Magnify

I will MAGNIFY HIM with thanksgiving.

I know we are traveling through a difficult passage of life right now, there is a lot of scary, and negative news out there. It may feel like God is far away. I ask you to answer this question for yourself, is God big or small to you?

I will magnify Him with thanksgiving.

In our lives it’s very easy to get focused on all of the things that are not going our way and if we are not careful they can consume us to believe that nothing is going our way. And we begin to question, doubt, and distance ourselves from God.

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2:12-16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

It can start out very simply, and very quickly escalate us into feeling as though our whole life is a mess, and we lose our lights. I will keep this thought short and sweet to remind you to look at the life around you and notice what you do have rather than what you don’t, be thankful to God, take time to consider what He has done for you up to this point and do your best to be thankful for Him…

Even in our trials we can be thankful…actually we are told we can have joy and glory in them, because God is making us stronger!

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
‭‭James‬ ‭1:2-8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:1-5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

MAGNIFY HIM

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:11-13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Make a list of what you are thankful for, if you have heard the song count your blessings, think of it! Each one of us have been blessed in different ways, it will do us no good to compare our blessings with the blessings of others because then that can make you envious, and ungrateful for the life that God has given you!

“A sound heart is life to the body, But envy is rottenness to the bones.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭14:30‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Count YOUR blessings and you will find that God is nearer to you than you realized! He loves YOU so much, let His love motivate you each day, to be a worker for Him, to learn to be self less, and Magnify Him and praise Him for what he has done for YOU each and every day.

I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Who is the man who desires life, And loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34:1-22‬ ‭NKJV‬‬


Where is your Peace?

 

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Guided imagery brings you to a place of peace.

Usually when asked to close your eyes and go to a place that is calm and peaceful, 

We think of mountains, beaches, meadows, rivers, forests

the sounds are those of waves crashing, or birds chirping, wind blowing, rain pouring

Where is your place of peace?

And why is it, that this place usually involves nature,

I honestly don’t know, maybe yours doesn’t involve nature 

But when I think of complete peace within myself I’m near the ocean,

A warm breeze, and the sun setting

I love sunsets,

I could watch them all day!

if only…

Why do we get these glimpses of beauty? Why can’t we just stay there forever?

What’s so beautiful about the sun setting?

to me it is that I can actually look at the sun without being blinded by its brightness 

the colors of the sky amaze me and the reflection of light seen upon the water shows just how powerful God really is.

To think that this earth just accidentally happened, to me is hopeless

What’s the point of the beauty if this is all just an accident

What the point of joy, if we don’t have love 

What’s the point of life when we don’t have a God, 

What is our purpose if it is not for Christ 

(Now hold on…)

A long time ago God created the world,

Whether you believe it or not, it doesn’t change a fact! 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. Genesis 1:1 

The world was a perfect place of absolute peace, not a worry, not a sorrow, not a burden, not a tear.

God made animals, and he made a man, this man was different from the animals because God breathed His own breath into him…

His soul into man! ( how blessed are we) 

That soul was uncorrupted knowing no evil, man was given a helper, a woman (taken from and for the man, but also given a soul of her own)

Together they were given a perfect home to enjoy and be completely taken care of! 

God, because of His love gave them a free will (yes, you have choice in this life) 

In this perfect garden there was a tree…a tree to understand, 

Understand something different from what they knew,

Knowledge of good and evil,

With that tree of knowledge came another thing that was death 

The perfect home and everlasting life would be severed through disobedience,

Death! 

A tempter came told the woman you won’t die you will just be like God, don’t you want that..to know good and evil…the thing is they already knew good, but it couldn’t have been considered good without the counterpart evil. Good without evil is perfect! 

(What did God say when he created it all, “it is good”,perfect. Genesis 1:31  God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good.)

Back to the fruit of that tree of knowledge of good and evil…

Eve took it 

She didn’t die instantly

What!!??

she passed it on to Adam,

Everything changed! 

Here comes the knowledge…

They instantly understood what evil was…

disobedience to their Creator, 

They were ashamed, and instantly wanted to hide away! Naked, vulnerable, and now they understood the one thing that God wanted to keep them pure from! 

Evil! 

But a God so loving knew this would happen 

He had a plan of redemption, 

The Tree of Life…

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in order to live they must now take from that…you see all along it wasn’t about forcing anything for God, God is Love and all He wants is children that love Him, not because they are  forced to, but because they want to love Him! The peace, the beauty, the wonders, the love, they all come from God!

And He gave us an opportunity to do that, His word is a gift, a gift of life, and manual on how to live it to the fullest, it’s a powerful message of His love, we don’t want to read it because that just seems so unfair that God would just create us, put us in this world, and then make us read a book on how to live in it…

(so unfair right) 

I think not…

But honestly the whole thought of reading the Bible used to burden me, but what I have actually realized is that it is not His Word that is a burden, but the world and the lies within it, they damage us! 

They take us away from those places of peace, calmness, and love.  So far away that we need to deliberately close our eyes and think deep to find that happy place again! 

God knows our burdens, He gave us this gift inside the gift, that is Christ! 

A perfect example, to come to earth and show us how to cast every burden aside, He did something that none before Him could ever do and that is die for our sins! 

We killed him, in anger, in jealously, in lies, In deceit, in selfishness! But still He said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” Luke 23:34

The walk of a perfect life, to a cross of  crucifixion, an absolute selfless act to pay a price for heaven to give to us, for everyone who cares to understand, everyone who cares to say Glory to God in the highest, I love Him because He first love me!  

Everyone Who understands the necessity of the death that Christ faced for us, and the necessity of the need to clothe ourselves in that death, burial, and resurrection.

The death defeated sin, but only defeated sin for those that would remove it through His holy cleansing power! 

Rest is found through His love,

Fear of death, defeated! 

Comfort is a promise! For now and forever through Christ, but only for those willing to receive that comfort! It’s not a simple as speaking, it’s not as simple as a thought! Death came when disobedience happened in the Garden of Eden, 

Life comes through obedience, to the Tree of life.

Taking from that Tree of life, to live in the comfort and peace in the Kingdom of Heaven! 

Close your eyes, and imagine a place

Where you are completely at peace,

Find yourself in that happy place 

Tell me, what part of that exercise involves  chaos, clutter, fear, darkness. 

We do that to ourselves, while our hearts LONG for that peace, 

God wants us to trust His journey for us, (not my will, but His) 

It hurts sometimes as we walk this journey with Him because there are so many things that we have only ever known, that have been weighing us down, 

God wants to help us remove them to find that peace, 

that removal can be painful,

That place of comfort, will one day be our never-ending home! 

Time was created by God who doesn’t exist within that matter of time, that’s hard to take in, but the beginning and the end are something created by Him to teach us that this world is not the home we should strive for because it doesn’t last forever, 

Peace with Him though, 

That can start now, 

And that never needs to end, 

Obedience, 

Removal of selfish motives, 

Putting on love, 

Again God who created us didn’t create us to force us into anything,

We all have a choice,

The lie that tells you that, He is unjust, unloving, and fake,

Or even the lie that tells YOU that you are unworthy to be saved! 

Is the same lie that started the fall of man, 

“Surely you will not die,” said the serpent! 

“You will be just like God” said the serpent! 

As hard as we may try, we could Never compete with God,

Call yourself a “lucky accident” that came about from a mashing of rocks billions of years ago! 

Or call yourself a child of a Creator that loves you and will give you every opportunity to turn to Him, 

Who knows how to free you from the chaos, fears, and darkness. 

He doesn’t promise it to be easy, 

But promises freedom, peace,

Comfort, and love! 

“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”  2 Peter 3:8-9 

What is your promise?

What is you image of peace? 

What is your life? 

What is your purpose? 

Where is your peace?

As my title emphasizes my love for the truth, if you have any questions about my post, I would first recommend reading the Word for yourself, here are the listed scripture references, any further questions please let me know! 

Creation and fall of man 

Genesis 1-3 

The righteous and wicked contrasted 

Psalms 1 

Proverbs 14

The works and the Word of God 

Psalms 19 

What is the Tree of life?

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who is wise wins souls.” Proverbs 11:30 

Revelations 22 

About Jesus and his care:

John- chapters 14-16 (read this without the chapter breaks, it breathtaking, beautiful, and comforting.   The chapter breaks in the Bible are man-made not necessarily meant for stopping points sometimes we miss great passages from stopping too soon.) 

And why did Jesus Die? 

Collisions 2 and 3 

The whole Word of God is full of this love, and knowledge! The Bible is truly and treasure given for our benefit, not for our burden! My prayer is that you would read it filterless, with the ability to break down the barriers placed upon your hearts! The promise is truly fulfilling! May God bless you always! 

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