The Almighty All

Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it. --God, Job 40:2

I wanted to write in order to talk about God. I wanted to have my thoughts "out there" to be shared and to encourage the masses. I wanted to have brilliant thoughts for God and about God. My progression of thought went something like this: "Here I am at home with my child and my dogs. Shut out from the world. How can I reach out? How can I speak the truth in love to others that they may know Him, repent and be saved? I'll blog. I'll send these little thoughts into cyberspace and trust God for the outcome." Well guess what? The more I try to sit here and tell you what's on my mind, the more I realize that apart from Him I can do nothing, I am nothing and have no purpose. BUT in Him I have everything. Abiding in Him gives reason for existing and breathing and cooking and cleaning and sleeping and eating and singing. In Him I live and move and have my being. In this life I will do nothing for God apart from His grace to do what He commands. He gives me work. He gives me hope. He gives me a reason. The truth proclaims that I live and die for His glory.

Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? The answer is absolutely, "Nope." But after I answer such an obviously rhetorical question, I am humbled, I am bowed low. I am in awe of the Almighty. I am not consumed by His wrath, but am filled with worship and adoration for the King of Kings. My heart is let out of its confines of self absorption and self concern and I begin to get a glimpse of the Holy One Who Was And Is And Is To Come! I am so grateful for glimpses of splendor of glory. Of the Almighty.

Oh friends, it isn't about you or your purpose or your lifetime achievement or legacy. It's not about you in any way shape or form. What is man that you are mindful of him? No. It is all for Him, by Him and through Him. God is and He is the reason. And here is the kicker, He loves me and includes me in His purposes, His glory and His joy! All of this splendor is accomplished in the death, burial and resurrection of my LORD Jesus Christ. Does He know you?http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=8a3c63311140c08a2849

Amber

Seek Ye First

"Seek ye first, seek ye first!" This is what my 21 month old sang from her lunch time high chair with cheese and apples in fist. My husband and I sing with her every night. On this day she initiated the chorus which I sang through tears of joy. As grateful as I am to hear these words coming from her mouth, I pray fervently everyday that this will be much more than a memorized chorus in her life. "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33. Having a child has been the most endearing thing that God has used to show me His love for me while at the same time showing me how much I need a Savior. I see myself in her selfishness, her tantrums and in her learning new things everyday. I reflect each of these. I am more grateful than ever that God is a loving Father, who knows what a child I am. He loves me as a daughter and He wants me to be a woman after His own heart. I must grow in the knowledge of His grace. He won't leave me to my own vices and sinful heart. Praise God!!! He disciplines, teaches and encourages me to grow. And just as I want my little one to always come to me even when she has messed up royally, I must go to my Father. He is Awesome and yet Gentle. He knows me. He knows my sin. He knows my gifts. He knows my frailty. He knows me. He loves me.

I want to seek His kingdom and His righteousness. When I'm in a "mood" or having an attitude problem, I,most likely, am not seeking His kingdom and His righteousness. I must live this out by the power of Christ so that my daughter will know that she too so desperately needs Him. I pray that this will be her hearts desire all of her days. I ask God to save her and change her and to grow her.

Having a child is my biggest reminder that I am a child and that I need my Father. The ferocious and wild Lion of Judah is tender and loving to those He calls His own.

Amber

Ebenezer Scrooge & Me

As I was reading a passage in Hebrews this
morning and reflecting on all that God has done
for me in Christ, I was appalled at my own
underwhelmedness. I've spent some time the last month really thinking about the fact that sin
demands wrath because God is Holy, and I am a sinner deserving His wrath, but WAIT!!! He sends His Son to take my wrath and forgive me!
Then He FOREVER looks at me just as He looks
at His beloved Son!! I have been redeemed and I
have the hope of eternal life with Him!

I thought about this a lot through the day and
confessed to God that I'd be more overwhelmed
and overjoyed most days to win a reliable new car or something less spectacular. As I confessed this, a very vivid image popped into my mind from one of my favorite movies of all time. The 1951 production of A Christmas Carol, starring Alastair Sim (no other version compares). I don't know of any greater portrayel of pure joy than Sim's Ebenezer Scrooge awakening on Christmas morning after a most horrifying vision of the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come. Scrooge is shown the end that is to be his because of his self worship through life. He is tormented by what he sees and begins to awaken. It is Christmas morning! He hasn't missed it. The bells are ringing! He has been given a new life. He is a new creation. He is overwhelmed with joy. Please do me the honor of viewing this short clip: http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=q8gOU8XJc7Y&feature=related As you watch and listen, please consider all the while what being forgiven by a most Holy God means. Are you thankful? Are you overjoyed?

"I'm not the man I was," said Ebenezer Scrooge. And I'm not the woman I was. Thank you God!!! Thank you. May this be my joy every hour!

Amber

Take Up And Read

I am currently reading

Elyse Fitzpatrick's book

Because He Loves Me:

How Christ

Transforms Our Daily Life.

(http://www.monergismbooks.com/Because-He-Loves-Me-How-Christ-Transforms-Our-Daily-Life-p-17839.html )

I read it this week but I'm ready to read it again and go through the questions. The eleventh chapter is Gospel-centered Relationships. In just a few short pages she is able to summarize my thoughts completely on the state of the local church and how I fit or don't fit in. We need community. To quote her oh-so-right thought, The idolatry of privacy and individualism is one of the greatest detriments to sanctification in the church today. The closest I've come to "real church" has been in the last 2 years as one of the older ladies of my church has come into my home and discipled me on a regular basis. It all started because I was in the middle of the deepest darkest place I had ever been and she came to hold up a torch! There are no walls there. She knows full well that I am a sinner and I know that she is as well, but the glorious thing is, we've been sought out and forgiven by the King of Kings!!! He says, take heart my daughters, you are forgiven. Glorious!!! Thank you God!

As I went through such a dark time of depression, I could not get out of that place on my own. We can't be private about our deepest needs. Sharing all of this with someone who loves God and loves her neighbor as herself, was the only way to find the path leading out. James 5:16 states, Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. We need each other. It is possible to go to a church building, sit in a crowd of people, sing, pray and listen to a sermon and leave unchanged, unfeeling and just as alone as when we walked in the door.

I need people. I need friends to share accountability. As Christians, we belong to each other. In the middle of washing dishes, changing diapers, watching the same episodes of Kipper day after day and being forced to use hand puppets to get my toddler to eat, I need the Gospel. I also need to hear how His truth is transforming other lives as well. Enough for now. Just some thoughts.

Amber

"Let's start at the very beginning

...a very good place to start." --Fraulein Maria. Over the past year I have had several friends urging me to create a blog. I'm not sure whether they just wanted to stop getting my annoying email or if they really thought there was some benefit to the "stuff" I kept sending. Whatever the reason, I'm going to attempt this on a weekly basis. "A Level Place" refers to Luke 6:17. And he came down with them and stood on a level place... That is my reason for everything: Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, came down with me and made me to stand on a level place. By grace alone, I have been forgiven and redeemed. I have no other Savior, save Christ Jesus.

I've been a Christian for many years, but I am only now approaching the edge of the wonderful truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In Luke 6:17 as well as in Matthew 5, the recording of Jesus' Sermon On the Mount is given. Here Christ gives the only way to life and demonstrates that the way is impossible. Impossible for me, but not for Him. Every single word is only possible through and by the finished work of Jesus Christ. I needed a level place and He is that place.

Amber