For thought and meditation

[rl69]

how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! MATTHEW 7:11
Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct in this passage for those people who have His Spirit. He urges us to keep our minds filled with the concept of God’s control over everything, which means that a disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.
Fill your mind with the thought that God is there. And once your mind is truly filled with that thought, when you experience difficulties it will be as easy as breathing for you to remember, “My heavenly Father knows all about this!” This will be no effort at all, but will be a natural thing for you when difficulties and uncertainties arise. Before you formed this concept of divine control so powerfully in your mind, you used to go from person to person seeking help, but now you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those people who have His Spirit, and it works on the following principle: God is my Father, He loves me, and I will never think of anything that He will forget, so why should I worry?
Jesus said there are times when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but you should trust Him. At times God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the thought that the mind of God is behind all things strong and growing. Not even the smallest detail of life happens unless God’s will is behind it. Therefore, you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but is an attitude of the mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. “Ask, and it will be given to you…” (Matthew 7:7).

[square butte]

Read it - Live it - and relax . Thanks for the Scripture and word this morning. God Bless

[Wayne Smith]

We all know Rom. 8:28. Most don't know 8:29a, which in part says that it is preordained that we will be made into the image of Christ so that he will be the first of many siblings. Two absolutes here define 'good' in 28 -which really means that 'all things work together to make me like Christ' - which is 'good', but maybe not what I experience as 'good' or 'fun'.

When it seems that God is mean or unjust by my perspective it means that He is making me like Christ. For those who know the 'Footprints in the Sand' poem, there is a two square cartoon, one says 'Yes, where there is one set of footprints is where I carried you" and the other says "And that long, deep groove is where I dragged you kicking and screaming!"

By all means remember that God is sovereign, and that means that His will is best even when I'm not comfortable. This world truly is not my home, it is simply a temporary dwelling place that will end and we will see God. That is my goal and what I dream of.