From Love God Greatly’s, The Greatest Gift Given
Read: Psalm 147; SOAP: Psalm 147:1
When we feel like the pressure of the holidays is too much, take some time to think on things that are good and worthy of praise.
Read the full LGG devotional
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Jesus made a promise to His disciples that continues to bring us great joy today.
Read the full devotional for more about the promise
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Psalm 34:8
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
Father, You are good! My mind never doubts this sustaining TRUTH. You are simply and yet profoundly good. My heart rejoices in Your goodness to sustain, to love and teach, and to build up those who now belong to You. In Your goodness You brought us in and have transformed us from strangers and from enemies to members of Your family, not simply or haphazardly brought in but carefully joined together in Christ.
So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2: 19-22
In your goodness You protect and strengthen, You comfort and encourage, and You fill us and guard us with a peace that passes all understanding. Surely, as the Psalmist wrote, You guide us on paths of righteousness for Your namesake. However, I have learned that even when we walk through the valleys that seem dark and lonely and covered with the daunting shadows of sorrow, discouragement, and fear – in Your goodness You are also there. I find You quietly dispelling the shadows with the gentle reminder from your Spirit that we have no cause for fear or discouragement, for in Your goodness You will strengthen us and You will help us. You will hold us up with Your victorious right hand.
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
My mind is riddled with a series of questions that beg to be asked. Why do You love us who were Your enemies? Why have you made us part of Your family and continue to build us up into Your Holy Temple? Why do You lead us and show us the right way to go or dispel the shadows in the valleys? The only answer that comes is this: You are simply and profoundly good! Even if I had not tasted and seen Your goodness for myself – You, proclaimed Yourself to Moses as – “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth”, Exodus 34:6.
Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
Psalm 34:5-7 NKJV
One final question lingers – what is my response? To which I gladly and humbly answer – relying once again on Your goodness … Answer graciously this prayer my God – that I might convey the truth , reality, and depth of Your goodness in my thoughts, both written and spoken, and in my life lived out, so that others might truly know and forever share in Your goodness through Christ Jesus my Lord – Your good and perfect gift of salvation to all who believe.
“For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 6:23
How great is the goodness
Psalm 31:19 NLT
you have stored up for those who fear you.
You lavish it on those who come to you for protection,
blessing them before the watching world.
Want to know more about the goodness of God, salvation through Christ, eternal life, or how to get through the valleys? Reply below or message me at mryelnb@aol.com –
A Love God Greatly Study – “The Greatest Gift Given”
Read: Psalm 30; Read: Psalm 30:11-12
For just ten minutes, let the burdens and heaviness of the year fall at the foot of the cross and joyfully worship God.
Read today’s LGG Devotional for a glimpse of how JOY and worship fit with Christmas.
Don’t forget to check out today’s LGG Blog too.
Trials are a part of life but that doesn’t make them something we look forward to. Typically we avoid them at all cost and pray for relief when they come, but in today’s passage James instructs the believers to consider their trials opportunities for great joy. Is that even possible? Check out today’s LGG devotional to understand how it’s possible to experience joy even through trials – https://lovegodgreatly.com/devotional-the-greatest-gift…/
What a beautiful expression by the Psalmist that he experiences JOY in the presence of God.
Discussion:
Joy is the theme of this week of our Advent study, and it’s a time to celebrate the good news of the birth of Jesus – news that definitely brings JOY. Read today’s Love God Greatly devotional to see how many parts of Christmas can be simply a temporary source of joy
I was my daddy’s daughter, forever his little girl so when he passed from earth to heaven a part of me went with him. However, a part of him stayed here with me. You see, so early on in my childhood years that I don’t remember when – my daddy imparted his faith to me in every word and deed. He was not a perfect man – nor am I a perfect woman – but he had trusted in the Perfect Lamb and led me to do the same. Through all the years of his life I heard Him praise God in the good times and watched Him lean on God through the hard times – and he taught me to do the same. While I grieve, I do not grieve as one without hope because he taught me that Jesus died and was raised to life again, (1 Thessalonians 4:14) so that in joy or in sorrow I can truly say, “It is well with my soul”, a line from His favorite hymn by the same name.
The song was written by Horatio Spafford in 1873 and is still popular today. I have shared it below – borrowed from an online anonymous blogger who gives not only the song’s lyrics but the accompanying Scriptures. They are a perfect example and reference for the Faith that he passed on to me.
Verse 1:
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
Isaiah 66:12 For thus says the LORD, “Behold, I extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; And you will be nursed, you will be carried on the hip and fondled on the knees.
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Psalm 42:7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
James 1:2-4 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 2:
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
Romans 5:6-8 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
1 Peter 1:18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
Verse 3:
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
1 Peter 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
Colossians 2:13-14 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Hebrew 13:15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
Verse 4:
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face ; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
Mark 14:62 And Jesus said, “I am ; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Even so, it is well with my soul.
1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Peter 1:6-7 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ
From “The Greatest Gift Given” wk3d4 ( An LGG Study)
Read: Romans 8:18-25; SOAP: Romans 8:24-25
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8:18-25
Reflection:
Paul tells us to keep our hope fixed on what we can’t see—the perfect work of salvation that God is doing on our behalf
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From “The Greatest Gift Given” wk3d3 ( An LGG Study)
Read: Romans 15:7-13; SOAP: Romans 15:13
7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.Christ the Hope of Jews and Gentiles 8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.” 10 And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” 12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 15:7-13
Gifts always require some kind of sacrifice, and in Paul’s letter to the Roman believers he reminded them that Jesus has given us the perfect example to follow.
Read more about the Great Giver and His amazing gifts
A blog from the LGG Team is also available at LoveGodGreatly.com
From “The Greatest Gift Given” wk3d2 ( An LGG Study)
Read: Hebrews 10:19-25; SOAP: Hebrews 10:23
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:19-25
The gift of hope that God gives us is a solid foundation for our faith, because the promises God made to the men and women in the Bible show us His incredible promise-keeping character.
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Me From the Inside Out 