Tag: God Knows

Posted in Christian, Christian Service, Church attendance, Faith, Family, Uncategorized

The Church MIAs

Written by talk2shari Published Discussion Leave a Comment on The Church MIAs

Where are you? There are people on my heart daily. This morning as I made up the bed, and I placed the squeezey bear that I got on the day of my heart surgery from the hospital on my pillows where she lays everyday, I thought about friends that are going through the struggles of life. Some are in church and some are out; some would be there if they could. There are days when I get less than godly thinking about people who walk out on God. I get in the flesh and I’m angry.  I am not Saint Shari. I will not tell you there have not been times in my 26 years of salvation that I have not thot of leaving Victory Baptist Church, but I can honestly say it’s not even five fingers worth of counting. It’s not a perfect church. If it was, I wouldn’t be allowed to attend. What it is, is a church of personality. Strong personality! For which I am one. And strong opinions. One such opinion that is shared by many of us, is that we are committed to the cause of Christ. You’ll note I said many, not all. As I said, we’re not the perfect church. But when it comes to the time that I stand before God, I stand before Him accountable for the life of Shari. Nobody else. 

So I ask you that read this today, when you read Hebrews 9:27 what is the thot that comes to mind:

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Yes, I know for many of you your response would be, “God knows my heart.” Yes He does. That always scares me. I don’t know who Frank is, but he must have been a straight shooter, so let me be “Frank” now. If you say, “God knows my heart,” and you are not serving Him, (and I mean serving) from wherever you are, that’s almost, if not really, smarting God off. And that my friend is dangerous ground.

I say friend because you are my friend. The only enemies I have are enemies of the cross. And that’s a true story. There are people I don’t really care to spend time in their presence, but they are not enemies. I would sing at their funeral. That may not have sounded very nice. I would sing at their wedding too. I don’t spend time thinking about them and allow them to take up free space in my head. I only think about people I care for. So if you are someone who is out of church, let me be the first to say to you, you are missed by someone. Maybe me.

My whole reasoning behind saying all of that was to remind myself of this, a few of the man reasons I go to church:

  1. Because I love God and it’s His house. We are His children, but the church house belongs to God. I’ve been in churches where that was not the case. “So and so” in the church thought it was theirs and treated it as such. The people in that church would ask that person before they’d ask God if something should or should not be done. I told you I was going to be “Frank.” I may identify as him all day!  That comment was pure comedy…. After all, these days you can identify as anyone you want too, right? I identify as Frank. In a girls body, just saying. 
  2. To learn the word of God. The Bible says study to show thyself approved. I need study buddies and the church is filled with people who enjoy the word as much as I do!
  3. The fellowships of the saints. These are my brothers and sisters every bit as much as Sheila, Sarah, Richard and Leonard, my siblings by blood. They were born of another mother and father, but the blood we share is the blood of Jesus Christ and it causes us to love like family. If I don’t speak to, or see my siblings I miss them dreadfully. The same is true about the family of God. Many of those who I miss, visit God in another house. But their still my brothers and sisters. I do not care what is over the door of your church, I only care about the God you serve and if He is mine, we’re family!
  4. It’s where I’ve been called to serve. Every believer inside the house of God has a purpose for being there. And it’s not likely just warming their pew. Although, if that’s all you can do, do it! But do it with purpose. You can say Amen, lift a hand, encourage another believer and especially the preacher. There is something you can do. For 25 years I’ve done the bulletin and taught Sunday School, for 15 or more years I’ve lead the youth ministry. Have I grown weary? You betcha! But I continue on because I was called to it, and God does not “un-call” people. People walk away from their calling or they never step out for it to being with. Refer to Hebrews 9:27
  5. Because I need it. If I’m not in church (which is rare) I’m struggling both spiritually and physically. This world wears me out. Today, I’m struggling physically. I’m hurting because of the fibromyalgia and an overdoing it around the house (although there’s no evidence.) But I can walk in the church, or do the Lord’s work and the breath that is breathed in me cannot be explained. It must be felt. I love serving God because He makes me feel good. And these are just a few of the many reasons I go to church. 

I would love it if you would share yours. Or, if you’re not in church, let me know that, and let me pray about it for you. And if you just need to vent, vent to me! But don’t walk out on God. He’s so worthy to be loved on. 

Posted in Life Inspiration

How Well Do You Know God?

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How many times today have you said that you loved someone or something? Things like “I love French fries or cake, or the shoes on my feet. Perhaps you told someone you loved them, and genuinely meant it, or maybe not.” The point is we use the word “love” a lot. And often as nothing more than a term of affection meaning “really like.” We wouldn’t dare compare the love of chocolate cake to the love of our family. So if we rated love on a scale of 1-10, where would chocolate cake rate, and where would our mother rank. And if by comparison we threw the love of God into the equation, in that He gave His only begotten Son to die for sins, where then would chocolate cake rate? I know it really is relative, but it’s a point worth pondering.

How much do we understand the love of God?

What does God know about you?

God knew you, before you were you

Jeremiah 1:5 –  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest  forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Of course God speaks of Jeremiah the Prophet, but being that God is no respecter of persons, He put the same thought into you prior to your birth. Your life was a blue print in God’s mind before you became the child of your parents. While your parents were planning the color of your nursery, God was planning your career. I know the love that I had for my girls and the planning and preparing that went into each of their arrivals. But I didn’t love them to the depth that God loved them. While human love created the children, God’s love created the possibility for it to happen, in that He allowed me to conceive. He created the Passion for David and I to love each other and He created the potential for my girls to become who He wanted them to become.

When the world tells us that we are unworthy, and for me that is often. God says, “You have no idea of the time I’ve invested in you.” That should make us pause for reflection on why we feel unworthy. It’s not because the Creator makes us feel that way.

That is why, I believe that God starts speaking into our lives at a very young age, and so does Satan. Satan loves to try to undo, God’s creation. He’s very good at it in some areas. But in our lives, he is only as good as we let him be.

God Knows the Hairs on your Head

Matthew 10:30 – But the very hairs of your hair are all numbered?

What attention to detail! Most of us don’t even notice when someone we care about gets their hair cut, but God not only notices, He has each follicle numbered. It shows the depth of God’s love and concern for everything aspect of our lives.

Following the surgery, my hair was showing a lot of damage. Possibly from the stress on my body overall. It was frustrating to look in the mirror at the broken and dead ends of my previously healthy-ish hair ( I do color it after all). But I have friends who have lost their hair because of cancer treatments. How can I complain about split ends. Because God knows for me it’s not about vanity as much as it’s about wanting to appear healthy so that people aren’t concerned and worried about me. To the world, it may seem vain. But God knows and cares about my heart. Maybe for you it’s another part of your anatomy or life that causes anxiety. Believe that God cares.

God Knows your Desires

Psalm 37:4 – Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

I can’t tell you how many times that I’ve read and favored this verse. But today as I read it, the word “also” jumped from the page of scripture.

If you read the verses going into that verse you’ll see in the context that there is method to God’s plans. Psalm 37:1-3 says Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

Leading up to the often-quoted verse of God granting us the desires of our heart is the acknowledgement that we are often aware of others who seemingly have the world as their oyster while we have crawl crabs on the creek bank. Can I get a witness on that!? Today as I traveled the highways I was having one of those moments as I looked at the countless blessing of folks who were far from serving God and yet they had “so much” materialistically speaking. I was ashamed of myself as soon as the thought came into my mind; but it didn’t stop me from thinking about it again.

But God does know the desires of my heart, and how many of those has He given me? Countless! And what does the lost have if they have not Christ? Nothing of any value. So when I read “also.” What that said to my heart was God allows our hearts to desire things of Him and things that are not of Him. And so long as they are not harmful to the cause of Christ, they are fine. But it’s up to God when to dole out the blessings. Just as it’s up to Him to call the final day in the life of a lost soul.

Verse 5a: Commit thy way unto the Lord;

Stay committed regardless.

God knows every thought we have before we have it. He knows our down rising and our uprising. David said I Psalm 139:8 – If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed hell, behold thou art there. There is no where that we can go, no thought nor action can we have that God is not aware. No sin…

That is what’s so amazing about John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

He knows every sin and failure, yet He was still willing to allow His Son to pay the price for our sin.

Who would you do that for?

How well do you know the Love of God and the depth of it? He knows everything about us. Every second of the day He is prepared to hear us and provide for us. How many seconds of the day are we prepared to hear His voice and get to know Him better? How many minutes on Sunday do we commit to know Him better?

 

Posted in Uncategorized

He Knows!

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1 Samuel 2:1-3 ~ And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

In the context of this scripture Hannah had just given her son back to the Lord. The child that she prayed for, and as a young mother would have adored the opportunity to raise him and spend that time with him, and yet her promise to the Lord would be kept. She delivered Samuel to the Priest and prayed these words.

She acknowledge Him with Rejoicing

Every prayer we pray should have praise to God for what He has done; acknowledging Him for His provision. How often I get so caught up in what I want that I forget just what He gave. Hannah was grateful for the child she’d been given, but she was most grateful that He was the God of Salvation. Is that not what life hinges on? Our life is so fleeting here, but to understand that the God of Salvation has saved us that we can spend an eternity unseparated from those we love. Oh my goodness! How Hannah understood. Yes, it was likely painful to leave her child in the temple to serve God, but she knew that the God she served would allow her to spend forever with him. I’m ready to shout!

She acknowledged Him as the Rock

There is “no Rock like our God.” Oh my goodness. What words those are. People will let us down, we’ll let ourselves down, but God is there every second of every hour. He knows every heartache, every thought, every fear, every need… our God knows and provides. It was Hannah’s prayer of faith that allowed her to have Samuel. What is it you stand in need of today? Have faith that God will provide!

She acknowledged His Reasoning

Matthew Henry said “Every stream should lead us to the fountain.” What wisdom there is in that! Hannah reminds us that there is nothing within ourselves that we can boast of. We’d have nothing were it not for Him and His goodness, and whatever it is that happens in life He knows why and as Romans 8:28 says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

When His actions are weighed, they are weighed with perfect measure, just what we need, at just the right hour. When my actions are weighed… I’m found short of it all.

Rejoice in the Rock today, He is so faithful! We all wonder “why” sometimes, but not God. Did it ever occur to you that nothing ever occurred to God? He knows!!!