Thursday 23 May 2013

LIVING AMAZED - PART 1

Blessed Saints of God, 

         We know that our God is an amazing God, when you consider that He created EVERYTHING out of nothing, gave life to all creatures and mankind, gave us everything imaginable to enjoy.  There is absolutely nothing else He could do to give us any more satisfaction in all of life.  There is nothing more He could have done to show His love any greater through His Son Jesus.  He gave us absolutely everything so we can enjoy the multitudes of variations of colors in all creation including sunrises and glorious sunsets.  Just think when He could have created everything black and white with a few greys here and there!  When we think of how fearfully and wonderfully we are made (Ps 139:14),  and everything is held in place by the power of His Word (Heb 1:3), He truly is an awesome God.  The oceans don't just stop at the sandy beaches, but Gods Word keeps the mighty oceans intact.  Ever wonder how amazing it is that something so fragile as sand is able to keep the mighty oceans from destroying many lands?  This should cause us to realize how God puts things in order, otherwise everything would seemingly float around in chaos and total disorder.  The stars in the heavens don't just hang in mid air, but God places them and holds them there by the power of His Word.  I like going back and reading Psalm 139 that tells us of Gods awesome sovereignty as well as the very last verse in John (John 21:25) that says that the books ever written in this world could never contain what God has done or continues to do.  To me, that is amazing just to think about that.  But so many times, we lack having that reverential fear and amazement of God.  The question I often like to ask is "Why is that" and seek Him to give us answers to these questions.  We should encourage each other to learn to ponder questions because it compels us to do some searching and seeking.  We need to do this to gain the benefits of receiving the richness of His Word rather than always letting others always feed us the word.  We are called to do some studying and searching, otherwise we fail to benefit the most from what He can offer us when we don't take time to study and to know Him in the power of His resurrection (Phil 3:10).  He tells us when we learn to seek the rich knowledge of His Word, we find extra-ordinary wisdom in it (Prov 2:4,5).  

          When you think that God became angry with a nation because they lost their awe of Him (Jer 2:19), it compels me to ask why and seek His help because I don't ever lose my awe and reverence of Him not because I am afraid He will become angry with me, but I would hate to grieve Him to come to that point in the first place.  To think that He is the Creator of all the Universe, and yet, He wants to have a personal intimate relationship with each of us (including me) should amaze us!  The thought of living eternally is amazing, especially for us who invited Jesus to be our Lord, can live in that awesome Kingdom which describes beauty beyond mans imagination which He Himself has prepared this eternal place for us.  I often think that when we lose our focus on how amazing is our God, there are several reasons why this happens.  First of all, we take everything for granted because anything we were once amazed at becomes all too familiar or common.  We forget that it is an awesome privilege to simply even enjoy a clean cup of water (for most of us) and forget that our God blessed us with this simple resource we take for granted.  This is so true for so many things in our lives that I couldn't list all the things we are privileged and take for granted in a lifetime.  Just to be able to see and enjoy so many sights and hear so many sounds of birds singing, listening to talented musicians or singers we enjoy or enjoying the springlike fragrance from the blossoms is a rich blessing because of Him.  To enjoy the use of all our senses God has given us should be more valuable to us than any worldly fame and fortune anyone has ever attained.  It's as though we have forgotten God and just come to a point that the plants, trees, flowers and all vegetation we enjoy just happen to spring up every year and animals just happen to be born after its own kind while we forget that our God is the Source of every existing creation and every material and natural resources we see before us.

          Secondly, we become so focused on attaining worldly ambitions or allowing the attractions of this world to get into our heart, that our love for this world has replaced our love for the One who gave us life in the first place.  Jesus tells His Disciples that His Word which is meant to give us hope, health in every way, encouragement, comfort, peace, joy and eternal life are all choked out by our cares for this world all because our primary focus has turned towards our worldly ambitions rather than having that rich relationship with Him (read Matt 13:1-7).   He gives us the greatest pleasure to enjoy the rich fellowship with the Church (His people) which is far richer than those who often have the most money in their bank account.  I used to travel much on my former job with a small group of people doing inspections throughout Canada.  Several people have been impressed to see how I knew so many people throughout our country.  I can only thank God that because of Jesus, I am able to connect with so many people after living in various places in our country.  Even when Christians meet for the first time, we are able to have that wonderful connection simply because we share a common interest by having that wonderful relationship with Christ.  Had one of us not had any personal relationship with Christ, we would not have known each other.  I find that those who have a richer relationship with Christ equally have a much richer relationship with other Christians.  I marvel at how God allows His people to connect with one another in such a short time when it is virtually impossible otherwise.  Many of the people I have known for a long time never became close in relationship to me.  When I think about the relational opportunities we have, I cannot help but marvel and know that it is only because we have a personal relationship with God.  Because of Him, I know I can go throughout the world and stop in many countries to visit many of you and have that wonderful relationship simply because of Him!  Knowing this is awesome just because of Him who loves us so much.  This is one of the things He wants us to prosper is in our relationship with Him and with one another.  Only Gods people can be so privileged like no other to have this.

          Thirdly, our awe of God becomes lukewarm when we don't heed to Gods wisdom to "be still" (Ps 46:1) and give ourselves time to think about how God created all life in its fullness.  If we would just consider spending as little as 5 minutes a day to have a "think session", we would realize that our God truly is an awesome God and be able to enjoy more of His bountiful creative power.  I have learned over the years that taking my time to enjoy His presence is much more satisfying than all the worldly clutter I have accumulated over the years.  The things I once cherished and worked hard just to collect, I now find it no longer has much value to me.  This is why I can truly identify what Paul says in Phil 3:8 that he gladly counts everything else as loss compared to the valuable worth of knowing Christ and being richly acquainted with Him.  It took him going through many trials to come to this point.  I know it also took me many trials to come to the point that nothing in this world is worth turning my back on the Lord.  It's a real liberation to know how awesome He is to me which is what fills our soul with delight.  When we fail to take time to think of how awesome He is and fail to see our awe of Him, we rob ourselves from having our souls being satisfied to the full, being filled with His Peace, His Joy and His goodness.  Knowing the truth about how awesome He really is to us deep within is really what satisfies our soul, which nothing else or no one else has ever done or could ever possibly do.  
I hope you will share these messages to help bless and encourage others in their time of need.  Lets spread the good news around the world!  
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