Tag Archives: God

Worship With Thankful Hearts

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I hope everyone reading this is making plans to attend church with your fellow Christians to worship the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When we gather together it should be a time of celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.  It is through His death, burial, and resurrection that we are able to be forgiven, justified, and sanctified.  Therefore, I pray this Lord’s Day finds you with a thankful heart.

Here are a few verses from the Psalms that reveal the heart of true worshippers when they gather together mindful of all the Lord’s heavenly gifts.  Happy Lord’s Day!

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, [And] into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him,[and] bless His name. (Ps. 100:4) 

I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify Him with thanksgiving. (Ps. 69:30) 

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. (Ps. 95:2) 

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! … [4] Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, [And] into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, [and] bless His name. (Ps. 100:1, 4) 

Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And declare His works with rejoicing. (Ps. 107:22) 

I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, And will call upon the name of the LORD. (Ps. 116:17) 

Therefore I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the Gentiles, And sing praises to Your name.(Ps. 18:49) 

Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name…To the end that [my] glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever. (Ps. 30:4, 12) 

I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people.    (Ps. 35:18) 

We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare [that] Your name is near. (Ps. 75:1) 

So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture, Will give You thanks forever; We will show forth Your praise to all generations. (Ps. 79:13) 

[It is] good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High…(Ps. 92:1) 

Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. (Ps. 97:12) 

Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for [He is] good! For His mercy [endures] forever. (Ps. 106:1) 

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for [He is] good! For His mercy [endures] forever.       (Ps. 107:1) 

Father, we worship and glorify You this morning with hearts thankful for all the ways You demonstrate Your love toward us.  Thank You, Father!

All Bible quotes are taken from the New King James Version.

At Peace With God’s Pace

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Graceway MediaThis morning I would like to introduce you to Steve Roll, founder of Restoration Ministries. Steve is a godly man who longs to see others enjoy the healthy spiritual life God has planned for them. He has committed his life to be a helping hand and word of encouragement to those who are hurting.

I believe his insightful post, “At Peace With God’s Pace,” will give you simple advice on how to enjoy the life you’ve been given. Personally, I want to go through life at a pace which allows me to enjoy living. I don’t want to live at a frenetic pace feeling like a contestant on “The Amazing Race” going to different places but never having time to enjoy them.  God’s pace will always allow us time to smell the roses.

I pray Steve’s post, “At Peace With God’s Pace,” will bring you hope of enjoying life and not just rushing through it!

“The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace because he trusts in Thee.” Isaiah 26:3
 “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way.” Psalm 37:23

“Are we there yet?” Like kids on a vacation trip trapped in the backseat of the car—we are an impatient people. Rather than enjoy the journey, we clamor to arrive at our destination. And we want to be there NOW!

Everyone is in such a hurry today. You and I run here and there, and there and here, like chickens with our heads cut off.  We have been duped into thinking that the fast lane of the rat race is where it’s at. Who says we have to run the rat race? I guess the rats do! So many people labor and live at a breakneck, feverish pace in order to keep up with the Joneses. If I read my Bible right, Christians are to keep up with Jesus, not the Jones. 

When you study the life of Christ, you find that He paced Himself during His three year ministry. His steps were established (ordered, directed, laid out) by the Father. You never see Jesus stressed out. The Lord never put pressure on Himself to perform or be successful. In the midst of intense opposition and adversity, Jesus experienced the peace of God. Why? Because I believe He was at peace with God’s pace on the way to the cross and resurrection.  

Someone said hurry is often the long way around in life. Hurry, scurry, and worry keep many people frustrated. Many people lack inner peace in their lives because they don’t pace themselves. No wonder we have so many stressed out, burned out, freaked out people in our society. 

I have always been a high energy person. At times, high gear has been my Achilles heel. As a young boy, I remember watching my first long distance track race. The starter’s gun sounded, the runners took off.  I was so disappointed that the runners weren’t sprinting and running in highest gear. The race was 5,000 meters. The distance runners knew something I didn’t. 

They understood the principle of PACE. To complete the race, they had to pace themselves over the distance. They couldn’t possibly run the whole course full throttle. They would run out of gas before the finish line if they ran full blast.
As Christians, we are running a faith race (Hebrews 12:1-3). The Lord’s will is for us to finish our faith race victoriously (II Timothy 4:7-8). It’s to our benefit that we run our race at His pace. If we run ahead of God, we will burnout. If we run behind God, we rust out. But if we run with God, hand in hand with Him in the power of the Holy Spirit, we WIN OUT!

God is a god of peace and pace. He is never in a hurry, He never worries, and He is never late or ahead of schedule. He is perfectly on time, all the time. His secret: a planned, purposeful, peaceful, productive PACE. God’s universe and Kingdom is one of peace when His creatures live life at His pace. A restful, productive pace that energizes us is God’s way.  

Isaiah makes it crystal clear: Perfect peace is ours when we steadfastly focus on the Lord and trust Him to quicken the pace or slow it down. Note it is God’s perfect peace that the trusting person will receive. God’s perfect, complete, whole, fulfilling, satisfying peace is something we cannot produce ourselves.  Our Heavenly Father is the god of peace who gives peace to His children. 

I don’t know about you, but most of the time my problem with pace is not going too slow, but going too fast. Through the school of hard knocks, my hard head is learning that God loves me so much He will find a way to slow me down when necessary!
If we desire to be healthy, peaceful, and productive, we must come to terms with being at peace with God’s pace. If you are out of sync with God’s pace, fall on your face before Him. Confess your impatience. Repent of your dysfunctional desire to control outcomes and have things your way in your time. 

Slow down long enough to receive God’s peace. As you fix your mind on Him, His perfect peace will flood your heart. Trust Him to direct your steps and to show you the proper pace to run your race. 

You and I are off and running into God’s plan for us in 2012. Great opportunities lie ahead for us to glorify God. Peace with His pace will produce less stress and more success in our lives. So let’s commit ourselves to run our race at His pace this year.

“For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:15
“Great peace have those who love God’s law; nothing shall cause them to stumble.” Psalm 119:165

A Word For Your Week:  Christian winners run their race at God’s pace.

John 3:16

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It is hard for me to believe that this simple video upset so many people when it was televised during the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots’ football game. Personally, I think it is a great video, and I would suggest you copy the address, post it on your Facebook page, and email it to friends and family.  It is, after all, the only message that truly brings hope for all the world!

He Can See Me Now!

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As Christians, God expects us to be involved in His work; therefore, we need to make sure we get in the game. I have seen this illustration several times over the years.  It is the story of young man on a High School football team. I have been told it is a true story; however, I have never been able to find the name of the player or the team in question.  Regardless, it is a wonderful story of how we should strive to get in the game knowing that our Father in heaven is watching.

He played on the kickoff team, and was a second string linebacker but hardly ever played unless his team got way ahead. Even though this young man didn’t get to play very much his dad was always in the stands to support him and cheer him on.

When it came time for his last home game, the last game of his senior year he stormed into the coaches’ office with a sense of urgency about him. He said, “Coach, you’ve got to let me start tonight, please coach, please let me start tonight! The coach said, “I know you’re a senior but I can’t make any promises. This is an important game, a game we’ve got to win if we are going to make the playoffs.” But the young man begged and pleaded with the coach until finally right before the game started the coach said, “Okay, I’ll let you play the first series.”

The young man was so excited He couldn’t wait to get out onto the field. When it finally came time for the defensive team to take the field, he was the first one in the huddle.

The first play from scrimmage the opposing quarterback handed the ball off to the fullback, but to everyone’s surprise this second string linebacker who hardly ever played nailed him in the backfield for a 5 yard loss. On the next play from scrimmage the quarterback went back to pass and the same young linebacker blitzed and sacked the quarterback for another 5 yard loss.

The young man played with reckless abandon, like a man on a mission. In fact he played so well, the coach let him play the entire game. He ended up with over 20 tackles and at the end of the game as he was running off the field the coach grabbed him by the helmet and he said, “Son, what in the world got into you tonight? He said that’s one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen a high school linebacker play. I don’t get it. What happened?” He said, “Well, coach, you know my dad has always supported me by coming to all of my games and cheering me on even though he’s blind.” The coach said, “Yeah, I know who your dad is, and I know he’s blind, but what’s that got to do with the way you played tonight.” Then the young man said, “Well, you see coach, my dad died last night and I know that He is in Heaven tonight and that this is the first game he’s ever been able to see me play. That’s why I had to play. I was playing for him and that made all the difference in the world.”

Stop Beating Yourself Up!

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If you are like most people, you have already begun working toward fulfilling your New Year’s resolutions.  Most of our resolutions lead us toward being a better person this year than last.  I would like to share a little bit of my background hoping that it will help you achieve your personal goals.

From the age of eighteen until I was twenty-four, I made a mess of my life. If there was a bad decision to be made, I would choose it every time. I had been raised in church, became a Christian at age nine, tried to be a leader in the youth group, and was growing in my knowledge of Scripture and the Christian life. However, just after graduation, I started making foolish choices. Eventually, I found myself so far away from God that I couldn’t find my way back.

In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15.11-32), Jesus makes it clear that all we have to do is show our repentance, that is turn away from sin, by returning to God. He is always ready to restore us to a right relationship with Him, continue our Christ-like development, and use us for His glory. It is that simple.

I was too smart for all that. I knew I had been too wicked for God’s grace, and therefore, couldn’t accept God’s forgiveness, love, mercy, and grace. I couldn’t accept God’s gifts because I couldn’t forgive myself. I was beating myself up for my own sinful behaviors. I couldn’t hear what the Bible was saying about God because I was too busy trying to fix myself. Needless to say, I was miserable! No matter how frustrated I was with my backslidden life or how determined I was to make myself live the Christian life I continued down the wrong path. I was convinced that I was a hopeless case. I didn’t know it, but that was right where God wanted me—consciously aware of my inability to change on my own.

I realized that relief wasn’t going to come by my ability to control myself. In my own flesh I was always going to make the wrong decision.  My frustration was caused by trying to live up to the standards I thought was expected of Christians. However, in confessing my inadequacy to live out the Christian life on my own, God was then able to live through me. The only way I was going to be truly restored was to come to God broken and contrite. It was then that I was showered in God’s grace and restored into a right relationship with Him. Immediately, I realized I could never let guilt hold me back from enjoying my relationship with God.

Now when I fall short of God’s plan, I am quick to run to the throne of grace, admit my failure, thank God for His forgiveness, and joyfully move on with my life all the wiser. If guilt has driven a wedge between you and God, it is time to run to God, confess your sin and guilt, then enjoy His forgiveness, mercy, grace, and love. Trust me, as someone who has been there, living a life resting in what Jesus has done brings about your best life now!