All to His Glory

Romans 5 :1-5 says "Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this Grace in which we stand. And rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that but we also glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us! "

How beautiful is THAT promise!

It has been a while since I have blogged and I had hoped to get back to this sooner, but life has been busy and God had other things for me to do .

I struggled for a long time this month deciding what to write about; Not because God isn't teaching me and showing me things, but because He is. Sometimes the things God teaches us have us up on "mountain tops". Sometimes the things God teaches us convict us and our heart is overwhelmed with grief over the fact that we have sinned against our Great God and Savior. This past month was one of the latter for me. It seem like so many little, yet significant sins besetting me that I began to be come discouraged. Yet right in the midst of it there was GOD reminding me of His faithfulness and Loving kindness. I love the Psalms( I was just humming a Psalm in my head) and I love to sing them because they are Gods Word and they remind me of his faithfulness and mercy and so much more ( any way that is off track.) As I was saying , God reminded me right in the middle of discouragement that He was there with me being faithful and merciful . I read in a daily reading Proverbs 3 :5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path .( My focus was wrong and on my self ,trusting in my own understandings and not on His) When we find ourselves in a seeming Valley we can rejoice in the fact that God is right there with us ,sustaining us, and preserving us . For he promised he would be with us where ever we go( Joshua 1 :9) and Psalm 37:23 -24 says " the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his way. Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholds him with His hand . I love that Picture of God upholding us with His hand ( Nothing happens outside God's sovereign will for our lives) All through out the Psalms we are told of how God protects us , sustains us,preserves us by His powerful hand. ( Psalm 31:22, Psalm 97:10,Psalm 41:36).

Our Joy in the Lord is not based on a circumstance that we are experiencing. Our Joy is based on His faithfulness and our gratefulness to Him for the grace and mercy he has shown to us. it is expressed perfctly in this fact : "God demonstrated His own Love for us in this ,While we were yet sinners Christ died for us!"( Romans 5:8)

He is indeed an awesome God!

There is a song that a friend's daughter wrote. It's chorus says " In this valley ,oh Lord ,I will still praise You ,for my joy is not in circumstance and my soul rest in You ...

other lines say .." When I am weak You are strong" ... When my strength is running thin and I need some one who cares You put me on my knees again and wipe away each tear"..

These are just a few lines for Karen Dewitt's song "Valley", but it encourages us and reminds us that our source for ALL WE NEED is the Lord because He is our hope, our joy, our peace and strength.

Matthew 11:28 says "Come unto me all you who are labored and heavy laden and I will give you rest" ..When we are burdened he will give us rest. , Christ is our hope( 1Timothy1:1), He is our exceeding joy( Ps.43:4), he gives us His peace ( John 14: 27), He is our strength, fortress, refuge ( Jeremiah 16:19. These are but a few of the promises He give us to go to ,hold on to ,cling to ,trust in ,when we are discouraged.

When we are in a seeming valley, He has not left us. He has promised us that He won't if we are His. And The Truth is that as Christians when we feel overwhelmed in situations that God has allowed we can turn to Him and cry out to Him because He alone is faithful. Even if we have nothing ,we have everything in the Lord.

Psalm 57:5-11 are verses about exalting God, giving glory to Him and praising Him for his protection and mercy .... "Be exalted o God above the heavens, Let your Glory be above all the earth."

When I became discouraged I realized I needed to take the focus off MYSELF and put it back where it belonged on the Lord and serving , honoring ,and glorifying Him!

The shorter Catechism :

Question 1 : What is the chief end of man?

Answer: Mans chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Forever In His Grace

Please pardon any spelling /grammar mistakes It's late and I wanted to get this done. : )