May 28, 2008

You're Special

You're Special

Psalm 30:5
Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

Glory to God!!! What a great and mighty God we serve. He is a just God, but also VERY forgiving. Forgiveness should be a big part of our lives as well. We have been forgiven much, and so we should also forgive. Does God get upset (angry) with us when we mess up… Oh yea. But as evidenced here and in Psalm 103:11-14 we see that He has great mercy towards those who call upon His name… towards those who fear Him. I especially like verse 14… He remembers that we are dust. I like to use that analogy sometimes.

Whenever you begin to think you're really hot stuff, and pride begins to well up in you… wipe your hand over the top of your refrigerator… that's you.

Now that's not to say that God doesn't love us and care for us… He has pity on us because He remembers where we came from… that's a good thing. We're not called dust like we're nothing… that's just where we came from… dust. I always pray that I don't get to be so "holier than thou" that I don't remember where I came from.

That's not to say, I want to shout from the rooftops what I used to do, and who I used to be… but I don't want to judge others who are now; no worse than I was then. Usually the ones who are pointing the finger at everyone else, are usually doing what they're accusing everyone else of doing. They're either doing it, or planning on doing it, or wanting to do it. To the Lord, each of us is the apple of His eye, His favorite. I remember preaching one time, and the Lord impressing upon me to tell everyone, that you are God's favorite. We are each unique and different, in a very special way. We all have a different type of relationship with Him… but yet, all the same… amazing isn't it.

He created us all different for a reason. He didn't want carbon copies… a mass of people exactly alike. All you have to do is look at a snow flake to see the diversity God places in all of His creation. People are so different… our bodies are put together differently… our emotions are all different… our attitudes are all different (and some need adjusting… mine did anyway)… so many things about us are different, but God loves us all the same… just as He told me that night… each and every one of them… are My favorite. That puts a smile on my face when I remember that. I was quite overcome when I realized that each and every one of us, as we accept what Jesus did for us, and receive the forgiveness of God… (Everyone on earth is His creation, but NOT everyone is His child. John 1:12)… We are grafted in to His holy family, and we are special and precious in His eyes.

He is happiest when you are desiring to come in to His presence. When you offer Him praise and thanks, when you forsake everything and everyone else, to spend time with Him. He loves that. He wants more time with you… He wants to be a part of all that you do… every day. As we see in Proverbs 3:11-12 He does/will correct us when we need it. But He does it for our good. Just like a parent knows to tell a child to keep away from a hot stove… he/she is not doing it to keep the child from something exciting and fun… but to keep them from being hurt. God is the same way in that what He tells in His word what we should do, and what not to do. If I don't stop now… I'll keep going, and going, and going… I want to close with this…

When, not if, but when we mess up… don't make excuses… don't pretend like it didn't happen, because that in itself will begin to separate you from God (Isaiah 59:2). But do what we're told to do in the scripture… "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1st John 1:9) Don't worry, be happy… God is on your side. He wants to hear from you each day, and wants for you to get to know Him more through His word as well. God is good… all the time.

James

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