The Goodness of God
- Thread starter LoveDivine
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I've been reading Proverbs daily this month. A friend suggested we do a reading challenge for the month of January; one proverb a day for the whole month. It's been an incredibly edifying routine and it's given me such a positive and hopeful mindset to start the new year. As we are nearing the end of Proverbs, I wanted to share something that has really stood out to me as a recurring theme in the book. That God freely gives wisdom and understanding to anyone who earnestly seeks him. He's ready to give us direction and guide our paths. He wants to bless us and prevent misfortunes and snares in our lives. Things, we bring on ourselves by sinning or making foolish decisions We just need to desire his guidance
My favorite passage so far from the entire book has been Proverbs 8: 17. I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. This entire chapter was about lady wisdom. Wisdom, being an attribute of God, is given her own distinct personality. I found it so incredibly interesting that there is a relationship or a cycle you could say that is being described. A person who prioritizes or loves wisdom will seek it seriously. Wisdom will instruct them and that in turn will prompt the person to seek out wisdom even more. The more we gain wisdom the more we realize we need it. This passage really reminds me of the words of Christ from the sermon on the mount. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. I also noticed that if we love wisdom we will be willing to seek it early. I see that as a description of the importance and value a person is placing on receiving wisdom. They are making it a priority in their lives.
I find it incredibly encouraging that the only real requirement for receiving wisdom is the desire and effort to ask for it. God gives it to us so freely.
My favorite passage so far from the entire book has been Proverbs 8: 17. I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. This entire chapter was about lady wisdom. Wisdom, being an attribute of God, is given her own distinct personality. I found it so incredibly interesting that there is a relationship or a cycle you could say that is being described. A person who prioritizes or loves wisdom will seek it seriously. Wisdom will instruct them and that in turn will prompt the person to seek out wisdom even more. The more we gain wisdom the more we realize we need it. This passage really reminds me of the words of Christ from the sermon on the mount. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. I also noticed that if we love wisdom we will be willing to seek it early. I see that as a description of the importance and value a person is placing on receiving wisdom. They are making it a priority in their lives.
I find it incredibly encouraging that the only real requirement for receiving wisdom is the desire and effort to ask for it. God gives it to us so freely.
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Tranquil Bondservant
Nothing without Elohim
I'm going to be stepping away from participating in this website for a while but before I did I thought I would bump my favourite thread in the hope that it lifts somebodies heart. Reading through some of these posts is incredibly encouraging and I honestly wish this thread was stickied.
God bless everyone and may the peace & love of The Lord Jesus Christ be with you all
.
Jude 1:20-25: "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."
It's interesting to see how much has changed after this post in my life as well, even though it hasn't fully been a year yet. We ended up moving to and are currently living that house which was provided.Myself, my Mother and my Brother (we still live together) were forced to move during Covid due to skyrocketing house prices and the landlord wanting to sell the house we were renting. It was at a time were it was borderline impossible to find a house due to there being no supply for the massive increase in the demand for them. Anyway we ended up having to search high and low for one for about a month or two and we eventually found one about 60kms away. The Lord provided us a house that has a big enough yard for my dog, has good neighbours, is about 5kms away from my Mother's place of work, not far from my Brother's & etc. It's beyond perfect for the situation we've found ourselves in and I couldn't be more grateful. Thanks to The Lord my mother has been expanding her business during & after Covid and somebody who she hired from the UK moved to Australia right down the street from us! We were able to help them move and even invite them out to my grandparents farm for Christmas last year. However as miraculously providential as that is, it's not the end of the story.
The house we're currently in now was always going to be an intermediate house until we move to a more permanent place (which The Lord has recently provided for us!); but one day I was mowing the lawn and I felt in my soul an incredibly strong desire to mow an old lady's lawn. I couldn't explain it and to be honest it was really bizarre. When I got finished mowing our lawn I looked across the street and there was an elderly lady who was struggling to pull start her mower (most people here use petrol push mowers, including me) and her lawn was really long, about half a shin/knee height in some places. I couldn't believe it and I went over and offered to mow their lawn and as always in Australia I had to convince her to accept the help. After I finished she offered to pay me and I couldn't accept it because it was The Lord who put it on my heart to serve, I was inexperienced at witnessing (still am) so I didn't have the courage to tell her about what happened with The Lord putting it on my heart. I ended up going back over to my house and grabbing a Bible I got for my birthday and giving it to her lol. It turned out that her husband was dying of cancer and that she didn't know how she was going to be able to mow the lawn due to the size of the front yard and how long it was. What I'm about to say I'm not saying to brag but only because it's relevant to the story; I've formed a friendship with her through mowing her lawn for over a year now for free because it's a joy to serve The Lord with what little I have (my youth/body) and I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to do so.
Yesterday her husband passed away from the cancer and today I went over there to see how she was doing. And I ended up bringing up the example of what The Lord has done here. That He in His love would providentially move us near one another, supernaturally put it on my heart and provide for her somebody to mow grass. That if He loves you this much to provide you with help for something as inconsequential as a lawn, how much more does He love you and your husband? This isn't even to mention the fact that sometimes when I have trouble sleeping and am unable to mow, that her other neighbour who is a Christian mows her lawn without me even asking them! She's surrounded by Christians who just happen to provide for her labour for something that in the grand scheme of things doesn't matter (cutting grass) but displays the love of God so profoundly.
While the provision of the house and all of the other boons are incredible blessings, I have no doubts in my mind that we were specifically moved here so I could comfort her and help her. Lol I'm crying while typing this because I'm blown away by the love God has for us small people that the world chews up and spits out.
How great & good is the God we serve? As if the Cross wasn't plenty, in His overwhelming love He still provides for us things as small as mowing a lawn.
Sorry for the length of this but it's a lot of things to condense and unfortunately I have trouble with being verbose.
I pray that The Lord further opens all of our eyes and reveals to us His immense love. The love and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all
God bless everyone and may the peace & love of The Lord Jesus Christ be with you all
.Jude 1:20-25: "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."
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sampa
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That's amazing and first time I read this. Gods provision is amazing and overwhelming. Thank you for your obedience and I pray those treasures from that friendship and God's great blessing continues to spur you on in love and good deeds. Christ bless you as you step away from the forum.I'm going to be stepping away from participating in this website for a while but before I did I thought I would bump my favourite thread in the hope that it lifts somebodies heart. Reading through some of these posts is incredibly encouraging and I honestly wish this thread was stickied.
It's interesting to see how much has changed after this post in my life as well, even though it hasn't fully been a year yet. We ended up moving to and are currently living that house which was provided.
God bless everyone and may the peace & love of The Lord Jesus Christ be with you all
Jude 1:20-25: "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."
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Tranquil Bondservant
Nothing without Elohim
Thank you. All credit and glory to The Lord as He was the one who put it on my heart and gave the provision to be able to do it. The other neighbour who mowed their lawn when I couldn't (often through the prompting of The Lord) ended up having a massive stroke and the only reason he survived was because he was in Church. The Lord definitely had His hand over that small area of AustraliaThat's amazing and first time I read this. Gods provision is amazing and overwhelming. Thank you for your obedience and I pray those treasures from that friendship and God's great blessing continues to spur you on in love and good deeds. Christ bless you as you step away from the forum.
. If you feel like you want to pray for him and his family I made a thread here: Please pray for my neighbour who has suffered a brain bleedGod bless you too.
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sampa
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@Tranquil Bondservant post reminded me of my senior neighbors that may have cleared my drive. I still have to find out and hope to host my mom and the wife at my place over the summer. I had a health setback that I had to cancel last year. The Lord laid it on my heart last year and I'm focusing on flowers in my garden so I can be sure to visit my neighbors this fall with bouquets.
Today using my push lawn mower, instead of the tractor like neighbors, I couldn't believe how I wasn't fatigued like previous years at this time. Because of the training I did for the 10k in March (I never run a race in the spring because of snowplowing) and dietary restrictions, my health is so much better than last fall. I did a 5 k walk run today with my mom. My hands are still having arthritic moments and my stomach and voice still has issues, but nothing like last year. God has been so good to me and yet I feel so distant because of my lack of quiet time disciplines. The Lord has also brought me some great opportunities at work to be a witness to someone I'd like to call a baby Christian because of his up and down cycles seeking the Lord and an addiction. Also someone that is married to someone of the same gender and strongly waving their flag and published up and coming women of leadership in this region. But I confess I struggle, peace is there at surprising times and other times I am like peter doubting. God is good all the time, no matter my perspective!!
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sampa
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I sure can pray!!!Thank you. All credit and glory to The Lord as He was the one who put it on my heart and gave the provision to be able to do it. The other neighbour who mowed their lawn when I couldn't (often through the prompting of The Lord) ended up having a massive stroke and the only reason he survived was because he was in Church. The Lord definitely had His hand over that small area of Australia
God bless you too.
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DragonFox91
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Praise God! I had a really good witnessing opportunity today! I talked to someone on my walk.
He's been really struggling but when we started talking about God, he says he's really been turning back to God. He had made a lot of bad choices. He's seeing him move in his life & God is opening doors for him. He is realizing he needs to rely on him. We started talking about "chance encounters" & he said a total stranger came up to him when he was in line & said his grandma just died, God was telling her to say that & tell him it's okay. The stranger gave him a message his grandma had told him word for word before she died. I let him know God is always with his people, he's always watching out for us, he's there w/ us in our struggles, & that he's doing good & needs to connect w/ a church & believers, he allows bad things happen to draw us to him, how he's worked in me. We talked for a long time.
It's so great seeing God move. The Holy Spirit is alive & work & has been since the time of Acts. I've been praying for this kind of experience. We come into so much contact w/ the public during our routines, we need to go out & expect to be witnesses every day. Sermon I heard recently: the evangelists preached without stop b/c of the News they had been given.
He's been really struggling but when we started talking about God, he says he's really been turning back to God. He had made a lot of bad choices. He's seeing him move in his life & God is opening doors for him. He is realizing he needs to rely on him. We started talking about "chance encounters" & he said a total stranger came up to him when he was in line & said his grandma just died, God was telling her to say that & tell him it's okay. The stranger gave him a message his grandma had told him word for word before she died. I let him know God is always with his people, he's always watching out for us, he's there w/ us in our struggles, & that he's doing good & needs to connect w/ a church & believers, he allows bad things happen to draw us to him, how he's worked in me. We talked for a long time.
It's so great seeing God move. The Holy Spirit is alive & work & has been since the time of Acts. I've been praying for this kind of experience. We come into so much contact w/ the public during our routines, we need to go out & expect to be witnesses every day. Sermon I heard recently: the evangelists preached without stop b/c of the News they had been given.
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DragonFox91
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I pray I could do more for God. I have the passion for it. But I'm not very charismatic so leading things at church doesn't play to my strengths. You just got to go thru life expecting any day to be used like the other day.
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DragonFox91
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I don't think many of you are part of a church, but I really encourage it. No doubt about it, many churches are not good. They teach a perverted Gospel or are corrupt in leadership. Or the other congregants can be hard to fellowship w/. Or we think we don't have the time for it. But a good church is invaluable, a lost pearl of great price. It really is the hi-light of my week. I love the community. I love their passion for God's Truths & the fear of God in them. Our forefathers would shake their heads at how lackadasical at how our attitudes towards church attendance can be. Many of you have the passion. God could use you.
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DragonFox91
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For some weird reason, in my first year or so as a believer I used to daydream about being a disciple - not one of the Twelve but just another unnamed follower - at the gathering of 5,000 folk and were handing out all the fish pieces and bread loaves to the grateful masses in Jesus' name. ^-^
I mean, it was quite a miracle, after all.
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DragonFox91
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Sometimes you are the traveler. Sometimes you are the priest & levite. Sometimes you are the Good Samaritan. But only Jesus is always the Good Samartian.
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venksta
Jesus is humanity's most successful rebel.
If you put your faith in God, He will enable you to do things you didn't imagine. If you have a passion to serve, ask God for help through the Holy Spirit. Currently, God is drawing me into roles at church I never felt I could do, like lead a bible study, and perhaps taking over to lead our prayer nights. I'm an introvert, so those settings go against my nature in that aspect. I've always enjoyed serving behind the scenes, out of sight. However, God's will for us, can allow us to serve in ways we can feel we are weak or not prepared in doing so. One thing that helps me, is always knowing its Christ in me, doing the works.
Luke 18:27
"Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”"
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I can think of times where I’ve completely failed witnessing. I’ve kept my mouth shut when being asked directly. I’ve lost my temper while trying to share the Gospel. I don’t always say I go to church when asked what I do on Sunday. Fails all around. You have to always be in the Spirit having an attitude to be used any hour. You can’t just wing it. I can’t at least.
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