"Guess Who Understands?" - Inspirational Weekend

                                                     

  My computer is acting up so I pray I can finish this post. 

"Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always  by all means.  The Lord  be with you all."  -  2 Thessalonians 3:16

True believers have the love of God to help sustain them, and to give them hope.   Jesus paid their sin debt in full by His shed blood at Calvary.   Past sins no longer apply once you are saved; you have  been washed clean by the  blood of Jesus when you put your faith and trust in Him and you believe in Him as the Savior.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit."    Romans 8:1

Isn't that the personification of a loving and caring Heavenly Father!  And Jesus loves us so much that He gave His life a ransom so that if we but believe in Him we may gain eternal life.  Such love!

God and Jesus truly understand us.   Following is a devotional quote by A.W. Tozer on this subject:

"We should revel in the joy of believing that God is the sum of all patience and the true essence of kindly good will!   Because He is what He is, we please Him most, not by frantically trying to make ourselves good, but by throwing ourselves into His arms with all our imperfections and believing that He understands everything --  and loves us still!  The God Who desires our fellowship and communion is not hard to please, although He may chasten us, He  even does this with a smile -  the proud, tender smile of a Father Who is bursting with pleasure over an imperfect son who is coming every day to look more and more like the One whose child he is!  This is the best of good news!  God loves us for ourselves. He values our love more than He values galaxies of newly created worlds.  He remembers our frame and knows that we are dust!"

"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit."  -  Romans 15:13

"For the joy of the Lord is your strength."  -  Nehemiah 8:10 b

True believers have so much to be thankful for.  Always praise the Lord and tell Him how grateful you are for His goodness and mercy and love.

For those of you who may not be saved, following are some Scriptures for you .

Romans 10: 9, 10, 13 tells us (9) "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,  and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (13)  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.  Believest thou this?"   -  John 11:25-26

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"Jesus saith unto him,  I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."    -    John 14:6

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."   -   John 3:16

In order to be saved, you first need to admit that you are a sinner and in need of a Savior  -  Romans 3:23

Then you need to believe with all your very being that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; the Savior..   -  John 3:16 ;  John 11:25-26

Call out in faith to the Lord; commit your life to Him.        - Romans 10:13

The Lord understands us and is full of tender mercies and loves us more than we can fathom.

Have a blessed and Christ centered weekend.... and life!

God Rejoices Over You With Singing !!

Yes, the Almighty powerful true God rejoices with singing !  The thought of Him singing never occurred to me until I read Zephaniah 3:17 which says, "The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing."  Isn't that amazing !  This verse in the Revised Standard Version even says that "He will exult over you with LOUD singing."

Some may say that is just figuratively speaking; He doesn't really sing.  I tend to take this verse literally, that God does indeed sing with joy over us.   This verse is primarily speaking of Jerusalem and Israel, and some commentators believe it is speaking of Christ's 1000 year reign of peace on earth after the seven-year Tribulation during the Millennial Kingdom.   Still other scholars are of the opinion that this verse includes the Christian Church today, Christ's Bride.  Regardless, it is a joyful thought for us to consider that our Lord can sing over us like a loving parent does over his child in his arms.   

Zephaniah 3:14 tells us "Sing, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel; Be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem."   The people of Jerusalem were singing praises to God, which in turn caused God to expresses joy Himself when His people praised Him.   Therefore, we can make God want to sing when we praise Him in worship and in song.  There is one happy, joyful hymn I enjoy that just makes me feel good all over, especially if I count my blessings as it says to do :

When we count our blessings we are aware of how good the Lord has been to us; we are more appreciative of His love and tender care, and it makes us realize how much we need Him.  Sing along with this happy song and see if your spirits lift and take you to a new appreciation of all that God has bestowed upon you in the way of love and tender mercies and blessings. 

God wants us to be happy, and the only way we can be truly happy is by following Jesus and obeying Him in all we say and do. The way to do this is to pray without ceasing, thereby developing a close personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  When I observe sunsets and beautiful flowers and landscapes, it gives me a feeling of awe where God's power is concerned, and also makes me feel so tiny and insignificant in His presence. At the same time, observing His creation and thinking about His awesomeness draws me closer to Him.   Below is a beautiful time lapse video of skies.

My hope and prayer is that you enjoy these videos and photographs and that you are happy and safe in the Creator's loving and protective arms; that your days may be filled with joy and praise to the Lord.  

Following is one more time lapse video to brighten your day and your week to follow.

Keep a song in your heart, sing praises to God, give Him thanks, and see if you can perceive and sense God singing with joy !

"I will praise Thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works."          -  Psalm 9:1

"By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name."  -  Hebrews 13:15

"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."   -  Jesus speaking at John 10:10b