Good morning!

As I prepared to put this week's blog together, I found myself at a loss for what to write. It reminds me of how in the recent past when I had been meeting with a couple of men over several months, all of us feeling called by God to something we hadn’t been able to define at that time. But we kept meeting, talking and praying with hope that God would reveal His purpose for our small group of believers.
 
I have found myself in that place many times – whether it was about a calling or what to write for this blog. Today, God reminded me that our walk with Him is about glorifying Him and His name. As I prayed about what to write, this question popped into my head. What does it mean to glorify God?

We often pray, closing our prayers with “through Jesus Christ for God’s glory…”. I know I do this and I have heard others use it this way. You likely have heard sermons or read reflections or devotionals on glorifying God or living your life to glorify God. But what does that mean? Have you ever wondered?
 
John Piper, who you may know from DesiringGod.org, defines it this way:
 
“Glorifying” means feeling and thinking and acting in ways that reflect his greatness, that make much of God, that give evidence of the supreme greatness of all his attributes and the all-satisfying beauty of his manifold perfections.
 
I think that is a great definition. Some thoughts based on scripture to consider - that if we embrace these thoughts in our hearts and remember them as we live our faith, they could help us glorify God:

• Remembering God knit us together in the womb, knew us before our birth and savoring the depth of what that means (Psalm 139:13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.)
• He made us in His image – and in doing so have the opportunity in Christ to reflect that image back to the world (Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.)
• God gave us all a purpose (His purpose for each of us) and the gifts and talents we have, it is because of Him we are able to contribute to this world in little and big ways (gifts of the spirit - 1 Corinthians 12:4-27; Romans 8:28 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.
• He loves us so much He wants to be reconciled with us and to spend eternity with us (Romans 5:11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

 
An obstacle to glorifying God might be that we do not spend time thinking about His greatness; his perfection. Do you ever think you make God too small? For me the answer is yes and I have to remind myself of all the things listed above and more importantly that God spoke creation into existence – not just earth but the entire universe (here is a video that might stir your understanding of how big God’s creation is - How Great Is Our God - Louie Giglio - about 40 minutes long but worth it).
 
So why should we glorify God? Because without Him we are nothing, we would not exist. So going back to John Piper’s definition – “means feeling and thinking and acting in ways that reflect His greatness” – using this definition are we glorifying God?
 
I think you can make the case each of us can glorify God:

• In choosing to set our lives down in order to follow Jesus Christ (be surrendered);
• In choosing to embrace His calling on our life (be obedient and trusting);
• By praying daily knowing He is the ultimate source of all goodness, love, compassion, righteousness, and justice (seek to know Him more deeply);
• In being thankful and grateful to Him regardless of our circumstances…

 
These things reflect the fact that we are indeed His children, conceived, purposed, gifted, imaged in and by Him.
 
Lord Jesus, my prayer for each of us as we go into the weekend is that we remember that our purpose as God’s children, is to glorify Him in how we live in this world. I ask that we make a choice to act out the purpose in something we do this weekend that gives Him the glory – in service to another; in prayer; somehow! Amen!
 
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
 
Patrick

Good morning!

When I first really realized God knows me, tears ran. How about for you? At least they did for me.
 
I remember that moment that is not too far in the past, when I realized that God really does know me, He knows me by name. Just that fact is something that should make us joyful and secure in the knowledge that God loves each of us. Jesus shares in Luke 12:7 “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows”. God is talking about ALL of us – each of us is dearly valued by Him.
 
Here are some other ways God shares through His Word about how he knows and thinks about us:

1. You are each made by the hand of God, each unique – Psalm 139:13 - For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
2. You are loved by God; God cares deeply about you – and he wants us to know this! - so many verses speak to this - here are a couple – Jeremiah 31:3 - The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." Ephesians 3:16-19 - I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
3. Each of us is special to God, within us a purpose – His purpose – Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. And Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
4. As believers in His Son, we are important and precious to God, so much so he shares this in 1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
5. We know this truth, that Christ died so we could be forgiven our sins so we should remember this… and God back in the Old Testament shared this in Psalm 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
6. When we become believers we are no longer seen ugly in our sin but beautiful as we are covered in the blood of Christ – we are seen as a new creation – 2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
7. We are chosen – WOW – John 15:16 - You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
8. We are now friends of Christ, daughters, sons of God, family – John 15:14-15 - You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. And in Hebrews 2:10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Ephesians 2:18-20 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
9. We belong to Him. Each of us has been called back to the Father through Jesus Christ in the same way we see Jacob called back and claimed by God in Isaiah 43:1 - But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

 
When I reflect on that moment I realized the depth of love involved in God knowing me, my heart was filled with joy to the point of tears because I could hear the truth of God’s Word being shared through the Holy Spirit that God knows me AND cares about me AND cares about how I use my life – the life he gave me – in service to my brothers and sisters – known and strangers.
 
There is just so much here about how amazingly God cares; what is shared above is just like one sliver of how God loves us.
 
One question for each of you:
​Have you had that moment in your life when you knew with certainty, that God knows you by name – really knows you?
 
Lord Jesus, my prayer for each of us as we go into the weekend is that each of us take our knowledge of God’s depth of love for us and we share it with one person – just one person! Amen!
 
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
 
Patrick

Good morning!

When I stop and really just take time to ponder our God and His creation, I can become overwhelmed. These verses provide the backdrop for some of the breathtaking understanding God provides us in His word about His immensity and awesomeness.

• John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

 

• Psalm 139:1-6 “ You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

 

• Psalm 139:13-18 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.

 
We often wait for Easter or Lent to reflect on the immensity and the gravity of what Jesus did for us on the Cross, the depth and breadth, the enormity of the sacrifice God provided for us, to provide us a way to salvation through our Savior Jesus Christ.

However, beyond the accounts of Jesus, His death and resurrection, the verses above give us a clear look into God's mighty work and creation as well and point us to Him.

​It is times like this, that spending time reflecting on the immensity of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit can be a fruitful exercise. Because we forget, we forget His thoughts are higher and greater than our thoughts, that His plan, even though we may not fully see it or see it at all, is always the best plan, we forget the depth of His love for us, we forget He wants a restored relationship with us that is rich beyond imagination, we forget as we are sucked into the details of our lives – we forget He is there always wanting us to return to Him, to acknowledge Him, to return His love, to share our lives completely and fully with him.
 
God’s Word provides us insights into this immensity. I think these verses share with us a little bit of what God wants us to know about Him:

• Through Him (our triune God all things were made – everything! John shares further just to be clear – “without Him nothing was made that has been made”. Nothing is outside the hand of God…
• In God is life – us, living, breathing, created by Him – and –
• That life He created, meaning us, that life was and is meant to be the light of all mankind – He wants us to reflect Him and we have been given a second chance (third, fourth, fifth…) through Jesus Christ to have our light restored.
• Our light (our restoration) is meant to shine in the darkness and God promises the darkness will not overcome our light – once restored, our light will shine
• The Psalms here reiterate how much God knows us – we forget He created us – He knows us – the writer, likely David, is amazed as this represents the vastness of our God, His reach and the reach of His love for us -
  • Knows when we sit and when we rise
  • Knows our thoughts
  • Knows our ways
  • Knows our speech before it happens
  • He created us – our inner most being
  • Knit us together in the womb
  • Made us fearfully and wonderfully
  • Wove us together
  • Ordained our days in His book
• David shares one final thought about the immensity of our God – speaking about the preciousness of God’s thoughts he ponders the vastness of those thoughts and says they would outnumber the grains of sand…

 
Is that not a God worth reflecting on and more importantly, putting at the center of our lives through Jesus Christ?
 
Abba Father, my prayer for each of us as we enter the weekend is simply that we stop and take time to reflect on You, Lord God, who You are, how You are most significant, and how vast and deep Your love is for us. I pray this because the most amazing sacrifice ever occurred 2000 years ago and that sacrifice represents our restored relationship with You, our awesome God! Amen!
 
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
 
Patrick

Good morning!

My wife Kathy shared this with me a several of years ago. It spoke to her as to how the Bible should be regarded. What a great perspective on the Word of God:
 
THE BIBLE - A beautiful paragraph, found in the introduction of every Bible produced by the Gideon’s International:

• The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers.

 

• Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.

 

• Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy.

 

• It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.

 

• It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword and the Christian’s charter.

 

• Here too, Heaven is opened and the gates of Hell disclosed.

 

• Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end.

 

• It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.

 

• Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.

 

• It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure.

 

• It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and be remembered forever.

 

• It involves the highest responsibility, rewards the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

 
I am reminded in reading this of Matthew 7:24-27 were Jesus shares – “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
 
If I do not have an unshakeable basis for my being a follower of Jesus Christ, I have nothing. When I received Jesus Christ, not only did I receive the gift of salvation from Jesus Christ, in that moment of transformation, I needed to decide if I trusted God fully which means not only making the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior but also accepting the written Word of God in the Bible as that rock foundation.
 
Here in Hebrews 11:8-10 you see the writer of Hebrews declaring God the designer and builder of the foundations of our eternity in the promised land where we will live with our designer and creator – “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”
 
Does reading scripture deepen your relationship and understanding of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ? Does reading scripture leave you standing on rock and not sand? I have found that when I read God’s Word, He is speaking and often directly to me.
 
Lord Jesus, my prayer for each of us as we go into this weekend is that each of us builds our lives on the foundations that come from God; His Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ and His Word as shared in the Bible! Amen!
 
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
 
Patrick