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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
This
is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator.”
Isaiah 43:14a,
15
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Go back to the beginning of all
things and thus, of course, the beginning of our Bible where the genesis of
life began through the infinite power of an incredible Creator God. The heavens
and earth, the light and dark, day and night, all plants and forms of animal
life, and, of course, man and woman were all crafted by the hands of the great
Maker, the Lord God Almighty, the One through which we have life.
As we continue to sift through the
gems found in Isaiah, Chapter 43, we find God continuing to proclaim Himself as
the great Creator, specifically mentioning His beloved people of Israel:
This is what the Lord says—your
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator.” Isaiah
43:14a, 15
Indeed, God did make His people one
by one and blessed them with His protection and favor, just as He does all His
beloved children today. But to view God simply as a great Creator by only
looking at flesh and bone is too narrow. For God is in the business of creating
everything there is in and around us. Consider these eight examples with
reinforcement from the word of God:
1. God creates opportunity.
He orders and ordains every moment
of our life and so every second becomes an opportunity to do something in
service to Him and others, a chance to make a kingdom difference.
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making
the most of every opportunity. Ephesians 5:15-16
Therefore, as we have opportunity,
let us do good to all people. Galatians 6:10
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Colossians 4:5
2. God creates healing and recovery.
We have no greater Physician
attending to us than the One who possesses the power to miraculously cure and
mend us from any affliction or injury we might suffer. No one can do what God
can when it comes to the matters of recuperation and restoration.
He (the Lord) heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3
Lord, by such things people live; and my spirit finds life in them too.
You restored me to health and let me live. Isaiah 38:16
Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits—who forgives
all your sins and heals all your diseases. Psalm 103:2-3
3. God creates reconciliation.
Want a yardstick for forgiveness?
Look to the cross and remember our Savior nailed to it and dying a death we
deserved, all while the people who He was dying for stood mocking and deriding
Him.
Do you remember His response? He
simply looked to the heavens and said the following:
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know
what they are doing.” Luke 23:34
If Jesus can forgive given that
situation, then we can forgive as well. And keep in mind that God gave us Jesus
to pay the price for our sins and in doing so, reconciled us to Him through His
sacrificed Son.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s
sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
4. God creates joy.
There is no greater source of joy
in our life than our Lord. Period. And any joys we experience in life are a
byproduct of His doing. We should never forget that and give Him and Him alone
the fullest measure of our praise.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the
oil of joy. Psalm 45:7
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
The precepts of the Lord
are right, giving joy to the
heart. Psalm 19:8
5. God creates peace.
Without God, there would be no
peace. He promised it to us and we find it when we place Him first in our
lives. For when our focus is fully on God, then He is fully in our midst,
filling our hearts, souls and minds with His Spirit and wrapping His arms of
protection and comfort around us.
And the peace of God, which transcends all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7
I will listen to what God
the Lord says; He promises peace
to His people, His faithful servants. Psalm 85:8
Glory to God in the
highest heaven, and on earth peace
to those on whom His favor rests. Luke 2:14
6. God creates love.
We only know how to love because
God first loved us. In fact, when we love the way He intends for us to love, we
are simply an extension of His love. In other words, we offer ourselves to Him
as instruments of His love and then allow Him to love others through us. It’s
the only way we will ever come to love anywhere near as perfectly as He loves,
and the only way we will be able to love as His Son Jesus did, a love that showed
us that it might be necessary to lay down our lives for another.
Dear friends, let us love
one another, for love comes from
God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love
does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8
And so we know and rely on the love
God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love
lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 14:16
For the Spirit God gave
us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7
7. God creates salvation and the
chance to experience His creative beauty forever.
God is a God of judgment. There is
no debating that. He will make a decision on the ultimate fate for every person
He has ever created. But God is also a God who saves and so through His Son
Jesus, He provided a way for any person to live with Him and His Son forever,
to have salvation and a chance to exist eternally. And so just as God will have
a choice whether to destroy or save, we have a choice to be destroyed or saved.
For all those who place their faith, hope, and trust in Jesus, life will not
end at death but only begin with an opportunity to experience God’s creative
beauty all over again when the new heavens and earth are formed (Revelation 21:1-5).
This is the gift of salvation given to us out of the deep love of God.
The Lord is my strength and my defense; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my
father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
Exodus 15:2
Truly my soul finds rest in God;
my salvation comes from Him.
Psalm 62:1
But God is my King from
long ago; He brings salvation on
the earth. Psalm 74:12
8. God creates hope, not just for
today but forever.
Blessed are those You choose and bring near to live in Your courts! We
are filled with the good things of Your house, of Your holy temple. You answer
us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the hope of all the ends
of the earth and of the farthest seas. Psalm 65:4-5
May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and
by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts
and strengthen you in every good deed and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great
mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil
or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you. 1 Peter 1:3-4
With the salvation we have from God
in Christ Jesus, we are set free to live and love and learn and serve, buoyed
up in peace and joy from eternal hope. Through Jesus, death no longer has any
sting and we are victorious over the grave just as He was. Friends, this is
truly our everlasting encouragement and the source of our solace and
contentment all the days of our lives for no matter what this world may bring
upon us, we know the best is yet to come.
Thanks be to God, our Creator, the One
who sets all things in motion in life and sets us free through His Son to
experience the richness of His splendor and glory. All honor, thanksgiving, and
praise to Him now and forever more.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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