An Expectant Father

Ephesians 1:3-6

Vs.3 “…who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ…” This is past tense. He has already put forth the order to bless us with every spiritual blessing available in Christ Jesus. Christ said I must leave to prepare a place for you in heaven. The room is ready, the blessings are wrapped, gifts and talents are waiting. Are you ready to receive them? Are you looking? What have you found? Praise Him, thank Him. Are you living a like one who is blessed?

Vs.4 “…for the Father has chosen us before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight…” When God chose to create the world, He knew we would fail Him, hurt Him, and disobey Him. He looked into the future and saw you, saw me and said,
“I want that precious one. I don’t want to miss out on the chance of having this one as My own. This one is too important to Me. I will create the world and send My only Son to die for the sins of this dear one, so that she/he can be holy and blameless and be a part of my kingdom.”

Jesus said,
“This precious child is worth all the pain and suffering I will endure.”
Do you know the Father’s love? Have you received the gift of salvation from the penalty of sin that Christ died to give you? *

Vs.5 “In love, the Father, determined that He wanted to adopt you and me through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will…” Adopting us brings Him pleasure and is in accordance with His will. Each of us is important enough to bring Him pleasure and be in His will. Each of us is a part of God’s plan! We are accepted, loved and pleasing to the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants you to be a part of His will.

Vs.6 “…to the praise of His glorious grace, which He freely gives us in the One he loves.” Our part in His will (as if being in His will wasn’t enough) brings Him praise- just being and choosing Him, brings Him praise. Not what we do, what we have to offer, just choosing Him and being in His will. That is amazing! Think on this for a moment….when was the last time someone appreciated you choosing him or her? When was the last time you were valued for just being and not doing?

God knew before He created the world, which ones would choose Him and follow Him. He has been waiting, like an expectant Father, for the one who would say, “Yes”. He knew your name, who you would be and what you would look like. He waited thousands of years to die for you and than waited almost 2,000 more years to have you in His family. He did this knowing how many times you would fall short. He loved each of you enough to wait anyway and loves you despite your shortcomings. Wow!

He loves you more than you will ever know.


* Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Desperate cries leading to joy

Psalm 28
(go to http://www.biblegateway.com)

• Desperate cry for help
• Making his requests known to God
• Relief/peace
• Praising God
• Joy

Nine verses of prayer in a song to God during a difficult time for David. We are not told what time of life or what the specific circumstances in this psalm are and I’m not sure it’s necessary. This is a short and to the point way to pray to God and find peace and joy in the midst of terrible circumstances.
Notice that there is no resolution of David’s problems in this psalm but there is definitely a connecting with the character of God and who He is and that alone is what brought David the peace, hope and joy he needed in this situation.
We too can find the same thing in the midst of our difficult and sometimes horrible circumstances. We cry out to God believing that He is listening; we lay out our requests or laments out to Him and find relief and peace. From here we can then let our soul sing praise or speak praise to Him who has listened, met us in our time of need and brought relief and peace. Here we find joy in the love that our Lord Jesus has for us, right now, right here in this moment.
I, too, have experienced this same peace and joy in Christ in the moment. I have cried out to Him with shouts and tears at times seeking answers to questions and hope in what seemed like hopeless circumstances or unknown times of resolution of the current difficulties. What I discovered was Jesus was listening, He did care! Sometimes words of comfort from the Bible would come to mind or remembrances of His past help or songs that I had heard and song would filter through my mind or sometimes just a peace/relief would come over me and I too ended with praise and joy that I was heard. The problem had not gone away. The circumstances had not changed in those moments but Jesus heard me and He offered Himself to bring me comfort.
Tell me, have you experienced this same joy and peace and comfort in your times of need? Think back, sometimes we are so focused on what we want to happen that we miss the love that is coming our way. Know and believe that He is listening and He does care.
I would love to hear from you concerning your stories of how Jesus met you!

celebrating with friends

A friend of mine mentioned that I needed to share with everyone again the hope of this blog. There was a time when I was a part of a weekly Bible study and even a small group, along with involvement with a group of women that served in our church. These groups allowed me the opportunity to share with others what the Lord was doing in my life and what I was learning in the Bible or ask questions about what I was learning. It worked both ways. These people also shared things with me. It was amazing to me to share with people in this way; to praise God together, to explore His Word and explore questions together; and then get excited when an answer arrived. For various reasons I no longer have these groups of people to share with.
I miss this exchange and celebration greatly. This is one of the reasons why I have started this blog. I want to celebrate Jesus with YOU! I am blessed and excited if you read this blog and it gives you something to think about or praise God for but I would be doubly blessed if we could celebrate together through your posts.