Advent(Dec. 7): Here I Am

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac,and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together.

But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven,“Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

Genesis 22:1-2, 6. 11-14

Abraham answered when God called him.

“Here I am,” he replied.

(which is another way of saying, "I love you.")

The Bible tells us that this whole thing was just a test of Abraham’s faith.  

 While Abraham walked by faith under the command of God, God was preparing a meeting on the top. God was preparing a ram. This ram had no business being in this area. 
Abraham’s problem and God’s solution were coming up the same mountain, but the problem couldn’t see the solution until it paid the price to reach the top.”(source)

And the Bible says, “Abraham believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.”

"God will provide is that He has provided a lamb for us. 

 God sacrificed Himself in the form of His Son Jesus."

"And because God has provided a lamb for us, we can take to His cross all of our baggage; all the anger, pain, and guilt from a lifetime of misunderstandings and betrayals can be washed clean in the only solvent that breaks down every sin – the blood of Jesus."

God provides all of your needs...

But the most important thing God provides is freedom from the sins we have committed and the sins committed against us; we have a cross to put them on because God has given us a lamb for our salvation just like He did for Abraham.(source)

Do we worry? 

"Worry is always belief gone wrong. Because you don't believe that God will get it right."

It is not our job to question how God will work out circumstances in our life. Just know that with whatever promise he has given he has already made the provision. (source)

"Peace is belief that exhales. Because you believe that God's love is everywhere = like air."

Have we been ready and willing when we hear God calling us?

Do we readily answer Him, saying "Here I am", which is another way of saying, "I love you?"

"God wants all of His miraculous children to be living presents to Him, to be living sacrifices, living gifts. God wants all of his children to say every day to Him, "Here I am" - which is another word for "I love You".

"What would it look like to trust God with your whole heart today?"

I think of one of my top verses - one that I am always quoting, as a reminder to myself.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippian 4:6-7

Come back tomorrow, as I share Day 8 of the Advent Calender...

in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up 

Advent(Dec. 6): The Gift of Laughter

 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” 

Genesis 21:1-7

While Abraham laughed in shock, Sarah laughed in unbelief when they were told they would have a son.

"When Abrahan was one hundred years  old, Sarah had a baby boy, Isaac.

Sarah held Isaac and her laughter was changed to joy to the heavens. "God has brought me laughter!"

This story teaches us that the joy of the life of faith comes from obtaining what only God can do; the pain comes from separating from what I can do in my own power. 

'Because of Jesus, the miracle Child who came to us, laughter comes to us, too. And we get to hold the wonder of it close to us.

No matter what happens today, Jesus is the last word, and we rejoice and rejoice again and re-joy again — because grace is our oxygen now!"

"God brings us the gift of laughter for our hearts!

Joy is the gigantic secret gift that God gives us and we never stop unwrapping."

I will smile today, I will laugh, I will enjoy Him, and now and amazing grace, because God brings the weary people laughter, Laughter is His gift to me — oxygenated grace!"

If you feel inclined, play the video and sing along!!

Come back tomorrow, as I share Day 7 of the Advent Calender...

in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up 

Advent(Dec. 5): Count the Stars

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.

Genesis 12: 1-4, 7

• In Genesis 12:2-3, God made a covenant with Abraham that continued far beyond this patriarch’s lifetime. The covenant with Abraham included the following promises: multiple descendants, fame, divine protection and that Abraham through his descendants would be a blessing to all people. 

"And God said to Abram, "Leave everything - because I love you more than anything....trust Me with everything you have, and you'll have everything you need, because I will be with you."

• As Abraham obeyed and grew in faith, God continued to reveal to him the blessings he and his descendants would receive.

"...Abram tried to count all the ways - the thousands and millions and billions of ways - as many as the stars in the heavens - God loved him, and it made him dance in awe with the stars, with God"

And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you.(Galations 3:9)

"I will bless you", God said once, keeps saying now. "I will give you the greatest gift of love."

So a belief, or a faith, in Jesus Christ and an understanding of these promises enable us to be heirs of the promise to Abraham!(source)

"The greatest gift God gives you is Himself - God blessed all families through a Child who would be born under one enormous, blazing, brilliant star."

"And God promises even more:"I will make you a blessing to others. I will do more than give you a gift of love - I will make you into a gift of love!" You get to be the gift and smile for someone, you get to be the gift and laugh for someone, you get to be the gift and love someone who is needing a gentle touch."

You are blessed!

You get to bless!

10 Ways to Bless Others During Christmas

Come back tomorrow, as I share Day 6 of the Advent Calender...

in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up 

Advent(Dec. 4): God's Tears

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.  So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart.  And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.”  

But Noah found favor with the Lord

Genesis 6:5-8

"God looked at all the hearts leaning away from Him - "His heart was filled with pain" is how God felt when He looked around and saw everyone sinning and leaning and hurting. God's tears fell like a flood."

His heart hurts not just with a few teardrops of ache, not just with a slow drip of a bit of sadness - no, the whole gigantic enormity of God's heart swells sore with what hurts your heart - and His tears of sadness flooded the world."

"Noah lived in the midst of the most heinously evil society the world had known, but because he had found grace, God favored him with personal instruction about the coming catastrophic judgement and the details for a new beginning on earth."(source)

WHY NOAH FOUND GRACE IN THE EYES OF THE LORD

1. Noah’s life was righteous—in spite of the horrible condition of the world of his day. He was looking for God’s direction and for the answers to his heart’s cry. 

1. The Bible says that Noah was one of only two men in all of history who “walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). The other is Enoch, who may be more well known since he was taken up into God’s presence without dying (Genesis 5:24). The Creator entrusted him with a monumental task that is unique in all of history.

1. Noah was “perfect.” That precious reputation, at least from God’s perspective, means that he was a man without condemnation. His “just” dealings resulted in a “blameless” record. Whatever the wicked people of his day may have said behind his back, they knew that Noah was above reproach. Just as folks today often resort to rumor-mongering and distortion of facts to cover their own guilt, those around Noah no doubt employed some of the same practices to discredit righteous Noah. He may well have had that kind of treatment, but God saw that he was “perfect.”

1. Noah was labeled a “preacher of righteousness” by the only Judge that ultimately counts. Think of what that means in the context of Genesis 6! The whole earth was “filled with violence” and “every heart” only thought of evil. Yet Noah had the guts to stand up publically for the righteous behavior that just about everyone else openly and loudly rejected.

"God’s grace is always available. It is not hidden from anyone. But it must be “found” by God’s servants as we “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). (source)

"God leans to us who are falling in a hurting world, and He catches us. 

God sees our tears and the hurt flooding our world right now. And He offers everyone the greatest gift.

And He whispers, 

"Look - My heart did break." 

"I love you".

"Come to Jesus".

“So, when those floods of bad
things happen, if you lean toward Jesus - if you incline toward Jesus, if you
rest in Jesus - you get the gift of Jesus, like an ark of love, holding
you, carrying you, raising you gently up through any flood of sadness
that fills the world."

Come back tomorrow, as I share Day 5 of the Advent Calender...

in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up 

Advent(Dec. 3): God is Looking for You

 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

Genesis 3:6-9

"The snake sneaked up to Eve, wrapped his own lie tight around her, and hissed his poison right into her heart: 

"God doesn't really love you."

"God doesn't really give you good-enough things."

"God doesn't really give the gift of love all the time."

Eve fell for it. She ate the fruit. She swallowed the lie - this is the painful lonliness that we call 

"the Fall."

"When we've fallen and when we're lost, God comes with one question:

(Not, "Why did you do that?" or "What did you do wrong?")

The very first God-question of the Bible, is a love question howling out of God's heart...

"Where are you?"

"God's love never stops looking for you, trying to find you, and gently draws you back close to Him."

"God refuses to give up on you!! God looks for you when you're lost. He calls out for you when you are ashamed, broken, and hurting. He doesn't run down the rebel, strike the sinner, or flog the failure."

Mary Geisen just posted on her own blog(Passages Through Grace) a very timely verse...

"Never doubt that your story was meant to be part of God’s plan even before you were born"(Mary Geisen)

What a perfect reminder to us how desperately He wants a relationship with us. He is always looking, always searching, always seeking to know us and wants us to know Him.

"Really wise men and women never stop looking for God. And because your really wise God is love, "He never stops looking for you."

Come back tomorrow, as I share Day 4 of the Advent Calender...

in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up