Tuesday, December 7, 2010

That Place

YOU MAY BE ASKING…
How Can I Know God??
Sometimes we give simplistic answers to this very deep/thought provoking question; according to the Bible, there is only one way to know God, “Jesus answered, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.” (John 14:6) As Christians we believe that there is only one way to knowing God and that is through faith in Christ. We believe that Christ didn’t die on the cross for sins He committed, we believe, “he was wounded for the wrong we did; he was crushed for the evil we did. The punishment, which made us well, was given to him, and we are healed because of his wounds. We all have wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way. But the Lord has put on him the punishment for all the evil we have done.” (Isaiah 53: 5, 6)
We also believe these Holy Spirit inspired passages that remind us to, “remember the message that I preached and that you believed and trusted. You will be saved by this message, if you hold firmly to it. But if you don't, your faith was all for nothing. I told you the most important part of the message exactly as it was told to me. That part is: Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say. He was buried, and three days later he was raised to life, as the Scriptures say. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; CEV)
I say we give simplistic answers to questions about knowing  God because while there is only one way to having a relationship (knowing) with God, we all arrive to this one way (Christ Jesus) in many different ways. I came into my relationship with God, while reading the book Serprico, in a security booth in Jessup, Maryland. He changed my life that night; I realized my life was not luck that night; I proposed to my girlfriend at the time (now my wife, Tricia) that night; my life has never been the same since that night. I guarantee you that the road, method and means God used to reveal His truths about His Son to me, are different than most people. The one thing that was the same was what God has made known to me and everyone who enters into a relationship with Him, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast (brag) about it.” (Ephesians 2:8, 9; NLT).
How Can Knowing Who God Is Help Me Understand Who I Am? I Don’t Even Know If God or Anyone Cares I Am Alive!!! I Really Want to Know…
 Does God Care??? 
Yes, God Does Care. God Wants to Hear about Your Problems, Pains, and Plans for Life.
That Place
Are you stuck in that place where no one knows?
That place where fear, animosity, and bitterness grows
That place where you believe “no one cares”
When you are hurting and upset, but no one is there
To meet your needs or pull you through
You are looking for help, but you don’t know what to do
Or where to turn as life continues to turn up the heat
Dying inside—you just wish there was someone for you to meet
My God is right there, He is reaching out to you
You may not know it, but He is the one who got you through
The bad night, the argument—the moments of depression
The hurt heart, crushed dreams and emotions you’re repressing
Give all you worries and cares to God—Yes He does care for you
See that play, hear that song—trust  that friend He is reaching out to you
He wants you to know that He has saved many from this place
Those with bad thoughts, loneliness and despair—have all received His grace

1 Peter 5:7 (NLT) Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

If God Knew My Thoughts and Problems, He wouldn’t Accept Me
Food, Faith, Fun, Lost, Lust, Love...
God Knows Your Thoughts & Weaknesses; He Made You
Hebrews 4: 15-16 (CEV) Jesus understands every weakness of oursbecause he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.
He Knows My thoughts and He Still Wants to Know Me??
God Doesn’t Hold Grudges—So We Don’t Have to Hide Who We Are or What We Do from Him
Psalm 103:9-14 (CEV) The LORD won't always be angry and point out our sins; he doesn't punish us as our sins deserve. How great is God's love for all who worship him? Greater than the distance between heaven and earth! How far has the LORD taken our sins from us? Farther than the distance from east to west! Just as parents are kind  to their children, the LORD is kind to all who worship him, because he knows we are made of dust.
 
Knowing God is more than knowing Scripture verses. Knowing God is more than knowing when the church service will begin or end. Knowing God is a personal matter that He reveals  to each person that believes what He says to them; not their mom, dad or the preacher. Knowing God for me was when He revealed Himself to me and let me know that my life was not luck and He wanted me to believe in Him and what he had done for me.
 
How do you know you know God? When and how did He reveal himself to you?

31 comments:

  1. Alot of times we think that there should be more than one way to God, but Jesus is the only way.
    This is really Jed not Linda

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  2. This post really talks to me, i need to turn to God in those moments.

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  3. I guess that I never actually realized that it says in the Bible that our sims were put on Christ. I mean I know that Christ never sinned and died on the cross for us but this devo helped me understand that our sins were upon Christ as he died.

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  4. Ember- It really stood out to me that God knows our thoughts, so why does he still take us in? Sometimes the way we act dosen't represent just you it represents God. They way we act to others tells them our God could be a bully, he could be uptight selfish and rude! The God we serve is none of those things! Our actions are like a mirror they reflect to other people.

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  5. Jessica C. - I really like how it reminded me that God does forgive you... he dosent hold a grudge on you or anything, that dosent make it o.k to keep doing the wrong thing though.

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  6. Victoria Gallagher
    This devotion is very hard to understand sometimes. However, it is very true. God is the ONLY way, the truth and the life, because he is the one that sacraficed his life for us! That is the only way to get to heven:to believe that he died and he loves us. We should all be gratefull for what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us!

    Tori

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  7. when i am depressed i can count on God to lift me up through these times!

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  8. god is the only way to heaven. He is the only way truth and light. even though it may be hard to foloow him at times it is well worth it. You can always count on God to be there for you no matter what. Though the bad times and the good you can be comforted by knowing that God is always has, is and will be right there with you.

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  9. The Bible says that God cares very much for a sparrow, which is barely worth a penny. How much more does he care about you! He will always care about and love us, even if we mess up a lot, which we all do.

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  10. -sara johnson
    ithing that everything that the guy says is sooo... true cause we always think well if i can't see God than he can't see me so we think oh God is not there so we go on well God is there i so agree with jesica because God does ALWAYS forgive he dosen't just forgive when he feels like it but he ALWAYS forgives and i am soo... thankull for a God that forgives and God does not only forgive but he is ALWAYS there i really liked this devo. so this is what i thought of this devo.

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  11. well what this spoke to me was how God is always thereand he fogives and cares about us, all of us and when were in tough times we can count on God for everything.
    -kimmy <3

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  12. Josiah H. - God is always there. no matter what. and dont think otherwise.

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  13. Kayla-
    Its nice to know that whatever we do God will always forgive us because he loves us so much, but I think a lot of times people take that for granted and we don't realize that its still not ok to sin just because God will forgive us. This was a great reminder of that!

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  14. Michaela-
    This is a great reminder that God forgives us no matter what! Sometimes we do take that for granted and just sin because God forgives us. Its no okay just to sin because God will forgives us.

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  15. I think it's awesome how many different ways there are to come to know God. All these different ways create stories that bring others to Christ. We all need to remember that our lives are a living story. Is yours worth telling?

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  16. e should always trust in god and love him all he pain goes on jesus cuz the sins we make and thats not good so we should try to make no sins and not take it for graned because alot of us take things for granted and we usually never thank the giving but we all should thank the giving just like birthdays holidays and stuff like that those are things we take for granted alot and god loves us and forgives us and he will always care for us no matter what god is the only way to heaven so we should seve him and i am sooooooo glad that he loves and cares for us and forgives us because if he didnt i would be in the gutter right now because to be honest i have made sooooooo many sins and i regret them alot its a good thing that the lord always understands our weaknesses so that he can stop us from make so many sin and so that at some point we will regret it.I JUST LOVE GOD SOOOOOO MUNCH IM GLAD HE IS IN MY LIFE I LOVE HIM!!!!!

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  17. SORRY FOR ALL THOSE SPELLING ERRORS I WAS IN A RUSH LOL

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  18. its amazing how even though we sin like a ton God doesn't turn his back on us. I love how God won't like point out our sins and hold them as "grudges" or blackmail. God is always there!

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  19. i have many times felt like there was no one there who knew how bad of a wreck i was, not even God. but God does know...why and how could he have made something that he knew nothing about. that is like making a computer, while not even knowing how to work one.
    GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!

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  20. FYI:this clock is about 3 hours off

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  21. we can never take on all of our sin and when we die we will feal all of them in the lake of fire and never be with God

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  22. Josiah H. - also we need to focus on God's plan, and start to actually do it, even if we aren't 100% sure what it is.

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  23. its cool how are sins are not gone but forgiven by god

    -jacobmaxwell

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  24. God will always forgive you!! ( I know you already saw this kind of comment already but we should just know how important Jesus is and the impact he can have on our life)

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  25. i love knowing that i can count on God to help me through all my hard times and when i think nothing can help to get through that thing but when i think that i realize that God sees my every move and can help me no matter what!!!

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  26. PARKER - DOES GOD CARE ?????????
    WELL OF COURSE HE DOES.
    HE DIED ON THE CROSS FOR WHOSE SINS...
    OURS.
    GOD ISNT ALLWAYS ANGRY AT US. HE LOVES US AND FORGIVES US OF OUR SINS.

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  27. ya...just felt like posting so...ya
    WHO LIKES MY LAMA PICTURE?
    lol...i am super tiered and nothing 2 d0
    lol....see ya!

    -kimmy <3

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  28. wow i just relized no one posts 4 fun like all of the posts are 4 the devotions i dont know about u but, posting 4 fun is..fun just saying but we should post mostly about the devotions to you know but i am just throwing that out there oh and just so you know ALISSONS HAIR DID NOT GET ATTACTED BY A LAWN MOWER lol

    -kimmy <3

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  29. <3 <3 kimmy:

    join allisons blog!! i dont know what it is but you know ...JUST JOIN

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  30. There is only one way to heaven and it is through Jesus. God loves us even though we mess up in life. I was in that place last night. I wish I thought about praying to God to get out of my mess.

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