are received with much rejoicing but what about the small items. How do I receive something that gift that might not be what I asked for but is still good or that gift that helps to only partially take care of a problem? Do I accept with a gracious kneeling to my Father or do I accept with a whiny “It this all?”

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17

“Give thanks to the Lord…”
All over the Bible

Thank-you to everyone for voting

Tq is Official "First" winner at www.conversantlife.com/undiscovered Thank-you to everyone for voting and asking your friends to vote. The whole process of watching your votes come in and getting your messages of encouragement show me what great support that I have from my friends. You all have lifted my spirit so much and your support helps me to see God's great work in this ministry. The win is bonus at this point. Thank-you from the depths of my being. If you still want to vote or leave a message you still can. Click the link Below.

TQ

Walk with God til you are no more.

Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. Gen. 5:24

What a phrase “…(he) walked with God, then he was no more…” I have thought about this quite a bit lately and have been a bit envious of good ole Enoch. Who gets to cheat death and go to God? That is way cool. The only way I know to potentially top that is hitch a ride on a flaming chariot one your way out and Elijah already pulled that one. But I think there may be a way for all of us to experience walking with God, and being no more. When we are called to follow Jesus, we are called to be no more. Jesus says, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” If we walk with Jesus, it is a requirement to become no more and then God will take us away to real life. True life. Abundant life. I don’t know exactly what the circumstances of Enoch’s life was when God took him but I believe the principle this remains. If we walk with God, we will be no more because God will take us (our life as we know it) away. That is a trip I surely want to take.

God doesn't always get what he wants.

I have often heard a phrase used for comfort in times of tragedy or heart ache that I think may be more detrimental than helpful. The phrase that I am referring to tends to go something like this, "It's okay. It was the Lord's will." This phrase on the surface seems to really give relief by setting up the idea that if this incident (no matter how terrible) was God's will, then there is some good in it somewhere and/or he will redeem it. This all seems good because any one who has known God at all knows that he redeems things but the statement that says it was God's will puts these terrible things in the realm of God's desires. Which would mean that a car bombing would be what God desired in his heart to hava down here as it is heaven, then it implies that God's will is not always done down here in flesh land. If what God always wants happens here then why pray for it? In 1 Timothy 2:4 it says (God)"... wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." But elsewhere in the Bible it says clearly that some will not choose God and they will not be saved. Jesus prayed from the garden, "not my will but your will be done" as if he had a choice in the matter.

Now if what I am presenting is true and God does not always get what he wants then, this might leave someone unnerved. This is unnerving because if what God wants is not happening all the time, then at any moment that we find ourselves in tragedy's wake we might be completely be on our own with a God who (at best) may want good us for but is unable to do anything about it or (at worst) be on our own with a God who is able to do something about it but is unwilling. Well don't lose hope because I don't believe that either of these accurately describes my God.

In Romans 8:28 the Apostle Paul writes,"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
My take from this passage is that God is taking all things (good or bad things - things God wants and things that he doesn't want) and either using them or redeeming them for good, aka his will. But if he is using it for his will then isn't he getting what he wants? Doesn't that put us back at square one; God getting what he wants? (I am glad you asked.) Here is what I think happens. I believe that a lot of things happen in this world that God mourns over, grieves over and even regrets ever happened, but God's ultimate and purpose will occur. It may be something like a coach who, during a game, watches his team at times make excellent plays exactly as he has planned and other times watches his team make plays that aren't remotely what he had in mind. Yet, ultimately despite the unintended parts of the game the coach is doing everything in his power to come away with a game that his team wins. I believe God has an wonderful ultimate desire and plan for his creation/people and I believe that he will see his plan to its finishing point (Phillipians 1:6). God may not always get what he wants now but there will be a day when he will answer Jesus' prayer and his desires will done on earth as it is in heaven.

You are glorious - Monica - (and everyone else who feels like her)

This words written immediately below are from the Bible (a version called The Message). They are for Monica and anyone else who feels like she does. Monica, one the first phrases you said to me was, “I am useless”. This statement is not true. I don’t say this because I know you so well. I say because I know my God.

God says these words to us. Through a man who had slept with another mans woman and had him killed, a man who acted as if he were insane to keep from being killed, a man who was the leader of a gang of criminals and outcasts, and a man who knew a lot of violence. Listen with your heart.

Psalm 139:14 (The Message)


 13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.

The Message(MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Also hear the lyrics of this song.

"Everything Glorious" by David Crowder

The day is brighter here with You
The day is brighter here with you
The night is lighter than it's hue
Would lead me to believe
Which leads me to believe
(chorus)
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?

My eyes are small but they have seen
the beauty of enormous things
Which leads me to believe
there's light enough to see that
(chorus)

From glory to glory
You are glorious You are glorious
From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious
Which leads me to believe
why I can believe that

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious.
You are glorious. You are glorious.
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

To all the Monicas out there. You are created wonderfully and God will make you glorious. Believe it.