Tag Archive for Creator

Deep Knowing

2017-10-09 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Father, in Your great heart
You long for us to know You
entirely and completely,
all we are
knowing
all You are.

You created this entire universe,
immense and majestic,
not only to show us Yourself,
but to engulf us in
Your power,
Your wisdom,
Your love, and
the vastness of Your mystery.
Yet even as we are immersed in all this, we see only
the fringes of Your robe.
We hear only
a faint whisper of You. (Job 26:14)

To show Yourself completely,
You gave us Your own Son.
You incarnated Him as
the most helpless and humble of all human beings:
the newborn infant of
an unmarried peasant girl
from a small, oppressed people
in one corner of the world.

Here is the transcendent, undiminished God!
Here is the full radiance of Your glory!
Here is the exact representation of Your very nature! (Hebrews 1:3)
Here is the fullness of Your Deity in bodily form, and
You have made us
full and complete
in Him. (Colossians 2:9-10)
As we look to Him,
we are being changed into His likeness. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

But we do yet see Him for all He is. (1 John 3:2)
With all His many magnificent names,
He has a name, an identity,
that no one knows but Him. (Revelation 19:12)

But we know this:
when He appears,
we will be like Him,
because we will see Him just as He is. (1 John 3:2, NASB)
We will know Him fully,
we will know You, Father,
even as we are fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Your deep longing for us
will be fulfilled
every moment,
forever,
entirely and completely,
all we are
knowing
all You are.
We will be immersed in You,
one with You,
saturated with
Your presence,
Your holiness,
Your love,
Your life, in all its depth and richness.

Father, finish what You have begun.
We long for You!
We are waiting at the door.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Knowing God
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Immersed in God

2017-09-25 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Father, when I focus on myself,
I get lost in the darkness of my
childish fears and
frustrated desires.
I am a prisoner in my own smallness.

But when I look up at the night sky,
I am immersed in Your glorious immensity,
O Sovereign God,
Eternal Creator,
my Lord,
my Father!
You who guide all this universe
guide my life as well,
silently,
seamlessly,
as I simply trust You.

I am Your dear child,
Your treasure,
and You leave nothing to chance.
You embrace me every moment
in Your mighty arms and
in the blanket of Your perfect love.

O Father,
my Father,
I am Yours!
I rest
right here in You!

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Speak, I Am Listening
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Make Me Whole in You

2016-09-13 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Father, I am from You.
I am not simply created by You.
I am Your offspring,
Your own child.

What is more, I
live and
move and
exist entirely in You.

Today, Father,
my imperfect body is in Your hands.
My imperfect thoughts and actions are in Your hands.
By Your Spirit,
in Your mercy and love,
make me more and more like
Your holy Son,
my glorious Brother,
Jesus Christ.
Make me whole,
complete, and
pleasing in Him.

I love You, Father, and
I trust You.
I am in Your hands,
body,
mind, and
spirit.
You are my Shepherd,
my Father,
my breath,
my existence.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: God Alone
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Creation Will Be Redeemed

2016-08-07 Devotional with Hymn No comments

For all the elegant beauty of this natural earth, it is also a violent, tumultuous place where life is always in the grip of death. How can this be, if God rules all creation? How can a good God claim to be sovereign in a world such as this?

Genesis 1:26-28 proclaims two truths about God’s creation of the human race:

  1. He made us in His own image and likeness.
  2. He created us to rule over the earth as His stewards, sharing in His sovereignty.

We are inseparably connected to God our Creator, and we are inseparably connected to this earth, over which we rule. God subjected the earth to us.

When we rebelled against our Creator, we chose to use creation for our own selfish purposes (Genesis 3:1-6). When our relationship with the Creator was corrupted, so was the earth over which we ruled, now as unfaithful stewards (Romans 8:20). As our home and our responsibility, the earth shared in our fractured relationship with the Giver of all life (Genesis 3:17-18; see Psalm 104:27-30). The results were corruption, futility, and death, both for us and for our beautiful home.

Consistently in scripture, our obedience or disobedience to our Creator brings us either God’s blessing or His cursing, respectively. This blessing and cursing are shared by our natural home as well (e.g., Deuteronomy 7:12-15; 8:6-10; 28:4, 18). As Creator God subjected this earth to us, this earth unwillingly shares in the fruit of our rebellion.

We see the turmoil in our natural world and know that as violence, pain, and death shrouds all human life, it shrouds our natural home as well.

But the good news is this: the corruption, futility, and death that rule this earth are only a passing phase. Creation’s present turbulence is only the pain of childbirth (Romans 8:19-22). When we are redeemed and freed from our suffering, our earthly home will be as well (Isaiah 11:6-9; Revelation 21:1). Our destiny, God’s unchangeable promise, is that we and our beautiful home will be perfected to the full glory of God. As it has shared our curse, it will share our blessedness. All the earth will be permeated with His life, His love, His holiness, and His perfect peace.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Creation Will Be Redeemed
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Psalm 65

2016-07-28 Devotional with Hymn, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD 

All the silence of our most profound worship,
All the exuberant joy of our unbridled praise,
All the promises we have ever made,
All the hopeful prayers our hearts have whispered
we give to You alone, our Lord, our Almighty God, our Father!

We are sin.
We are weakness.
We are deepest need in all its forms.
Yet You choose us.
You draw us near to You.
You pour out Your goodness,
deeper and more varied than all our need.
You abundantly satisfy all our hungers
with all You are.

Your creation teaches us,
reminds us,
engulfs us
in Your power,
Your mystery,
Your faithfulness, and
Your joyful generosity.
Every sunset, every sunrise
sings of You.
Every rainfall permeates our world with Your blessings.
Every harvest celebrates
Your overflowing, never-failing goodness.
The pastures, the hills, the forests, and the valleys join the dance,
the dance that began at creation and
will never end.

O Lord, how many are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all.
All that is, is Yours! (Psalm 104:24, para.)

Listen and sing:
Hymn: You Are Good
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You Call Yourself My Father

2016-01-10 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Infinite God,
You come to me
from far beyond and
high above my knowing.
You freely show Yourself to me through this world
of which I am a part.
The wisdom, the power,
the beauty, the mystery,
the pattern, the endless parade of individuality,
the love, the connectedness of all this varied life,
the engulfing shower of light,
the vastness, the intimacy,
the eternity, the now-ness –
they all speak and sing of You.
I begin to glimpse You and
wonder at You
through my sense and experience.

Infinite God,
personal God,
You come to me
in skin and fragile flesh and bone.
You come just like me.
You call Yourself my Father.
Holy God,
Loving God,
God of peace and joy and unbridled giving,
You say that I came from You, and
You call me back to You.
You only ask that I come as a child,
as Your child,
honest and trusting.

Infinite God,
personal God,
Father God,
I come.
Make us one again!

Listen and sing:
Hymn: My Loving Father
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Questioning God

2015-10-01 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Isaiah 45:7, 9-12

How often have you heard God accused of injustice, cruelty, or indifference? How often has He been blamed for the actions of us sinful people?

How often have our shallow, selfish expectations caused us to complain about His treatment of us or mistrust His love? How often have we acted as if He were unreal, or at least unresponsive to our needs? Secretly we have sometimes doubted whether there was anyone there listening at all.

“Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker,
to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
‘What are you making?’…
Woe to him who says to his father,
‘What have you begotten?’…
Do you question me about my children,
or give me orders about the work of my hands?” (Isaiah 45:9, 11, NIV)

How vital it is that we get a renewed vision of the transcendence of God. We get so saturated with our small, self-centered thinking that we forget how tiny and brief and inherently, inescapably ignorant we are.

All being, all existence flows from Him. This unimaginably vast universe, this reality, seen and unseen, is but the smallest expression of all He is. All that is, is His. All that is, is from Him, through Him, and to Him. He is the Source and Goal of life, of history…of creation itself.

Our ignorance is understandable. Our misunderstanding is understandable. Our flawed thinking is excusable. We need not repent of our weakness and smallness. They are part of who we are.

But we should repent of our mistrust of Him. Yes, it is difficult for us sight-oriented creatures to put complete faith in an unseen God. But He repeatedly, faithfully gives us every reason to trust Him. He patiently teaches us and reminds us, even as we fail to grasp the wonderful things He is doing right before our eyes.

Make it your goal and deep desire to trust and reverence and love your Father more simply, constantly, and completely, day by day.

Creation Will Blossom

2015-09-17 Devotional, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Isaiah 35

Creator God conceived and made this world to engulf us in His goodness and embrace us with all His blessings. He wanted us to see and feel and discover that He is perfect wisdom, power, and love, and He is immediately, personally, constantly with us.

That is still His purpose. He has not abandoned it. This earth was designed to glorify God and bless His people, and that is what it will do.

Look at the rich array of blessings our Creator God promises His people:

  • Even the most barren parts of creation will blossom into beauty and abundance (vv.1-2, 6b-7). 
  • Take courage! Don’t be afraid! Though we are weak, He is strong. Our God will come and save His people from all that oppresses us. He will make everything right and good (vv.3-4).
  • Disease and physical affliction are evil cancers on God’s created world. They will be gone forever. Health and healing will reign all around (vv.5-6a). 
  • God’s people will be able to get around His world easily and safely. A road will penetrate even the wilderness – a road that is clearly marked and safe (vv.8-9).
  • In the future, God’s world will be permeated with joy. All the natural world will rejoice with a rich display of life and beauty (vv.1, 2). The afflicted will leap and shout for joy (v.6). All God’s people will be filled with everlasting joy, and sorrow in all its forms will be gone forever (v.10). 

This is my Father’s world.
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world.
The battle is not done;
Jesus, who died, shall be satisfied,
And earth and heaven be one.
(Maltbie D. Babcock)

I Am from You

2015-07-12 Devotional with Hymn No comments

God, in a way, our relationship is private and personal,
one that You and I share alone.
It’s an organic relationship,
as fundamental as my substance,
as my existence.
I am from You.

I turn back to You now as demands leave me
uncertain and
seeking support.
I am from You.

I don’t just have my source in You.
I’m not a child now seeking independence.
I am a part of You once ripped away,
now seeking reunion.
You are life, and I am alive.
You are reality, and I exist.
You are air, and I am a breath.

Father, I am from You.
Make us one again, I pray.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Imagine Your Creator’s Breath
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One with Your Creator

2015-03-05 Devotional with Hymn, Pictures of God One comment

imagefrom the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Ephesians 2

Remember who you were and what you were like
before God forgave you and began renewing you.
Remember the sudden change that happened in a moment.
Remember the gradual change that is still going on as you trust Him.
Remember how imperfect and inconsistent you still are.

Look ahead.
Imagine being one with your Creator.
The relationship He intended is complete and constant.
His power has done all its work.
His wisdom has had its way.
His love is satisfied and smiling.
You are one with Him.
The glory of the Living Christ is shining from every corner of your being,
with no shadows and
no hidden places.
You are one with Jesus Christ.
We are all one with Him.
His beautiful creation is complete.

Jesus Christ, the sovereign Word of God,
God’s will in action,
God’s agent in creation,
is recreating us into His own perfect image,
the image of our Creator Himself.
Our future is in Him.
Our destiny is in Him.

I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6, NASB)

Listen and sing:
Hymn: New in Christ
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