He is All Things

 Rev. 4:11
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Revelation reveals Christ in all of His glory. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all things. “And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.”(Col 1:17). He is our all in all. All things for every circumstance in life. We wake up in the morning and breathe in all that Jesus has given us. We go through our day and submit our will to the one who will work all things for good so that He will receive glory, honor and praise. We end our day with thanksgiving for all the things He has done and will do. He is worthy today and into eternity to be praised and glorified. Who can stand before Him and not bow the knee and worship Him? We worry about many things in life. He knows our frame, that we are weak and need Him to make the impossible happen. We can do all things through Christ, who gives us the power to do what is needed. In return, we give Him all the glory for all the things He has done and will do. We don’t have to wait till we get to heaven to cast ourselves before Him as John saw the 24 elders do. We live each day knowing that He is in control of all things in our lives, and we give Him praise. He is worthy as we lift our voices to Him in praise. We are His creation and worthy of our worship in word and deed.

Nothing Too Hard for God

Jeremiah 32:17
‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

It did not seem that there was any hope for Judah. Babylon was allowed to besiege their land, yet God promised that a day would come that Judah would once again reclaim what was theirs. At the time this seemed to be unlikely to happen. But Jeremiah realized that God, who is in control of nations and governments rising and falling, recognized that with God, nothing was too hard. There are things in our lives that look impossible. We recognize that unless God steps in, there is no hope. Jesus said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” The word of Christ was spoken to his disciples when things seem to be impossible to accomplish in the human. Especially when it comes to the salvation of the heart. There is nothing that man can do to achieve salvation with human efforts. Salvation comes only through Christ. The person gone deep into sin or the person who was raised in a well refined culture home all need to be saved. There is nothing too hard that He can do, He can save to the uttermost all who are willing to believe. We need to continue to pray for family, friends, and souls that are lost in sin. No matter their walk in life, Jesus desires to reach down and release them from the bondage of Satan. He has the power and desires that no one perishes, but that all come to repentance.

A New Heart

 Ezekiel 36:26-27

 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh…And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

There is something about things that are new. It implies a fresh start. As we begin a new year, we look forward to maybe doing things differently to improve our lives. When God gives us a fresh start, it is more than turning over a new leaf. It is more like letting the old leaf die and letting a new leaf grow. God wants to take the old heart of stone, hardened by sin. The callous heart of unbelief removed and replaced by a heart of flesh, full of faith compassion. The new heart has new desires and affections. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The Spirit of Christ now dwells in the new heart of flesh, a heart ready to receive instructions, wanting to keep his commandments. Yes, the law is now written in our hearts, and our conscience bears witness that hearts belong to Him.

Love Bears All Things

1 Corinth 13:7 (AMP)
Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].
“All things” Hard to wrap our minds around the concept that in all things we are to love, believe, hope, and endure. The Amplified Bible adds commentary to “all things”. Life happens and both good things and bad things happen, regardless of the circumstances or situation, love is to bear it and believe that God has something good in store. We hold on believing that “all things will work together for good to them that love and trust God in faith. He desires to make us into His image. Things come into our lives to allow Christ to live through us, and this is "good". The temptation is to doubt God’s love and His power to work it out. The human tendency is to give up and withdraw into depression or even blame God for “all things”.  The love that God puts in our heart when Jesus comes into our lives is super natural, a stranger to human love. This love is the Holy Spirit that comes into our lives and gives us the power to manifest the fruits of God’s love in our circumstances. Love, without it, we will miss the mark.

 Psalm 107: 1-2
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

“God is good all the time” we often say. But we know that bad things often happen to those who love Him. Then why does a good God allow bad things to happen to those who love and serve Him. There have been many books written on this topic and often the topic of many discussions. I don’t claim to have the answer that would satisfy everyone. We know that Job experienced a lot of bad things, and He was a man of integrity and one that put His trust in God. We do know that many are born abnormal or come down with some illness that  either takes their life or cripples them for life.  Accidents, war, murders, rapes, house burning down, natural disasters, the list can go on. We live in a sin cursed world, and Satan has been given dominion to test God’s creation. Jesus came to overcome evil and the works of darkness. God is good! He gave us a way of escape, a way to overcome evil in this world and the sin that dwells in the hearts of men. God is good all the time! His love and mercy reaches down to all who will reach out to Him. He is a good God, and I trust that whatever happens it will turn out for good to them that keep trusting Him and loving Him.

All things

Colossians 1:17, 18b And he is before all things, and by him all things consist…. that in all things he might have the preeminence.

The existence of all things starts with God. He is the first and the last, He holds the world in his hand and by Him all things are made known. As the creator of heaven and earth, He was there to spin the universe, the galaxies into existence. Who is man to think he can make his own way to salvation? Christ, the God-man came to this world to provide a way of salvation, and through Him, and Him alone can we be made reconciled to God the Father. Jesus, the one and only one who is able to save us from sin. Because He is God, He has the power to forgive sins, He is Lord of lords and there is not equal to Him. Other religions may claim their righteousness, but unless they come under the authority of Christ, they will be lost. He is the preeminence, surpassing all others in His power and authority. He is God, and He is my Lord and Savior.

Wonderful Things of God

Isaiah 25:1 Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

The wonderful things of God are seen everyday in our lives, even when things don’t always seem to be wonderful. When everything in life appears to be going wrong it is hard to see the wonderful things that God is doing. In spite of the circumstances, God is good and every good things comes down from the Father above. We may not always get what we want or what we thing we need, but He who knows best provides for the things we need. Let us look beyond our troubles and start to see what God is doing. Praise Him for all things, for those who love Him, all comes out for good.

All Things Created

Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

His name is Jesus. Before the world was created Jesus, one with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, created the heavens and the earth. All things were made by Him and for Him. He made man in His likeness. Man was made to have fellowship with Jesus, given a free will to choose to love and worship the Creator. Sin has warped the nature of man and put within man a desire to please the self-nature of the human heart. Jesus came to earth to redeem man from this nature, but man must make a choice to deny self and believe in the redemption power of Christ. Satans, the enemy of God, does everything he can to keep man from believing. the struggle to believe is real because sin reigns within the heart of man. The choice is still ours. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”  We were made to live in Christ, but we must choose to do so.

Thanks For All He Has Done

Roman 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

We often take the things around us for granted. We get use to having things happen and they become just apart of normal life. The reality is that life is not the way we see it in many parts of the world. It is not until we are stripped of our comforts and the things we take for granted are taken away from us, that we realize how good we have it. I sit in my beautiful home and thank God for providing such luxury. My coffee is ready to go at the push of a button, the water in my shower is heated to a nice refreshing temperature, and my home automatically will warm up and take the chill out of the air. All things are given by Christ and we are recipients of this blessing. It is good to often push the pause button of life and reflect on the goodness of God. We don’t do it enough, I don’t do it enough. To God be the glory for all He has done. 

All Thing Are Of God

2 Corinth 5:18 “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation”-

It is difficult at times to see that God is in everything. Is God in the bad things that happen in life? As with Job, God knew what Job was going through, He allowed Satan to test Job and try his commitment. God did not cause the bad things to happen, but God does allow all things to happen. He is before all things and by Him all things consist. (Col1:17) All things that are and all things that happen. Evil is allowed because God gave man a free will and the results of man’s sin brought spiritual death to man. The things that are done because of sin are not of God, but sin brings forth death and destruction. There are some thing that God allows to happen, and there are somethings that happen because of sin. Even though man has sinned against God, He desires to have a relationship with His creation. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to take the penalty of our sin that we may be reconciled back to God. Closing the gap between a holy God and sinful man. He has now put in our heart the love to reach out to others to show God’s love. We are now ambassador for Christ, reconciling the world back to God.