God Makes Me Smile
July 27
Heading out to walk this morning I was dry as could be. Returning home I was drenched. By the time I was in the house and dried off one of the biggest downpours of the summer occurred and I grabbed my Bible study supplies to hunker down and be with God. The first book I opened had this verse...
Test me in this...and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
Malachi 3:10
This is the kind of God I serve...one who places that verse before me in a downpour and makes me smile!
The remainder of the message, which I will share, came at a perfect time. I had just listened to a YouTube message a friend sent me and was convicted to how limited my prayers have been for this nation and the serious issues we face. I've kinda taken a defeatist attitude when it comes to where we have gone as a nation and just prayed Jesus would throw up his hands and come back!
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=qtjfMjjce2Y
My husband and I have been facing some other enormous need issues and our prayers there have been wee ones compared to what God is capable of providing. John Henry Jowett summed it up this way:
"God's ability to perform is far beyond our prayers-even our greatest prayers! I have recently been thinking of some of the requests I have made of Him innumerable times in my prayers. And what have I requested? I have asked for a cupful, while He owns the entire ocean! I have asked for one simple ray of light, while He holds the sun! My best asking falls immeasurably short of my Father's ability to give, which is far beyond what we could ever ask.
I remember when I saw the Grand Canyon in person...I was blown away by its enormity. Think, that is just one painting in God's gallery called creation! We are talking BIG God! Maybe we ask small not wanting to appear greedy and if the prayers are all about us and not centered on God's will and bringing him glory they are off base to begin with. Learning to pray in His will takes a special heart condition...a heart for him. When our prayers become properly aligned my guess is God smiles and we should go for the gusto! Pray big!
May we smile today as a natural reaction because of whom we know God to be and the realization we are loved by Him! Come on now...let me see those teeth!
"If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours."
Richard De Haan
Heading out to walk this morning I was dry as could be. Returning home I was drenched. By the time I was in the house and dried off one of the biggest downpours of the summer occurred and I grabbed my Bible study supplies to hunker down and be with God. The first book I opened had this verse...
Test me in this...and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
Malachi 3:10
This is the kind of God I serve...one who places that verse before me in a downpour and makes me smile!
The remainder of the message, which I will share, came at a perfect time. I had just listened to a YouTube message a friend sent me and was convicted to how limited my prayers have been for this nation and the serious issues we face. I've kinda taken a defeatist attitude when it comes to where we have gone as a nation and just prayed Jesus would throw up his hands and come back!
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=qtjfMjjce2Y
My husband and I have been facing some other enormous need issues and our prayers there have been wee ones compared to what God is capable of providing. John Henry Jowett summed it up this way:
"God's ability to perform is far beyond our prayers-even our greatest prayers! I have recently been thinking of some of the requests I have made of Him innumerable times in my prayers. And what have I requested? I have asked for a cupful, while He owns the entire ocean! I have asked for one simple ray of light, while He holds the sun! My best asking falls immeasurably short of my Father's ability to give, which is far beyond what we could ever ask.
I remember when I saw the Grand Canyon in person...I was blown away by its enormity. Think, that is just one painting in God's gallery called creation! We are talking BIG God! Maybe we ask small not wanting to appear greedy and if the prayers are all about us and not centered on God's will and bringing him glory they are off base to begin with. Learning to pray in His will takes a special heart condition...a heart for him. When our prayers become properly aligned my guess is God smiles and we should go for the gusto! Pray big!
May we smile today as a natural reaction because of whom we know God to be and the realization we are loved by Him! Come on now...let me see those teeth!
"If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours."
Richard De Haan
