Hope and Confidence

Isaiah 42:8
"I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols,"

1 John 3:1-3
"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure."

1 John 4:7-12
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him, In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us."

I just love these verses from 1 John combined with Isaiah 42:8!

God is all about Himself! All about His own Glory and Honor! And who can blame Him? He is God! It's a prerequisite! If God was not all about Himself, that would mean that there was something great than Him, so He has to be all about Himself! It is also the most loving thing that he can do for us! Need I say more than, Christ?! But, by being all about Himself, He shows us how to be all about Him, all about Christ!

God is all about Himself, but He still loves us more than we could ever love Him! He is all about Himself but still has infinite time for us!
He loves us enough to call us His Children! Through Christ, He has adopted us into His family!

I think of the Worship Pastor at the Church I attend Doug Allord, he and his wife Rachel are adopting a little girl from China. They have only seen pictures of her, yet they love her so much already. In an infinitely smaller way, they have the same love for her, that God does for us!

God is working a wonderful change in us! And that change will only be completed once Christ returns and we see Him! I am so excited for this day and that excitement only increases with what is going on in the world today. Not that I am happy about wars and famine and death and destruction, but that it is ushering in Christ's soon return!

Ahhh....I can't say enough about these verses! They give me so much hope and confidence that God is who He claims to be! That Christ is all that He claims to be! And that we have all that is promised to us!
God is Good...All the time!

Unchanging by: Chris Tomlin

Great is Your Faithfulness
Great is Your Faithfulness
You never change
You never fail, O God

True are Your Promises
True are Your Promises
You never change
You never fail, O God

So we raise up holy hands
To praise the holy one
Who was and is and is to come
Yeah, we raise up holy hands
To praise the holy one
Who was and is and is to come

Wide is Your love and grace
Wide is Your love and grace
You never change
You never fail, O God

You were, You are, You will always be
You were, You are, You will always be

So we raise up holy hands
To praise the holy one
Who was and is and is to come
So we raise up holy hands
To praise the holy one
Who was and is and is to come

In Christ,

David