Posted in Life Inspiration

A God Like that!

chick awesome God

It never ever ceases to amaze me how God speaks to us through the Bible. It’s like sitting across the table from the Lord in the morning having a  conversation over coffee. This morning there was a  time of  refecection and laughter. I’m frustrated with myself that  I don’t dig deeper and know more. I prayed  to hear from Him, I needed to hear from Him, no more or less than any other day, but I need  to know  what He’d have me to know for the day, and that lead me to Genesis 1. Thirty one verses… just like the longest month. All about days and nights and the fact that God is and always has been.

He spoke life into existence from the beginning. He spoke it and He controled it. When there was darkness He spoke light, and then gave it a time frame for which to shine. He placed the earth on its axis that even the slightest degree could cause cataclysmic disaster and He holds it just so. When the arrogance of the world He created alludes that they are in control… things happen. When my own worlds seems spiraling out of control, He reminds me that it is not. And I am humbled that the God of all creation speaks to me in such a manner.

Genesis 1:1-2

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and He continues to move through the Living Water today. Why is it so hard for us to imagine that God can resurrect the dead when He brought to life the earth from nothing, and it would still be nothing if God had not made it to be life. It’s not hard for me to imagine God moving over the face of the waters and in animation far greater than any Disney movie I see lightings and thunderings as from beneath the surface life begins to take form. That’s kind of how it was for me when life began to take form in this dead body of mine.

When I attended church on February 18th, 1996 (this is the weekend of my 19th birthday as a new creature in Christ!), it was that day that I felt the Spirit of God stir the Living Water in my soul. I heard Christ knocking on the door of my heart. I knew His voice and when He spoke my soul came to life. I fought that feeling for literally months, not wanting to confess outwardly that inwardly something had happened. I was a church girl… it should have happened years prior! But it did not. I knew in my heart there was a God, but I didn’t understand the concept of Jesus.

If we’re honest it takes very little imagination to believe that there is a Creator. Because the earth bears witness to it. But it takes humility to understand that the same God who created us, would die for us.  That makes no sense. Scripture speaks truth when in Romans 5:7-8 it reads “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

In a revival sermon the other night, Preacher Carroll McCauley spoke of the sermon that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost when 3000 got saved, and asked us to imagine the soldier who stuck the spear in Christ’s side coming forward and asking Peter, “Would Jesus save me after what I’ve done.” Yes… would be Peter’s response. The soldier who spit in His face would follow and asked again, “Would He save me?” Yes… would be Peter’s response. The man who drove the nail would come and ask, “Even me?” Yes would be Peter’s response. We can’t imagine a God like that…until we feel Him moving in our souls and hear Him speak… I did it for you too. Oh Glory to God what a thought this Sunday morning! He still moves upon the Water!

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Posted in Grace, Life Inspiration

But Now… an awkward alliance turns awesome!

broken chick

Joshua 9

12 This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy:

These were the words spoken to Joshua and the children of Israel by the Gibeonites in order to deceive them into believing they were from a far country; yet instead they were neighbors to Israel for whom God had instructed Israel to make no treaty with. Joshua knew enough to talk to God before he went into battle, but what’s the harm in a peace treaty? God loves us to be buddies, right? Ummm… not always. It wasn’t long before Joshua had figured out that he’d been duped, but they had already sworn peace in the name of the Lord, and that’s serious business. So instead of killing the Gibeonites, the Gibeonites became Israel’s servants.

All sounds innocent enough, but Israel had still sinned in that they had failed to seek counsel of God. God may continue to use you, He may continue to bless you, but not to the degree that He would have if obedience had been factored in. But it’s the rest of the story that I love about the Israelites and the Gibeonites. They were not supposed to be mingled in with the children of God, and deceitfully got there. But God’s got a plan and as human as we are we can’t mess it up. God used the humility of Gibeon as a life lesson. They were humbly willing to be servants to the house of God if their life was spared and because of their willingness to serve Him He continued to use them.

After Joshua 9

  • The Gibeonites became servants at the tabernacle, just as Joshua had commanded.
  • Gibeon becomes a priestly city; the Ark of the Covenant stayed at Gibeon often in the days of David and Solomon (1 Chronicles 16:39-40 and 21:29).
  • At least one of David’s mighty men was a Gibeonite (1 Chronicles 12:4).
  • God spoke to Solomon at Gibeon (1 Kings 3:4).
  • Gibeonites were among those who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem with Nehemiah (Nehemiah 3:7 and 7:25)

Isn’t it great what God can do with us when we come to Him in humility and love, willing to be used where ever it is that He sees fit. As Gentiles we were not God’s chosen people, but in His great mercy He allows us to be a part of the family of God, grafted in, adopted in as one of His own. It was an awkward alliance that Joshua made, but because of it Gibeon was saved. Stop kicking yourself because of your past mistakes and rather see if God can turn awkward into awesome!