timewithgod

The empty chair.  Sunday night Bill put an empty chair in our “Bible Study Circle,”  and I asked them “what is the significance of the empty chair?”  These people are so perceptive.  It wasn’t really difficult to figure out.  The empty chair is for someone who’s not here.  I introduced them to the “Prayer of the empty chair.”  We are going to pray that God will fill that empty chair!  The empty chair will remind us that one of our great responsibilities is to reach out to people and see them come to Christ, come to “sit at His feet” and learn… on the empty chair.  So we suggested names of folks we’d like to see fill the empty chair.  While we were still talking Al & Carolyn arrived, and Al sat on the empty chair!  Now it was no longer the empty chair.  We’ll have to get another one.

Today’s Scripture reading is 2 Chronicles 3; Isaiah 54; Acts 18

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Today’s thought comes from 1 Peter 1:3-4  “3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,4  to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

God is good… All the time!  How good is God?  He is ALL good.  There isn’t a bad bone in his body… that is, if he had a body, there wouldn’t be a bad bone in it.  John puts it this way, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5).  James adds, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”  (James 1:17).  There is no darkness in God, in fact there is not a hint, not even a faint shadow or variation of his goodness.  God is all good, all the time.  Depend on it.  One thing you can depend on is the consistency and dependability of God.  He always acts according to His character – 100% of the time!  GOD IS GOOD!  Life is tough.  Because of Adam, our great, great grandfather, we have problems.  The original sin messed with the universe.  It paved the way for every bad thing you have ever experienced.  Aging, crime, bills, sickness, hurricanes, arguments, ingrown toenails… you name it, it precipitated it all.  Good from God, Bad from Sin.  God is not responsible for the evils that have found their way into our lives.  God is responsible for every good thing that has ever happened to you!  When bad things happen, Sin deserves the blame, when good things happen God deserves the praise!  But far too often we do exactly the reverse of what we should: We blame God for bad things and praise us for good things!  We say things like “If God were a God of love, he wouldn’t allow all the rape (people did that) murder (people) crime (that’s us doing it again) etc in the world!  Backwards.  And then when good things happen we say, “I’m a lucky guy!” (us).  “I made a good investment decision” (us again).  “It just took a lot of hard work” (you got it – we take the credit!).  1 Peter tells us we ought to bless God because of his abundant mercy, extravagant hope and unbelievable gifts that he heaps upon us!  We have been blessed!  We ought to bless back!  A grateful heart is one of essential keys to a happy successful life.  An ungrateful person is happy only when things are really going his way, and then only for a while.  A grateful person realizes that even when bad things happen, there is still an amazing amount of things to give thanks for!  Health, family, job, house, car, Jesus, the fresh air we breathe, the beauty of nature, Jesus, eyesight, two hands, ability to walk, Jesus… Want happiness beyond imagination?  Pause several times a day, close your eyes for just a moment or two and sink into a state of thanksgiving.  Smile and say, “God you are good!  I thank you for your blessings!”  And then list a few.  “You have been so good to me!  Thanks that every day I come home to a warm house and the smell of dinner cooking… Thanks… and then you fill in the blanks!”  Bless God and the joy will flow.

Dear Father:  Thanks for the death of your Son Jesus.  That you love me so much that you want me as your child!  Thanks for the hope of heaven, that you want me to be in your presence for eternity!  Thanks for transformation, that you have come to live inside me and make me like yourself.  I bless you.

“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

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