Morning by Morning new mercies I see!

The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT)

I had forgotten about this verse until now! When I read it I instantly thought of the great hymn "Great is Thy Faithfullness." It is so fitting this time of year when the snow has melted and the temperatures are slowly starting to rise. The sunshine brightens our mood and there is an air of hope. Yes, it is spring time.  The seasons are like a microcosm of our lives. God says we will go through troubles. We will endure the "winters" of our lives. But, spring always comes. Morning always follows darkness. 

My life is very much like the changing of the seasons. Just look back on the past posts of this blog and you will see marvelous springtimesf that come after horrible winters. Pain and suffering in life are not permanent. They last only a short season. God promises it and he also promises if you rely on him you will emerge victorious even defeating death. I know it to be true because I also have endured the trials of life, poor decisions, and sickness. But Great is his faithfulness! I am now in the springtime of my life. I see nothing but Gods mercies! Praise God!

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for your wonderful Faithfullness and the great mercies you renew every morning of my life. I am humbled by your love and grace. May I serve you everyday through my thoughts, words, and deeds. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Amen and Amen!

God's Choice!

Romans 9

 ¹⁴ What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses,

   “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
   and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”^[f]

 ¹⁶ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. ¹⁷ For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^[g] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

When bad things happen it is so easy to blame God. We can even get mad at him. But, if you look at things realistically. What do we deserve? Does God OWE us anything at all? What have we done for him compared to what he has done for us?

These verses say it all. God has every right to have compassion on those he wants to have compassion. It's God's choice. There is nothing we can do. His mercy and grace are his own. We don't have to worry about measuring up to some standard because the standard is to high. God doesn't have to, but he DOES show us mercy and grace. 

So many people don't choose to follow Christ because they are TOO BAD. Some view God as some Dictator who is smiling as he judges and punishes us. There is nothing further from the truth. We are all TOO BAD. God doesn't measure sin like we do. He doesn't sentence one sin for life and the other sin to death. All sin leads to death and we are all guilty of sin. When we ask God to forgive us and open our heart to him, all of our sin, no matter how big or how bad, is gone. The death sentence is gone with it and we are then given life eternal.  Our sins pain God. He feels our pain. He felt all the pain of our sin when he sent his son to die on the cross. He wiped it out with the most compassionate thing he could do. He sacrificed his own son for us when we didn't deserve it. 

I love knowing that my God is a God of compassion. I love knowing my God is the God of grace and mercy. Thank You Lord. I know I deserve so much worse!

Where do you live?

Psalm 23 (New International Version, ©2010)

⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
   all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
   forever.


This is the capstone of the great verses known as the 23rd Psalm. It is the summary of everything David was trying to tell us. Gods blessings and his mercy will be with us forever. It doesn't matter what's going on in our lives, God is going to be with us. He is not going to change. He will give us blessings and he will forgive us through the good, the bad, and the ugliness of our lives. As followers of Christ, we will have the great privilege of dwelling with the creator of the universe. This is our reward. We're not just going to visit. We won't be his servant. We won't just be there for an extended stay. We will DWELL with him forever. You may think your dwelling is here on the Earth. But, those of us who follow Christ, are only living here temporarily. So, where do you LIVE? Let's go live with God. Let's leave this "vacation" spot and finally go home where we REALLY live!

So, there you have it. God is with us today. He is with us tomorrow and he will be with us forever. Not only is he with us, he loves to be with us. Not only does he loves to be with us, he loves to be good to us. Not only is he good to us, he wants to spend time with us all the time. He wants us to live with him forever. He doesn't have to, but he does. Hopefully, we can look back at our lives and see all of that goodness, love, and mercy. I know I can.

God's better than this Perfect Day!

1 Peter 1 (The Message)

 ^3-5What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all—life healed and whole.

Today was as close to a PERFECT Day that you could have. It started out with three great worship services at church and a great message by Pastor Stu. The Choir sang a song "Lord You''re Holy" which might be one of the best Praise songs I've heard. Listen to it. Lord You're Holy - performed by Prestonwood Baptist Choir and Orchestra . Stewart said we don't praise God enough in our prayers. We usually start out asking for stuff and we might even thank him for our blessings. But praising him and thanking him are two different things. What a great comment! How amazing is the God we have?

After the service Stephanie and I took off to meet our CMA group for a ride to the Grand Rapids, Ohio, Apple Butter Festival. I can not imagine, in my wildest dreams, a ride as great as we had today. The weather was fantastic. The time with my wife was great. We walked and watched people, sat along the canal, and enjoyed some beautiful fall scenery along the beautifully winding Maumee River. "What a God we have and how fortunate are we to have him as our Heavenly Father!"

But, he is not just amazing because he created such a wonderful day for us. He is amazing because he is GOD. It is hard for us to express how great he is. The song we sang said "words can not express what I feel inside -- I can not describe your glory divine." We are such PUNY beings. How can we even hope to describe how awesome our God is in mere words. The bible and this song talk about all the names of God-- Wonderful, Glorious, Holy, Righteous, Victorious, Conqueror, Triumphant, Mighty, Healer, Deliverer, Shield and Defense, Strong Tower, and my best friend. Omnipotent, Omnipresent, soon coming King, Alpha, Omega, Lord of everything. Those words are strong but not strong enough. Counselor, Comforter, Savior, and Father are also not descriptive enough.

He has shown me his love and so much more. He has shown us how awesome he is up to and including the sacrifice of his own son. Sure he is the Creator of 80 degree days in October. But, more amazing than that, he does it for us even though we don't deserve it. We don't even deserve any day, let alone a day like today.  His grace, mercy and kindness are endless. His love is greater than our minds can grasp. PRAISE GOD! PRAISE GOD! PRAISE GOD! What else can you say!

Show Off!

1 Timothy 1 (The Message)

 ^15-19Here's a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I'm proof—Public Sinner Number One—of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever. 

I love these verses.  With Paul's history, he was pretty tough on himself as "Public Sinner Number One". Maybe we should all be that hard on ourselves.  I don't know anyone who has persecuted christians like Paul. But, we're all sinners and none of us deserve the great mercy we've been given. At first glance, the next sentence really bothered me.  Could I ever think of myself as worthy of being the type of person that God could "show off"? I can't even imagine it.  But if you look at what is being said, it makes more sense.  God can use me and my bent toward sinfulness.  He can show me off to say that I am not anywhere close to being worthy of his love. Yet, he still loves me and blesses me beyond my wildest dreams.  He is infinitely patient with me.  He know my weakness and yet he also knows my heart.  I truly desire to please him.  I am woefully poor at doing it! Even though I can never live up to the blessings, God doesn't care.  He just wants to me.
When I am sharing my faith, it's important for me to be open and honest about who I really am.  I need to be real and let those who are on the edge of trusting Christ know my weakness and my sinfulness. When you look at Paul, or the Disciples, or Moses, or Noah, or Abraham, or David, or many of the greats from the Bible, it's easy to say I can never live up to that. Yet, they were all weak.  God used them to say, "My grace is sufficient. My mercy is exceptional.  If I can grant that grace and mercy to these weak and sinful people, I can provide it for you." What a great way to show off his love for us!

Dear Lord,  Thank You for the grace and mercy you grant me and my family.  I know I truly don't deserve your love.  Thank You Lord.  Thank You for my life. May I use it to bring others closer to you. Amen!