Archive for Magnificent God

Holy and Faithful

2021-01-15 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ. (Colossians 1:2, NIV)

It’s easy to get distracted by the human side of the church and its people. We sometimes grow impatient with each other’s weaknesses and immaturities.

But notice Paul’s letters. The Christians in his day were surely as flawed and human as today. But he gives a different view of them. He always writes with such joy and deep affection for them.

Just read the openings to the letters. My favorite is the Colossians 1:2, To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ.

I wonder: if I had known those people, would I have described them this way?

As I think of those around me, do I focus on their human failings and limitations, or do I appreciate them for the persons they are becoming in Christ?

Even now, in their imperfections, our holy and faithful brothers and sisters strengthen us in ways we take for granted. Their testimonies, their struggles, their failures and victories—even their mere presence with us—bolster our faith and keep pointing us week by week toward Christ. Through their lives, we see God in action.

Remember that those around us are destined to become kings and priests and honored children of God. If you want an exciting thought, picture your Christian friends as fulfilled in Christ. Imagine them without their fears, insecurities, emotional scars, and human weaknesses. See them as having become all God’s love designed them to be and all His transforming power is able to make them. Rather moving, isn’t it? This will soon be reality. We have God’s Word on it.

Value your brothers and sisters now. Bear with them now. Encourage them, lift them up, forgive, and be patient with them. Love them the way Christ loves you.

Father, if we would look
beyond and through
all the people who have blessed our lives,
we would see You.
Every good gift comes from You.
Thank You, Father!

Hymn: I Thank the Lord for You

Filled to All the Fullness of God

2021-01-08 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-17, 19, NIV)

Ephesians 3:14-19 is a beautiful passage of scripture that has long intrigued me, especially that last phrase. The concept is grand, but what does it really mean to be filled with “all the fullness of God”?

In Christ, all the fullness of God dwells bodily, and you have been made full and complete in Him. (Colossians 2:9-10, para.)

What could it mean to me—to you—in practical, daily terms to be completely filled with God himself? We know that He is always present, not only with us, but in us, in an intimate and holy way.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you…?(1 Corinthians 6:19, NIV)

You have experienced that presence. What if we learned to look to Him, to trust Him more simply and constantly, to realize His presence and rest in it completely and always?

Imagine the wonder of hearing Him speak to you in wisdom and love. Imagine the wonder of knowing His will.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21, NIV)

When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.(John 16:13, NIV)

Imagine Him speaking His words from your lips.

Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. (Mark 13:11, NIV)

Imagine dreaming His dreams, envisioning what He has planned for His people.

I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. (Joel 2:28, NIV)

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”—but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.(1 Corinthians 2:9-10, NIV)

Imagine being sufficient for every challenge, empowered by God’s own strength.

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty.(Zechariah 4:6, NIV)

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8, NIV)

Imagine the pleasure of having His own character growing and developing within you, naturally, daily.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV)

Consider what it would be like to be free forever from the bondage of your sin.

Now that you have been set free from sin…the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:22, NIV)

And imagine being wrapped in His perfect peace.

The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. (Romans 8:6, NIV)

These blessings are not someday and far away. They are all in Christ, and He is present. These blessings are not vague and abstract. They are practical and life-oriented. They are for talking, thinking, reacting, and doing.

They are not by struggle or superior intellect, not reserved for the elite, not beyond anyone’s grasp. They are available for all who will daily, simply trust the God who is with us right now.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us…with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3, NIV)

Almighty Holy Father,
You do not abandon us to
our puny self-improvement schemes and
our stumbling efforts.
Your gift to each of us and
all of us is
the mighty life of Jesus Christ,
accessible by simple faith.

Hymn: Holy in Me

I Press Ahead toward Christ

2021-01-01 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14, NASB)

Success and failure are just words,
spoken from our small-minded ignorance.
Money and respect are simply mediums of human exchange.
They can only give what other humans have to give,
creatures who share our own deep neediness.
Glory and gold are too shallow to provide
what we truly need and crave.
Physical comfort is an imposter,
pretending to be lasting peace.
In the end, death shows them all for what they are:
empty delusions.

Jesus Christ is the eternal, holy, glorious God
made fully human.
In Him, my Father, I can
know You and
love You and
become like You.
In Him all my goals,
all my expectations,
all life’s possibilities are raised and reset.
In Him I am becoming more than I ever dreamed I could be.
Jesus Christ is my desire.
I trust HIM.
I press ahead toward HIM.

For in Him, Father,
I become one with You
completely and forever,
in all Your holiness and love.

The prize held out before us is
not material blessings—
not in this world and
not in the next.
The prize God offers is
Himself,
with all the
life and
love
that are in Him.

Hymn: The Upward Call

I Want to Know You

2020-12-25 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (Colossians 3:8, NASB)

My life is crowded with so many desires.
But, Jesus, I truly want only one thing:
I want to know You.

All my ambitions,
all my goals and dreams of glory,
I give them to You.
I release them and cut the cord.
Nothing else is worth holding onto.
I want to know You.

I look to the future,
and I know more storms will come.
But what does it matter?
Each trouble will help me know You better.
Each will give me a faith that
sees You more constantly and clearly.
I want to know You.

My heart leaps at the thought of being found
always and entirely in You,
with the baggage of self-interest gone forever.
Praise to You!
You are doing it,
and You always finish what You start.
I know You now, Jesus, and
then I will know You fully, even as I am fully known.

Thank You, Lord!
Fill my heart now with the desire
that will delight me throughout eternity:
I want to know You, Lord.
I want to know You.

Father, You are
the only desire worth nurturing,
the only goal worth pursuing,
the only eternal destination.

Hymn: Lord, Life Becomes More Simple

All You Made Me to Be

2020-12-18 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

This is the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. The glorious riches of the mystery are this: Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:26-27, para.)

Father, You are all-in-all,
all life,
all love,
all beauty,
all blessedness.
You are the boundless ocean of
a thousand magnificent blessings still
nameless and
undiscovered.

As I trust You with the simplicity of a child,
I am in You, and
You, the Great All-in-all, are in me.

Because You are in me,
I am far more than this corrupted, physical creature.
You are life, and
I am truly, eternally alive.
You are love, and
I begin to love as You love.
You are wonderful, and
already Your wonders peek out through me.

But because You are the Gardener,
forever growing magnificent wonders,
who I am becoming is infinitely more wonderful than who I am.
For I am in Christ, and
I am growing in Christ.
And when He appears, I will be like Him,
because I will see Him just as He is. (1 John 3:2, NASB, adapted)

When I am perfectly like
Your perfectly pleasing Son,
I will be perfectly pleasing to You,
my Creator,
my Redeemer,
my loving Father.
You will rejoice that
I am all You made me to be.

Realize who you are.
You are not your occupation or
your abilities.
You are not your
gender,
race, or
social status.
You are not your past.
You trusted Christ, and
now you are becoming like Him.
Look to Him—
He is your present and
your future.
With Him,
you are a beloved child of Almighty God,
your Papa,
your Father.
You are His heir and
His treasure.

Hymn: Now in Christ

The Life of God

2020-12-11 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive.

(John 3:8; 7:37-39, NASB)

As uncontrollable as the wind,
as refreshing as a spring,
as mighty as a great river,
the Life of God
blows,
rises, and
flows
all around us and within us,
purifying,
transforming,
enlightening, and
empowering anyone who will simply trust in Jesus Christ.

God gives us Himself.
Should we complain about anything else
He gives or withholds?

Hymn: Life of God

More

2020-12-04 Fresh Views of Timeless Truths, Magnificent God No comments

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21, NASB)

Jesus, I am finding You
more than a promise,
more than a hope,
more than a thought.

You are
more than I have let You be,
more than I can imagine You to be,
more than all the dreams
that have cluttered by mind.

You are all the “more”
of my restless desires,
all the “more”
of God’s restless love for me,
all the “more” of eternity,
ever here, ever flowing,
ever full, yet ever growing,
ever satisfying and
ever surprising.

Jesus,
to You be all my love and trust,
all my hungering and hoping,
all my living and rejoicing and aspiring,
look by look, Lord,
more and more.

Father, You have yet
more truth about Christ to shine
into me and
through me.
Open my mind,
my heart, and
my life to all He is.

Hymn: In Your Spirit

Hindered by Unbelief

2020-11-27 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

[Jesus] came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter’s son?”…And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13:54-55, 58, NASB)

Jesus, how often have You longed to do wonderful things among us,
but You were not able because of our unbelief?

How often have we, Your own people,
hindered You by our lack of faith?

Lord, what wonderful works would You do in my life
if I were only willing to trust You more simply and constantly,
in the face of each concern?

Jesus, You are my Lord.
You are Messiah.
You are Mighty God.
You are my Savior,
my Redeemer,
my Holiness,
my Rock,
my Life.

Help me to trust You step-by-step.
Work Your beautiful, loving, perfect will in me.

Faith, not reason,
is God’s chosen pathway to
relationship with Himself.
He is not seeking people
smart enough to perceive Him.
He is seeking people
humble enough to trust Him.

Hymn: Beyond Myself

Your Holy Temple

2020-05-29 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

I will be careful to lead a blameless life…
I will walk in my house
with blameless heart.
I will set before my eyes
no vile thing…
I will have nothing to do with evil. (Psalm 101:2-4, NIV)

Do you not know that your body is
a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you,
whom you have received from God?
You are not your own;
you were bought at a price.
Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NIV)

Father,
I cherish Your holy presence
always with me,
always in me, and
always enveloping me.

Help me never to entertain thoughts
that are offensive to You
or say words that are unloving
or take actions unworthy of the name of Christ.

By Your Holy Spirit,
by simple faith,
keep my heart, mind, and life pure,
fit for your use.

If a man cleanses himself…
he will be an instrument for noble purposes,
made holy, useful to the Master and
prepared to do any good work.
(2 Timothy 2:21, NIV)

Father, am I clinging to any
habits or
attitudes
that draw me from You?
Show me, and
help me put them aside.

Hymn: My Mind Will Be Your Holy Place

God Is in His Temple and on His Throne

2020-05-22 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

Father, when life seems hopelessly unjust, You remind us:

The Lord is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before Him. (Habakkuk 2:20, NASB)

Your temple reminds us that You are holy –
perfect in all Your words,
Your actions,
Your wisdom,
Your timing.
Your temple reminds us of Your presence
with us and
in us.
We are Your temple.
No matter how viciously evil threatens us, Almighty God,
You never leave us alone.
So even when our world seems so very wrong, we remember:
The Lord is in His holy temple.

When our lives fill with problems and turmoil, Father, You remind us:

The Lord has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all. (Psalm 103:19, NASB)

Your throne suggests
Your power,
Your control,
Your unfailing goodness.
You are our stability.
You are our unshakable certainty
in this sea of change.
You are perfect strength
in all our weakness.
All reality bows to You, our Savior, our King, our loving Father.

So in this wicked, unstable world, we look to You and remember:

The Lord is in His holy temple;
the Lord’s throne is in heaven. (Psalm 11:4, NASB)

Father, how do we praise You for
all You are and
all You do?
Where do we start?
Your greatness and goodness encompass
all we are and
all we experience.

Hymn: God Is in His Temple

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