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Our Creator God: Seeing God in What He Made

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — 2 Comments ↓

Beauty of Pike's Peak and Grand Canyon Points to Our Creator God When I went to graduate school I camped across the United States from Pennsylvania to get to California, taking in many of the wonders of our Creator God in the great outdoors. I viewed the Grand Canyon via a rim tour by bus and also in a small Cessna plane, camped near the base of Pike’s Peak, and more.

I could only come away from these spectacular sights saying, “How can anyone say there is no God?” “How can we not attribute all this to a Creator?” I concluded that it would take more faith for me not to believe than to believe. It was like nature spoke, without words, about the great God we have.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Ps. 19:1-4)

We can see who God is reflected in what He does.

Here is some of what I saw about our Creator God in what He made:

1) He is a great and powerful God to be able to bring all of this into being.

2) He is a wise God to be able to be able to design such intricacies and coordinate it all so that it all works together.

3) He is a good God to be able to bring so much beauty into being.

4) He is a creative God to be able to provide so much variety.

I can determine all of that about God without opening a Bible, just by looking at nature around me.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Rom. 1:20)

Check out the Our Great God from A to Z Discipleship Tool Download for a list of traits from A to Z about our Creator God. It also contains other alphabetical lists about who God is and what He does.

Are you seeing evidence of God in what He made?

Let me encourage you as you vacation, or even as you look out the airplane window on a business trip, to not just be in awe of what you see in the great outdoors but to stop, even for a moment,

to reflect on what it tells you about our great, powerful, and wise Creator God,

and then to thank and praise God for who He is.

If you are on a family vacation, use these spectacles as teachable moments to point your children to God.

Rendering about Ministry and God’s Enduring Love

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — No Comments ↓

Twenty-six times in twenty-six verses, Psalm 136 repeats the phrase “His love endures forever.” I trust after reading the previous posts about this psalm that you have taken time to reflect on God’s enduring love and responded to His good, kind, faithful, merciful and gracious love with thanksgiving and praise. Now let’s personalize it, seeing ministry and God’s enduring love fit together and make a real difference in how we serve.

Read through Psalm 136 and you will notice that the psalmist kept it about God, beginning every verse with what God did. Look at your ministry from that perspective and you will be able to join the refrain — His love endures forever.

A Rendition About Ministry and God’s Enduring Love

Here’s a ministry worker’s rendition, not near as poetic as the psalm and containing only ten of the refrains of “His love endures forever” but you will get the idea of how ministry and God’s enduring love tie together.

Give thanks to the Lord of the harvest.
His love endures forever.

Whose wisdom provides a design for staffing to accomplish His purposes.
His love endures forever.

Whose guiding hand maps out the way to best meet the needs of people entrusted to our care.
His love endures forever.

And who humbles my soul so I feel free to delegate responsibilities to others.
His love endures forever.

To Him who helps me adapt when things aren’t going as planned.
His love endures forever.

Who gives grace to deal with petty issues.
His love endures forever.

To Him who answers prayers, often in powerful ways.
His love endures forever.

Whose Truth parts the waters in our hearts, drawing people into a relationship with Himself.
His love endures forever.

And who comforts our soul so we can encourage others.
His love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of hope and peace regardless of whatever comes our way.
His love endures forever.

Think through the specifics of what God is doing in your ministry and remember the role of His enduring love.

Responding with Thanks for God’s Enduring Love

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — No Comments ↓

Is it possible to reflect on God’s enduring love and not break out into expressions of gratitude? Psalm 136 begins and ends with “Give thanks” with reflections of God’s enduring love between.

Twenty-six times, in response to a phrase either about God’s character, creation, or work on behalf of His chosen ones, the psalmist repeats “His love endures forever.” Thanksgiving bookends these reflections.

Gratitude is the Logical Response to God’s Enduring Love

We may not always understand or fully appreciate everything there is to know about God’s character and ways but can know that at its core is His enduring love.

Examples from Psalm 136:

He is good (v. 1). – If He is a good God, why does He let bad things happen?
He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords (v. 2-4). – How can He be the One of whom there is none greater?
He alone does great wonders and created all things (v. 4-9). – How could He bring creation into being from nothing?

Hang on to His enduring love and despite your questions, you can “give thanks to the Lord” knowing that His love is bigger than your doubts and finite mind.

Along life’s way everything may not be pleasant or comfortable for us but we can rest in His enduring love.

Examples from Psalm 136:

Captivity, watching people die, traveling through the wilderness, and hard fought battles (v. 10-12, 23-24) to get to where they were going undoubtedly caused stress and anxiety.

Remember God’s enduring love in those difficult times of life and you can “give thanks to the Lord” for you will be comforted in knowing that He will never leave you or forsake you.

Sometimes things might not work out the way we thought they should or on our timetable but we can be confident in His enduring love.

Examples from Psalm 136:

Egyptian soldiers were behind them and the sea before, requiring God to divide the Red Sea so they could pass through (v. 13-15).
Prior to receiving their inheritance, they had to walk through the wilderness and engage in battles but each step of the way God provided for them so they had what they needed and won the battles (v. 16-22).

Trust in God’s enduring love when facing the impossible or waiting for Him to fulfill His promises and you can “give thanks to the Lord” in all circumstances knowing that He is always faithful even when we are faithless.

“Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.” (Ps. 136:26)

Reflecting on God’s Enduring Love

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — 2 Comments ↓

God's Enduring Love

Twenty-six times in just twenty-six verses we are reminded of God’s enduring love. Psalm 136 may have been written as a song where the worship leaders (i.e., the Levites) sang the first part of the verse and the people sang the refrain. Over and over they repeated,

“His love endures forever.”

Meaning of God’s Enduring Love

The Hebrew word translated as “love” in the New International Version, checed, seems to wrap up God’s goodness, kindness, faithfulness, mercy, and graciousness in one word. These words well define God’s enduring love, indicating that it is a loyal, steadfast love with the good of the recipients at its heart. Other versions translate the phrase as follows:

KJV – for his mercy endureth for ever.
NLT – His faithful love endures forever
NASB – For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
RSV – for his steadfast love endures for ever.

Demonstrations of the Love of God

The first two verses of Psalm 136 look at God’s character. Then the psalm goes on to deal with creation and His sovereignty over it. Next comes an account of God’s work on Israel’s behalf, ending with a general statement about God’s care for His created beings. The response to all of these truths is the same — “His love endures forever.”

God’s enduring love is integral to who He is, what He does, and how He relates.

At the core of not just His goodness but also His power, sovereignty, justice, and outstretched arm, is love. It motivates Him to work on behalf of His people and keep working on their behalf even “in our low estate” (v. 23).

I encourage you to take some time to read through Psalm 136 and reflect on God’s love. Don’t gloss over the repeated phrase as redundant but rather, let it sink deep into your heart. As you go through your day, look at your life through the lens of God’s enduring love. If you do, you won’t be able to help but respond similarly to the psalmist — the topic for the next post, Responding to God’s Enduring Love

Valentine’s Day Is . . .

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — No Comments ↓

On Valentine’s Day holiday we express love to others and that is good, often a romanticizing of love but sometimes just a friendly acknowledgment of people we care about. How does that compare to God’s love?

In the Holiday Reflections resource you’ll find a discipleship guide to help think through these expressions compared to God’s love. It includes the points listed below with a few additional thoughts and some questions to guide your reflection about His love and how you love others.

Valentine’s Day Is . . . But God’s Love Is . . .

Compare the way we express ourselves on this holiday to God’s love.

Valentine’s Day is a special day to express love but God’s love is on-going, for all times. (Rom. 5:8-10)

Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to send cards to people we like but God’s love is unconditional, available to all. (Ps. 139)

Valentine’s Day is a token expression of how we feel about others but God’s love is sacrificial, giving of oneself. (Eph. 2:13-14)

Use this holiday to express your love to those you care about but remember that it is going to take more than a special day for them to experience God’s love through you.

The Power of God at Work in the Church

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — 4 Comments ↓

Scripture is filled with verses and examples of the power of God at work in and through His people. If we grasped hold of even a small part of that power, we, as His Church, could bear much fruit.

Scripture Pointing to the Power of God

Below are three passages from which we can pull out some wonderful truths about God’s power.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Eph. 3:20-21)

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Pet. 1:3)

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. (Col. 1:10-12)

We cannot begin to comprehend all God wants to do in and through the church. To think that an Almighty, infinite, eternal God would work through weak, finite beings is mind boggling. Let’s not take it for granted.

More for Church Leaders: God’s Power for the Church

The Ministry God’s Way Discipleship Tool gives a summary list of five truths from the above verses plus more about ministry empowerment, along with 8 other key elements in doing ministry God’s way.

Leaders, also check out the Steering the Church Toward God’s Power Leadership Guide for how you can lead by example in pulling on God’s power to fulfill all your responsibilities. Learn more about what it means to rely on God in ways described in the above verses.