"How Do You View God"

How we treat others and how we act is an outward expression of how we view God. If you view God as a loving Father then chances are you will love unconditionally. If you view God as only a just God that will just punish sin then you may view people with little tolerance. I have been to some churches that preach in a way that scares you into heaven by preaching all the time about hell. Then I have been to churches that all they talk about is Gods love and forgiveness. Then there are those churches that give both sides of a loving, just God. A lot of the time the way we grow up in a church or how our earthly father treated us is how we will treat others. That is UNLESS

We can have a new view of God. That is what I want you to see today. If you can try to start form the beginning and let go of all the preconceived notions that you have of God joy will come abundantly into your soul.

Psalm 143:8-10 is a great way on how to start to get a fresh view of who God is and what His desire is for you.

Psalm 143:8-10 “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,

for I have put my trust in you.

Show me the way I should go,

for to you I lift up my soul.

Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord,

for I hide myself in you.

Teach me to do your will,

for you are my God;

may your good Spirit

lead me on level ground

First of all God has unfailing love for us – Unfailing -inexhaustible; endless: unfailing resources – Dictionary.com

God has an inexhaustible and endless love for us. That is hard for us to grasp when most of us are used to performance based love. Now in order for us to love God we need to TRUST in Him. If someone has treated you badly or has lied to you it is tough to get that trust back. Some of you, maybe like me have blamed God for bad things that have happened in your life. The last thing we want to do is get hurt again so we stop trusting the promises of God. “God I trusted you before and look at where it got me”. Then as time goes on we realize that God allowed some things to happen so that our faith was increased and in the process we could see God’s love for us. That His plan IS perfect. If God gave us everything we asked for we would be in big trouble. That is because most of the time we have no clue what is the right thing to ask for.

In this Psalm there are three things the Psalmist is asking of God. Show Me, Rescue Me, and Teach Me. This would be an awesome prayer each morning to start out the day and to continue to pray throughout the day. How many times do we pray with our mind already made up? Ouch!! Are we really open to what God wants to say to us and are we willing to change our opinion or our circumstances?

A lot of junk has happened in your life. I know it from the thousands of e mails, calls and cards I get. Many people who write in are in the throws of addiction, bad marriages, crisis with pregnancy, loss of a job, a horrible boss and on and on. How do we live a joyful life when we are surrounded by despair? You have had a front row seat to our lives and I am pretty open to what I am feeling on a daily basis. You have seen miracles, pain and doubt. But in the end you always see a loving, perfect God. I would ask today that you would pray for a fresh start; to throw off everything that has hindered your view of God in the past. I want you to see the powerful, awesome God who desires for you to see Him and one that is not out to harm you but to love you and hold you into eternity. Please pray this with me.

"Lord, I feel so lost today that I humbly ask you to show me the way I should go. I feel lost and don’t know what to do next. It seems that everything I touch I fail at. Please Lord help me to feel your love for me. Please Jesus rescue me from ____________ as I am tired of fighting. I am so tired that at times I don’t think I can take another day. Please Jesus come into my life and not only help me to feel your presence and your love but rescue me from the darkness that I am feeling right now. Lord please teach me your ways as I have failed at mine. Please put my feet on firm footing as I feel lost and burdened. I do feel like I am tossed back and forth by the waves of life. I want to be secure in your presence. Lord forgive me for my sins and help me to forget my sin. I pray that the evil one would stop bringing up my past failures as you have already forgiven me. Jesus help me also to love others as you love me.’ Amen