daddy4ms

Some of you may know that I serve part-time as social media coordinator for USMB conference.  One of the things I have done on their social media is share Bible verses with images that tie in with the words.  I decided to start sharing them weekly here on the blog. I hope you grow in your understanding of who God is from these verses.

My word for 2018 is abide.  I have this great picture over my fireplace made by a good friend that reminds me to abide each day.  My understanding of abide is to "be with Jesus." What does it mean to abide?  Here are some definitions to help us better understand the word.  The Greek word "meno" which is a verb means "to stay". It can also be translated as abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry for. We will also see these in the Old Testament as well. Each week I will share a verse (or two) to help us better understand abiding. 2  and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” (Genesis 19:2)   5  Then Abraham said to his young men, “ Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” (Genesis 22:5)...

Last week, I was reading Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges.  I came across a quote about the goodness of God that jumped off the page.  I hope it will reinforce the importance of not believing Satan's lies about God. "We should not forget that Satan's very first temptation of mankind was based on questioning the goodness and generosity of God (see Genesis 3:1-5). And his vicious attack on the patriarch Job was designed to cause Job to question God's goodness so that he would then curse God (see Job 1:6-11). Satan has not changed his strategy today. This perception of God as the reluctant giver comes right from Satan and must be resisted by us if we are to experience the fullness of God's grace."

Today, I read Chapter 1 from Recovering Redemption by Matt Chandler and Michael Snetzer.  To say it was good would be an understatement.  It tied in well with part of the message I preached a few weeks ago about Jesus being angry and weeping at the effect sin has had our world, relationships, and even death itself. I have a feeling this blog will be filled with quotes and thoughts from this book for weeks to come.  I only read one chapter and might have wore out a highlighter in the process. Here are a few quotes that spoke to me: "Because if you're looking at this world--and at yourself--and you're convinced neither one of them is the way they're supposed to be, then you're being given an important piece of bad news...In order for good news to be good--like the gospel is good--it must invade bad spaces." (Speaking of creation in Genesis 1-2) "Nothing is their world was dead or dying around them. Nothing was ominous or unsafe. Nothing was leaking...

Here are the last few promises I will share from Genesis: The Judge of all the earth will always do right (18:25). God promised to bless Abraham and make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.   Through his offspring, all nations on earth would be blessed, because he obeyed God (22:17-18). You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (50:20)  

I started sharing some of the promises of God from the book of Genesis last week.  Here are a few more for you today:  Abraham believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness (15:6). God established his covenant with Abraham and greatly increased his numbers, so that he became a father of many nations (17:2, 5).  Nothing is too hard for the Lord (18:14).

As I mentioned yesterday, we sing and are encouraged and share the promises of God.  But how many do we actually know?  Today, I am beginning to share the promises of God from Scripture.  Today, we look at the beginning of the book of Genesis. God made man in his image, in his likeness, and gave him dominion over the earth and all its creatures (1:26-28). God blessed the descendants of Abraham, and all peoples on earth have been blessed through them (12:2-3; 18:18).

For those of us in the Wichita area, I am seeing many comments on Twitter & Facebook about the need for the rain to stop.  It seems like it has been raining forever.  What adds to the frustration is that for many it is Spring Break and we want to get outside.  As I was drinking coffee & reading books this morning, God brought to mind a verse that might help brighten our day.   "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth." (Genesis 9:13) As we complain about the rain, let us remember God's promise to us via the rainbow.  Not only that He would not flood the whole earth again, but all of the promises of God.  Here are a few of them: He will never leave us or forsake us, He is with us always, He loves  us, He protects & provides for us, He has forgiven us, redeemed us, empowered us by the Holy Spirit.  Hopefully these promises can brighten your day despite the rain outsid...