Faith and Work on Taking God For Granted

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Reducing God to Manageable Terms

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 32:1-6 , 1 Samuel 4:3-10, Isaiah 40:18-25, Matthew 16:13-20, Acts 5:1-11 , Psalm 115:4-8

A. W. Tozer once wrote, Left to ourselves we tend immediately to reduce God to manageable terms. We want to get Him where we can use Him, or at least know where He is when we need Him. We want a ...

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When our Prayers Crash into the Ground

Author

Phillip Yancey

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:16 , 1 Kings 18:20-40, Job 1:20-22, Matthew 4:5-7, John 20:24-29, Psalm 73:1-3, 16-17

Nine-year-old Leo Tolstoy , convinced God would help him fly, dove headfirst out a third-floor window and had his first major crisis of disappointment with God. Fortunately, Tolstoy survived the cr...

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Let a Person Feed on the Promises of God

Author

Dwight L. Moody

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 15:1-6, Isaiah 41:10, Joshua 1:8-9, 2 Corinthians 1:20, Matthew 6:31-33, Psalm 34:8-10

Is it possible that God’s promises are given less consideration and value today than in the time of evangelist Dwight Moody? Moody described the preciousness of God’s promises this way: Let a man ...

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Prayer of Adoration God, Almighty –

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Prayer of Adoration God, Almighty – holy, gracious, truthful and loving, we’re drawn by Your invitation to enjoy Your love, an invitation to feel Your touch and hear Your voice, to taste and see tha...

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O God, you are indeed worthy of our

Author

Chip Hardwick

Keywords

O God, you are indeed worthy of our praise and worship. Yet we turn away and worship other gods. We find ourselves at the altar of our careers, our financial security, our self-image, our status. We t...

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Eternal and Glorious God, You are

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Eternal and Glorious God, You are merciful, kind, and forgiving. You hear us when we confess to You. We admit we do not focus on You with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. A day devoted to Yo...

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Almighty God, from the very beginning,

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Almighty God, from the very beginning, You have designed us for glorious work. You have given us Your Spirit and spread before us limitless resources. Because You have made us a royal priesthood, we n...

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Author

Chip Ingram

Keywords

Unless God begins to move in my heart - and my wallet, my schedule and my to do list - I’ll never receive His best for me.

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Gracious God, we confess that we do not

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Gracious God, we confess that we do not always listen to your calling for us. Instead we carry on with our busy lives, not being mindful of your voice, calling us to live for more than ourselves. Plea...

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Understanding The Nature of Prayer

Author

James Boice

Keywords

Scripture

2 Chronicles 7:14, 1 Samuel 1:9-20, Isaiah 64:6, Luke 18:9-14 , John 14:13-14, Psalm 51:17

I remember a story that R. A. Torrey told, growing out of a series of meetings he had held in Melbourne, Australia. He had been speaking on prayer. One day just before a noon meeting a note was placed...

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Author

David Peterson

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 3:11, 1 Corinthians 1:27-28, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Judges 6:15-16, James 2:5

God uses the nobodies to show himself to be somebody. God uses the nothings to show himself to be something. And maybe you feel like a nobody, a nothing. My friend, you're the one God's chosen...

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A General Thanksgiving

Scripture

1 Samuel 2:1-10, Luke 17:11-19, Job 1:21, Acts 16:25, John 6:11

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery ...

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Sabbath: A Day Up

Author

Louie Giglio

Keywords

Sabbath

Sabbath is not so much about a day off as it is a “day up”—a day to remember that He is God and we are not. Without Sabbath, we forget who we are and lose sight of who He is, leaving us to carry the w...

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The Aroma of that Room

Author

Dallas Willard

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 3:1-6, Isaiah 6:1-8, Acts 9:1-9, Matthew 4:18-22, 1 Samuel 3:1-10

Sometimes, of course, the sense of God with us becomes much more distinct. My oldest brother, J. I. Willard, served for over thirty years as a minister under the blessing of God. But his entry into th...

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Calling on God, not Bank of America

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 41:13, Proverbs 18:10, Philippians 4:6-7, Matthew 6:19-21 , Psalm 46:1

The comedian Richard Pryor, who was critically injured in a severe accident, once shared on Johnny Carson’s show that when faced with life-threatening situations, worldly concerns lose their significa...

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Author

Johann Albrecht Bengel

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 73:2–3, 16–17, Romans 9:20, Matthew 20:1–16 , Job 3:23–26, Exodus 5:22–23, Jonah 4:1–4

It is wicked to wrong God; but still worse to think oneself wronged by God. And men and women think this oftener than one would suppose.

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Blowing Through Stop Signs: Why Keeping the Sabbath Is So Important

Author

Dan Baumgartner

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 20:null, Deuteronomy 5:null

Ignoring God's Stop Sign Have you ever been driving and inadvertently blown right through a stop sign? It happened to me recently. Anne and I were down in San Francisco meeting some friends, I w...

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A Prayer of Absolution for the Overchallenged

Author

David Zimmerman

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 4:18, Galatians 5:22-23

Good God, We have a lot going on. You are a God of grace, And we are made in your likeness. Let us then be people of grace. Meet our human concerns with the fruit of your Spirit: Love for ourselves...

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O God, Giver of all good, and Fountain

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 118:24, James 1:17, Psalm 136:1, Philippians 4:19, Lamentations 3:22-23, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

O God, Giver of all good, and Fountain of all mercies, in whom are all the springs of our life; all glory, thanks and praise be unto thee for thine unfailing goodness; for thy faithfulness which is fr...

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Inspired by Proverbs 15:1-16

Author

Dustin Ray

Scripture

Proverbs 15:1-16

Pastor: O wise and wonderful God, in our quick temper and selfish pride, we have not followed your example—you are slow to anger, abounding in love, and show steadfast faithfulness to your children. ...

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Author

Isaac Watts

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 28:10-17, Deuteronomy 31:6-8, 2 Kings 6:15-17, Matthew 28:20, Acts 17:24-28, Psalm 139:

Within thy circling power I stand; On every side I find thy hand; Awake, asleep, at home, abroad, I am surrounded still with God. …O may these thoughts possess my breast, Where'er I rove...

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Doing Rather Than Being

Author

A. J. Swoboda

Keywords

Sabbath is that ancient idea and practice of intentional rest that has long been discarded by much of the church and our world. Sabbath is not new. Sabbath is just new to us. Historically, Christians ...

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The Hound of Heaven

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Scripture

Jonah 1:1-4, Genesis 3:8-9, Hosea 3:1, Luke 15:4-7, Psalm 139:7-10, Acts 9:3-6

In 1890 Francis Thompson, a Roman Catholic poet, described God as “The Hound of Heaven”: I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him,...

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Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

Work

Everyone will be forgotten, nothing we do will make any difference, and all good endeavors, even the best, will come to naught. Unless there is God. If the God of the Bible exists, and there is a true...

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Author

G. K. Chesterton

Keywords

Scripture

Job 38:1-4 , Ecclesiastes 3:11, Proverbs 8:30, Matthew 11:28-30, Psalm 104:31

If angels can fly because they take themselves lightly, does God take Himself lightly?

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Thanking God for Ignorance

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 4:7, Hosea 4:6, James 1:5 , Colossians 2:2-3, Psalm 119:66

Melville Weston Fuller (1833–1910), a prominent U.S. lawyer and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1888–1910), once presided over a church conference where a speaker passionately denounced higher edu...

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Author

Mark Buchanan

Keywords

Sabbath

Sabbath [is about trust]. Sabbath is turning over to God all those things—our money, our work, our status, our reputations, our plans, our projects—that we’re otherwise tempted to hold tight in our ow...

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Father God, You introduce yourself to

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Father God, You introduce yourself to us in Genesis (1) as the God who works. Who created this beautiful world we are privileged to inhabit. We thank you for your work You created us to till the ...

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Adapted from the Parable of the Sower

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:18-23, Jeremiah 17:8, Colossians 3:16, Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 119:11

Pastor: “Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what wa...

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Adapted from Psalms 65 and 68

Author

Darren Pollock

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 65:3, Psalm 65:3, Psalm 68:19, Psalm 68:4

Leader: Sing to God, sing praises to his name. His name is the Lord; exult before him! People: When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. Leader: Those who dwell at the ...

faith and work on Taking God for Granted

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