Praise God for Stability,God Never Changes

In Yesterday's post of Praise, I wrote about God's word. Today, I have been thinking about how God Himself never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. So many things in this world change - friendships, Church family, family, environment, jobs, our children grow up, our appearance, food supplies, financial market. Everything changes but God's Word says God does not. He does not grow weary. He never gets worn out. His love is constant. Even the heavens and earth will be changed but God will not.

Many times, we want stability but the only stability we can have is in God.  He can not be manipulated, coerced nor does he compromise like we do. His plan from the beginning of time since He created Adam and Eve has never changed.  We are His people and He is our God. He wants to live with us, be in relationship with us, and guide us. By his love, He created us, his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do the works he created us to do before the foundation of the world (see Ephesians 2:10).

We sometimes may wonder why we are joyful one minute and full of anger the next. We change with our circumstances. If our children are behaving, we are at peace. If they are not behaving or if someone says something unkind to us, our attitude changes. We go from one thing to the next seeking stability. God is our rock, our ever present help in trouble. He does not change. He does not waiver. His love does not increase when we do good nor does it decrease when we do wrong/bad.

Verses to think on:
Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 1:10-12 - “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
¹¹ They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
¹² You will roll them up like a robe;
    like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
    and your years will never end.”^[a]Malachi 3:6 - I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

James 1:17 - Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows.

Numbers 23:19 - God is not a man that he should lie nor a son of man that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

Psalm 102:27 - But you remain the same and your years will never end.

Lamentations 3:22 - Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

Lord, I praise you that you are my rock. You are my stability. I can have joy despite hardship, pain, loss as well as in good times. You are my treasure. Your strength is what lifts me above my circumstances. I thank you that I can always run to you. I thank you that you never leave me or forsake me. 

First Day of Thanksgiving Praise - Praise for God's Word

November is here. At our house, we like to write what we are thankful for on leaves and hang them on our Thanksgiving Tree. Then on Thanksgiving, we can recount our blessings and share them with each other. . This year, my son said we should use our big Christmas tree. I thought this was a good idea because we had more room to write lots of things we are thankful for throughout the day. We are also making loops of thanks to hang all over. We like traditions because they bring our family together to share and celebrate. The tradition for the giving of thanks starts on November 1st when we put up the tree and start writing our leaves of thanks. Then on the day of Thanksgiving, we take down all our leaves of thanks and loops of thanks and read them as a blessing unto the Lord for all He is, has given, has done and is doing in our lives. The day after Thanksgiving (when my parents always put up our tree), we start our Christmas blessings traditions. Actually, the whole thanksgiving four day weekend is filled with much rejoicing.

For the last five weeks, I have been thinking upon spiritual blessings (natural blessings too). In Ephesians we are told "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." Many earthly blessings we have will perish but the Word of God is eternal and unchanging. 

Psalm 119:92 - If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

God's word brings hope, healing and comfort. We are so privileged to have God's written word to speak to us. We don't have to guess about God and who He is. We don't have to guess about how we are to live in Him.   

The word is eternal and it never changes. We have God's written word that He breathed out and Has spoken. 

The word is:
1.  a lamp onto my feet (Psalm 119:105)
2. a light onto my path  (Psalm 119:105)

3. Alive and active (Hebrews 4:12)

4. Sharper than any two edged sword (Hebrews 4:12)

5. penetrating even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrows (Hebrews 4:12)

6. judges our thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12)

7.  breathed out by God  (1 Timothy

8.  profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

9. gives life (Psalm 119:50)

10. Eternal and unchanging (Isaiah 40:8)

11. Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6)

God says in Psalm 1 that we are blessed if we delight in the law of the Lord, day and night.  Psalm 119 is a great psalm of thanks for God's word. We have been trying to memorize this Psalm as a thanksgiving praise for God's word. God's word is what brings me hope when all else seems loss. God's word is what spurs me on to His good works that He has prepared.  God's word is what fills me with thanks and without his word, I would just complain most of the day. God's word is what directs my life. God says he knows we love him when we do what His word says.  

Many times people believe they know God but they never read about Him. They made up who God is in their own mind without getting to know Him. In fact, we all have done that. When God comes to live in our lives and in our heart through being born from above where His spirit comes to live in our bodies (not in temples made by hands but in our flesh), He lives through us. The word comes alive. The words are no longer words on a page we have to read to try to be good. We can't be good. We are sinners. The law shows us what we are doing wrong. Without the hope of God sending his son, Jesus, to die on the cross we would feel hopeless as we try to fulfill the law's demands. We can't even love apart from God for God is love. This is love that he died for us while we were still sinners. We couldn't be good enough to come to God. He had to come to us. He came to earth from heaven to be born in a poor, unrecognized, humble way where only Shepherds were awake to hear the angels tell of his birth. Shepherds who were the lowly in society heard the Good news first.  We think our life may be full and that we don't need God or His word. We think we have everything we need. However, the truth is we are strangers and aliens and this world is fading, perishing and dying. Everything external is dying. God brings hope in Jesus death saying he conquered death and the good news is he died to bring you into relationship with Him. We don't have to run. We don't have to do it ourselves. We don't have to pretend we have everything we need. We don't have to hide from our past. We don't have to be defensive over what we did to hurt others. We don't have to lie. We can come into the light of truth and see God loves us and He wants us to believe onto him and worship Him in spririt and in truth.

God's word is not burdensome but a light. In God's presence is fullness of joy. I pray we pick up His word and have faith for unbelief dies as we read His Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. May we decrease and He increase as our faith in Him flourishes.

Lord Jesus, I am so thankful that you are the living Word. I am thankful for your written word as an expression of you that I can pick up and read anytime. Thank you that i don't have to hide my Bible and that I can freely read of you. Others may talk to you, preach you, teach you, share you but really You already did that in my heart and in your word. I thank you that your word never changes even though people's opinions of you do. I don't need to live in confusion or fear wondering who you are or basing my opinions of you on what others said. I can see in your word who you really are. You are awesome, full of glory, deserving of all praise. May every knee bow and every tongue confess that you are Lord. Praise you God.

Article that I found interesting:
http://calvaryhillchurchofgod.com/Sermon_Outlines/I%20AM%20THANKFUL%20FOR%20THE%20WORD%20OF%20GOD.pdf