Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers… For some reason the past two days have not produced much inspiration when it came to blog writing. This is attempt number (3), now 4, to get something going, and I feel as though I‘m still floundering around in a wasteland. For as many times as I have written about asking the Holy Spirit to illuminate the right path for me, it would seem that would be the natural go-to. Well, I wish I could say that were the case, but sometimes I get so wrapped up in my effort, my struggle, my angst, that I can’t see beyond the end of my nose. But after erasing my 3rd attempt last night, I had a moment of clarity early this morning when I sat down again, closed my eyes, got quiet and started a prayer that began with, “Heavenly Father, I stand in awe of who you are!” All of a sudden, my mind was opened, the blinders came off, and I knew I had it. That’s what I’d been waiting for. I can only attribute that to the truth of John 30:3: “He must increase and I must decrease.”
Just saying those words aloud, “Heavenly Father, I stand in awe of who you are!” brings a smile to my face and gives me a sense of peace, serenity and purpose. Wow, do I stand in awe of Him! Now I can’t wait to tell you about my Abba Father who has given me a second chance at life through his unconditional, unending, and unfailing love.
I stand in awe of God because He exists on so many levels. I have a friend who once said, “Would you want to worship a God you could figure out?” Well, when I look at the majestic qualities of God, I don’t think there is much chance of that. At my very best, I can say, “I understand the meaning of the adjective describing God”, but do I really understand the depth of what that means… absolutely not! God described Himself as “I Am!” At best, I can only concur, “You Are!”
For instance, my God is Creator of the Universe – creator of everything seen and unseen; He is the Alpha and Omega – He’s timeless, the beginning and the end; He’s the Godhead of the Trinity; He’s Immutable – He never changes; He’s omnipotent – all powerful; He’s omniscience – all knowing; He’s omnipresent – everywhere at once. How can I wrap my mind around any of these qualities? I would have to say, I can’t! But that’s OK, because God spoke through the Prophet Isaiah and said: “My ways are not your ways; My thoughts are not your thoughts. As high as the heavens are above the earth, as far as east is from the west, My ways are not your ways, My thoughts are not your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) Now couple that with Psalm 46:10, “Just be still and know that I am God.”, and I believe He is saying, “Don’t sit around trying to figure me out, because with your finite minds, that will never happen.”
But that same majestic God also has a side that I definitely can relate to. I John 4:8 describes God with one word: “God is Love.” The very essence of God is to love. Since that is true, from Love can only emanate such qualities as forgiveness, mercy, grace, compassion, tolerance, acceptance, patience, kindness, and goodness. In God “there is no darkness at all”. (1John 1:5)
Now I know there is someone reading this who can’t wait to take me to task because in the Old Testament, “God was a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14); “He is a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24) When there were people (or nations) outside of His will, there was fire and brimstone, famines, plagues, and wars. No doubt that is true, but again, we must understand why that had to happen.
God selected ancient Israel to be His “chosen people”. Why? Because they were the smallest and weakest nation, and they were surrounded by much larger pagan nations. Therefore, His might and glory could shine even brighter through Israel. His oath to the people was, “if you remain obedient to me, I will be your God and you will be My people.” (Jeremiah 30:22) But as we know from reading the story, obedience for His chosen people proved to be the “rock that made them stumble.”. Consequently, there are numerous times when even they tasted His punishment in order to get them back in line with His will. But In keeping with His nature, He always prefers repentance over judgement, as exemplified by the numerous times this proclamation was sounded throughout both the Old and New Testament: Repent! Turn from your sins and turn to God! That same proclamation was proclaimed by Billy Graham in his lifetime, and is still being proclaimed by Franklin Graham and others today.
Ephesians 1:4-5, 10 tells us of God’s ultimate plan: “Long ago, even before He created the world (and Man), God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His family through Jesus Christ, and this gave Him great pleasure. And this is His plan: At just the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Jesus Christ – everything in heaven and on earth”. What an incredible example of God’s unfathomable love for His proudest creation yet to come. This also attests to His omniscience, because He knew in advance that we were going to use our free-will for self-exaltation rather than for His exaltation.
In the Scripture above, it said this would happen at “just the right time” Romans 5:6 is the fulfillment of that promise: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time to die for us sinners.” Notice that He didn’t insist we clean-up our act in order to be worthy for this Gift of Grace. No indeed! He wants and accepts sinners just as we are. Whenever we are willing to reinstate that Spiritual connection that was severed at The Fall, He is waiting for us with open arms, just as the father was waiting for the Prodigal Son. Since I too am one of the recipients of His Incredible Gift of Grace, that is why I shout out, “Heavenly Father, I stand in awe of WHO YOU ARE!”
Thank you, God, for this second chance at life!
Feel free to respond to this posting, and please “like” and share with other social media friends.
May God Bless Ya,
Dan Presgrave, (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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