Our Intimate Father

The Lord searches us and knows us intimately. He sees us when we sit down and wake up. He recognizes our thoughts, even the ones we have not even thought about yet. We will think about them tomorrow or next year, but He already knows what they will be. He already examined the actions, which we will take in the future, and He is personally acquainted with everything about us.

Before we even speak a word, God knows exactly what we are going to say. He enfolds us with His peace and covers our past and our future with His love. This familiarity with each and every one of us is too hard for our finite mind to comprehend. He is absolutely amazing (Psalm 139:1-6). Still, our soul yearns for Him in the night and our spirit attentively seeks Him all day long (Isaiah 26:9).

There is no place on earth that anyone can take us, which will be away from God's Spirit. His presence is always with us and in us. If we are in a plane, a submarine, a horrible circumstance or the most exhilarating event, His hand is right there to lead and protect us. His thoughts are centered on us. These facts are so precious to us; yet equally as unfathomable (Psalm 139:17-18).

Even in our darkest hour, God's presence in our life surrounds us with light, because darkness is not dark to the Lord. Darkness and light are the same to Him, and everything works out according to His plan. God formed us in our mother's womb. He wonderfully knit us together so that we would have the personality, shape and appearance that He wanted us to have. He made us uniquely His own (Romans 8:28; Psalm 139:7-12).

Prayer:

Father God, the soul of each person, even if they deny it, knows without a doubt that You are our creator. You watched as our embryo developed and You continue to watch as Your Spirit conforms us to the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). You pre-ordained every one of the days that we will live, and You wrote them down in Your book before one of them ever existed (Psalm 139:13-16). We give You all the praise, honor and glory for who we are in You.

Thought for the Day:

The Lord is righteous in all of His ways, and completely gracious in everything He does. - Psalm 145:17

Truth is a Person

 

Christians in this modern world attempt to prove the existence of God intellectually, using apologetics and philosophical reasoning. We endeavor to explain an infinite God with finite terms of human logic (Isaiah 55:8,9). We attempt to formulate approved doctrines and to explain the Word of God accurately. Yet, we rarely agree on either doctrine or interpretation.

We often get close to painting an accurate picture, and many are won to Christ by these attempts. However, the more questions we answer, the more questions are left unanswered (1 Corinthians 8:1-3). Humans will never figure out God or His ways, because He will simply jump out of the box we create for Him (1 Corinthians 2:10; Romans 11:33). There are too many Biblical “mysteries”, which defy human explanation.

Consider the Trinity, Christ as God and man, the relationship between Christ and the church as a marriage, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, God’s will, the Gospel of Christ, faith, the partial hardening of Israel until the time of the Gentiles is over, lawlessness at work, Christ abiding in us, immortality and that not everyone will die before Christ returns (Ephesians 3:8-9; Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 2:7; 1 Timothy 3:16).

Spiritually, as we surrender to God’s Truth, we come to trust His Spirit’s work within us for salvation. Then we trust the Spirit’s work through us. A branch does nothing in order to bear fruit. In this same way, God will put His thoughts in our mind to direct our actions, and His words in our mouth to comfort and encourage those around us. As we submit to His sanctifying work, He sets us apart from the world (1 Corinthians 1:18).

We may not see or feel His work in or through us, but we see the effects of it. God’s Spirit binds us to the Trinity within us and to our fellow Believers who live all over the world. The more intimate our relationship with God, the more rest we experience in our body, soul and spirit. We experience less stress in trials, because we know from experience that God always provides (Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Father God, there is nothing on this earth that means more to us than knowing You (Philippians 3:8-10). Knowing You is eternal life (John 17:3). Jesus is the way, truth and life, and no one can come to You except through Him (John 14:6). You set us free by Your Son, who is our Truth (John 8:32, 36). Help us to make You our priority in life and to realize that we can argue doctrine all day long, but in the end, Jesus Christ is the only Truth.

Thought for the Day:

Who is wise enough among us to be the philosopher of our age? God makes man’s wisdom foolishness, because we do not know Him. - 1 Corinthians 1:20