Daily Thoughts: God the Father

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

37 Days – A Promise of Peace

Pastor Randy’s devotional:

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27

January 30^th Prayer:
Lord Jesus, circumstances, worries, and fears are all the giants standing on my promised land of peace. I receive my promise today and I speak peace over my life . . . my family. . . my finances . . . my children. I speak to the thought storms . . . stress storms . . . relationship storms . . . emotional storms: “Peace, and be still!” Thank You for promising me peace today. I know that He who promised peace is faithful! In Jesus’ name!

My thoughts:

In these troubling times, how can we find peace of mind and heart? I look around and see anger, frustration, hatred, greed and envy. The rapid pace of the daily life often times gets the best of me and I find myself chasing the problems in this world rather than pursuing the peace that is promised in the scriptures. Are there people in this world that live in joy, happiness, hope and humility? Absolutely, and it is those individuals that have found the peace found in God alone.

People are searching for peace. It’s been going on for centuries and yet we still find ourselves seeking, longing and striving in our quest. Each day, I hear of the anger people have for one another because of our difference of opinion, because of our skin color, because of our gender or because someone has made different choices in life. The media frustrates me, it brings out the worst in people and propagates the message of separation in society. When analyzed this message, this philosophy stems from a philosophy of self-centeredness, self-interests and hierarchical goodness, rather than equality and humility.

By looking at the world around us, we cannot find peace. By looking at our own life experience and choices, we cannot find peace. By looking at celebrities, sports heros, musicians, politicians or successful executives, we see the image they want us to see, but here again, we won’t find peace through them. Jesus Christ came to this world and gave us a way of salvation, and a path to righteousness so that we may enter into eternity and find peace with God the Father.

In observing and studying His life and His purpose, we can find peace. The peace is not around us though, the peace is in knowing that this is nothing more than a micro-dot on an infinitely long timeline. Peace comes when we stand before the Lord and enter into His Kingdom. No fear, no anger, no judgement, no jealousy, no self-desire, no envy, guilt or hatred – only love – perfect love for the Father and all others.

Be Blessed,

Rich

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Consistently Reliable

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“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” – Proverbs 3:5

Who ever invented the personal computer wasn’t reliant upon it. Have you ever experienced a hard disk crash on my computer? If not, count your blessings, because all of a sudden you are left with this feeling of anxiety in the pit of your stomach and you’ll be questioning how you’ll ever get to the information and files that are stored there. Those of you who have been there before know the frustration, aggravation, feeling of hopelessness and despair that accompany a computer failure. As I sit here typing, my hard drive is making very unusual sounds, and has me quite concerned that it may not make it through the day. I find it eye opening when this sort of thing happens, just how reliant we are on technology, and I can’t help but ask are we that reliant on the Lord?

I mean, are we coasting through each day taking the Lord for granted? Has it become of secondary importance to connect with your heavenly Father each and every day? So many times I find myself skipping a moment with the Lord because life catches up with me and time slips away to other pressing matters. How can this ever be tolerated? How can God ever be given second priority to anything else going on in my life? I think it comes down to the comfort of knowing that He will always be there. You see, God is like the air I breathe and the oceans, the mountains, the sun and the moon – He’s constant.

I never have the intent on prioritizing anything above God in my life, but it happens. So what do we do when we’ve mistakenly put God on hold? I believe that God deserves our reverence, respect and humility; He does not deserve our complacency, absent mindedness or leftovers. We must come to the realization that God is not going to hold a grudge and there is no punishment that he zaps you with because you missed an appointment. Just like you cannot go for 2 days without food and when you happen to miss a meal, you simply eat more at your next sitting.

God’s not going to leave you. Unlike the technology we have become so addicted too, He is the only thing in life that is reliable, consistent and always available. There are no connection fees, no membership dues, no routers, WiFI or DVR necessary. It only takes an act of humility and an open seeking heart and mind to communicate with the Lord anytime, anywhere. There are no guarantees on anything you own. There is nothing to say that this “older” computer I am writing this devotional on, won’t unexplainably “blue screen” at any moment. In the Lord, you have a guarantee. You have His assurance that His grace is sufficient for the redemption of your sins. You have His guarantee that He will return one day and call us home to join Him in heaven. You have His guarantee of righteousness love and mercy through the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you.

So the next time you are feeling guilty because you missed your quiet time with the Lord, just remember, there is no time like the present to hit your knees, bow your head and tell Him your sorry. Then get on with building that relationship.

PRAYER:
Almighty Father,
You are worthy of our love, devotion and honor. Forgive us for our weakness and complacency at times. Lord, help us to continually prioritize our relationship with You above all other things in this life. We seek Your wisdom in our words and Your counsel in our decisions. We ask these things in Your holy name - Amen