6 Ways God Shows His Love

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 36:7)

How profoundly does God love you? Consider these things.

He created you – I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

Your existence, your life, is not an accident. You were specifically planned for and created by God. He designed everything about you from you physical appearance to your personality type, to be just the way he wanted you to be. You are God’s masterpiece.

He created you in his image – So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

Nothing else in all the creation can lay claim to being “like” God or in his image. Not trees or rocks or birds or any other animal. Only people, like you. He made you in his image, in his likeness, so that you can have a personal relationship with him.

He died for you – But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Just like everyone else on the planet, from infancy you joined in what has been called, the Great Cosmic Rebellion. You have again and again turned your back on God, rejected his rightful rule over you and chose to follow your own sinful choices. Knowing that you would do so, God came to earth, took on humanity and died in your place. He did that so you could be delivered from sin, given life and set free to be in a relationship with him.

He gifted you – Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 1 Corinthians 12:7 Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 1 Corinthians 14:26

If you are a believer in Jesus, then you have been given gifts of the Holy Spirit. It may gifts of service or mercy or administration or preaching/teaching or knowledge or faith or evangelism or something else. That is, you have a God-given special enabling chosen expressly for you by God so that you can join him in his work of building the church. Think about that for a minute. Don’t take it for granted. The King of Kings of all the universe has especially given you a Holy Spirit powered gift so that you can use that gift alongside him in the work he is doing of building the church – i.e. making disciples. What a privilege and honor that is!

He empowers you – But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

This is a broken world filled with difficulties and problems, many of which are too much for us. We are broken people who cannot, through our own power, overcome the difficulties and problems that face us. But, we can be confident that, if we are a believer in Jesus, he will graciously give us all the power we need to face whatever comes our way.

He meets all your needs – And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Whatever needs you have, relationship needs, physical needs, financial needs, spiritual needs, whatever your needs may be, God promises to take care of them for you. It may not be when you want or the way you want. But your needs will be taken care of the way that is best, best for his glory and best for your well-being, in his time and in his way.

Take a few minutes to really ponder these truths. Think deeply about them. The most powerful and amazing Being in all the universe –

·         Created you

·         Made you like himself so that you could have a relationship with him

·         Died for you when you were lost in sin, making a way for you to have eternal life

·         Gifted you so you could join him in his work

·         Empowered you so that you can face any and every difficulty that life throws at you, and

·         Promised to take care of all your needs

Can you see, even a little, how great is God’s love for you? It’s a pretty amazing thing. Let it sink in, let it saturate your soul and your heart. Then let it move you to love him in return, to honor him and worship him and serve him. That’s what life is all about.

What do you think? I'd love to read your comments.

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Top 10 Quotes for May 3 - 10

Every day, on my social media sites, I post quotes I hope will inspire, encourage or otherwise help those who read them.

Based on “likes” from my facebook page, these are the 10 Most Popular Quotes from last week.

Thanks for “voting” with your likes!

10. All great achievements require time. ---Maya Angelou

9.  When someone does something wrong, don’t forget all the things they did right. Be gracious! ---Christine Caine

8. The man who doesn’t read had no advantage over the man who cannot read.  ---Mark Twain

7. A room without books is like a body without a soul.  ---Cicero

6. Sometimes the greatest thing to come out of all your hard work isn’t what you get for it, but what you become of it. ---Steve Maraboli

5. There are only two ways to love your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. ---Albert Einstein

4. He is your friend who pushes you nearer to God.  ---Abraham Kuyper

3. A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected ---Tiffany Evans

2. Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today. ---Clairporium.com

1.  When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.― Henri J.M. Nouwen,

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Last Week's Top Ten Quotes

Every day, on my social media sites, I post quotes I hope will inspire, encourage or otherwise help those who read them.

Based on “likes” from my facebook page, these are the 10 Most Popular Quotes from last week.

10. It takes a lot of unspectacular preparation to have spectacular results. ---Roger Staubach  

9.  Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.

---Dr. Seuss

8.  If you fell down yesterday, stand up today. ---H G Wells

7. Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even you had no title or position. 

---Brian Tracy

6. Reading to children, even before that can understand the words, teaches them to associate books with love and affection. ---Grammarly

5. When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. ---Henry Ford

4. Inhale grace, exhale gratitude. ---Tammy Calhoun

3. Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice.

---Wayne Dyer

2. Some people with the worst pasts end up creating the best futures. ---Zig Ziglar  

1.    That moment when you finish a book, look around, and realize that everyone is just carrying on with their lives… as though you didn’t just experience emotional trauma at the hands of a paperback. ---Figment

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You can chose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts. 

King, Franklin and Their Common Passion

Today is the day set aside to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. and the work of the civil rights movement. All freedom loving people owe Dr. King, and the others who fought for justice during that turbulent time, a debt of gratitude. As Dr. King said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." We are all more free and more safe from injustice because of Dr. King's work.

But today is also the 305th birthday of another man who was, perhaps, the first truly great American, Benjamin Franklin. Franklin's list of accomplishments are unmatched by anyone before or since. He excelled as an author, businessman, scientist, inventor, legislator and diplomat. He founded the first American lending library, fire department and anti-slavery society. A school he started in Philadelphia became the University of Pennsylvania. And, of course, he played a key role in passing the Declaration of Independence and the creation of the United States of America.

From an early age and throughout his lifetime Franklin, in his own words, had a "passion for books and knowledge." He had little opportunity for formal education. So he took responsibility for his own learning and from a very young boy read anything he could get his hands on that would add to his knowledge. If only that were true of more people today.

So many of the people I know have little interest in either books or knowledge. They are content to be amused by television and video games, Utube videos and Ipod music. Does it matter as long as they are content with themselves? I think it does.

We live in a broken world, a world that is not the way it is supposed to be. The Bible teaches that God, through Jesus Christ, is redeeming the world. He is saving a people to be his own, but he also cares about making the world a better place. God cares that hungry people are feed, that sick people are healed, that pollution is cleaned up and that injustice is fought. God's people ought to have a passion for making the world a better place and doing that requires knowledge. Knowledge of ideas, of people and of the world. One of the reasons that Ben Franklin was able to accomplish so much good in his life is just because he was so passionate about books and knowledge. His learning helped enable him to make a contribution. And that brings me back to the other person remembered today, Dr. King.

Dr. King not only cared about ending the injustice of racism, he was able to formulate plans to do so. And he was able to formulate plans because he was acquainted with the great ideas of theologians and philosophers throughout the ages. He was, like Franklin, passionate about books and knowledge, and he used that knowledge for his other passion, a passion for making a difference in the world.

I pray that today we pause to think about these two great men and their passions for knowledge and contributing to the good of society. If we do, maybe we'll be inspired to turn off the game console or the TV and pick up a book.