Day 98: Let's Talk About It- "Why We Serve God"

As we close out the “Let’s talk about it series” I want to bring it back to the root of why we do things and why we serve Christ in the first place.  I know we all have amazing stories of what lead us to Christ and how we got to know HIm for ourselves, and the moment we decided to give our lives to Christ. We remember the feeling of how it felt to know that you were now on a journey to eternity. It is important that we know why we serve God, and why we love GOd, and why we have chosen to live this life with CHrist. I have been asked this question a couple of times and have learned that it isn’t as complex as I made it.

Genesis 2:7

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

It is the breath of God running through our bodies. If it were not for him we would be lifeless creatures. He literally blew life into our nostrils and gave us a reason to live. God is the air we breathe. We are God’s greatest work of art, He formed us in His hand. He shaped and molded us. He gave us life, literal life. It comes from Him. God is the giver of life.

1 John 4:19

We love because He first loved us

God loves us so much. We respond to His goodness with love. We live our lives knowing that we are loved by the most magnificent being in all of creation. God loves us unconditionally, we didn’t do anything to receive His love and there’s nothing we can to for it to be taken away. God never needed a reason to love us, he just does.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, He gave his only son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

This is an example of how great God’s love is. He sent His own son, His child for us. He made His son, Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Because He loves us so much that He cannot bear to be separate for us, He is in constant pursuit of our hearts. So He made a way for us to be cleansed and forgiven and the opportunity to live an eternal life, through Christ. He wants a relationship with us, and Jesus is our direct line to Him. He made a way for us to have a constant connection to Him. God is just that great.

There are so many reasons as to why we serve God, and why we choose to life this lifestyle and continue to make that choice everyday.

God is love

God is Faithful

God is merciful

God is gracious

God is unfailing

God is patient

God is the giver of life and everything in it.,,

The list goes on.

For me I have learned that I am nothing without God. I don’t exist without Him and I cannot live apart from Him. I have seen God’s faithfulness first hand, and I have learned to trust him more and more with my life. God is the only person who has never let me down. God is the only person who is constantly there for me even when I didn’t acknowledge His presence in my life. I need God every second of everyday. But I also want Him near me every second of everyday, I’m clingy when it comes to my relationship with God, I have to be under Him always. I have to or I won’t make it. There's nothing I can do without God and there is nothing I can’t do with God. Most importantly, I love Him. I love God with every piece of my being, I love Him so much and I know that it will never add up to how much He loves me. I fell in love with God, and I fall deeper for Him everyday. He is my everything.

Reflection

1. Why do you serve God?

Prayer Time

Take the time to thank God for who He is. Take this time to honor and give reverence to God. Just thank Him, talk to Him about what He means to you. Praise God, just honor and glorify Him. He is worthy.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Make sure you share this with someone, share your story with someone today, and make sure you come back tomorrow for Day 99! Have an awesome Day!.

Day 91: Oh My Soul.

Psalms 42:5

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation

Psalms 42:11

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him my salvation and my God.

Psalms 43:5

WHy are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me. Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.

I hope you're starting to see a pattern here. David repeats the same phrase three times within two short chapters. (The first two chapters of the second book of psalms, 42 and 43). He must really be trying to emphasize something by repeating the same phrase three times. I mean I was always told that people don’t intentionally repeat something just for their health. Whatever they said was so important that it had to be said a second time. Well whatever David was saying, it had to be said a second and third time. He’s really asking himself this question, and then responding to his own question. Almost as if He is asking Himself a rhetorical question, he already knows the answer to it. But I love that he reminds himself that God is bigger than His worries. Even when his soul is downcast he will put his hope in God and praise his name. There is always something to thank God for, no matter what your life looks like, there is always a reason to praise God, always. There is never a moment in our lives where God doesn't deserve praise. We can find a million things to thank Him for everyday.  

I believe that David had to remind himself of the God he serves. David was going through some hard times, and he had to make sure that his soul did not remain downcast. He had to give himself a little encouragement. I love that he asks himself this question and follows it up by saying put your  hope in God. Sometimes when our souls are down, we have to remind ourselves of the mighty God we serve. We have to remind ourselves of His faithfulness. David reminded himself three times, and he probably did many more times throughout his life. Sometimes we have to question ourselves and call ourselves out on the things we let get us down. Sometimes it is inevitable, some things will get to us and that's fine, but in the midst of it, don’t forget about the magnificent God we serve. Remember our wonderful and faithful father in heaven. A literal miracle worker.

When we look at David and everything he went through as we read about him in 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st Kings, and 1st Chronicles, we get a front row seat to his life. Then in 

Psalms we get a front row seat to his outlook or perspective on his life.  David is known to be a man, after God’s own heart. And even his soul was downcast at times, he had moments of doubt, and fear, and anger, heartache, and pain. But he put His hope in the Lord. Even the strongest people are weak sometimes, We learn to put our hope in the Lord, we learn to take control over our own spiritual wellness. We make a conscious decision to put our hope in the Lord. Even in our weakest moments we can find hope in the Lord, and there is also when we find strength. We are without a doubt aware that God is so much greater than us and our problems. We must not forget that the God we serve is; all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful. He is God over the hills and valleys. He’s got us.

Reflection/ Prayer Time

Respond to God today with whatever is on your heart, even if it’s pain, anger, anxiety, depression, joy, peace, happiness, whatever it may be. Good or bad, just offer your heart to the Lord today and talk to him. Remember that prayer is just a conversation with God.

I love you. I hope you have an amazing day or evening, and a great weekend. MAke sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 92!

Day 70: God Knows Better

If someone were to ask me to list the many reasons why I am a christian, somewhere along that line I would say, “God knows better than me”. I find comfort in serving a God who is definite. He knows far more about this life, about this world, and even about me than I will ever know. I’m smart but I have the brain of a fruit fly compared to Him. God has given us knowledge and the ability to learn but we will never know more than Him. He is omniscient, all knowing, omnipresent, He is everywhere at one time. There isn’t a thing He does not see or know. There is no one like Him.

Revelation 22:13

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Isaiah 46:9-10

9 I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

God knows everything there is to know about everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything. We are talking about the man that created the universe, He created life, He created biology, chemistry, sciences. The organs in our body, every nerve, and cell was created by Him. This is the God we serve.

He knew from the moment He created us how our lives were going to turn out, That’s someone I can have faith in, He holds the future in His hands, He’s already planned it, and day by day He is leading us to the place He has for us. He’s planned out even the smallest moments in our lives. He knew the exact moment we would meet our best friends. He knows the exact moment we will meet the person we will spend the rest of our lives with. He knows when that phone call we’ve been waiting for will come through. He knows everything.

God knows what’s going to happen, even when we don’t. He sees the bigger picture because He painted it. We just have to trust in His sight, and His vision so that even when we don’t know what to do even when our plans hit a wall we can know that whatever God has planned is better than anything we could have dreamed up ourselves. We must accept the fact the no matter how smart we are, what we know does not compare to the knowledge of God.  Overtime as we look back over our lives we will see that God’s hand was in it all along. We will understand that He had to take us some places we weren't planning on going to get us to where we are. But overall God always knew where we would end up, because He is God. His ways are better than ours, His thoughts are greater than ours. His plans outshine ours.

Isaiah 55:8-9

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Just know that as long as we trust God, as long as we are in His will, we are part of a grand picture that was completed before we were even born.

Reflection/ Prayer Time

Take the time to think about how amazing it is that God knows better than us. To think about how great He is, and how He already knows what will happen in our lives. Let it sink in that we are part of God’s bigger picture. Just talk to Him about it all. However you feel led to pray today, do it.