You Can Count on God

“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 NIV).

When everything’s changing around you, it’s important to remember that God is a consistent Father. He will never let you down. He can be counted on. He is reliable. He is worthy of trust.

James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (NIV). God is an unchanging, consistent Father.

Human fathers are often unpredictable. I’ve talked to people who said, “Growing up, I never knew how my dad was going to treat me. I never knew if he was going to be silent or violent. I never knew whether he was going to hug me or slug me. I never knew if he was going to take me in or reject me.” Inconsistent fathers produce insecure children.

But God is not moody. Your heavenly Father is consistent. One of the things you can count on is that God always acts the same toward you.

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (NIV).

We know that the world is changing faster than ever before. Alvin Toffler wrote a book called “Future Shock,” in which he said that in times of rapid change, people need what he calls islands of stability. When everything else is up in the air, you need something in your life that never changes; an anchor for your soul. You need an island of stability in order to handle the stress.

There’s only one problem: On this planet, nothing lasts. There’s only one thing you can count on that is not ever going to change: the consistent, caring love of your heavenly Father.

“My God is changeless in his love for me” (Psalm 59:10a TLB).

You can count on that.

Author: Rick Warren

Date: June 4, 2016

Published with Permission from: crosswalk.com

Grace

I pointed to my friend’s arm and asked where her scratches had come from. Her response: “Grace.”  Grace is her new puppy who doesn’t always teethe on a chew toy. Believe it or not, that prompted this blog post!

I love the puppy’s name because at this point it seems wildly incorrect. That is what makes her name, and personality, a modern-day parable. I imagine the puppy will grow into her name just like most of us had to grow into our knowledge of grace.

A quick Google search of “the best Bible verses about grace” will result in a long list, most of which are written by the Apostle Paul. Paul, better known as Saul of Tarsus in his pre-grace years, had abundant experience with God’s grace.

The Bible speaks about the early church caring for the widows and orphans. I wonder how many of those existed because of Saul of Tarsus. He watched Stephen’s illegal stoning with the rock-throwers’ cloaks around his feet. After that experience, he madly tore through Jerusalem and other cities pulling husbands, fathers, brothers, wives, mothers, and sisters out of their homes. These early Christians were thrown in jail and many, if not most, were eventually killed.

When the Apostle Paul speaks of grace, he knows more fully than most what that word means. Paul said, “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). Paul had received great grace for the horrible sins of his past, and grace remained a theme of his life as he fulfilled his calling.

Paul knew that every human being was a sinner in need of grace. We all make mistakes; we all have personal weaknesses and character flaws. Every Christian is born again because of God’s grace. Unfortunately, we don’t always allow God’s grace to govern our own. Paul told Timothy:

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:24–26

If God’s people do not love with grace, speak words of grace, and act with grace we will not be able to offer God’s truth about grace. But that “knowledge of the truth” is key. Paul taught lessons about grace that I think our culture is too often avoiding these days. Paul also taught about the dangers of offering grace, apart from truth. Paul also told Timothy (and us):

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 1 Timothy 6:3–5

American churches and ministries are facing huge doctrinal decisions these days. Grace is crucial for anyone’s salvation. Churches are full of “saved sinners,” not perfect people. Why should we condemn one sin, but not another? At the same time, many churches and ministries are avoiding preaching God’s messages that are filled with “knowledge of the truth” because someone might find that message offensive. Could some of that friction be caused because a certain “brand of godliness” is “gain?”

It has never been easy to balance grace and truth, but Paul did. He was the greatest evangelist that ever lived. He had murdered good people, yet God still adopted him as his child. Apparently, Paul had a hot temper, and God used his weaknesses to teach dependence on him. Paul understood the meaning of grace but remained devoted to telling the truth about God. That is why the people Paul preached to came to know God and receive his salvation and sanctification.

I would like to explain Paul’s doctrine of grace carefully, this way: tolerance is not grace if it offers a person permission to remain in their sin. Our counsel, our words, our actions, and our character need to be grounded in God’s amazing grace for all sinners and his firm teaching about the need to live holy lives apart from sin. Our calling is the same as Paul’s and Timothy’s. We need to guard our lives, attitudes, character, and our Christian doctrine so that when we witness to others, “God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.”

 Beg God for his grace and truth, so you have both to share with others.

Author: Janet Denison

Published: June 30, 2017

Shared with Permission from: JanetDenison.Org

5 Things Christians Need to Know about Creation

I wasn't raised in a Christian home, and, by nature, I'm a skeptic. When I became a Christian in college, I made a commitment that I would not throw my brains in the trash to follow after God. This led me on a journey to research "why" I believe, and how my beliefs hold up under intellectual, philosophical, and historical scrutiny.

One of the core issues of my faith is my belief in creation. Let's explore some of the research together. The theory of creation is simply the belief that God created all things out of nothing- all of life in its rich complexity happened as the result of the all-powerful, all-knowing, sovereign God of the universe who is maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible by the Word of His power.

Creation is described in Genesis 1:1-5

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.”

As Christians, it is our duty to educate ourselves and understand 5 key things about creation:

Christians needs to be informed about the Creation V. Evolution Debate

What I want to you to understand is that the Creation vs. Evolution debate has taken some major turns in the last few decades. Some scientists who don’t necessarily believe in God are major critics of classic Darwinian Evolution. Nearly as surprising are Christians who do not see a contradiction between Evolution and Christian teaching on Creation from the Bible.

Perhaps the following options will help you visualize the current state of the debate.

The Origin and Development of Life

Option 1   
Classic Creationism 
(The literal biblical account)                          

Option 2
Theistic Evolution
(God supervised Evolution)                      

Option 3   
Intelligent Design 
(A designer of some kind)              

Option 4
Classic Evolution
(Random chance and natural selection)

Historically, there are two main options—Classic Creationism and Classic Darwinian Evolution. Although it is important to know the distinctions within these two broad views, the man on the street and/or the student in the classroom is taught evolution as a fact and creationism as an anti-intellectual, non-scientific, religious crutch.

What is the fundamental question in the middle of the debate?

At the core of the debate between creationism and evolution is one question: Is it intellectually feasible to believe that the God of the Bible created the world, the universe, and all living things? Or is classic atheistic evolution as taught in our schools a scientific fact that has empirically and logically been proven by means of the scientific method? Is life the product of a purely material universe that came into being by random chance or accident? The implications of this question are huge.

Understand the Creationist position on the Complexity of Life

The crux of the argument for both evolution and creation seems to rest on the idea of complexity of life. Evolution views the complexity of life as a result of billions of years of adaption and that living things have moved from simple to complex in order to survive. Creation views the complexity of life as evidence of an all-knowing Creator.

Scientists are looking at the facts and allowing what they find to change their worldview. Many are beginning to see a theory that’s been biased for years. The more scientists learned about DNA and the amazing intricacy inside a human cell, questions challenging evolution began to surface. Biochemist and agnostic, Michael Denton said in his book, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, that Evolution’s intellectual foundations have been steadily eroding. Biology’s new findings are bringing us very near to a formal, logical disproval of Darwinian claims. Denton believes Darwin’s claim that all life evolved from one cell can’t be supported by evidence found in fossils, embryology, taxonomy, and molecular biology.

How and why did life begin?

Question 1: How did life begin?

Creation’s answer is that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1).

You have two options when you look at all of life’s order, design, and beauty. One, that everything we see was the result of random chance and random material over billions of years. There was no design, no purpose and no intelligence that caused that single cell to burst forth into life. It takes faith to believe that all of life’s order was birthed out of a random moment, and faith to assume how the raw material came to be.

It also takes faith to believe in the second option, that in the beginning God spoke and He created. It takes faith to believe what we read in scripture, namely that the harmony, beauty, and the complexity of the universe is a reflection of the character of an all-knowing, all-powerful Creator God.

Question 2: Why did life begin?

In the Christian view, by contrast, you are the special creation of a good and all-powerful God. You are the climax of His creation. Not only is your kind unique but you are unique among your kind. Your creator loves you so much and so intensely that He desires your companionship and affection, that He gave the life of His only Son that you might spend eternity with Him.”

Scripture teaches that God made man in his own image to share fellowship with him, to glorify him, and to steward the earth. “So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. Then God blessed them and he said, be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. He told them to rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:27-28).

God wants you to examine both sides fully and decide for yourself what you believe

As a Christian, you can be told what you should believe and why. But, we need to decide for ourselves what we truly believe and that begins with educating ourselves on both sides

We need to be thinking Christians. The Bible commands us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our MIND (Luke 10:27). We need to learn how to think and follow God with our minds. Darwinian evolution is a faith construct, not a scientific fact.

People like to think they are objective, but no one is purely objective. We all have presuppositions. As followers of Christ, we have presuppositions that lead us to believe certain truths by faith and look at evidence through a particular lens. Others may have a presupposition that came from a lack of faith, or out of woundedness or bad experiences with God, church, and Christians. All of us view scientific data through our presuppositional lenses.

So, how about you? What do you really believe and why? Who are you afraid of disappointing? How fearless are you willing to be to examine all sides of this critical issue and decide for yourself?

God does not want you to throw your brains in the trash to follow Him. In fact, why not grab a cup of coffee or tea and take a moment, right now, to really ponder where you stand.

Excerpted from Why I Believe by Chip Ingram, Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, ©2017. Used by permission.

Author: Chip Ingram

Image courtesy: ©Thinkstock/m-gucci

Publication date: October 2, 2017

Thankfulness

Why should we be thankful? For what should we be thankful? Whom should we thank? As we move through everyday life, we want to focus on what God’s Word teaches us, and what He says in response to these questions.

Among many reasons to be thankful, we discovered that WHY, WHAT, and WHO show up throughout Scripture. First, WHY? In the Bible we see that God is GOOD. Psalm 106:1, Psalm 118:1, and Ezra 3:11 say that we should thank God because He is good. In the midst of a broken and evil world, the ruler of all sees the bad and uses all things for good. Second, WHAT? The Bible tells us that God’s LOVE for us endures forever. Psalm 107:1, 1 Chronicles 16:34, Jeremiah 33:11 and many others express how God’s love never ceases. Even when we fail, feel unworthy, or think we cannot be good enough, His love for us continues. The Creator of all things loves us! Third, WHO? We see throughout the Bible that God sent JESUS to save us. In 1 Corinthians 15:57, Hebrews 12:28-29, and Psalm 50:23, we are encouraged to give thanks because of the salvation provided to us by God. He sent Jesus to Earth to restore our broken relationship to perfection. Sin made us unworthy, but Jesus saved us. Despite everything, Jesus Christ came to earth. He lived a perfect life, took on the sins of all mankind that separated us from God, paid the penalty of those sins - death, and then rose from the grave. Now those who believe and accept this gift can live with Him forever. Jesus saves us. All we have to do is believe.

Therefore, as we think about the idea of thankfulness, we realize that we have great reasons to give thanks to God. The King of all Kings is good, He loves us, and He came to save us. The Lord loves us enough to pursue a relationship with us so that we may find salvation in Him. He wants to provide us with fullness of joy! Will you thank God for these things with us? What else are you thankful for?

By Elizabeth Keith

Struggling

It’s not fun, but we all do it at some point in our lives. We have that in common with every human being. Although our struggles can be different than our neighbors, friends, coworkers, and family members.

How do we deal with it? Start by praying. Ask the Lord to give you HIS peace and comfort. Ask for the Lord to hold you up and give you his strength, guidance, and encouragement. Stay focused on Christ, not your situation. If you believe in Jesus and you are following him, here are some verses from the Bible to comfort you:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving present your requests [struggles] to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7

We can’t control what other people do, or say, or lie about. But we can pray about the situation, and ask God to cover us in his peace. Recite this verse, and pray for the Lord to help you focus on him and not what you are struggling with.

Jesus told his disciples (and was preparing them), “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world. I am telling you this, so that in me
[following me, praying to me, having a relationship with me] you may have peace.” John 16:33

Christians struggle just as much as everyone else. But having Christ in our lives allows us to experience his peace, even in the midst of what we are struggling with. Be specific in your prayers. When you start to feel alone or anxious about something, turn your thoughts to Jesus, and recognize him for who he is. He is our Creator, he is our Father, and he knows our struggles.

Difficult times, crises, and hard times bring us closer to the Lord, or they should. When I am struggling with something, I really lean into the Lord. I pray a lot more, read more Bible verses that pertain to how I am feeling, and I am laser focused on Christ. One of my prayers is, “Lord every time I think about _____, turn my thoughts back to you. Cover me in your peace and surround me with your angels.”

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will keep your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-7

Sometimes I will repeat that verse in my mind, to remind myself to TRUST in the Lord. It’s not about me. It’s about him, and trusting in him and who he says he is to help me during my struggles in life. If we have chosen to follow him and we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, he promises to be there for us. He loves us and we are his, when we ask him to be in our lives. I can’t imagine my life without Christ.

“I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13