​God doesn't owe us anything-
yet in His grace, He still gives us good things.
- Billy Graham

​ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

1. Because God is spirit...I will seek intimate fellowship with Him.
2. Because God is all-powerful...He can help me with anything.
3. Because God is ever-present...He is always with me.
4. Because God knows everything...I will go to Him with all my questions and concerns.
5. Because God is sovereign...I will joyfully submit to His will.
6. Because God is holy...I will devote myself to Him in purity, worship and service.
7. Because God is absolute truth...I will believe what He says and live accordingly.
8. Because God is righteous...I will live by His standards.
9. Because God is just...He will treat me fairly.
10. Because God is love...He is unconditionally committed to my well-being. Because God is merciful...He forgives me of my sins when I sincerely confess them.
11. Because God is faithful...I will trust Him to always keep His promises.
12. Because God never changes...my future is secure and eternal.

- Dr. William R. Bright

Because God is all that I need I trust in Him.  He is all I need.  He is whatever I need.  In my needy state God came and abundantly met all my needs in Christ Jesus. He is good and He is all we ever need.

​

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits - who forgive all your sins and
heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love
and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so your youth is renewed
like the eagles’s. 
Psalms 103: 2 – 5 ​

The Holy Spirit is still willing to heal physical, psychological and spiritual illnesses, including those resulting from genetics, germs, accidents, birth defects, addictions, sinful choices and demons.  In some cases, Jesus Christ is the only way to find healing, because doctors don’t have cures for every condition.  Bottom line:  Jesus Christ can heal anyone, of anything, at any time! 

Healing occurs not because we are good or bad but because God is so good.  IT is the goodness of God that leads a man to repentance.  God wants to heal you.  He uses men and women of God to heal people, oils, cloths, prayer, laying on of hands, the faith of the individual and the word of God just to name a few ways God has chosen to heal His people.

God is all good and keeps all His promises.  It is also true that most of His promises are “conditional”, according to the Bible.  Understand, it is not God’s desire or will that people to get diseases, have deformities or accidents. He doesn’t will us to do evil, lie, steal or murder.  Read the “Ten Commandments” .  This basic pattern for life gives us a clear picture of God’s ideal will for us. Many of the problems and illnesses faced by mankind today would disappear from our lives if we would obey God and ask for forgiveness and forgive others.  Sin results in death, destruction and illness and even accidents. Jesus Himself made the connection between illness and sin when He told people after healing them to “sin no more less a worse thing come upon you”. 
Does a good human father want bad things to happen to his children?  No.  Then, why do many people blame God for everything bad that happens in this world?  It is because Satan puts this thought in their minds because he wants mankind to reject Jesus Christ and His promises. 

Find out more about what God says in His word about His will for us by reading His word.  Once you know the word of God then we must war with the word and stand on the word of God believing we can have what the word says.

Sometimes it is in the valley that we find the greatest blessings.  When everything is going right we often fail to look up and see that it is the goodness of God.  I have found that far too many look up only when something goes wrong and then they want to blame God.  A terrible storm comes or a tragic accident and they shake their fist at God and scream, "How can a loving God do this to me?" When in fact they fail to recognize that God had nothing to do with it.

John 10:10 (ASV) The thief cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have [it] abundantly.

The Bible tells us that we perish for lack of knowledge.  

Hosea 4:6 (NIV) "my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children."

Many lives have turned against God never to return to Him because they blamed Him for something Satan did.  God doesn't need another flower or angel in Heaven so He takes our loved ones.  God can make a flower when ever He chooses.  He wants us to have long life and a life of abundance.

1 Timothy 2:4 (KJV) "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."

God is a good God and He desires that we all be saved and live with Him in eternity where there are no tears.  He desires that we have Heaven on earth.

Revelation 21:4 (NIV) "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

The next time you are hurting. The next time tears fall from your eyes remember in Heaven that won't happen because God is good. He loves you. If you are hurting today look up all the scriptures that talk about His goodness and I  guarantee in no time at all you will feel better.

Here is a prayer for you to pray:

​Matthew 6:9–13 (ESV) "Pray then like this: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'"

Some things we never out grow!  Salvation is one of them.  God is so good He sent His only son to die for us that we might live forever with Him.  God wanted children.  He wants you and I to be with Him.  

I want my kids to be around me all the time. Then when grandkids came along I wanted them around me too.  I've decided that's God's nature in me.  I am becoming more like God each day because I choose to hang out with Him on a daily basis.

Psalm 145: 8-9 (KJV) "8 The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy.9 The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. "

Let’s just look at another area today that God’s goodness can be seen.

His goodness is seen through Salvation:John 3:16-17 (KJV) "16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

Romans 2:4 (KJV) "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?"

Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4: 10 (KJV) “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

God sent His only Son to give the world living water! ( Even to a prostitute.) So we can see in just these few scriptures how very good God is.  He is full of compassion, slow to anger and merciful and if that were not enough He sent His son to save us all from satans power.

I love that the word of God tells of His goodness but the fact that we can experience His goodness for ourselves is even greater news. 

​When someone is good to me I want to be good back.  I look for ways to bless the person that showed me kindness in whatever ways I can.  God is the same way only better.  He wants to bless us even though we are not good or kind or even in a position to receive a blessing.  

Look for areas that God has been good to you and thank Him for it.  Gratitude goes a long way.  

 am your typical grandmother.  When I buy a dozen donuts for my daughter and son-in-love I am going to pick out the biggest and most special donut and hand it to my grandson.  When my daughter says, "Mom cut it in half", I will pretend I didn't hear her; and hand it to my lil man.  This being said, I did exactly that.  

Several days went by and someone else brought donuts to my daughter's home.  As soon as my lil man saw them he exclaimed, "Nonna Cakes!!!"  My heart melted.  This little man of mine thinks his Nonna made those cakes just for him.  I will never tell him any different.  His gratefulness has caused me to want to bring this lil man of mine donuts every time I see him. He saw me as the creator of "The Donut". In the eyes of a child we see things differently.

As a child of God how do you see your Creator?  Do you see Him as the giver of good gifts? Or the man with a hammer?  Do you see Him as the one that gives you the desires of your heart abundantly more than you could think or asks?  Because that is exactly who He is, He is the one who loves you more than you could ever be loved.  

​Do not equate anyone in this life to God the Father.  Flesh and blood can not compare with the heart of God.  He loves us so much He gave His only son what more could He do to prove His love for you and me?

Psalm 37:4 "4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV) "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

​Join me all this week as we talk about the "Goodness of God".

All this week we have been looking at the reality of being in Christ. There are over 235 scripture references to being ""In Him" and all that entails.  I have barely skimmed the surface of all that God has done for us through Jesus Christ.  It is my prayer that you would continue to study the scriptures I gave you on Monday on the first blog I posted in the series.  Today we will look at just two of those on that list.

We have wisdom from God (1 Corinthians 1:30)
Our labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58)

We have wisdom from God and our labor is not in vain.  These are two I personally like to claim everyday.  I do not want to operate on what I know alone. In the women's group I founded, "Women of Witness" we have a saying we all like called "OPE" it stands for other people's experiences.  I do not want to learn everything the hard way.  I also don't want to have to experience everything the hard way on my own.  I personally would rather someone else teach me what I don't know and spare me the pain, heartache and embarrassment of making mistakes because I was untaught and ignorant.  The Bible teaches us that: "my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children" Hosea 4:6

I want what I do to count.  It is my desire that I need not have a list of "do overs" in my life.  If I can have the wisdom of God then what I do (my labor) will not be done in vain.  "Do it right the first time", I have always been told and I believe that is what most people want to do. So then why do so many 
"labor in vain" if you will? Because they lack the knowledge of what to do the first time.  If you knew that if you drove the car without oil you would destroy the car wisdom would say, "Go get your oil checked" before you drive the car and wisdom would do that.  If however you drove the car in ignorance and blew up the motor you would have acquired more knowledge about cars and you would have to find another mode of transportation for a while.  I would rather the wisdom of God speak to me and tell me Himself or through others and then me be wise enough to make the proper decision to obey and chose a different route.

So how do we get this wisdom from God so that we will not labor in vain among many other things wisdom would protect us from and direct us to?  By being in Christ.  By allowing God's word to change our ways. When we are taught we are often instructed by repetition. We heard things over and over again. We saw things over and over again.  We wrote things over and over again.  It is the same with the word of God for the most part. But it doesn't end there.  Because we are in Him and He is in us we can have access to wisdom that we were not taught yet. We can reach over into the spiritual dimension and tap into wisdom far beyond human comprehension.  The book of Proverbs is a great place to begin to read and memorize.  Here is just a few scriptures you may find helpful:

Proverbs 11:30 (KJV) "​The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise." Once you begin to meditate on these word you realize the wise know what is ahead for those that die without being in Him and that if one does right to win others to Christ then because they become the rooted in Christ the fruit is they will live forever.

Here is another one:  Proverbs 13:20 (NIV) "Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm."  My parents always reminded us five children of this when we were little.  They had all sorts of ways of saying this. One was hang around on the bank long enough and your bound to fall in!  We got the point and this bit of wisdom has steered all of us in the right direction. We are blessed because we heeded wisdom.

My prayer for you today is that you would be filled with the wisdom and knowledge of God.  I pray you would not labor in vain but receive great rewards for all that you do.

​

I have heard a sermon preached by Louie Giglio on Laminin.  It is worth repeating and giving my blog space to have you read it perhaps for the first time. 

Colossians 1:16-17 says, “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Laminin is a cell adhesion molecule. It’s the stuff that holds the membranes of our bodies together. Read about laminin on Wikipedia. A diagram of its’ structure is to the right. Isn’t it something that the shape of the “glue” that holds us together is in the form of a cross?

Psalm 139:14 says, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And we do have such an awesome God that is in all the details of our life. Such details as shaping the glue that holds us together in the form of a cross.

Jesus died a horrible death on a cross to set us free from sin and to give us an eternal life. He also died to give us an abundant life here on this earth. As we know him more and more deep in our hearts he can set us free from addictions, pain and all the stuff that keeps us in chains. And He wants to be the ‘glue’ that keeps us together on the inside and makes us a whole person.

Jesus wants to hold us all together like glue. I hope you know Him and have experienced His love. If you have questions about the Christian faith or want to know more about Jesus and His love, I hope you’ll contact me.

​John 8:34-36 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. "The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Galatians 4:5-7 To redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Being completely conformed to the likeness of God's Son is something that we look forward to in the future, although the transformation is happening now gradually. Being adopted among many brothers is something that we have now. The minute you become a Christian, you have intimacy of relationship. You have an unconditional relationship. You become wealthy, because everything that Jesus Christ has accomplished is transferred to you. You become beautiful and spiritually rich in him.

Some people are put off by Paul's language of adoption because it's gender insensitive. They argue, "Wouldn't it be better to say that we become sons and daughters of God?" It would, but that misses the whole point. Some time ago, a woman helped me understand this. She was raised in a non-Western family from a very traditional culture. There was only one son in the family, and it was understood in her culture that he would receive most of the family's provisions and honor. In essence, they said, "He's the son; you're just a girl." That's just the way it was.

One day she was studying a passage on adoption in Paul's writings. She suddenly realized that the apostle was making a revolutionary claim. Paul lived in a traditional culture just like she did. He was living in a place where daughters were second-class citizens. When Paul said—out of his own traditional culture—that we are all sons in Christ, he was saying that there are no second-class citizens in God's family. When you give your life to Christ and become a Christian, you receive all the benefits a son enjoys in a traditional culture. As a white male, I've never been excluded like that. As a result, I didn't see the sweetness of this welcome. I didn't recognize all the beauty of God's subversive and revolutionary promise that raises us to the highest honor by adopting us as his sons.
​
Our adoption means we are loved like Christ is loved. We are honored like he is honored—every one of us—no matter what. Your circumstances cannot hinder or threaten that promise. In fact, your bad circumstances will only help you understand and even claim the beauty of that promise. The more you live out who you are in Christ, the more you become like him in actuality. Paul is not promising you better life circumstances; he is promising you a far better life. He's promising you a life of greatness. He is promising you a life of joy. He's promising you a life of humility. He's promising you a life of nobility. He's promising you a life that goes on forever.

Tim Keller, in his sermon "The Christian's Happiness," PreachingToday.com 

The Bible teaches that for us who are In Christ...There is no condemnation for us (Romans 8:1)​

Michael Breissen was a new father, and he was not about to let his wife’s first Mother’s Day pass uncelebrated. But she was a nurse, and on that particular Sunday was working at the local hospital, and they weren’t able to celebrate together at home. So Michael plunked his new son, Jason, in the baby carrier, drove to the hospital, and in front of all the patients and co-workers he surprised Miriam with candy and flowers and balloons that said, "World’s Greatest Mom."

It was a great Mother’s Day. But after celebrating, it was time for Miriam to go back to work, and Jason and Michael to go back home. Michael gathered all the things that had been part of the celebration: the candy, flowers, and balloons. It wasn’t as much fun taking those things out to the car as it was taking them in to the hospital for the surprise. He begrudgingly tossed the candy on the front seat and got the flowers arranged on the floor where they wouldn’t tip over. He pulled the balloons in out of the wind and got everything arranged, and headed home.

On the way home, people began to honk their horns and flash their lights at him. He didn’t realize what was going on until he hit 55 miles per hour on the highway. He heard a long scraping noise go down the roof, followed by a loud thump. He watched in horror in the rearview mirror as the baby carrier bounced off the trunk onto the highway and began to slide along behind the car.

Michael screeched to a halt. He ran back down the highway to the baby carrier. Jason was okay. As the waves of guilt and fear and relief began to wash over him, Michael fell on the highway and began to sob, which did not stop a passing policeman from writing him up, nor the local newspaper from writing a story about it. A reporter interviewed Miriam, who showed amazing understanding. She said, "It’s so unlike him. He really is a good father."

While there’s a part of us that says, "How could he?" there’s another part of us that relates to Michael Breissen. We recognize all the mistakes we have made, the dumb things we have done born out of hurry or frustration or distraction. We know that there is enough Michael Breissen in us that we could be guilty of such things too. It’s all part of being human.

So if you are human and have done something dumb you are not alone.  Maybe you didn't get written up but you feel as if your life is ripped up take some time and read those scriptures I gave you yesterday and remind yourself who you are "IN HIM".​

All this week we will be talking about what it means to be "In Him" or in Christ.  There are many scriptures and many songs about this topic and we won't be able to cover them all but I will do my best to give you a brief over view. Thanks for joining me and please let others know how they can join us too.

The best place to start is in the scriptures. I am including scriptures at the end with the hope that you will print them and put them up where you can see them and read them and let them get down on the inside of you.  

Your fingerprint is unique to you — it’s a physical mark of your identity. What about your personal identity? What defines who you are?

Imagine if the cross of Jesus Christ was the most dominant marking of your self-image? You’d know that you are so loved! You’d be so stable and confident! You’d be enthusiastically sharing the grace of the Lord with everyone you could!

The Apostle Paul prayed for you “that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him” (Ephesians 3:17, NLT).  He knew that receiving Christ into our heart-dwelling was the beginning of growing into God’s way of abundant living.

But Paul wanted us grow beyond the great blessing of receiving Christ in me. He showed us that Christ was welcoming us into His home, to live with Him and in Him, to live in his way and for his glory, to be a blessing to Him and to other people in his name. We’re invited to live free in Christ! 

In Christ is your true identity, your complete freedom to be who God has made and redeemed you to be! In Christ. That’s the key to your life! The Apostle Paul implores us to live our lives in Christ. He lives this way himself, boasting, “I glory in Christ” (Romans 5:17). In fact, in his epistles he encourages us to be “in Christ,” “in him,” or “in the Lord” 160 times! 

That’s 160 identity in Christ verses in the Epistles and I think there are 235 "In Him Scriptures" in the entire Bible.  Paul says it again and again and again.  In Christ… In Christ… In Christ…

What does it mean to have your identity in Christ? It’s not just a matter of claiming Bible verses for yourself! To have your identity in Christ means that you’re placing your confidence for life and eternity in the Lord Jesus Christ. To be in Christ means you’re learning to do all that you do with and for Jesus in the Kingdom of God. It means that you’re being formed into the image of the Lord and you want other people to see Jesus when they look at you (Galatians 4:19)


I am complete in Him Who is the Head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:10).

I am alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5).

I am free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

I am far from oppression, and fear does not come near me (Isaiah 54:14).

I am born of God, and the evil one does not touch me (1 John 5:18).

I am holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:16).

I have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2:5).

I have the peace of God that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).

I have the Greater One living in me; greater is He Who is in me than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

I have received the gift of righteousness and reign as a king in life by Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17).

I have received the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus, the eyes of my understanding being enlightened (Ephesians 1:17-18).

I have received the power of the Holy Spirit to lay hands on the sick and see them recover, to cast out demons, to speak with new tongues.  I have power over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm me (Mark 16:17-18; Luke 10:17-19).

I have put off the old man and have put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of Him Who created me (Colossians 3:9-10).

I have given, and it is given to me; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, men give into my bosom (Luke 6:38).

I have no lack for my God supplies all of my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

I can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one with my shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16).

I can do all things through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:13)

I show forth the praises of God Who has called me out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

I am God’s child for I am born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, which lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23).

I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ unto good works (Ephesians 2:10).

I am a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

I am a spirit being alive to God (Romans 6:11;1 Thessalonians 5:23).

I am a believer, and the light of the Gospel shines in my mind (2 Corinthians 4:4).

I am a doer of the Word and blessed in my actions (James 1:22,25).

I am a joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17).

I am more than a conqueror through Him Who loves me (Romans 8:37).

I am an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony (Revelation 12:11).

I am a partaker of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4).

I am an ambassador for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20).

I am part of a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people (1 Peter 2:9).

I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

I am the temple of the Holy Spirit; I am not my own (1 Corinthians 6:19).

I am the head and not the tail; I am above only and not beneath (Deuteronomy 28:13).

I am the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).

I am His elect, full of mercy, kindness, humility, and longsuffering (Romans 8:33; Colossians 3:12).

I am forgiven of all my sins and washed in the Blood (Ephesians 1:7).

I am delivered from the power of darkness and translated into God’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13).

I am redeemed from the curse of sin, sickness, and poverty (Deuteronomy 28:15-68; Galatians 3:13).

I am firmly rooted, built up, established in my faith and overflowing with gratitude (Colossians 2:7).

I am called of God to be the voice of His praise (Psalm 66:8; 2 Timothy 1:9).

I am healed by the stripes of Jesus (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24).

I am raised up with Christ and seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 2:12).

I am greatly loved by God (Romans 1:7; Ephesians 2:4; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4).

I am strengthened with all might according to His glorious power (Colossians 1:11).

I am submitted to God, and the devil flees from me because I resist him in the Name of Jesus (James 4:7).

I press on toward the goal to win the prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward (Philippians 3:14).

For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

It is not I who live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20).

This weeks challenge is to see how many "In Him" Scriptures you can find on your own in the Bible. If you Tweet lets start the #InHim and see what happens.