Gianormous

(This is a little late because of internet problems...but I believe God's timing is always the best)


Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. 

A night out with friends at “Knott’s ‘Scary’ Farm,” my adult son, Corey, came home with a gianormous prize after playing a carnival game.   Luck or pure skill?  Finding that out later, the first question involved space; this thing needed its own room!  

"Bumblebee" the Transformer

Examining their life, some think doing enough good deeds, being a nice person, raising an honorable family, having success in this world; awards one a multitude of tickets for God’s favor in the eternal game. All the skill in the world, all the nice tries and even luck-- born in a “Christian nation,” cannot guarantee one will possess the winning ticket.  God’s winning ticket is torn from a book called Grace, and the tickets are endless.  A reach out in humble faith, he awards us only one ticket and it is the winner!  God already bought each of us a chance. One needs only to reach out and accept it.  Oh, and what a prize!  His gianormous blessings fill up the living spaces of our hearts.  

I asked Corey how he managed at the park carrying this overstuffed icon from the movie “Transformers” around.   He said it wasn’t that much of a burden, despite it looking ominous, it was light and many people inquired about his winning. 

When Jesus begins to make a transformation in our lives, many will wonder and see the difference and want what we have.  Awarded a gianormous prize, don’t hide your blessings away in some closet.  Celebrate the fact that not through your doings, but Christ alone can we be victorious.  

Lord, thank you for the many gianormous blessings I can hardly count in my life.  Because of your Amazing Grace ticket, I am victorious and a winner in your eye. Amen.

Yet Shall We Live

Romans 6:11 (NIV) In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

 

I read a story this week of a very elderly couple who after a tragic car accident, lay in a hospital ICU room next to each other; their arms extended out holding each others hands.  The husband passed away first with other family members close by. He no longer took a breath but the heart monitor continued to record a heart beat.  In an explanation to his son, the doctor said the heart beat of his wife, registered through her hand to the hand of her husband she still held, and the monitor reflected it on the screen. 

This is a picture of Christ.  As we submit our lives to Him, our old self dies with Him on the cross.  He holds on to our hands and His life giving pulse through His resurrection now becomes our own for others to view on the monitor of our faith. 

 

Thank you Heavenly Father that your purpose for me intensifies my heart beat.  Though I am weak and even through death, your life giving hands touch me with hope and strength.  Amen.

Folded Favor

Isaiah 42:16b I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.  



 
"Why do you always like to fold up your papers?" asked the teacher.

The student replies, "I don't know; (another teacher) asked me the same thing." 


"It's sad."


"Why is it sad?"


"Because it's now all wrinkled."

"It's not wrinkled, it's perfectly fine. It just has a crease."


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Do you think Adam might have had a similar conversation with God? 


When sin entered in, our perfect world became wrinkled, a visible crease crossing creation.  Separation from the Creator; it was there--no denying would make it brand new.  


"I am sad, said God; but I have a plan to make this all perfect again."

When we take our folded up lives and turn them over to our great Instructor, He smooths out the furrows with his nail-scarred hands.  God looks upon us as what we were intended to be, and gives us an A+ in His grade book.  Don't let the dog-eared pages of your story keep you from completing His assignment.  

Father God, thank you that you reach down and pluck up our wadded up lives and restore us to a beautiful manuscript, written in the blood of forgiveness.  Amen.

“Impressions”

Welcome to the first posting of devotionals, a brief insight sparked by the Heavenly Father to remind us of scriptural truths.  May His Word capture your heart and encourage your day. 

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“Impressions”

Ephesians 5:1 (NIV) Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

On my walk this morning, I strolled under the freeway underpass, the soft dirt showing impressions of u-shaped marks grouped to indicate the trot of a horse.  I don’t know about you, but when I think about a horse, images of beauty and strength come to mind as well as a healthy fear and respect for a majestic creature. 

 

Can you picture footprints of someone special God has placed in your life? And what about you? What character traits might one assign by the footprints you leave along the path of someone else?

Lord, some people’s lives I step into for a little while and then step out; others Lord, I walk alongside for most of my days.  May each step, each impression I leave, be shaped to your image Lord, an impression unmovable by the winds of time.  Amen