GOD'S HANDIWORK:

Before you read this blog please listen to this awesome song:

http://youtu.be/ewvcCT3yYnk

As we place our trust in God he hides from us the glory that he is producing in us for himself..... so that he gets all the glory. That means right now God is doing something bigger than you through you...unbeknownst to you. Do you trust that God is doing that or can do that? No wonder he says when we are the weakest he is the strongest. The revealing ceremony for God's glory will be truly awesome! I can't wait to see what God has done through you for his eternal purpose and for his glory! We're all going to be surprised and amazed at his handiwork! Wherever you are at it is no accident and God is not surprised. Good or bad. Did you once love Jesus well? Well, he has never stopped loving you perfectly! Have you never loved Jesus? Well, he died for you even while you were in the act of sinning. You can trust that because of all he has been through for you. See those wounds of his? 

 

Believe it! Those wounds of Jesus are yours.... and he is humbly and passionately thinking of you at every scourge, mock, piercing, blow, humiliation, at every shameful moment. He is Gladly, Lovingly, Passionately taking His Father's Justice for your sins. Even if you have wandered away from God he has not wondered away from you! Even if you have never trusted in Jesus he is calling you now to do so. Do you feel your heart is too hard for God?  Well, maybe he has just prepared you to be perfectly broken so that he can start shining in your life. 

As a loving warning, not trusting in God is sin. It is prideful sin. Amazingly, these two things, unbelief and pride, keep us from receiving what God took drastic measures to give us... His eternal salvation....his Son. Our sin does not bring glory to God. The prideful weak person is still weak. The humble weak person trusting in God is strong in God's strength alone. Run back to Jesus or run to him for the first time in faith. Repentance is a gift from God. Cry out to Him to help you turn from pride and unbelief and he will give you a new heart.

                                        

Because there is only one true character, and there is only one real way to live God says come to me and I will give you my rest, my life, my character, my perfection, my Holiness. Because all men are like withering grass, and all have turned away from God to their own way we are starving and dead without trusting in Christ. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. The beauty of the cross is that you can come just as you are no matter where you are and Jesus will forgive you. This is the Good News about Jesus. I love you and am praying for the faith that pleases God to be born in you. "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." Hebrews 11:6

Jesus Rose from the Grave after he died for you and I. He is alive and is coming back soon. He is the powerful King of Kings and Lord of Lords and the keys to death and Hades are his! Jesus says, " I am the Living One. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." Revelation 1:18 

 

Check out these other verses from the Bible:

·   And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

·   And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 2 Corinthians 5:15

·   But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

·   But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 

·   16“For God so loved the world,ⁱ that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” John 3:16-21

·   but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

·   For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 23:12

·   Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10

·   A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor. Proverbs 29:23

·   Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar. Psalm 138:6

·   But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

·   The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:17

·   The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalm 34:18

·   The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Psalm 145:18

·   For this is what the high and lofty One says--he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. Isaiah 57:15

·   For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

·   Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

·   In him was life, and that life was the light of men. John 1:4

·   For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:17

·   The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 2 Peter 3:9

·   Isaiah 53: Who has believed what he has heard from us?^a
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected^b by men;
a man of sorrows,^c and acquainted with^d grief;^e
and as one from whom men hide their faces^f
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;^g
when his soul makes^h an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall seeⁱ and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,^j
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,^k
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Love In Christ,

Hank