NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US

Hebrews 3:12-13 NLT Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still ‘today’, so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.

Gosh, we all know to heed warning signs, don’t we? ‘Deep water - don’t swim! Weak bridge - don’t cross!  Strong warnings! Maybe we don’t read these verses very often but it tells us to warn each other every day which is pretty strong, isn’t it? Obviously the writer to the Hebrews knew how it’s possible to be deceived by the enemy into thinking God is our problem or our enemy, when in reality God is our Deliverer!😊

When we go through difficult things we need to guard our hearts because we’ll be tempted to question what is happening, or why it’s happening to us, and our enemy’s goal is to make us angry at God, to turn us away bit by bit. 

But that’s why we’re all here to encourage each other, to be reminded of God’s great love for each one of us, to hold us steady through the trials. Paul says in Romans 8:35 Can anything separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

We don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle yet, so when things don’t make sense, we can know God still has more pieces to come, to fit our lives together, to be the Overcomers He wants us to be. 

So as we walk into another week let’s encourage each other to keep our faith strong, our eyes fixed on Him, to stay faithful, to trust God as firmly as when we first believed, and we will enter into the victory Jesus won for us.

Thank You Lord. Amen.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

OUR GOD IS GREAT!

Psalm 70:4 NLT 

But may all who search for you, 

be filled with joy and gladness in you. 

May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout,

 “God is great!”

Another translation says “Let God be magnified.”

Whichever translation we like best the psalmist wants us all to be shouting out how great our God is, and when we think of our salvation, and all He has done for us it won’t be difficult.

We can’t help but love a God who rewards us. Hebrews 11:6 reminds us that those who diligently and sincerely seek the Lord and believe He exists will be rewarded. And our verses say we’ll be filled with joy and gladness in Him when we search for Him, even in the every day things that happen. That’s a reward we would all enjoy!😊 

Particularly at this time in the world there are a lot of people who could do with a dose of joy and gladness, so let’s do some seeking, and searching to know God more and more, because the more we do, the more we’ll keep things in perspective rather than letting them overwhelm us. 

It’s good to remind one another that our God is Great, on the days we feel like it, and on the days we don’t! God is great, and worthy of all our praise, worthy of our adulation, worthy of our attention and our deep gratitude whether things look good in our world or not. The circumstances around us don’t change who God is.

So next time you feel down or discouraged, remember how great your God is and start shouting “God is great!”, and let’s choose to feel, think, and act in a way that will make God look as great as He really is.

And while we’re at it, let’s raise a Hallelujah today to the God who spoke worlds into existence and who holds not only our big world, but also our personal worlds, our situations, our families in the palm of His nail pierced hands. And as we do, we can be glad and rejoice in His great love for us, in His forgiveness and His grace and allow His joy and peace to fill us up as we focus on Him and shout “God is great!” In Jesus name. Amen.😊

Photo:Patrick Fore on Unsplash