All That Is Ever Needed
- What is your first response when trouble comes your way?
- How do you react when trials appear?
- When you are faced with struggles and wilderness-like situations, do you find yourself cheerful?
- Whose face do you seek when life becomes heavy?
- Where do you turn when deliverance is that which you most need?
“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, . . .
(The Psalms 136: 1a, 2a, 3a & 4 NASB)
Give thanks to the God of gods, . . .
Give thanks to the Lord of lords, . . .
To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting;”
- Could a star survive or even fall to the earth, if the star moves not in the precise path that the Lord fixed?
- Would the sun, moon and planets collide in the heavens, if the Creator had not created a clear path and perfect timing for them to traverse?
- Should we (humanity) acknowledge the God of gods who fashioned us from the dust of the earth?
“To Him who made the heavens with skill, . . .
(The Psalms 136: 5a, 6a, 7a, 8a & 9 NASB)
To Him who spread out the earth above the waters, . . .
To Him who made the great lights, . . .
The sun to rule by day, . . .
The moon and the stars to rule by night,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
There is a certain cadence of gratitude that we are called to chant within our lives. We are called to grace from the moment of our conception, and GOD’S GRACE evokes gratitude like a voice calling out into a mountain valley causes an echo to return. Yes, just as thunder follows lightning, our gratitude must follow the Lord’s goodness, His mercy, and the Amazing Grace Jesus came to offer by dying on Calvary’s Cross. Without God’s formula, His plan for forgiveness of sins, whenever mankind sinned, then death would be the only fixed end of our lives, for the Bible states:
“For the wages of sin is death, . . .”
(The Letter of Paul to the Romans 6: 23a NASB)
Life is not always filled with smiles, with days and times of cheerfulness. Trials often come. We are called to face foes, to battle in the wilderness, but that does not mean we fight alone. God’s plan (all along) has been: When a person sins, he will pay the price his sin cost. That price is his life. We live and we die. Then comes a person’s eternity.
BUT GOD
Yes, when a person sins and dies with his sins unconfessed, he is separated from God for all eternity.
BUT GOD
Yes, when a person is convicted of his sin by the Spirit of God, and then as a person confesses his sin to Holy God, the Creator and Redeemer forgives the person’s sin and saves his life. No longer is Jesus in the grave. No longer has death ruled, for Jesus arose from the dead and brought new life. Therefore, the person’s life is no longer required as payment for his sins committed (once a person believes in Jesus and confesses his sins), for the blood of Jesus covers the sins committed—forever. No longer is the person separated from God; now the person’s relationship with God has been restored. When the person dies and his sins have been confessed, he is WITH GOD FOR ALL ETERNITY.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
(The Letter of Paul to the Romans 6: 23 NASB)
When troubles and trials and stresses and struggles come (and they will), those who have received God’s Grace are to PAUSE, to LEAN IN ON HIS STRENGTH, to PAY ATTENTION AS GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT SPEAKS & to OFFER THANKS.
His body. His blood. His presence. These are all that are ever needed.
Twenty-six times in The Psalms 136, believers are encouraged to recall the extraordinary promise: His faithful love endures forever and ever. Hallelujah & Amen.
“Give thanks to the God of heaven,
(The Psalms 136: 26 NASB)
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.”