ALL FOR US!

In our children's department we began a series on Samuel, Saul &  David. It has been such an enriching time. Our kids are learning and hearing how awesome and great our God is, He hasn't changed. 

He uses young Samuel because he has ears to hear. Eli, had become blind and hard of hearing, yet he was the priest of the temple in that day. How many of us who serve God for years, decades, can take for granted the awesomeness of God. Have we lost our zeal for God? Have we lost the excitement of being in God's house, of worshiping our Lord?  I would encourage you to read the scriptures below. Our God is a jealous God and I am so thankful He is.

In the story below they said God was their God, but they didn't know Him intimately. They no longer worshiped just Him. They had forgotten His words and commands. They wanted to be like all the other nations around them, and it brought only defeat in their lives.

 Read 1 Samuel 5 & 6, Exodus 25:10-22

If the Fear of the Lord doesn’t come upon you I would ask you to examine your heart. as my Pastor Kenny Gatlin  always tells us if we examine our hearts and judge ourselves than the Lord wil not have to.

When we don’t make a practice of living in our Bibles we can lose sight of how great our God is. This world and all its doings can get us distracted, and the pressures of life can seem so big and impossible. But then when we open up the Word of God and begin to read, the Truth refocuses us and we see as we should see, that the God we serve, love, believe, trust, and depend on holds our right hand so we have confidence we will get to the other side of whatever situation we face. The Way Maker will make a way. How can we not worship our Lord!

When I read the story of Dagon the idol god, It brings to my mind, “God is a jealous God.  I remember hearing Oprah saying once (many, many years ago when I watched her)  when she heard this in church this turned her from wanting to serve this God Who was jealous. I think about that and wonder how many people have turned from God because they looked at the things of God by their humanism. Unfortunately they truly don't know the Creator, the Lover of their soul.

Where was her pastor to not have explained God doesn’t do anything to benefit Himself, He doesn’t need to, everything is His! He is jealous for us, our wellbeing, our life abundant, He is jealous to give us a good life, the best life, and jealous for us to receive all of His benefits. He is jealous for us to get all He has planned for us, which sometimes does include correction because as fleshly beings our flesh can try to get the upper hand on our lives. 

Yes, our God is a jealous God, and I am thankful He is jealous. If He wasn’t jealous for us, would He have sent His Son?  He created this world and us for Him, so we can be a family. He wasn’t going to give us up to His arch enemy, His creation, Satan. Thank you, Father God, for being jealous for us. There is no other god but our God – Jehovah Rapha our healer, Jehovah Nissi the God who fights for us, Jehovah Tsidkenu, Jehovah El Elyon, Jehovah Jirah, Jesus, Messiah, Redeemer, Sanctifier, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Adonai, the list of His names goes on and on which declare His greatness and character.

We serve a mighty God. Allow the Lord to pour His greatness over you. Stop and worship the Lord.

“ OH THAT MEN WOULD PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS GOODNESS,

 AND FOR HIS WONDERFUL WORKS TO THE CHILDREN OF MEN!"

PSALMS 107:8

"FOR HE SATISFIES THE LONGING SOUL,

 AND FILLETH THE HUNGRY SOUL WITH GOODNESS." PSALMS 107:9

Our God is jealous for our worship and praise, why? Because it allows us to come into His presence, and then He “inhabits” us, our world, our situation. It is all for us! Yet as Paul said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21. Die to self, and allow God to give you His best life.