HOW CAN I KNOW YOU, GOD?

In this day and age which we live, we hear people talking about ‘knowing ourselves.’  Also, a great number of people are interested in finding their “higher power.”  We hear such talk, and there is not much emphasis on knowing the true and Living God.  But God has revealed Himself in three very obvious ways, and man has no excuse for not knowing God.  Do you have a desire to know God?  Do you feel lost in a world that sometimes denies that there even is a God? 

There are three witnesses who prove that we can know God, and He truly wants us to know Him and enjoy fellowship with Him.  So you may be asking “how can I know the true and living God and how does He reveal Himself to me and to mankind?  The three witnesses are through the skies and His marvelous creation, the Word of God, and the soul (the conscience).

“The heavens tell of the glory of God.  The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship.  Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.  They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world” Psalm 19:1-4 (NLT)

Take a look at the sky wherever you are.  I see rolling clouds and blue sky. In the valley where we live we are surrounded by mountains and some bearing late snow.  Look at the sky at night and wonder about the stars and the galaxies.  Have you been in the mountains and seen the water cascading down a mountain side?  Have you wondered at the mighty ocean and its crashing waves?  All these and more in our beautiful world and the skies speak of All Powerful Creator God. 

“Look up into the heavens.  Who created all the stars?  He brings them out one after another, calling each by its name.  And he counts them to see that none are lost or have strayed away” Isaiah 40:26 (NLT)

Day after day, night after night, His creation makes Him known.  And this message of our Creator God is seen in all the earth.

“Both day and night belong to you; you made the starlight and the sun.  You set the boundaries of the earth, and you make both summer and winter” Psalm 74:16-17 (NLT)

The second witness is God’s Word, and He is revealed through the scriptures, the Bible.  You may be asking “how can that be?”  God Word changes lives, and the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation is revealed from Genesis to Revelation. 

“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting (restoring) the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.  More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.  Moreover by them Your servant is warned and in keeping them there is great reward” Psalm 19:8-11

In God’s Word there is salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ and promise of eternal life.  God’s word makes simple people wise.  And the Word of God makes hearts rejoice.  When we know the true God and our lives are changed, our hearts rejoice and we continue to Praise our God!  There is nothing like the peace of God causing great joy in the Lord!  “Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again I will say, rejoice!” Philippians 4:4

And He puts a sparkle in peoples’ eyes.  Have you ever met someone who just has that joy in their eyes?  I meet people in my work in ministry, perfect strangers, and I know by “the sparkle” that they are also believers.  Oh, what joy and fellowship I have had with fellow believers, new friends in the Lord.

God’s Word is true and righteous, and it satisfies, warns and rewards those who obey it.  God’s Word comes alive and speaks to our hearts when we spend daily time reading and mediating on it, and spending time in prayer and fellowship with Him.  God is truly revealed to hearts through His Word.

“How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?  Cleanse me from these hidden faults.  Keep me from deliberate sins!  Don’t let them control me.  Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.  May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD my rock and my redeemer” Psalm 19:12-14

God is revealed through the soul or man’s conscience.  Who but the Holy Spirit draw men to Christ, causing conviction of sin.  “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see me no more; of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged” John 16:8-11.

Our God is a Rock of Strength, and only He can provide the solid foundation on which to build our lives.  He sent His Beloved Son to this earth to be our Redeemer, and Jesus Christ paid the debt for sin that no one else could pay.

So, my friends, you want to know God?  You want to know the Great Creator of this beautiful universe?  Just look around you, all the beauty of His world you will behold.  And open His Word, the Bible and find Him there calling to you, speaking to you of His marvelous salvation, convicting of sin and revealing His Son, Jesus Christ to your heart.  And by knowing these three witnesses, your life will be changed now and forever, Praise the Lord!

In Christ,

Pastor Sharon



MY GOD OF ALL COMFORT

AND GRACE

When we are in a season of pain which seems to never end, where do we turn?  The pain seems to go on and on, day after day.  It seems like a dark cloud of trial hangs over our heads.  I am so thankful, for my God is the God of All Comfort.  I often wonder how people, without the Lord, go through these hard times.  They have no hope and no one who can bring comfort and peace like our God.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

He is the God who comforts in all our tribulations and trials. Paul knew about God’s comfort and was bringing that comfort to the church in Corinth.  Paul went through great trials and persecutions, but he knew to draw strength from His God.

“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” says your God. Isaiah 40:1

If your life seems to be falling apart ask God to comfort you.  How does God comfort His people?  His comfort simply means receiving strength, encouragement and the hope and the will go on and deal with our troubles.

Sometimes the pain may be so overwhelming that we need the strength just to put one foot in front of the other.  Sometimes the only comfort we have in the knowing that someday we will be home with the Lord and there will be no more pain, tears, or sorrow.  Praise the Lord!  Meanwhile find comfort in His Word, in prayer, drawing on His Wonderful Presence, and fellowship with other believers.  We cannot go through these things alone, we need the strength of our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord.

We also notice in these verses, that when we go through great trials and afflictions, we are then able to comfort others in the same or similar circumstances.

God sometimes allows us to go through these things so we can “feel their pain.”  If we have been there, have “walked in their shoes,” God will use His great gift of mercy in your life to minister comfort to others.  As an example:  I am a cancer survivor.  I have faced the pain of chemotherapy and after effects.  Because of that experience, I have great empathy for others going through cancer and treatments. 

So whatever your pain or circumstance, look around you.  God may use you to bring His comfort to someone else.  How would we ever be able to understand another person’s pain if we had not been there ourselves?

“Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.  And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore most gladly I would rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

 2 Corinthians 12:8-9

As we go through these great trials, we look to God for our comfort and that He does.  But sometimes we continue to struggle despite much prayer and petitioning the Lord for healing and a way out of our pain.

In this passage, Paul asked the Lord three times to heal him of his suffering and he did not receive it.  However, he received much grace from God, humility, stronger character and the ability to empathize with others.

So it is with us as we walk with the Lord.  We receive God’s comfort, His grace, no matter how our bodies may feel.  We may be healed.  God is still the Great Physician.  Our Lord may just allow us to depend on His grace, His unmerited favor.

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”  Romans 8:37-39.

This passage reaffirms God’s love for His people.  No matter what happens in our lives, or where we are, or what trials we are going through, we can never be separated from God’s love.  Our suffering and pain should not drive us away from His loving arms, but allow His perfect will to be done in us.

Then we will be able to rest in His love, depend on His grace and go out and bring that love to others who are suffering.  Then God will cause us to grow stronger in Him and in our daily walk with Him.  And so whatever the circumstances of this day, God’s love and comfort never fails!  Praise the Lord!

Blessings,

Pastor Sharon

THE LORD IS STILL KING

Are you in troubled seas today?  The waves are crashing around you, and the storm is howling.  You are in the midst of a great battle against pain and despair.  We hear of great tornadoes taking many lives, and many tremble in fear.  Then we hear the news of the sudden passing of a great man of God, who affected so many lives over the years.  And then the tears come, and many may ask “Why?”  We hear of others who have cancer and others facing great difficulties.  And again, we are reminded that our God is still in the midst of our storms, even though we can’t see the road ahead of us.  But our Majestic God still is King and He still reigns. Praise the Lord!

In Psalms 93, the Psalmist takes us to the seashore at the height of a howling storm.  We can hear the crushing power and see the violent beauty of the waves crashing against the rocks.  The scene reminds us that the Lord has strength and majesty that overcomes life’s troubled seas.

“The LORD is king!  He is robed in majesty.  Indeed the LORD is robed in majesty and armed with strength.  The world is firmly established; it cannot be shaken. Your throne, O LORD, has been established from time immoral.  You yourself are from the everlasting past.”  Psalm 93:1-2 (NLT)

We watched a royal wedding recently, and watched all the pageantry and beauty of the horsemen, the groomsmen and all royalty as they paraded before our eyes.  The bride was beautiful beside her very handsome groom.

But none of the pageantry we beheld can compare to the absolute majesty of the King of the universe.  He is absolutely robed in His majesty, glorious to behold!  Our eyes cannot imagine the splendor of our King!  “Praise the LORD, I tell myself; O LORD my God, how great you are!  You are robed with honor and with majesty; you are dressed in a robe of light.  You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens; you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.  You make the clouds your chariots’ you ride upon the wings of the wind.”  Psalm 104:1-3

He is absolutely armed with strength.  You may feel like your world is shaking and may crumble.  Your personal life may be shaking but God is armed with strength and His strength He gives to His people, and this world is firmly established, and our God has reigned from eternity and forever. 

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling.  Psalm 46:1-3

You may feel like the earth around you is disappearing and that the mountains of fear may carry you into the sea, even though the waters roar and the earth shakes, God is your strength and your very present, right now, help in trouble.  Praise the Lord!

“The mighty oceans have roared, O LORD, the mighty oceans roar like thunder; the mighty oceans roar as they pound the shore.  But mightier than the violent raging of the seas, mightier than the breakers on the shore – the LORD above is mightier than these!  Your royal decrees cannot be changed.  The nature of your reign, O LORD, is holiness forever.”  Psalm 93:3-5

Yes, we can stand on the seashore and see the mighty oceans roar and hear the breakers as they pound the shore.  But listen to this, whatever storm you are in, whatever crisis has come into your life, whatever grief or pain you are now going through, and whatever happens to the nations as they war and fight one another, whatever tornado or earthquake hits our world, and darkness seems to covering the earth at times.  The LORD above is mightier than anything and everything which comes into our lives or happens in our world. 

He stands above it all, ruling in His Holiness.  He is calling to you, come into His presence.  Let the wind be calm, let the pounding of the waves be still.  Let Him gather you into His arms and the noise of the storm ceases and there is peace and calm, for our LORD IS STILL KING!

Pastor Sharon

ALL I EVER NEEDED

WAS FAITH IN HIS NAME

Have you been waiting for a long time for your miracle, your answer to prayer?  Sometimes we must wait, but it is never too late for God.  He is eternal, and He sees the end from the beginning of a situation.  Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  Because of this we should be encouraged, for God will finish what He begins.  He tells us that He has started something wonderful in your life, and He is not finished with you yet.

“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” Philippians 1:6

We see Abram in the 17^th chapter of Genesis, 99 years old, and still waiting on God’s promise of a son.  This is God’s fifth affirmation of His covenant with Abram.  Twenty-four years have passed since the first promise was given.  God later changed his name to Abraham and Sarai’s to Sarah.  Waiting on God was a test for Abram, and it can be a test for us also.

God has a reason for all His delays.  He was waiting for Abram to come to the end of himself.  These tests and delays Abram experienced strengthened his faith in God and made him aware of his own weaknesses.  Before God can do something for us, we must learn how weak and helpless we really are.  God tests each one He calls.  He tests for the purpose of purifying and strengthening the believer’s faith.  Abram had been tested five times, and he passed with flying colors, other times he failed.  Why does God allow testing?

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.  And when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord” James 1:2-7.

We are encouraged to endure with Joy (vs.2), have perseverance, hang in there! (vs. 4), have or ask for wisdom (vs. 5), and not doubt (vs. 6).  Why does God want us to ask for His help without doubting?  Because if we doubt, have unbelief, that is not faith, and we waver and “become like the wave of the sea.” (vs. 6)  

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.  By faith, he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God.  And by faith Abraham, even though he was past age and Sarah herself was barren, was enabled to become a father because he considered Him faithful who had made that promise” Hebrews 11:8-11.    

Faith is not a passive, pathetic attitude.  Faith is a robust and vigorous confidence in God.  Faith is to confidently step out on an unknown path with utter confidence in God as He leads one step at a time.  We see this faith as we continue to study the life of Abraham.

As we continue to look at the life and faith of Abram, we see a principle God uses with His children.  In Genesis and throughout the Bible the Lord God reveals more and more about Himself through His names or attributes.  He gives us a progressive revelation of Himself.  Whenever His people had a particular need, God was revealed to them in some new way and another of His names was made known to them.  His names reveal that all we ever need is found in the Lord.

For example, in the story of Gideon in Judges 6:22-24, the Angel of the Lord appeared to him as Jehovah Shalom. The Lord is Peace.  When the hour is dark, when the situation is desperate, when we are humbled and brought low, we finally begin looking and longing for God’s peace.  Trembling, we grope through the darkness longing for reassurance that all will be well, and it will be, for the Lord is our Peace, He is Jehovah Shalom.

Again, as we look at Genesis 17, we will see another name for God.  God appeared to Abram and the old man fell on his face.  It was the most appropriate place to meet God Almighty.  It was a most appropriate moment for God to reveal Himself as El Shaddai.  This is His name who reveals that He is more than able to do all He promises.  He’s the One who strengthens, satisfies, enriches and makes fruitful.  “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless” (vs. 1).  In other words, He was saying: “I am your all sufficient One.  Quit running.  Quit hiding, quit seeking other ways.  Trust in Me, rest in Me, let Me supply your needs.”

If anyone needed to know God as El Shaddai it was Abram.  He was ninety-nine years old and Sarai was eighty-nine, and they were still childless.  Yet God had promised them a child of their own.  “Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead, since he was about one hundred years old and that Sarah’s womb was also dead” Romans 4:19.  How could Abram give glory to God in such a seemingly hopeless situation?  It was because he met El Shaddai!

God Almighty is our Rock, our refuge, our very present help in times of trouble.  Everything you and I will ever need can be found in the all-sufficient One.  This is the truth the name El Shaddai proclaims.  The truth came home to Abram with his face in the dust before the Almighty.  It must have echoed in his mind again as he gazed into the face of baby Isaac and watched his little boy grow strong, sturdy and tall.  There were other tests yet to come for the old patriarch, tests that would push him to the utter edge of human endurance.  But from that time on Abram knew where to run for strength.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong” II Corinthians 12:9-10.

It was when Abram was incapable of producing a son that God revealed Himself as Almighty God.  God was saying “Learn that I am all powerful, and you be perfect in weakness.  Let Me, the Almighty God fulfill My own promises.”  Weakness and difficulty and seemingly human impossibilities present no problem to El Shaddai.  So whatever difficulties you are facing right now, run to Him, run to the throne room of His grace, and you will find His arms opened wide, ready to meet all your needs.  For He is El Shaddai, Almighty God.

Blessings and Peace,

Pastor Sharon