“God’s Awesome – We need to start treating Him that way!”

ISAIAH 40,26

Scripture Lesson:   Isaiah 40: 12-31 (Majesty of  God)

                                      Isaiah 55:1-9          (Accessibility of God)

                                     Philippians 2:5-11 (Mystery of Christ’s majesty)

                                     I John 1:5-2:3          (The power/presence/practice of sin)

 Isaiah 40:12-31:    GOD’S MAJESTY

  • God is all powerful, all knowing, infinitely wise, eternal past-future, not limited by time, created all things, never tired or rests, present everywhere at the same time, infinite in power and resources, all loving, perfect in all ways and perfectly righteous and just…. We can’t comprehend what that means so wisest theology or explanations fall short and these are just a few of God’s attributes.

God created us and everything else and is not bound by time?

  1. God tells us He will fill in the blanks of our prayers if we pray with honest hearts expressing our love and worship. (Romans 8:26)
  2. He deserves our worship and our love but also our time…
  3. What ways is our prayers and fellowship limited by our limited understanding of His attributes and awesomeness?
  4. Why do we doubt His help, which affects our prayers and actions? Daniel trusted Him not knowing if he would be spared lion’s den and Daniel’s 3 friends trusted Him not knowing if they would be spared fiery furnace.  What worse way to die than to be eaten or burned alive?  We need not doubt His power and love and will – we simply have to trust His plan to be best and leave method and timing to Him…  Reflect on examples.

Isaiah 55:1-9:      GOD’S ACCESSIBILITY

  • God is everywhere but also accessible by everyone anytime anywhere. That means He can and will listen to you and me at the same time without being distracted.   How awesome is that?
  1. We have countless examples in scripture and thru history and with our contemporaries and even own experience to prove that truth.
  2. God wants a personal relationship with each of us and values each of us as much as if we were His only creation.

EXAMPLE OF THE DRESS PANTS WITH A HOLE IN THE POCKET VS A $6 PRICE TO REPLACE.  WE WOULD REPLACE PANTS BUT HE PREFERS TO PATCH THEM.  EASTER WAS CHRIST DECIDING TO PATCH US UP INSTEAD OF REPLACING US EVEN THOUGH HE COULD HAVE REPLACE US WITH ONE WORD.

  1. Isaiah 55:9 “Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my plans than your plans.”
  2. God destroyed the earth’s people except Noah and his family once. He has delayed His return and the coming time of great Tribulation and judgment because of His love and mercy.  I think that time could have time during WWII but was delayed due to prayers and repentance of many faithful – because of that we are alive and enjoy His mercies too.  I also believe there have been many such times in past history. 
  3. It can happen again if we pray and repent – II Chron 7:14 “if my people who belong to me will humbly pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”

IN END TIMES THERE WILL BE A FALLING AWAY:                                              2

  • I Timothy 4:1 – “The Spirit clearly says that in the latter times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons”
  • II Timothy 3 – In the latter times – Men will love themselves, love money, be boastful – full of pride and blasphemers, disobey parents, unthankful, slanderers, without self control, brutal, dispise good, lovers of pleasure rather than good, have a form of godliness but deny God’s power. TURN AWAY FROM SUCH PEOPLE FOR THEY WILL GROW WORSE AND WORSE.
  • John 16:2 – “the time is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering God service”
  • I Thessalonians 5:3 – the day of His return will come as a thief in the night, so be ready.
  • Ann Graham Lots (Billy Graham’s daughter) – Natural disasters and weather extremes are becoming more common in frequency and intensity – is God’s warning of His judgment coming if we do not repent. She gave this message at World Day of Prayer at gathering in Washington, DC on 5/1/14.

 

Philippians 2: 5-11:             MYSTERY OF CHRIST’S MAJESTY                                                                                       

  1. Christ as the “Only begotten Son of the Father” is a great mystery – We think begotten means created by with a defined creation or birth date. Yet Christ is God equal to and eternal past with Father.  He is one with the Father.  What does that mean?  Yet His divinity and powers were deliberately limited and cloated when in human flesh.  Christ had to rely on the Father for strength and insights and power.   If we can’t comprehend God, how can we do anything else than accept what scripture tells us as true and leave it at that while this side of the grave.  Our flesh and human minds limit our level of understanding as well but we don’t have an eternal past or divine nature to help us.
  2. Likewise, we can’t comprehend the extent of what Christ gave up to come to this earth in human form and to pay the penalty of our sin on the cross. I suspect if we did, we would fall on our knees in awe and worship  in recogniton of that price and love.
  3. Vs 9-11 “Therefore, God highly honored Him and gave Him a name above all names, so that at the name of Jesus everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father. We can’t worship God without worshipping Christ.  We can’t honor God the Father without honoring God the Son!!

Story of Islam terrorist from Iran who came to US to evangelize America.  Charles Morris (Haven Today) interviewed that Iranian.   On the way to US Jesus revealed Himself to him and forgave him and told him to tell others about Christ’s love and forgiveness.  Now he is a Christian pastor in Canada leading others to Christ, including many in Islam faith.

  1. He told Charles we have a tremendous privilege. “We don’t have to go to a dangerous part of the world to reach those deceived by the Islam religion.  They are coming to us and deceiving many of our own country.  We can share the Good News right where we are.   If we are faithful to do so, He will bring them to us like He brought the animals to Noah to put on the ark.”
  2. We need to pray, study, and be faithful

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God’s commands are God’s enablements:

 “I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord, they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope.  When you call me and come and pray to me, I will listen to you.  When you search for me, yes, search for me with all your heart, you will find me.”  (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

“Call to me and I will answer and reveal to you wondrous secrets you haven’t known”  (Jeremiah 33:3)

 

The more we pray and fellowship with Him, the closer we get to Him. 

The closer we get to Him, the more we understand and hunger for His word. 

The closer we get to Him, the more we see what He is like and are in awe of Him.  The closer we get to Him, the more like Him we become but the more unlike Him we see we are.

The closer we get to Him, the more we see we have yet to understand of Him.

The closer we get to Him, the less important we become and the more important those around us are but also the more important He becomes.

 

HOW CLOSE ARE YOU TO HIM?  CLOSER THAN YESTERDAY?  ARE YOU ON A PATH TO BE CLOSER TO HIM TOMORROW THAN TODAY?

 

I John 1:5-2:3:

  1. Vs 5-7: Deny the power of sin – our lives may claim something different than our words.  To walk in fellowship with Christ results in continually being cleansed from sin, thereby cleansed from guilt and stain of our sin, giving us the joy of our salvation.
  2. Vs 8-9: Deny the presence of sin – The cure of sinfulness is not denying our sin but relying on God’s faithfulness to forgive us. We are to confess our sin and remain in fellowship with Him, giving us the joy of our salvation.
  3. Vs 10-2:2: Deny the practice of sin – Denying we’ve sinned or relabeling our sinful actions or thoughts is not solution. Our less than perfect thoughts and actions is sin and to deny that is to rob us joy of our salvation and deny restoration that continual fellowship with Christ gives us.
  4. So, the secret to a victorious Christian life is continual fellowship with Him, not by any efforts we make ourselves. Solution is going to Him, not earning or working our way.
  5. HE DESERVES OUR PRAISE AND WORSHIP BUT ALSO OUR  CONTINUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. 
  6. Hymn #314 “In the Garden” Chorus is “And He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own; and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has never known.”

 

Romans12:2 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer”

 

THE WAY GOD’S DESIRES FOR US TO HONOR HIM IS WITH OUR WORSHIP AND OUR PRAISE BUT ALSO WITH OUR PRAYERS AND OBEDIENCE.  YET WHAT HE HOLDS PRECIOUS IS THE TIME WE SPEND WITH HIM IN FELLOWSHIP IN PRAYER AND IN HIS WORD AS WELL AS IN FELLOWSHIP WITH HIS PEOPLE.                                 WE HAVE AS MUCH OF GOD AS WE DESIRE BUT HE DOES NOT HAVE AS MUCH OF US AS HE DESIRES.  LET’S DEVOTE MORE OF OUR DAY TO HIM – HE DESERVES THAT AND WE NEED TOO!!

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Published by donsdevotions

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Don McDaniel - Who am I? Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever. Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me. I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private. However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool. Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry. He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 . I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine. I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward. Don & Arlene McDaniel In His Service, Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951 If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ ) You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.

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