blessings

SoulSearching Sunday~It’s A Beautiful Life

12:00 AM

Sunday, September 9, 2018



Week Thirty-six

Welcome!  We pray that you have all had a precious time worshipping the Lord this morning!  Below you will find some thought provoking questions that will provide you a starting point to your journal writing to complete this week.  We hope that you will find this time soul satisfying!

Our reading this week was Matthew 6 - 18...

 1. How do you think Jesus would evaluate your prayers? Because of life’s fast pace, we can easily fall into the habit of praying by rote or formula. Today, refresh your prayer life by talking to God as though He were sitting beside you. You may want to write Him a letter, pouring out everything that is on your heart.

 When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating their words again and again. (Matthew 6:7)

 2. List the most meaningful good gifts that God has given to you. Read aloud the list to the LORD, and thank Him. Like Katherine Bates, who penned “American the Beautiful” atop Pikes Peak as she contemplated the beauty of Creation, perhaps you will feel inspired to write a poem about the beauty of God’s blessings to you.

 If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him. (Matthew 7:11)

 3. What kinds of tyranny can dominate your life? Guilt? Anxiety? Busyness? Give to Jesus whatever burdens you are bearing today. Find rest and freedom in Him.
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light. (Mathew 11:28-30)


Complacency

SoulSearching Sunday~Creation

12:00 AM

Sunday, July 8, 2018



Week Twenty-seven

Welcome!  We pray that you have all had a precious time worshipping the Lord this morning!  Below you will find some thought provoking questions that will provide you a starting point to your journal writing to complete this week.  We hope that you will find this time soul satisfying!

Our reading this week was Isaiah 5 - 35...

 1. Reflect on each of the names of Jesus listed here. When have you encountered Him in each of these ways? What other adjectives describe your relationship with the LORD?

 For a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us. And the government will rest on His shoulders. These will be His royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

 2. Consider God’s creation. What is most amazing to you about what He has made? In view of God’s supreme purposes in designing the universe and our lives, what can you do to honor His handiwork?

 Should the thing that was created say to the One who made it, “He didn’t make us”? Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”? (Isaiah 29:16)

 3. When has security or a steady routine made you complacent? What was your wake-up call? How can you shake your complacency and move toward complete trust in God and His faithfulness today by doing something totally different?

 Listen, you women who lie around in lazy ease…In a short time - in just a little more than a year - you careless ones will suddenly begin to care. (Isaiah 32:9,10)

Adam and Eve

God's Perfect Creation {Gen. 1:1-3:24}

12:00 AM

Jan. 1 Genesis 1:1-3:24  “God’s Perfect Creation”


“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1) In these first three chapters of the book of Genesis, we learn of the perfection and beauty of God’s creation. In six days, and with each word He spoke, God formed the world and everything in it. And when He was through, “God saw that all He had made, and behold, it was very good.” (vs. 1:31) 

Why didn’t God stop there? His creation was perfect and beautiful, free of sin. Why did He create humanity knowing full well how we would fall and rebel against Him? He did so because He wants us to have a close, intimate relationship with Him. Unlike the creatures of the earth, God created us in His image and likeness. (vs. 1:27) And because of this we can love Him, worship Him, serve Him, and fellowship with Him. In His infinite wisdom, God knew that Adam and Eve would sin in rebellion against Him. Yet He created them anyway. And just like Adam and Eve, God knew that we too would fall to sin, yet He created us anyway.

Ephesians 2:10 tells us, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before hand so that we would walk in them.” No one will ever know us better than God does. He knows us better than we even know ourselves. He knows what He created us to be and all of the wonderful things He wants to accomplish through us. Isn’t it amazing to know that the Creator of the universe who wants for nothing, wants us, and designed us with a specific purpose that can be fulfilled by no other. 



“I will give thanks to You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well.” (Ps. 139:14) God created every inch of us. Head to toe. And He loves us just the way we are. He loves us short or tall, skinny or fat, blonde or brunette. Too many times we fall prey to the lies of the enemy who tells us that we are unlovable, unusable, and unworthy.  But that’s not how God sees us. He looks at us through the eyes of a loving, forgiving Father and sees us as nothing less than a most wonderful part of His perfect creation!

How about you? Do you know that you are “wonderfully made”? Instead of looking at yourself through fallen eyes, today and everyday won’t you see yourself through God's eyes and thank Him for His awesome works...including you!