Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11:3, Genesis 1:1-31, John 1:1-5, Colossians 1:15-23, 2 Corinthians 4:6
After you finish reading today’s scriptures, come back and use the blurb and question here to dig deeper into the themes of faith, hope, obedience, and suffering. Join your fellow Bible readers in the comments to reflect and chat about what you’re learning!
To believe that what Scripture says is true—from the creation account to the hope of eternity with God—requires faith. The proof of our faith is found in Jesus Himself; He is the fullness of God who came to earth and gave us peace through His blood.
What aspects of God’s character stood out to you, challenged you, or encouraged you from today’s reading?
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181 thoughts on "By Faith We Understand"
I pray for faith Lord. I pray that you will steer me in the direction of your choosing. I am at a cross roads and thought you had told me the path you wanted. Now I’m having a financial wobble and I pray that you will speak to me and my faith will stay strong in the words you have given me!
These verses really stood out to me be cause what he has has to come to life. There is no other option… yet he gives us option and free will. Lord your word in our lives will come to pass. Take rest in that. Have peace in that. Surrender to that. There is no need to worry. Hear what he says about you and wait.
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He is the light. His power to think and create the things that led us being here today. He is intentional with every detail.
All things were indeed made for his Glory , and to glorify him .
I often think of the darkness in my own heart. I think about the deeb black hole that likes to consume everything in its path in search of being satiated. Nothing ever does satiate because the light from consumption is not all powerful.
However, I imagine Christ, the Son of Light stepping into that black hole and illuminating it like no one else could see or make sense of. I imagine it’s so awe filled that I can’t look away and when I look at the light of Christ, there are no more dark spaces that I’ll try to fill with other things.
Faith is difficult. A lot of this reading is difficult to believe, yet faith speaks through Christ.
I think of this verse when I lose faith about the things I can’t see
It amazes me how God filled every little thing is on earth. From the complexity of how plants work to the clouds in the sky to the stars perfectly placed at night. There is never just 100% darkness even at night. Thank you Lord for your light and life you breath into everything
It is always awesome to realize the power of God. God has to do nothing but speak! That’s how powerful God is. That realization always gets me. I’m so thankful for the faith God has poured in me my the power of His Son Jesus Christ.
In Genesis, when God continued to see that His creation(s) are good. After every creation, He saw that it was good.
It just amazes me how God can use our stupidity for his glory and honor. I am reminded that God made the universe and galaxies just because he can.
God made me and when I look at the universe around me, I can be in awe of His power and miracles
Always in awe that the God who made the universe also made me
His desire to reconcile and when He chose to reconcile us to Himself!
His creativity, authority, thoughtfulness, kindness, and love
It gives me hope to read that Jesus is the firstborn from the dead. It means those that have been lost will live again. Even if people die, it is not the end because Jesus rose from the dead.
The reminder that “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together”- there is nothing that has happened in the past or will happen in the future that He hasn’t gone before me in. And because He has gone before me, and is before all things- He is the only one able to hold all things (including my family, my marriage, my children, myself, my circumstances, my dreams, my desires, etc) together.
I have found it much more comforting to surrender or yield when I remember this truth!
Amen!
The verses in the reading remind me of Romans 1:20-21:
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
I am in awe of God’s creation regularly, even as I study a simple dandelion and see its design and intricacy. Our God is making Himself known to all mankind and has since the beginning of time.
Rereading Genesis always brings such awe to my heart because how amazing everything that God created is. How He designed the Earth, the animals, and us!! And the fact that we are made in His image is just so comforting. Like you’re telling me that God, this MASSIVE infinite being, wanted to create me.. in HIS image?? Wow – we aren’t even deserving of having that considering all the sin that covers the world, yet He loves us anyways and continues to create humans every time a mother gives birth. Just so beautiful.
Amen ❤️
Jesus is Light and the darkness WILL NEVER overcome Him. No matter what is going on in our life or world as a whole the Light wins because He has already conquered death!
I’m writing this in hopes that someone will reply with something encouraging. I find myself doubting God’s realness when I read the book of Genesis. Especially the very beginning. I just can’t wrap my mind around how there was absolutely nothing and God was there. Where did God come from then? This is something that’s always attacked me when I read this particular part of scripture. Truthfully, I usually avoid it for that reason. Maybe God put it in today’s lesson for someone to help me.
Thanks for your honesty! The phrase from the gospels, “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief” came to mind (Mark 9:24). I love how in Hebrews here it says “by faith we understand.” It is good to press into those uncomfortable questions/passages and ask God to give you assurance of what’s true as you read his word- the disciples in the gospels asked him their hard questions too. What I love about the Genesis passage is how it shows us God’s power, authority, and compassion; maybe it’s helpful to read the last book of Revelation after it too- the book-ends of what God god has revealed to us about who he is and who we are. I would encourage you to talk to someone in your church, maybe read Jen Wilkin’s “None Like Him” (about God’s attributes), and to keep asking God to build your faith in who he is as you read his word!
What you said is so true, we can’t wrap our minds around it because our minds aren’t able to comprehend infinity. We are finite beings because that’s how God created us. How wild there was not even time before God created it. That’s faith though, believing in something that we can’t see or doesn’t make sense. In our finite minds all questions need answers, need reason, need explanation. God knows we are like this and He so wants you to bring your questions to Him! He is big enough, strong enough, and tough enough to handle anything you can throw at Him. Don’t be scared to bring your doubts to Him, he desires honesty. He already knows your heart and desires to bring clarity, peace, and truth to places you give Him.
In my mind, your question would fall into what I call “the mysteries of God.” I know that my finite human mind cannot comprehend or get all the answers to questions I may have this side of heaven, and that’s ok. I believe there’s so much that will be revealed when this fallen earth is no longer our home, it will just blow our mind! Faith in what is unseen is the belief in God’s power and goodness beyond what can be perceived by the human senses. It is the trust that God has things in store that are far beyond what is visible and knowable in our human minds. I pray this is helpful to you and gives you peace, Sarah.
Ask Him to help you with your unbelief. He will do it. There are many things that blow my mind in the Bible but I remind myself that His ways are above my ways. I choose to trust because He has shown up and proven His realness to me time after time even though He doesn’t have to prove anything. In His mercy, He does. Having questions and struggling to fully accept is normal but God is faithful even in revealing Himself to us. Every single breathe we take is given by God. Something about that just fills me with gratitude and peace. I hope it does the same for you. Thank you for being vulnerable.
I’m not theologian or major Bible scholar and understand that this may come across as cliche but I’ve had the same thoughts and what I keep coming back to is the scripture in Isaiah that says that His thoughts are higher than are thoughts and His ways than our ways. He’s God. We literally physically cannot think like Him or comprehend Him fully because we are finite humans. It’s only by the Grace of God that we can be saved and have a relationship with Him. Some things in the Bible we can never fully know or comprehend and those are the things that we just believe are true based on faith and nothing else. We believe what He says He is and what He said He did simply because He said it. If it weren’t true then God would be a liar and we do not serve a lying God
Love this!
John 1:3 says “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” He is the God of the universe and so much bigger than us, so of course He was there before the earth! And how kind of Him to choose to create us. Sometimes I wonder how long He was there before He started making the earth. Or what He was doing. Was there another planet before??
I think it’s a difficult concept for anyone to wrap their head around! We are limited in our understanding by the dimensions of time and space, how can we conceptualize something without beginning or ending? Something I have tried to do over the years when I feel doubt or disbelief reading scripture is to ask god, question him – rather than pushing it away and saying I believe whether I do or not – ask him, he went to the cross to open the barrier between us so that like children on a fathers knees we have the safety to come to him and ask him to teach us and show us about himself. He may not answer with a science or history lesson of himself but he will give us answer. One other thing that has stuck out to me lately- is being ok with not being able to know everything. If god is god, he is beyond us- we are lesser beings than him and in our greatest wisdom we still know less than a newborn baby in comparison to him. Not exactly what u asked for, but hope it can help :)
Hi ❤️ I can totally relate to this. One thing I’ve learned in my spiritual journey is that God didn’t create us with the intention of us having all the answers. If we did, we wouldn’t need faith to believe. Try not to focus on the how and just trust that he DID. and when we get to heaven , all of your questions just might be revealed to you!
I am reminded that without darkness there is no light. I like to think of that when I’m going through hard times.
Such a simple reminder. But how quickly we forget this. Thank you for sharing this!
In.the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. John 1:1-5
He creates light out of darkness reminds me he can create good even from bad things.
I see that God is a God of purpose he did things in a way that he planned out.
I am reminded that like all his creations, I cannot fathom the plan he has for me. He is all knowing and the great light. This feeds my faith!
He is light in the darkness. He is all powerful. Nothing not even death can stop him or his plan. He turns all things to good.
His sheer power to think and create the things that have led to us being here as humans today. The details are immense!
I love Colossians 1:15-23! It’s a phenomenal reminder of who exactly Christ is! When we put him in his rightful place in our lives, we have peace knowing He holds it together
I struggle with trying to control every aspect of my life and find myself with overwhelming emotion when it comes to things unseen or unknown. Today’s reading showed me that I really need to change my way of thinking so that god is in control, bring the creator I know he has a plan for me.
I struggle with this too. I was reminded by the reading in Genesis that God is very methodical. He didn’t create man until he had structures in place where man could survive. He knew that they’d need animals, because he already knew about the fall…. When I’m frustrated about where I am, I need to trust that God is orchestrating the structures .
What really stood out to me was that our amazing God took His time with creation. He was thoughtful and discerning. He could have done it all at once, but He did it in steps, evaluated, and built on it. He was patient. To me, that is a beautiful demonstration of His deep and undeserved love for us. He wanted to give us something good, and He did.
Christ is love. Christ is intentional. Christ is grace. These are the characteristics I noticed while reading these passages — reminded as I am reading that he is not just about these things; he is.
Someone once told me “ we are not about Christ; we are in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
What really encouraged me was John 1 :5 the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Is just a reminder that we have the power to defeat the darkness and not let the enemy make me feel differently
God’s power stood out to me in the creation story. The power to create skies and seas and land. He still has that much power today. Colossians 1:17 says by Him all things hold together. Including us. Whatever we feel is going to consume us or tear us down, God who was powerful enough to create the universe is holding us together.
It stood out to me that GOD has a plan… Everything that he does and will do is designed to be perfect. We may not understand it but we have to get with GOD’S program…
God created us all in his own image and it makes me think of myself. I like to plan things out and although I’ll never be perfect it gives me a sense of peace. When my plans are delayed. I try not to get upset or anxious because I know I have to wait for the Lord… I don’t mind waiting for the Lord… We have draw close to the Lord and wait..
In reading the creation account today, God’s supremacy was so comforting to me. Our lives are held by the one who “is before all things, and by him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17)
Not sure how to say this sensibly but “The Word” and the depth of meaning whenever “word” is used always has me meditating. That “word “ represents speaking the world into existence, the presence of Christ at its creation, scripture, Jesus himself, that it is alive and active, sharper than a two edged sword etc…! The Word is multi layered with Christ and God and Spirit all embedded into it. Amazingly rich and deeply moving for me
Jesus is our light in the darkness. So thankful he loved us enough to bring His light to this world so we could be with Him in now and in eternity ❤️
I’ve been blessed enough to travel to breathtakingly beautiful places. And knowing that the God who made and shaped this incredible Earth also made me is both humbling and amazing at the same time!
♥️
I saw intentionality here. There was a reason and a purpose for everything that was created ❤️
It stood out to me that I am made in his image. God set out to do something and he did it! That was it. I have a habit of doing the opposite or being afraid to execute a concept or something that I have come up with. But as long as I stay in Hill will in communication with Him. Even if it doesn’t work out, there is still something there for me to learn from because He ALWAYS has a plan!
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” This verse encouraged me because it is a reminder that no matter how discouraged this world can make us feel at times, darkness cannot overcome the light of Christ. Holding on to this truth is an act of faith.
I love knowing that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were with God from the very beginning. The Trinity is something I believe in, but don’t fully understand. However, I’ve always loved that about God. He is so great that my finite mind can’t comprehend his greatness.
He created all that exists with just His Word! And then that Word became flesh, walked this earth, breathed, ate, slept and spent time with his friends just like we do. He then died for us, rose from the dead, hung around for a while, then ascended to heaven whilst leaving His Spirit to be with us until He returns. My goodness, what an amazingly powerful, loving, creative God we have.
Love everybody’s comments today! @Jennifer Anapol – I agree God is so creative in his love and abundance for us. What a great reminder.
How often do you look up and around you in nature and think “ Wow, God. You really out did yourself “… My daughter and I have taken on the 1000 hours outside challenge where within a year we try to be together outside, 1000 hours within a year. We have almost made it.. everyday we spend a few hours outside and I am brought back to a child like wonder and think “ how great is our God “. Leaves changing, a beautiful sunset, birds and creatures all around. And to think when God was creating our beautiful world he was also creating YOU, dear She’s! We live in a world of uncertainty and there are a lot of bad things that occur.. some scary situations and I am not trying to negate from those things. But when I look for it… I can see what God has created and that is just glorious!
I love how creative God is! I love how he made everything and everyone and sees all of his creation as good. Even though the world around us and we ourselves are flawed, he is brining us and the world back into what and who we were made to be. ❤️
I have been trying to get to this community all day long, and I still haven’t managed to finish the readings, but I have an urgent prayer request: I have had so much pain and so much trauma trying to get my basic medical needs met in the past few days that I am about to completely crumble. This afternoon it got worse in a completely unexpected way; I called my son’s audiologist to ask a couple of questions about the differences in 2 models of hearing aids she recommended for him so I could choose one. I had already reminded her that I was heavily medicated because I was recovering from surgery, so I might struggle to process information, but asked her to bear with me. I was trying to clarify that we were speaking of the same model when she angrily accused me of SCREAMING at her. I literally had not even raised my voice. There was no unusual background noise that I could hear. I felt like the whole world was going crazy, even more so than the regular crazy of the world! I finally had to end the conversation before I actually did scream, but I let her know I didn’t understand what she was talking about, and I didn’t appreciate the way she treated me. I guess I will order the hearing aids tomorrow, but I have no idea how to get the information I want if a person whose livelihood is aural communication cannot understand my questions. And I wonder if the trauma will ever stop coming.
I’m so sorry for all this frustration you are going through. Praying you can rest and try again tomorrow.
Praying for you now!!
Margaret, surrounding you with prayer, sister.
What always stands out to me is God has always had a plan to be in communion with us. Jesus was always the plan ❤️
What stood out for me is the power of His spoken word. Yesterday on 40 days of prayer for our nation was a prayer for the sanctity of life. Marshall Segal wrote: “The cause for life began at creation when God made man and woman in His image and gave us dominion over every other created thing. And God punctuated the cause for life when he chose to enter the womb Himself for our sake. Can you imagine an ultrasound of the living God at two weeks, or twenty weeks, or full term?”
What a powerful visual of imagining Jesus in the womb! He was the Living God before time…and now, a fetus in the womb of a young virgin, then gave up His human life on a cross so we might have eternal life. Cause for thought for sure. By the way, there was a beautiful full hunter’s supermoon last night!! The heavens declare His glory!!
Do any of you get frustrated with trying to figure out who to study the most, who to know the best, who to pray to – God, Jesus or Holy Spirit?? Am I the only one?? I get on these binges where I feel like I need to study Jesus more, then I switch to God… and then I feel like I don’t know Holy Spirit very well… and it’s just too much…but I love Colossians 1:15 and 19, where it says that Jesus is the image of God, and God is pleased with that. I don’t really think any of them get offended if I being my prayer with one name or the other, because they are One, and yet separate, which is just too much for my mind to handle.
Kris, I understand. I start my daily prayer with thanks to the father (listing specifics), then I thank Jesus for his sacrifice and grace+, then the Holy Spirit. I ask the HS for ears to hear, eyes to see and an open heart to know from whom I hear and guidance for my day. Maybe this will be helpful for you.❤️
Yes! I started praying to all three at some point bc I felt like I was neglecting Jesus. Sounds silly to say out loud lol. But I like to start my prayers with thanking the father for sending the son, and thank Jesus for giving us access to the holy Spirit, and thank the spirit for teaching me and guiding me. But I do feel like I tend to talk to God the father the most. Even though I visualize Jesus talking back or walking with me.
Jesus, God’s Word wrapped in flesh!
His thoughtfulness. Everything he had created had a purpose to serve us. This goes to show how big his love is for us.❤️
God said it. It was so. And it was good.
Remembering God’s promises to us will be so and they will be so very good!!
What stood out to me? God’s ability to create the universe out of nothing demonstrates his power and authority. And he created everything, including me. I am pleased with how he made me. I am valuable to him.
That he is absolutely amazing and just in awe of how he created heaven and earth
The power of God and His word is apparent. He spoke everything into existence. This is just an awwww moment for me. How powerful and life giving is His word(s)?
I was encouraged by the fact that God took pleasure in dwelling through Jesus to bring reconciliation to us all. I know Jesus is God, but seeing God as taking pleasure in us specifically really shows His fatherly aspects.
That caught my eye this morning, too! I can’t remember really’seeing’ it before when reading those verses. Thanks for mentioning it! ❤
It is amazing to me that God Almighty was not only willing but happy to live His life in Christ’s body. To humble Himself from a heavenly body to limited perishing flesh and blood is amazing love!
Same reply here as I just posted on Miranda’s comment above. ❤
The aspect of God’s character that stood out most to me in today’s reading was God’s gift of reconciliation. He knew that after all the work of creation that mankind would sin. He lovingly made provision for our sin. He did not leave us in our mess. Thank you God!
He knew what we would need if he gave us free will—and yet he still chose to give us free will!
Yes! Nothing surprises our God. So thankful for that.
What aspects of God’s character stood out to you, challenged you, or encouraged you from today’s reading?
What stood out to me is how vast our Lord’s power is. He created everything and is in everything. I always feel challenged by how we are here. How I am here in 2024 when we all stared from was dust. I am encouraged that from nothing and darkness our Lord, our Savior, and His Spirit are here to guide us into the light He created with His love.
Hello Shes
What stood out to me in the Creation story
was the immense faith God placed
in US!
His created, image, reflection.
Entrusting us with EVERYTHING.
The tender weight of responsibility.
Like a little child given her first big task.
Borne of His boundless belief
in Us!
Good food for thought! ❤
I understand that He loves us so much, that He created this world for us and also had a plan to save us when things got messed up. (I often have a hard time seeing how Adam & Eve could mess stuff up when they had everything!)
God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were all there from the foundation of the world. (Genesis 1:2, Genesis 1:26) God holds all in His hands. He is the Creator and Father of all.
For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made HIS LIGHT shine in OUR HEARTS to give US the light of the KNOWLEDGE of the GLORY OF GOD in the FACE OF CHRIST. !!! Wow. This is a gift. Do we realize what a spiritual blessing this is?? How humbling, and what an honor.
So many great comments this morning!
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This study is already helping me through our current struggles! What a reminder: “Live by Faith”.
Thank you SRT!
❤️
Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Omniscience. Those are the 3 aspects of God that jump out at me.
His Spirit hovered over the expanse – PRESENT EVERYWHERE.
He SPOKE things into being – POWER
He considered the needs of the created beings – the plants fish of the see, birds if the air, and man, and He PROVIDED sustenance for them. He KNEW before creating them that they would need provision. – Omniscience/KNOWING.
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I am reminded of the song, Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise:
1 Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.
2 Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
thy justice like mountains high soaring above
thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.
3 To all life thou givest, to both great and small;
in all life thou livest, the true life of all;
we blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
and wither and perish but naught changeth thee.
4 Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
all praise we would render, O help us to see
’tis only the splendor of light hideth thee.
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What a beautiful reading this morning! I will be humming that tune in my head as I go now and read your comments!
Love, hugs, and prayers and as the saying goes-
See the Light, be the light today, Shes! ❤
There are worse things… The tune in my head now too. ❤️
❤
Yes, Cee Gee!
Like the song goes…”This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine”!
❤
Strangely I have nothing to say..LOL. But I loved reading through your thoughts here! It’s always good to remember–In the beginning. God, the word (Jesus!), and the Spirit was, is, and will always be. Bring the BIG picture into our small time here in the now, and know the future is eternity. Wowzer. I want to live my short, quick time IN FAITH that God is in it all, Jesus died for us to reconnect us in a personal way to our heavenly Father, and the Holy Spirit is our helper in that daily walk! It is simple yet complex. That’s what I love about scripture, and why we have to be in the word, in prayer, in relationship to keep learning and growing. It is good to be here daily.
Amen, Rhonda! I was in AWE as I read, too. ❤ PEACE is what I felt.
He is the creator of all. Everything we need. The light in the darkness. Nothing is or has been without Him. He thought of everything.
One of the clearest ways I experience His greatness is in nature and the beauty of creation. A sunrise,a sunset,the vast mountains, the northern lights, crashing waves, the colors of Fall, a pretty flower. The quiet calm of nature overflows with God’s presence and it often leaves me in such awestruck wonder. No one, no thing but an indescribable God could have planned or created such wonder.
These passages all point to the fullness and greatness of our God. My limited ability to fully understand the magnitude of who He is, does not diminish that greatness but leaves me in posture of reverent fear and holy praise; a desire to know Him more and a faithful trust in Him for all things.
Thank you Lord, that you are before and in Him all things hold together. Col 1:17
Amen! ❤
Thanks for sharing this Wendy B. My thoughts and similar to yours. The beauty of God’s creation speaks to me of His power and love for us. The intricate details of creation, the beauty of creation as I look out my windows this morning. What an awesome God we have.
Amen, Wendy! I took a study course on praying and different ways to do that. Mine was in the way of St. Francis of Asissi, he spent his prayer time in nature. It can bring such peace. God’s creation is a beautiful gift.
So many great comments! God is so good! From the beginning He has provided for man’s needs. He has been working since Adam sinned to reconcile us to Him! By faith we understand His great love for us! Nothing can extinguish His light in this world. We just have to keep praying, trusting, reading God’s word, and walking by faith. Because we know God is faithful and good! Whether we feel like it or not!
God’s desire to be reconciled to His creation—what a blessing that we are all desired and pursued by God, so much so that he sent His son to save/reconcile us! Even when we were still sinners. Amazing (and sometimes hard to even comprehend!)
Depending on the day, my mind approaches the Creation verses either with “quickly browse through them with familiarity” or “Let’s stop and fully comprehend the immensity of what I am reading.” Just bring transparent. But above all, these verses always remind me of how I tend to encase God within the limits of what my human mind can comprehend. He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and immutable. He is all powerful, all knowing, always present everywhere, always the same, and never changing. And I am always most self-aware of this during prayers, when I will make statements like “God, I know it’s a big ask…” and then I feel a stirring as if saying “Nothing is too big for God.” I am just so thankful that his other characteristics are as big as his character— his love, mercy, faithfulnesss, compassion. Because otherwise we would be doomed by the nature of the human condition. We thank you God for your mercy for us.
Amen, Maria! You expressed exactly where my thoughts were this morning. Oh, the creation account – again-, but God grabbed a hold on my heart as if He was saying, “See Me!” Wow! I mentioned some of the same attributes and at the same time was thinking – MERCIFUL. How cool we shared such similar thoughts without even knowing each other! Praying for you, sister! How are the kids dealing?
Love you! ❤❤
Good morning sweeties! Happy Thursday! I woke up thinking it was Friday, but soon realized it wasn’t. Oh well….one-more-day! Just last night when my son got home from his home group bible study, we were having a very similar conversation as they had, had in his bible study. Sometimes what we read in the bible, we need to just “believe-in-faith” that our Father God knows all even when we don’t understand. He has our back! AND even when we don’t understand, we need to TRUST, He knows best. AND of course He does, He already knows outcome of what’s to happen in our lives. WE as His children need to trust and believe He has it all under control. Just made me think of the children’s song (even for us adults as “His” children): “He’s Got The Whole World in His Hands”
PS. Thank you for praying about my head ache. It finally subsided around 10 am yesterday. I was already thinking I was going to have to go home as it was that bad with nausea and all. I did have to get up again in the middle of the night to take ibuprofen, but soon fell asleep.
I love Genesis 1 and picturing the Spirit hovering over the dark watery depths. Creating something out of nothing is what God did and what we as humans are drawn to do as well. May the work of my hands be pleasing to his sight is a prayer I often offer up to him. Happy Thursday She’s!
Oh, Sarah.
“May the work of my hands be pleasing to His sight is a prayer I often offer up to Him”.
Thank you for this lovely thought to take into the day.
Oops, sorry for the double post!
I’m going to say the obvious one from today’s reading, but God as our creator has been hitting me a lot recently with watching the Northern Lights. I’ve seen them several times here in central Wisconsin within the past 18 months, and they never get old. It’s so mind boggling to me that God would create something like that, or stars and galaxies we can’t even see with our eyes, or sea creatures in the deepest parts of the ocean that we can’t easily see. All of it for our enjoyment and His.
Yes, how blessed you are, Blessed Mama of 6, to bear witness to the beauty of His skies!
I’m going to say the obvious one from today’s reading, but God as our creator has been hitting me a lot recently with watching the Northern Lights . I’ve seen them several times here in central Wisconsin within the past 18 months, and they never get old. It’s so mind boggling to me that God would create something like that, or stars and galaxies we can’t even see with our eyes, or sea creatures in the deepest parts of the ocean that we can’t easily see. All of it for our enjoyment and His.
I have seen so many beautiful pictures by2 photographers I follow on FB. My husband is from near Eau Claire!
I am challenged by how God always was. I believe that He is and always will be but my mind struggles to quantify that He was from the beginning.
Dannielle, I’m the same way. I like to conceptualize things in my head, and trying to create of what God being before he create earth and the heaven, is always hard for me to visualize.
My mind tries to picture the wonder and beauty of Creation. I want to see the majesty of each day when God made the stars and animals, the sun and moon, the sky itself and the waters…I hope someday we can see it when we get to heaven, that we are able to see the Bible somehow, visually. I am a visual person and I try to picture the people, the circumstances,etc. But the face of Jesus is what I can’t wait to see most.
But He is the face of our salvation, He paid it all and we can be here studying Scripture because He became the Living Word! Hallelujah!
I sometimes imagine this when I watch Dr. Who episodes from 2005-13 (when they took them off Netflix). It seems like the show often speaks of creation’s wonders, even though it is by no means endorsing a biblical view of creation. It’s almost like the show’s writers cannot even fathom something as amazing as space without a creator. I’ve always loved that! ☄️
I’m so encouraged by what God is doing in all of your lives❤️
We toured The Creation Museum last week. It was fabulous and just makes these passage come alive for me. If you haven’t gone it is so worth the trip. The Ark Encounter is nearby and it is equally wonderful.
I want to go there! Heard it’s amazing!!
❤️ I went once when they were working on making the ark encounter. We were able to see parts of it, but I would love to go back to see the finished work.
I want to go too! Someday…
Something that hit me today for the first time. I thought I would share in case it resonates with you. The Trinity was from the beginning, which I think is proof that from the beginning (even before anything was created) God values and desires relationship. There were three of them living in relationship and unity with each other. Perhaps God so values relationship that He created the world and the creatures and humans so WE could experience relationship too?
I never looked at it this way! Thanks for pointing out!!
I loved reading these scriptures today; especially Genesis. How long it’s been since I’ve considered “the beginning”! God is Sovereign over ALL!
I love the reassurance in John 1 that Christ has always been here. 2 Corinthians 4:6 speaks out to me this morning as a coworker is going through a struggle right now. She is at the hospital with her 18 y/o daughter who had at least 7 seizures in less than 12 hours as a result of medication she was on. Due to a misinterpretation of what her daughter heard in a sermon, she feels she cannot enter the kingdom. My coworker has taken her to their own pastor to get a better explanation of what she heard and a few other Bible teachers, but she her mind is set. I’m (A) praying for God to place someone in her path at college to direct her to Him and (B) doing my best to be a light to my coworker.
May the Truth of God be revealed and her heart be open
Mark 10:18 “Why do you call me good?”Jesus asked him.No one is good except God alone.”
Everything in the creation narrative is good because that is the character of God. That is jus who He is! He is good,order,and life. When He creates or speaks it is good. I believe when recognize the good we are recognizing God. He is the supreme and superlative of good. When we order our thoughts, actions, and ways to do good we are imitating God.
Oh, Tonya.
“I believe when recognize the good we are recognizing God. He is the supreme and superlative of good.”
My goodness, girl, you put that in a good way!
Oops! Good of you Tanya not to notice my mistake in spelling your good name!
No worries, Gwineth52. Thank you commenting on my comment.
As I was reading the passage in Genesis, one thought was I will fear (holy reverence) God who from a word of His mouth created the entire world and all the creatures, including us. How awesome is our God?
1)He is the almighty creator 2)He is light and life 3)He is the word 4)All things were not only created through him, but for him (that includes us!) 5)He is before all things and by Him all things hold together 6)He is hope 7)the Lord of all creation has given us the ability to have the light of knowledge (of God & Jesus) in our hearts. We are made to have His light and to be the light of the world
John 1:5 stood out especially to me today. No matter how dark our world is or gets, it will NEVER overcome the light of Jesus. That, my sisters, is amazing hope! I treasure you all in my heart.
Yes and Amen!!
Amen!
I was encouraged because God is supreme! He holds all things together and knows every detail. This reminder challenges me to trust him more. His way is always better.
Let me tell you how kind God is. I have been in the WORST mood this week. Driving to work praying for God to turn it around, to make me want to be there and be kind and patient. I’m not kidding when I say I prayed that prayer constantly yesterday bc I just couldn’t get it together. It felt like EVERYTHING was going wrong. At one point I said the Devil is working hard on me today. At 10 o’clock, my pt gifted me a pack of diapers. Her kindness, flew right past me. My computer wasn’t working and I was way too caught up in that to notice the God wink. But I kept praying, at 330 my last pt gave me a bottle drying rack and a card, and said it’s just a little something but it just happened to be the ONE little something I didnt have! It was at that point I realized I haven’t received a gift or a thank you card from a patient in a year, maybe 2 or 3 in 3 years and on this day I received two! I get in my car and open the card and inside is a gift card to Zaxby’s, that we had talked about that being the only place I ever “ate out” the other day. And I thought, She was so intentional about providing something specific for me, and I just burst into tears. Neither one of these ladies has much, but God, brings them together on the same day, the day I’m about to fall apart, to bless me. As I went to bed last night I was thinking about what I would tell my daughter when she was scared to go to bed, and immediately thought of John 1, he is the light in the darkness, and darkness did not overcome. When I woke up and it was the reading this morning I thought yes Lord. You are the light.
♥️ This warms my heart, Lanie… Thanks for sharing… Lifting you to Jesus today… The LIGHT of the world!! ♥️
I love how God works through people in our lives!
Praying Jesus’ light fills you today. ❤️
Oh, LANIE! Thanks so much for sharing this powerful witness with us! I was so blessed reading your words. I am teary right now and that doesn’t happen often! I would truly love to meet you! ❤❤
Cee gee! I promise I will Get connected with you on the Facebook group soon! I’m entering month 9 of pregnancy and my mush brain keeps forgetting! I want to meet you too!
Thank you for sharing Lanie. God is always with us in the midst. Your affirmations made my cry too with CeeGee!
I love how detailed and precise God is, both in creation and in our lives. He thinks of everything and He provides for everything. I also love meditating on Jesus having preeminence in all things. Truly, He is worthy of first place in our lives and in our world, forever. ❤️
God’s ability to make everything on purpose and with purpose struck a chord with me this morning.
In high school, my Spanish teacher called me Ariadne. ❤️
TINA’s comment, that God was ahead of the game, sums up what impacted me this morning. Almighty God, my God, my Abba, wow. I thought my earthly Daddy was bigger than life and could do anything but, yeah, whatever he did or could do was in fact nothing really. My tiny human mind can’t comprehend God having the overall vision of His plan for mankind before He spoke our world into existence. Overwhelming to me that He even bothered to create this motley group of humans, as ungrateful and unthankful as even the most fervent believers are many times. Oh, how He loves us ❣️
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Thank you, sisters, for all the shares yesterday. Too many for me to fully appreciate at once so I know what I’ll be doing on Grace Day :)
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HEATHER O’MALLEY – praying for your family, especially Hudson, that he would understand sooner than later that his choices are hurting rather than helping, that what he may see as freedom to choose is are choices that bind, enslave and harm him. May he find his freedom in Christ’s gift of salvation.
Beautifully put, SEARCHING. I’m also very thankful he loves this motley group of humans (I love this description), regardless of how ungrateful we are sometimes.
Amen, SEARCHING! ❤
Oh how He indeed loves us, my dear Searching! It truly is incomprehensible..
BUT ONLY GOD..
Much, much love sweet sister.❤️
Amen. But God.
I love Colossians 1–it is such a beautiful picture of God and Jesus. I can never read it enough.
From creation , God had a purpose for the Light and to set it apart from darkness -as Man sinned and became unfaithful and ungrateful this delineation of light and dark blurred and our inner lights dimmed or extinguished altogether.Jesus came to restore Gods purpose thru His teachings , sacrifice , and connecting us to God thru the Spirit – reigniting our inner light .. that can no longer be extinguished thru faith and the Word .. and as we walk with Him it will shine and bring others to it as the Lamp upon the lamp stand !
❤️❤️
Maker of the good and beautiful.
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God was perfectly fine, holy and content in Himself. He had no “need” for creating anything. Yet out of nothing, He created everything and provided for all creation, as others have already beautifully noted. Not just living things but He created light before the sun and stars so they too had provision. All with such beauty for discovering by us.
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Thankful for all the great testimonies over the past 2 days.
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FOSTER MAMA – yes, for me, hands down. The song brings me to tears every time I hear it. And when it is sung in church with those around me proclaiming:
“The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave
He is David’s root and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave
From every people and tribe
Every nation and tongue
He has made us a kingdom and priests to God
To reign with the Son”
I just get a sense of heaven. Hope you enjoyed it.
Maker of the goid and beautiful! I love this to the point of my eyes welling up. Thank you Kelly❤️
God is the ultimate provider. There is no reason to rely on worldly things when he gives us all we need!
Amen! God is the ultimate satisfies of our soul! Just like Luke 9:25 says, “what good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” We can rely on worldly things but in the end they don’t satisfy us. There will always be something more missing
How about Glory…the One who created all that there is came to earth in bodily form to show us the invisible God, to shed His blood on the cross for us, and offer us reconciliation to the Father. Jesus Christ – in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. I love the creation account paired with John 1. Praising our Holy, Forgiving God with you all this morning!
Hallelujah and Happy Thursday Ladies!
Hallelujah indeed!❤️
I see that Jesus is the light. He overcomes darkness. The NLT says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”(John 1:5)
God gave Jesus, The Light, to everyone.
Amen
❤️
This is one of my favorite verses and it spoke to me again!
The song “Only a Holy God” by City Alight came to mind:
Who else could rescue me from my failing?
Who else would offer His only Son?
Who else invites me to call Him Father?
Only a Holy God
Only My Holy God
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“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20)
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“It is an item of faith that we are children of God; there is plenty of experience in us against it. The faith that surmounts this evidence and that is able to warm itself at the fire of God’s love, instead of having to steal love and self-acceptance from others, is actually the root of holiness… We are not saved by the love we exercise but by the love we trust.” (Richard Lovelace)
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“God didn’t lower the standard of holiness. He found a way to make us holy that isn’t dependent on our performance. Grace wins”. (Tyler Staton)
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What a blessing it is to call You “Our Father”, to know and believe that we are Your children and sisters of Christ, who presents us “holy, faultless and blameless” before You. Help us to “remain grounded and steadfast in the faith” and to put our hope in the gospel. AMEN.
Who else indeed!
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BUT GOD…
We are not saved by the love we exercise but by the love we trust.” (Richard Lovelace).. I love this quote!
Hugs, Julia..❤️
Amen!
Yes and Amen.
The words of “Only a Holy God” are permeated with Truth❤️
My colleague often says when he has thought of things beforehand, he is ahead of the game!
My thinking and understanding from these readings is that God was ahead of the game! He had made provision for every eventuality in the provision of His Son, Jesus.
From day one, God had a plan and a purpose for us, He had a plan in the good times and in the bad times. He had a plan for when times were lean and when times were aplenty. He even had a plan for when we messed up, broke down and just didn’t know how to get up or rise up again..
God, had gone ahead of the game of life here on earth.. and provided in every way..
That provision is called Jesus!
He was there at the beginning and, praise God He will be there at the end..
The Alpha and Omega..
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BUT GOD..
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AMEN.
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Happy Thursday my people, praying blessing over you all, covered so lovingly in hugs.❤️
Amen, Tina. ❤️
You were up late last night! Praying Jesus carries you through this day.
Amen!
Amen Tina. This is a great summary of what we read. Thank you!
I love this recap, this summation! ❤️
Amen..Thank you Tina.
I’m here every morning with you all just not posting.
Thanks, Dear Tina…Love this… Thanks for sharing you thoughts… I appreciate your insights! God’s plan=JESUS… The LIGHT IN THIS DARK WORLD!!! ♥️
Love this!
❤️
That provision is called Jesus!
Yes and Amen!
❤️
I see from the reading that God is the provider. He thought of everything we need, even providing for our salvation. He also desires a relationship with us and desires us to have strong faith in him.
Amen ❤️
Exactly! ❤