Our Loving Gracious Heavenly Father Has Good Gifts for His Children - Embrace What He Has for You

By Sandy Shaw

Which is it to be? "This is the day that the Lord has made" or, this is the Lord that the day has made.

What do you think of, when you think of God?

Many have their own idea of God, and what God is like, and even how and when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born. Are we not surrounded and swamped by false notions which can be given to us by folk around us, and sometimes we swallow what they say? We have to check things out - always!

"I think of God like this." Actually, that does not matter. It is just an idea in your mind - an idol, or a figment of your imagination.

Why is this so crucially important? Well, it determines our destination and destiny once this life on earth is over, and in the meantime, our understanding of what God is really like shapes everything else, including how we pray.

The Psalmist teaches us that God is always loving and kind, and his faithfulness goes on to each succeeding generation.

If God is not good then we have no reason to pray, but because God is good, God's plans for my life will always be good.

Everything is not good, but when put together by someone who knows what they are doing the result can be very different. On their own, various ingredients for a cake do not taste appetisingly good, but when expertly handled the consequences can be very different.

Joseph had a bad time over number of years. For a lengthy season much of his life was downhill. He ended up in prison, overlooked and neglected, and yet at the right time Joseph became Prime Minister in Egypt, saving the whole nation from starvation during a serious famine.

His brothers planned to harm him, but God turned evil plans into good.

What might those around you be trying to do to you to get you down?

What might be happening in your life that makes you feel like giving in or giving up?

What might be troubling you deeply and it has bothered you for some weeks and months and perhaps it has even bothered you for years?

There is an answer.

There could be more than one answer - but the one that really works is found in the love and mercy and grace and forgiveness and peace of Jesus Christ.

We have to choose at times.

We have to make choices, even whether or not we are going to reach out and take and embrace and receive the help that is available.

Be open and allow that soothing reassuring healing to touch every part of your being.

"Our loving gracious living God, come near now and minister to every part of my being. You know what I need at this very moment. I open myself to You and to You alone knowing that You only have good gifts for Your children."

Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children's Panel in Scotland. He has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, 12 visits to Israel, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya.

He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, writes a weekly commentary at http://www.studylight.org entitled "Word from Scotland", as well as a weekly newspaper column.

His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly.

Sandy Shaw.