Only Good

We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose.

I look at you and see the checkered lives that God has given you... and that which lies before me.

Here is the sweetest, softest pillow I know for my soul.. my God rules the universe for me...for me...for me...for my everlasting good.

I just read the 105th Psalm: God would allow the heathen to do Israel no wrong.

What? No wrong? They tried to destroy them everywhere they went. Yet, He allowed the heathen to do his people no wrong.

You see, what God brings to pass all your days on this earth does you no wrong, but only good...only good...only good.

It's often painful. It's often difficult. It's often a heavy burden. But it's only good.

Our God rules the universe and overrules all evil for our good and even overrules the evil of our own nature, the evil of our own behavior, the evil of our own rebellion and makes it good for us.

Thank you, blessed God for your good providence. We see something of the wonder of God's amazing grace. By grace are you saved.

~Snippets from a recent sermon by Don Fortner. Click Judah, Tamar & the Purpose of God to listen to the sermon in its entirety.


Oh give thanks unto Jehovah, call upon his name; Make known among the peoples his doings. Sing unto him, sing praises unto him; Talk ye of all his marvelous works. Glory ye in his holy name: Let the heart of them rejoice that seek Jehovah. Seek ye Jehovah and his strength; Seek his face evermore. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, His wonders, and the judgments of his mouth, O ye seed of Abraham his servant, Ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is Jehovah our God: His judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered his covenant for ever, The word which he commanded to a thousand generations, The covenant which he made with Abraham, And his oath unto Isaac, And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a statute, To Israel for an everlasting covenant, Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, The lot of your inheritance; When they were but a few men in number, Yea, very few, and sojourners in it. And they went about from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people. He suffered no man to do them wrong; Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, Saying, Touch not mine anointed ones, And do my prophets no harm. (Psalms 105:1-15)

The Omnipotence of One God

With the use of radar detectors, many often break the speed limits, but the beeping and lights alert the driver of speed checks ahead.

There are no detectors that protect people from breaking any law from the all-knowing God. He sees each and every action.

The first commandment tells us that we are not to have any other gods before Him.

He wants us to fully submit ourselves to Him. He is Lord!! Anyone or anything that has control of us, our thinking, and our very being is our God!

What or who is your God?

Have a good day!
Love,
Dad

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"I have purposed it, I will also do it" (Isaiah 46:11)

(Read also I Kings 18:21-40)

To declare, as many do, that God's plan has been frustrated by the entrance of sin into the world is to dethrone God. Some would have us to believe that God was taken by surprise when Adam sinned in the garden and that he is now trying to remedy and correct this unforeseen calamity in his creation. Such a notion is degrading to the character of God. It brings the Most High God down to the level of erring mortals. We are told that man is a free moral agent, that he is the determiner of his own destiny and that he has the power to resist God and hold the Almighty in check. Such a blasphemous notion would strip God of his attribute of omnipotence. Men would have us to believe that man has burst the bounds originally set by God and that God is now a spectator, more or less without power over the sin and suffering brought into the world by the fall of Adam. But such doctrine is in direct contradiction of Holy Scripture. It is written in the Word of God: "surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain" (Ps. 76:10). To put it very plainly, to deny the sovereignty of God in all things is either to make God what you want him to be, which is idolatry, or it is to enter upon a path which, if logically followed, must bring you to atheism.

My friend, the sovereignty of the God of the Bible is absolute, irresistible and infinite. In declaring God's sovereignty, I am simply affirming his right as God to govern this universe, which he has created for his own glory, just as he pleases. He is the Potter; we are the clay. We have no more power over God than clay has over the potter. God moulds the clay of Adam's race into whatever form he chooses. From the lump of fallen humanity, he makes one vessel unto honor and another into dishonor. This is his right. He is God. He is under no law, rule, or power beyond his own sovereign will and holy nature. He is God.

from Don Fortner's Grace for Today for October 13.

To Whom Will You Liken Me?

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of Jehovah, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering. All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The image, a workman hath cast it, and the goldsmith overlayeth it with gold, and casteth for it silver chains. He that is too impoverished for such an oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a skilful workman to set up a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? have yet not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in; that bringeth princes to nothing; that maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they have not been planted; yea, they have not been sown; yea, their stock hath not taken root in the earth: moreover he bloweth upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, that I should be equal to him? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from Jehovah, and the justice due to me is passed away from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:12-31)

We Will Walk

For all the peoples walk every one in the name of his god; and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God for ever and ever.
(Micah 4:5)


All people will walk every one in the name of his god, will own their god and cleave to him, will worship their god and serve him, will depend upon him and put confidence in him. Whatever men make a god of they will make use of, and take his name along with them in all their actions and affairs....

How constant God's people now resolve to be to him: “We will walk in the name of the Lord our God, will acknowledge him in all our ways, and govern ourselves by a continual regard to him, doing nothing but what we have warrant from him for, and openly professing our relation to him.” Observe, Their resolution is peremptory; it is not a thing that needs be disputed: “We will walk in the name of the Lord our God.” It is just and reasonable: He is our God. And it is a resolution for a perpetuity: “We will do it for ever and ever, and will never leave him. He will be ours for ever, and therefore so we will be his, and never repent our choice.”

-Matthew Henry (1662-1714)


The "gods" spoken of here do not pertain only to the graven images worshiped in the biblical time of Micah, and still exist somewhat today. But rather, what "gods" rule your life? Upon what "gods" do you cleave, serve, depend, and to whom or what do you put all of your confidence? Is it money, image, job, material possessions, entertainment, earthly pleasures? There is only one God upon whom dependence will reap rewards everlasting!

Contentment

"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." (Philippians 4:11-12)


"Because He is God, he has given us His grace instead of His wrath; His love instead of His enmity; His mercy instead of His justice; joy unspeakable in glory instead of torment in hell for perpetuity. Because He is God, I have no right to myself. Because He is God, I must walk in love, and love others, as Christ loved me and gave Himself for me. Because He is God, I must be willing to forgive as God in Christ has forgiven me. Because He is God, we love the brethren. Because He is God, I cannot harbor anger, wrath, clamor, bitterness, and malice in my heart toward another. Because He is God, I must turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, and give someone my cloak if they want my coat too. Because He is God, I must be willing to suffer the loss of all things, to gain everything. Because He is God, I can rest in the surety that He is orchestrating all things for our good and His glory. Because He is God, I cannot repay evil for evil, wrong for wrong, hurt for hurt. Because He is God, we may rejoice when our hearts are breaking and our world has been shaken. Because He is God, our trials are blessings-invited guests and not strangers." excerpt from Camponthis for Wednesday, April 29.

Also read Mary's Song .