Engraved

I am overwhelmed by how great God is. Everything He does is over the top. Think about the universe. It’s so big for a people so small. Think about the ocean it’s so deep we haven’t made it to the bottom yet. Think about the sun it’s so hot that if it was just a little bit closer we would all burn to death. Think about the hands of God, the Creator, the Life-Giver, the Author of Life—His hands pierced, His heart burst open, His love stretched wide open on a blood soaked cross. But look deeper . . .

I am excited about the New Year. I am excited to see the adventures, the struggles, the victories, and the life that lies ahead. The journey of 2010 is in God’s hands. My prayer is that this year is the year that I experience Him more, live for Him more, touch more lives, love Him more, love others more, follow Him into the unknown, jump into the river of life, run the race marked out for me better than ever before, and that my life becomes more and more a reflection of His life in me. We were made by Him and for Him. May our lives reflect that everyday. 

This week we are encouraging you to read through the book of Philippians. Today we move on to chapter 2. The goal is to spend time with God, not just read His Word like you are reading the US Tax Code. Ponder it. Listen to it. Meditate on it. Ask God to answer questions you are wrestling through. Apply it to your life. Be encouraged by it. Let it move you–transform your thinking. God’s Word is so rich and powerful, but we have to allow it to soak into our veins so that we live, breathe and move in His Word.

The mind never thinks without a picture.

-Aristotle

We are an image driven culture. There are thousands upon thousands of images that we are drowning in everyday. I believe this is why God continues to reveal Himself in tangible and visual ways. 

This is one of my favorite passages.

Ephesians 3:14-21

¹⁴For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,¹⁸may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ²⁰Now 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, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Don’t just go to the next page. Make this into a prayer, your prayer. (i.e. "Heavenly Father, I pray that out of your incredible, vast riches that you might strengthen my family with your power. Jesus, teach me to embrace the depth of Your love . . .")