bible

3 Thoughts From My Time With God

39 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Matthew 27:39-40 NKJV

1) Don’t misunderstand what Jesus says. The people thought he was talking about the physical temple building but He was talking about Himself. Think about all the things that happen as a result of misunderstandings. Do your best to get all the right information. Ask questions. Seek for the Truth. Look for the spiritual things beyond the physical things. How have you misunderstood what God is doing lately? Is there something you need to get clarification about?

2) If Jesus would have saved Himself, He wouldn’t have saved us. We have to get away from selfishness. Jesus was the most selfless person ever. He wasn’t trying or focused on saving Himself. How has self-preservation been your focus? In what ways have you been selfish?

3) If you are…sounds much like the temptations from the Devil in Matthew 4. The people thought if He would just come down from the cross that would have proven He was all that He said. Jesus wasn’t trying to prove anything to anyone. He had a mission and He accomplished it. Don’t get caught up in trying to be or do something to prove yourself. Do what God wants and created you to do. How have you been trying to prove your worth to God? Or others?

4 Ways God Connects With Us

connect with God

What would it be like if you knew a celebrity had called your phone but you missed it? Would you be sick to your stomach? Would you try to call back as soon as you realized you missed the call? I would dare to say that many of us would really hate to miss a call from someone of such stature. Yet, when we hear that God wants to connect with us, it seldom if at all excites our hearts. The crazy thing about a celebrity is that they may or may not try to connect with you ever again but God consistently seeks to convey His love and care about you. In fact He has given us 4 very clear ways that He is using to connect.

1) God connects with us through Creation.

The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Psalm 19:1

Psalm 19:1 makes it clear that even for the non-believer God is speaking a language everyone can understand. From the blue sky cradling the clouds to the night stars pinpointing God’s glory, all of creation is shouting there is a God seeking to connect with us. All that we see in the world around us is pointing us to a Creator; that’s the job of creation. This Creator wants to connect.

2) God connects with us through His Word.

Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes;
    and I will keep it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
    and observe it with my whole heart.
35 Lead me in the path of your commandments,
    for I delight in it. Psalm 119:33-35

No book in the history of mankind has the credentials of the Bible. With more than 6 billion copies printed, in close to 2000 languages worldwide, the Bible has been ridiculed and ostracized yet endured. God has made sure that His Word remained so that we would know Him and see how He is seeking to connect with us. God’s word conveys His thoughts, His commands, His will, His pleasure and His purpose. When we read God’s Word, God connects with us and teaches us about Himself.

3) God connects with us through Prayer.

3 ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:3

Prayer is not unique to our religion. People from all walks of life express prayers in some fashion whether it is called “self-talk” or meditation.  The difference for the Christian is that we have a God who actually connects with us through prayer answering very specifically to requests and desires. God invites us to call out to Him and to know His ways. Through prayer not only do we connect with God but He connects powerfully with us!

4) God connects with us through Christ.

1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. Hebrews 1:1-2

Jesus Christ is God’s ultimate attempt at connecting with us. Hebrews 1:1-2 directs our thoughts to God’s intention from the beginning. God uses various things to show us and connect but His grandest connection is made through the person of Jesus Christ. For the pre-believer to the old Saint, there is no other name under heaven whereby we can connect with God. Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, or any other religious leader cannot make the connection to God for us aside from the Lord Jesus Christ. God is using  Creation, The Bible, and Prayer to connect  with us but none of it matters apart from Jesus Christ.

God may not have “celebrity” status but He is truly the only famous one; and He is seeking to connect with you.