“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-9

Thoughts on today’s verse

No matter how we try to perceive God, he is still God and we are not. We must forever remember that the original, and still primary sin was to try to become like God in terms of knowledge and understanding. We are to know God, but we can never fully know about him. We are to take on his character, but we cannot approach his majesty. This is both exciting and frustrating. But the promise remains that one day we will be like him and see him as he is.

Prayer:

Tender Shepherd, thank you for being so patient with me when I cannot fully understand and appreciate your holy and transcendent character. Thank you for sending Jesus so I can know you better and trust you to know me better than I know myself. I look forward to seeing you face to face when Jesus comes to bring me home. Until that day, please know I love you. Through Jesus I offer my thanks and praise. Amen.

by Phil Ware
used by permission

Follow Us On:  Facebook  •   ‘X’  •   Instagram  •   Pinterest

RELATED READING

God’s Patience

We Plan – God Directs

Where is God?

The post God’s Ways appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”  James 3:17-18

Thoughts on Today’s verse

Now I know why righteousness is so hard to find: there aren’t many sowers! Heavenly wisdom is full of sacrificial earthly action. That’s a powerful reminder to me that wisdom is not what you know but what you sow!

Prayer:

Holy and Wise Father, thank you for demonstrating purity, peace making, consideration, submissiveness, mercy, good fruit, impartiality, and sincerity in Jesus. I ask for the power and the courage to demonstrate those qualities this week as I seek to live more like him. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

by Phil Ware
Used by Permission

From: https://www.verseoftheday.com

The post Heavenly Wisdom appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“The Christian life is a battle,” our pastor reminded us. “Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”

Some days that battle is fierce. Some days growing like wheat among tares is stifling. The world constantly tries to press us into its mold. To enjoy its pleasures. To take our eyes off the invisible God. To give in and stop running the race.

And I keep forgetting the important truths of Scripture—truths that should be ready in my hand like a sword in the midst of a raging battle.

1.       This world is not my home.

“Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20)

2.       The Maker of heaven and earth loved me before He made heaven and earth.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

3.       Christ died for me, so my slate is clean.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)

4.       Christ rose again, assuring me eternal life.

“Because I live, you will live also.” (John 14:19)

5.       I might see Him today.

“Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:13)

“Take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand. . .Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth.” (Ephesians 6:14)

By Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission

Follow Us On:  Facebook  • ‘X’ Twitter  •  Instagram  • Pinterest

FURTHER READING

The Battle Within

A Forever Home

Living Loved

The post Five Important Truths I Keep Forgetting appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“Blessed are those (who) yield their fruit in season.”  Psalm 1:3

A display of waxy artificial fruit sat on my aunt’s dining room table. On every visit, my dad took great delight in baiting Aunt Elsie by pretending to take a bite out of one of the artificially shiny apples or pluck some of the grapes. Of course he knew that before his teeth even came close to biting into the object, there would be a horrified cry, “DON’T DO THAT.”

Artificial fruit, whether the wax variety of fifty years ago or today’s shiny red wooden apples, are definitely not ‘for public consumption’.  They are mere representatives of the real thing. There can be no sweet, juicy, tasty nectar dripping down the chin, no fruity aroma reminding one of freshly picked apples, peaches or grapes.

In My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes,

“It is not that God makes us beautifully rounded grapes, but that He squeezes the sweetness out of us.”

To paraphrase, God didn’t make us perfectly formed, wooden Christians; rather He created us to be living, breathing persons designed to have the life of Christ squeezed out of us so those around would be drawn by the tantalizing aroma of our presence.

Grapes squashed in the grocery bag on the way to my kitchen are not attractive; they are thrown into the garbage. Yet if I were starving, even those squashed grapes would become a tantalizing morsel. People, circumstances, events frequently are used by God to squeeze me. Unlike the grape, I have the choice of exuding the aroma, the very life of Christ to the starving people around me.

Father, help me recognize that the ‘squeezing’ of life can be used of you. May I see your hand in all the circumstances and people of my life.

by Marilyn Ehle
used by permission

Follow Us On:  Facebook  • ‘X’ Twitter  •  Instagram  • Pinterest

FURTHER READING

A Lingering Aroma  Read more..

The Woodshed Read more..

The Fragrance  Read more..

The post Artificial or Real Fruit appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“. . . whoever believes in Him shall not perish . . .” (John 3:16)

Some years ago I took a copy of God’s “whoever” policy to California. I wanted to show it to my Uncle Billy. He’d been scheduled to visit my home, but bone cancer had thwarted his plans.

My uncle reminded me much of my father: squared like a blast furnace, ruddy as a leather basketball. They shared the same West Texas roots, penchant for cigars, and blue-collar work ethic. But I wasn’t sure if they shared the same faith. So after several planes, two shuttles, and a rental-car road trip, I reached Uncle Billy’s house only to learn he was back in the hospital. No visitors. Maybe tomorrow.

He felt better the next day. Good enough to come home. I went to see him. Cancer had taken its toll and his strength. The recliner entombed his body. He recognized me yet dozed as I chatted with his wife and friends. He scarcely opened his eyes. People came and went, and I began to wonder if I would have the chance to ask the question.

Finally the guests stepped out onto the lawn and left me alone with my uncle. I slid my chair next to his, took his skin-taut hand, and wasted no words. “Bill, are you ready to go to heaven?” His eyes, for the first time, popped open. Saucer wide. His head lifted. Doubt laced his response: “I think I am.”

“Do you want to be sure?”

“Oh yes!”

Our brief talk ended with a prayer for grace. We both said “amen” and I soon left. Uncle Billy died within days. Did he wake up in heaven? According to the parable of the eleventh hour workers, he did.

Some struggle with such a thought. A last-minute confessor receives the same grace as a lifetime servant?  Doesn’t seem fair. The workers in the parable complained too. So the landowner, and God, explained the prerogative of ownership:

“Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me” (Mathew. 20:15 RSV).

Request grace with your dying breath, and God hears your prayer. Whoever means “whenever.”

And one more: whoever means “wherever.” Wherever you are, you’re not too far to come Home.

by Max Lucado
Used by permission
From: 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2007) Max Lucado

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about/

FURTHER READING

That Which Cannot be Broken

God’s Deep Love for You

What a Difference a Leaf Makes

The post Heavens “Whoever” Policy appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

What does that say to you?

“But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.” Malachi 3:2-3

After changing into some coveralls, we entered the mine shaft elevator and descended some two miles below the surface of the South African earth. As we exited the elevator and boarded the mining train, I was surprised that the temperature exceeded a hundred degrees. After travelling what seemed like miles at such a slow speed, but was probably only a few hundred yards, we arrived at the mining site. Miners with heavy hydraulic tools were chipping ore from the vein. As the hoppers of the train cars were loaded, the gold ore began its long trip to the surface.

Once on the surface, we followed the refining procedure. First, the ore was broken into smaller pieces with a giant machine and then through a water screening process and finally crushed as fine as sand between giant rollers before once again being filtered through water to separate out the pure gold. Two piles of material were produced, one was a giant pile of processed ore and the other a small pile of pure gold.

The ore was hauled away and the gold was put into a hot fire. Heated at exactly the right temperature in the right amount of time, the gold turned into a reddish gold colour. The impurities floated to the top and were skimmed off and discarded leaving the pure gold that was slowly poured into a mold, where it was allowed to cool. Gold cools quickly and in a short time, the gold brick is snapped out of its mold and someone handed me the seventy-five pound brick to hold and admire.

As I looked at this beautiful and valuable ingot of precious metal, I thought of all I had seen it go through to go from being trapped in rock two miles below the earth to being subjected to the toughest of physical procedures and then being melted into a viscous state so that it could be pure and be molded to the mining master’s precise specifications.

God is like the mining master and we are His precious gold, but before we can become pure, we too have to be forged by fire, separated from our natural impurities and then molded to His specifications for serving Him. It is not easy and it is not fun, but when it is all done, it is so beautiful. Is God waiting to purify and sanctify you?

by John Grant
Used by Permission

John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

Learn more about knowing Jesus at: https://thoughtsaboutgod.com/four-laws/

FURTHER READING

• Energizing Verses for Every Day
• Weighed Down
• Why We’re Less Likely to Try Great Things for God

The post From Rocks to Pure Gold appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:8-11 (NKJV)

Jesus, having all power and all authority, submitted His life to the authority of His Father. He consistently responded under authority, pointing back to the Father. The Father, in turn, rewarded His obedience and humility and exalted Him.

In our individualistic world, we try to avoid submission to authority. There’s a Chinese saying: It’s better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of an ox. We want to be our own boss; make our own decisions; answer to no one. Truth is, we answer to the One.

Our act of saying yes, to make Jesus Lord of our life, is our primary act of submission. From that day onward we keep bringing our lives and our decisions before Him, acknowledging that there is One greater than we are. It’s a relationship of submission, rooted in our understanding that the Father loves us even more than we can comprehend. Jesus was no doormat, “He understood His worth” but His authority flowed out of a heart submitted to the Father. In that place He had the power to heal the sick, raise the dead and transform lives. That’s the place I want to live from today.

Reflect:
Who do you point back to?
What do you need to surrender to the Father today?

Prayer:
Father, thank You for loving me beyond my selfish human heart. Thank You that submission to You is a safe, beautiful and even powerful place. I submit my life to You today. May I live my life in such a way that I am consistently pointing back to You. In Jesus’ exalted Name, Amen.

By Idelette McVicker
used by permission

FURTHER READING

Authority in an Age of Autonomy

The Christian and the Bible

God Is Holy ……

The post Under Authority appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Embrace it. Accept it. Don’t resist it. Change is not only a part of life; change is a necessary part of God’s strategy. To use us to change the world, he alters our assignments. Gideon: from farmer to general; Mary: from peasant girl to the mother of Christ; Paul: from local rabbi to world evangelist. God transitioned Joseph from a baby brother to an Egyptian prince. He changed David from a shepherd to a king. Peter wanted to fish the Sea of Galilee. God called him to lead the first church. God makes reassignments.

But, someone might ask, what about the tragic changes God permits? Some seasons make no sense – do such moments serve a purpose?

They do if we see them from an eternal perspective. What makes no sense in this life will make perfect sense in the next. I have proof: you in the womb.

I know you don’t remember this prenatal season, so let me remind you what happened during it. Every gestation day equipped you for your earthly life. Your bones solidified, your eyes developed, the umbilical cord transported nutrients into your growing frame – for what reason? So you might remain enwombed? Quite the contrary. Womb time equipped you for earth time, suited you up for your postpartum existence.

Some prenatal features went unused before birth. You grew a nose but didn’t breathe. Eyes developed, but could you see? Your tongue, toenails, and crop of hair served no function in your mother’s belly. But aren’t you glad you have them now?

Certain chapters in this life seem so unnecessary, like nostrils on the pre-born. Suffering. Loneliness. Disease. Holocausts. Martyrdom. Monsoons. If we assume this world exists just for happiness, these atrocities disqualify it from doing so. But what if this earth is the womb? Might these challenges, severe as they may be, serve to prepare us, equip us for the world to come? As Paul wrote, “These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing.”  2 Corinthians 4:17 (CEV).

By Max Lucado
From:  Fearless
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://maxlucado.com/about/

FURTHER READING

When Life’s Menu Changes

Facing Changes

Hope Changes Everything

The post Make Friends with Whatever’s Next appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” Galatians 1:6-9

When a friend first stated the phrase, it immediately got my attention. He said that what we are seeing in the world is not so much a turning from God, but a secularization of spirituality. He is so right.

People still say “God bless you,” and organizations still have generic invocations and benedictions. It makes us feel good to know that we are invoking God’s blessings, but society says to be very careful in quoting scripture, if you do it at all and certainly don’t mention or talk about Jesus, as it might offend someone, or be considered politically incorrect. People identify with the Christian faith though not having a clue of what goes on in a church or much less having attended in person.

Many people in contemporary society say that God is dead, but they are not quite ready to conduct the funeral. Instead, they want a designer faith that makes them feel good. Most people in every society that has been studied are born with a thirst for religion. It was Voltaire who said that if God didn’t exist, man would have to invent him.

The Bible says that it was God who invented man in His own image, not the other way around. Yet in a rapidly growing post modern era, more and more people want to re-create God in their image and with Him have a sense of spirituality that accommodates their need for belief for a superior being without interfering with the life style they want to lead.

Paul was clear in speaking to the church at Galatia when he said that a “different” gospel is no gospel at all. The Gospel is not like computer software with its continual updates. Can you imagine Matthew, Mark, Luke and John 2.0? We cannot keep adding patches that make it better or tweak it to make it more user friendly. It is not ours, but Gods, and any attempt on our part to make it more to our own liking is wrong.

The Bible is the inerrant and holy Word of God. May we always remember to honor and obey it and to keep it Holy. May we alter our lifestyle to live a holy life and not adulterate God’s Word to accommodate our own lifestyle wishes.
(a thought on life from John Grant)

By John Grant
used by permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney

FURTHER READING

Spirituality

Pray and Seek My Face

The Transcendent Life

The post The Secularization of Spirituality appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9) and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.”  Ephesians 3:8-9

Our God has riches beyond the count of arithmetic, the measurement of reason, the dream of imagination, or the eloquence of words. They are unsearchable! You may look, and study, and weigh, but Jesus is a greater Savior than you imagine Him to be even on your best day!

Our Lord is more ready to forgive your sin than you are able to transgress.

Our Master is more willing to supply your wants than you are to confess them.

Our Master has riches of happiness to give you now. He can make you to lie down in green pastures, and lead you beside still waters. There is no music like His music. He is the Shepherd and you are the sheep when you lie down at His feet. There is no love like His, and neither Earth nor Heaven can match it. To know Christ and to be found in Him, oh what a life, what a joy! This is everything that is good and wonderful in life.

Never tolerate low thoughts of our Lord Jesus. If you do, you will end up only crowning Him with a silver crown when He deserves the finest gold.

Our Lord does not treat His servants ungraciously; He gives to them as a king gives to a king. He gives them two heavens: A heaven below where we may serve Him, and a heaven above where we may delight in Him forever. His unsearchable riches will be best known in eternity. He will give you on the way to heaven all you need. Your place of defense will be the ammunition of rocks, and your bread and water will be provided; but it is there, THERE in His presence, where you will hear the song of His people that triumph, the shout of the feast, and shall have a face-to-face view of the glorious and beloved One.

The unsearchable riches of Christ! This is the tune for the musicians of Earth, and the song for the harpers of Heaven. Lord, teach us more and more of Jesus, and we will tell the good news to others.

Question: How has God revealed the riches of Christ in your life lately?

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon.  Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008

FURTHER READING

• Depth and Riches
• In Wisdom You Made Them All
• The Riches of God’s Grace

The post The Unsearchable Riches of Christ appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace, as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

Hope in God comes from more than a belief that He exists. The Bible calls hope in God “an anchor for the soul”. It is something deep that secures you through the storms of life with confident expectation in His strength.

1. H – Hope for Help
God invites you to come to Him and boldly ask for help. The need is different for all of us. God waits to help, if only you ask.

2. O – Hope to Overcome
Friends of ours tell a story of their marriage, brought to a crisis by alcohol abuse. When they finally invited God into their circumstances, by His strength, they overcame great obstacles. Today they have an intact family that gives God a place in their home. God gives hope and help to overcome. Rather than living life as a victim, God can help you overcome the obstacles you face.

3. P – Hope for Power
Sometimes in life we find ourselves facing things that feel too big to handle. It might be a relationship struggle, a job task, finances, grief over a loss. Seeing our weakness as the very entry point of God’s strength gives access to His power!

4. E – Hope for Eternity
When we put our faith and hope in God, it not only gives us help, strength and power today, it also gives us hope for life after death. It is a confident expectation of the ultimate “tomorrow’.

The God of Hope is only one prayer away.

Dear God, I have gone my own way and have put my hope in so many things that have disappointed me. Forgive me and come into my life today. Show me how to live in confident expectation of how You can impact my life, my character and my circumstances. I place my hope in You right now and ask You to make Yourself known to me where I walk. I thank you. Amen.

Thought: Do you need hope for tomorrow?

by Gail Rodgers
Used by Permission

FURTHER READING

• Learn more about knowing Jesus
• Hope for a Hopeless World
• Hope Stronger Than HurT
• Hope for Your Future
• Our Hope in Him
• The God of Hope

The post Hope for a Bright Tomorrow appeared first on Thoughts About God.

I belong to God! 

And because I belong . . . I’m no longer under the brutal tyranny of sin and death.  What was impossible . . . friendship with God . . . is now mine!

I know this truth in my head but my heart struggles to believe its truth.

I confess I have this tendency to see God as a last resort, rather than my primary go to place.

When all else fails, then I’ll look to God.  When I’m helpless to do anything, then I’ll pray.  When I’ve attempted to satisfy my cravings with other things and find myself empty, well then, I’ll try God.  When I’ve exhausted all my other resources . . . then I’ll fall back on God.  He becomes my safety net.  My consolation prize.

Prayer becomes a last resort.  Time spent with God happens only out of sheer desperation and living a vibrant, victorious life in Christ always seems out of reach.

And then I wonder why my life with God is mediocre and mundane.

God isn’t a consolation prize.  He isn’t something to toss away, or hide in a drawer, only to pull out when things get dicey and there’s no other hope.

God is THE PRIZE!  He is our True Hope.  Our Ultimate Satisfaction.  Our Perfect Peace.

As long as we believe God is our consolation prize in life, we will never be free.  We’ll never experience true victory.  We’ll never escape the brutal tyranny of sin.  We’ll never know the power of the life-giving Spirit.  Fear will haunt us.  Doubt will plague us and His grace will escape us.

To know God.  To deny ourselves.  To take up our cross.  To follow Him.  That’s where real LIFE is found.

It’s in the suffering, in the pain, in the questioning where we find Him.  It’s the promise of a life beyond this broken one, a far better life than we have ever known that we must cling to in this uphill journey.  It’s choosing the narrow, difficult, uncomfortable path where we will find God’s grace, His peace and His unfathomable joy.

Jesus said, You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.  Matthew 7.13-14

We can travel the easy and comfortable road, the one with no obstacles or debris and meet death or we can choose the difficult way, the hidden path strewn with challenges of all sizes, the road that forces us to keep our eyes on Him and find LIFE.

By Kristi Huseby
Used by Permission

If you don’t know Jesus the way that is described here and you would like to start having Jesus as your constant friend and as your prize you can start living that way today.  Here is a sample prayer:

Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Saviour and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be.

FURTHER READING

The Goal

Running the Race

PRESS ON

Follow Us On:  Facebook  • ‘X’ Twitter •  Instagram • Pinterest

The post God Isn’t a Consolation Prize appeared first on Thoughts About God.