Presence in hot pursuit

Sharing this powerful and hopefully life changing word of encouragement from the Daily Devotion excerpt:  "Where Is God in the Darkness?"
by David Bowden, from "When God Isn't There"

Here is the part not to miss.  David says,

You may think that you have put too much distance between yourself and God over the years, but that is impossible. There is nowhere you can flee where God is not already present.

No matter how long it has been since you’ve pulled into the church parking lot. No matter how many times you’ve turned your back on Jesus. No matter how often you drop your cross to pick up old habits. No matter how far gone you think you are from God’s will. No matter how dark the night of your soul may be. You cannot run from heaven’s hound.

Your flight from God and His demand on your life is just as vain as Jonah’s flight to the ships sailing far from Nineveh. All your  life you may have thought it was you who was pursuing God, but all along it has been God pursuing you. So no matter how long it has been since you have looked toward the Father, no matter how absent you believe God is, neither the steps of your feet nor the sin of your life can move you one inch away from God’s love ... It may feel like absence now, but Presence is hot on your trail — even though it may come upon you like a storm.

The Lord God is my Strength

— adapted from Dennis Rainey

"Our joy and contentment doesn't have to be taken away by the bleak clouds of winter", or the trying winds and thunderous roar of life's storms, "or the long wait until our next vacation." As beloved and loved and highly favored children of God, our well-being and joy are radically independent of our current, past and future circumstances.

"Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength" (Habakkuk 3:17-19).

God is there with us every day of the year. His love is both unconditional and inescapable!  May we be washed and anointed with the oil of gladness.

Unsavory characters - like me

"The Bible tells us that Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Matt 11:18)."
In fact the Scriptures frequently describe that He hung out with many "unsavory characters."  Thankfully, I am one of those unsavory characters saved by His bold audacious grace.

Being grateful

May we find time this week to be grateful for and enjoy the "unexplainable mysteries" and undeserved grace of God.

May we each "not obsess over what we don't have," but rather joyfully and deliberately treasure the "breath of life given to us by an all-wise God who has chosen to share His life" and joy with us.

May our "Creator, who breathed His own life into our handful of earth," continue to share with us His eternal existence, His unconditional love, and His unending joy.

May we recall with fondness and gratitude the love of Christ Jesus, who came to our rescue and offered us a restored relationship with Him through the cross. And may we abide in His "salvation and grace as it come to us each day with its offering of hope," thrills, joy — and a life of freeing forgiveness and relentless love.

Adapted from Mart DeHaan

Desperately needed

We are desperately poor, utterly dependent on grace, and God, the Lord Almighty, has taken notice of us.