Glory In The Lord

The Lord deserves all the glory and all the praise and all our thanks.  I wrote a song a while ago that goes like this, “Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim His greatness, give thanks to the Lord and proclaim His greatness, let the whole world know what He has done, give thanks to the Lord everyone.”  For most of my Christian walk I have praised and thanked the Lord.

He has been so awesome in my life, as well as my family’s life.  He has delivered me from sinful habits, forgiven me of multitudes of sins, He has healed me miraculously, He has set me free of depression, He has also shed His blood on my behalf and drew me to Himself, cleansed me and saved me, making me His child and an heir to His kingdom and more than a conqueror.  He has spoken to me on more than one occasion and has used me, and is still using me, beyond anything that I could have ever imagined.  No matter how many times I have fallen, He has picked me up, forgiven me and restored me to Himself.  He has shown me and taught me many things in His Word and given me a desire to read and study His Word for over 32 years, praise His holy name.  The Lord has shown me many things over the years while I was praying, and I don’t know how many times He kept me from being hurt or even killed through the years.  

He has given me a wife that is far, far beyond anything I could ever believe, one that I could brag about and have bragged about for many years.  August 13^th was our 35^th wedding anniversary and they have been, without a doubt, the best years of my life.  Today I believe that the Lord loves me unconditionally because I believe that my wife loves me that way and I am so blessed.  All my kids have prayed the sinner’s prayer and received the Lord as their Savior and are all serving the Lord in some ministry, except one at this time, but He hasn’t given up on that one that is now a prodigal and neither have we.  I don’t believe in once saved always saved, we all have a choice and a free will and we can choose to walk away if we want to.  I believe that no one can snatch us from God’s hands and there is no way we can be separated from the Lord, except if we choose to be, either through sin or just deliberately walking away making that choice ourselves.  The Lord has blessed us multitudes of times over the years and He continues to bless us.

I have said this, and I could add so much more, to say that I know these verses are so true in my life.  They are found in 1 Corinthians 1:25-31, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “ Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

When God choose me, He choose the very one that these words are talking about.  I was one that you would never think the Lord would choose, an uneducated, worldly freak, a total loser, going nowhere in life and didn‘t even care, totally depraved and totally sinful but God choose me, and used me, to further His kingdom which to this day I can’t understand why.  (Excuse me while I wipe the tears from my eyes, I am so overwhelmed at this time just thinking about what the Lord has done in my life and what He has taken me out of and how He has blessed me and my family, I can’t thank and praise Him enough)  

I am so glad for God’s mercy and grace that saved me, and so many other sinners like me, because the Word says that all have sinned and fallen short of God‘s glory.  Except for the mercy, love and grace of God no one could be saved, so you are a candidate no matter who you are.  I hope this ‘Tidbit’ has encouraged you and has given you some food for thought.  May God bless you and may you have a great day!!