Tag: merciful

Thankfulness Day 23: Forgiving, Merciful, Omnipotent God

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Do you have friends, neighbors and loved ones who do not have faith in God or even know of Jesus? How can that cause me to be thankful? Worried and concerned for their eternal fate is more like it. However, Isaiah 55:6-9 holds facts about God Almighty that will create thankfulness in the midst of these troubling thoughts.

Isaiah was writing a message to the future Israelites who would become captives in Babylon. He was imploring them to remember God and return to the Lord as He alone can satisfy. “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;” Isaiah 55 verse 1. He continues with his call to return in verses 6-9 giving them and us profound hope and thankful hearts.

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon. 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:6-9

Why would these verses cause us to have hope, creating thankfulness in our hearts? 1- verse 7 God promises to freely forgive anyone who turns to Him and forsakes his sinning ways. 2- God promises to have mercy on them by not giving them what they deserve for their sins, but treating them with grace and love. These two things bring us hope for our loved ones and friends that do not know Jesus. We know that God is waiting and promises forgiveness and mercy towards anyone who comes to Him! God will not change His mind and decide their sins were to numerous or egregious. God is unchanging and we can depend upon Him as He is the same “yesterday, today and forever” Hebrews 13:8.

Why include verses 8-9 in this discussion as they are not part of the promise of forgiveness? Verses 8 and 9 explain to us the fact that God does not think or act like us. He is does not harbor hate, grudges, or resentments. We cannot think or act like God as it is not in our nature, but it is in His! This is something to be thankful for too. God is above us and His way of dealing with people and circumstances are not anything like ours. How many times have you seen God answer prayer in amazing, out of the box, ways! I am thankful that He my merciful, omnipotent God and that His ways and thoughts are greater than mine.

Let these promises of mercy and love for the lost fill you with hope as you continue to pray for the salvation of those you know who do not know Jesus as Savior. Let the knowledge of God’s ways being so unlike our own cause you to be thankful for Him and fill you with Hope.

Linda

Righteousness = God, what about us?

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As you read today’s scripture taken from Luke 1:68-75 showing Zachariah’s praise song to God,  be mindful of God’s Righteous character.  Here is the definition of God’s righteousness-see how it fits with all God did and will do.  Righteous God:  God is right in all He does. He has always been right and always will be right.  All of His words and actions are right.  All of His plans are right.  God has no sin and is positively perfect.  God never lies.  He is fair, just and faithful in all he does.  We never need wonder if God is right, so we can trust God when we do not understand.

Luke-1-68“Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
    because he has visited and redeemed his people.
69 He has sent us a mighty Savior
    from the royal line of his servant David,
70 just as he promised
    through his holy prophets long ago.
71 Now we will be saved from our enemies
    and from all who hate us.
72 He has been merciful to our ancestors
    by remembering his sacred covenant—
73 the covenant he swore with an oath
    to our ancestor Abraham.
74 We have been rescued from our enemies
    so we can serve God without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness
    for as long as we live.

The people of Israel could count upon God to keep His promises, treat them with mercy, never leave or forsake them to their enemies and guide them in a walk that is good all the days of their lives.  They knew their God was righteous in all ways.

Do you know Zachariah’s Righteous  God?  Through Jesus we can know God more fully and see His Holy Spirit working within us.  Romans 3:10 says, ““None is righteous, no, not one;”  Without Jesus we are lost and doomed to death because of our sinful nature.  We cannot get ourselves clean enough for Holy God.  Paul explains the solution to this dilemma in Philippians 3:8-9 “ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”

Philippians 3-9Give thanks today for our Righteous God who loves and desires the best for us.  He desires we seek Him and walk each day in His ways.  He desires that we grow in righteousness through faith in Jesus.  Blessings as you meditate on the Righteousness of God and your own ‘rightness’ with God through your faith in Christ Jesus.

Linda