well thanks for inviting into the group well i thank god forhis grace and mercy
Comment by PoiemaDei on January 20, 2009 at 8:23am
Amen! Wonderful, Derek. I like the trnaslation of 1John 3:1 you used there. "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" Yes, indeed, "And that is what we are!" We need to assert and confess and profess what the Lord declares we are, what He has been so gracious to make us into. How often Christians in a mistaken sense of humility cnfess that they are sinners instead of acknowledging that God by grace delivered us from sin and death to make us alive in Christ, to be new creations, His own children.
Comment by Derek Hill on January 20, 2009 at 2:44am
You are absolutely right Poemia, it is amazing isn't it how the Son of God is involved in creation. Thanks for sharing Colossians on that.
I like to also think of the Father and the Holy Spirit, as also completely involved in creation and providence.
I remember going oustide our tent at a Christian boys' camp when I was young. It was a clear starlit night, and as I enjoyed the wonder of the night sky I had the distinct feeling that all this was to teach me that God was my Heavenly Father who loved me.
"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" 1Jn 3.1
How we become redeemed children of God of course is only through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
Comment by PoiemaDei on January 19, 2009 at 9:50am
Thanks for this prayer, Derek. May God answer it in all of our lives that we can appreciate the goodness of God in all the creation. It's amazing how the creation is thoroughly inloved in Christ.
We read in Colossians 1:15-17:
15: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;
16: for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him.
17: He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Comment by Derek Hill on January 19, 2009 at 3:41am
Thankyou Poemia for your comment. I'll get on to the covenant in the 2nd part. But God bless you for reminding us of it. Hallelujah we are in a covenant of salvation which God has made with us, and in which He will keep us forever.
Just something here which applies this teaching of the Bible that God's creation exists not only through the power of God but also by His love. His lovingkindness is over all His works.
"All this Beauty.
O God, we thank you for this earth, our home; for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the salt sea and the running water, for the everlasting hills and the never-resting winds, for trees and the common grass underfoot. We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendour of the summer fields, and taste of the autumn fruits, and rejoice in the feel of snow, and smell the breath of spring. Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty; and save our souls from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with your glory, O God our Creator, who lives and reigns for ever and ever."
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