Focus on the Father: Dad wants you to have the very best.

During the Christmas season let’s not forget the great gift the Father in heaven gave us when he sent his only Son.    It was his will and he wanted to do it. The bible says it this way, in Romans 8:32-33, “ He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? NIV

He said he’s give us the best

Isaiah 60:17 I’ll give you only the best — no more hand-me-downs! Gold instead of bronze, silver instead of iron, bronze instead of wood, iron instead of stones. I'll install Peace to run your country, make Righteousness your boss.

   

Luke 12:29-32 "What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving.  People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works.  Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.  Don't be afraid of missing out. You're my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.

God wants to give us the best and he expects the best from us. But how can we give our best if we do not believe that God has given us his best?   You need to see everything in your life though a lens of love. That God is doing his very best for us.  If you feel like God is holding out on you tend to look at his commands as limitation instead of a chance to give the best back to him.   Ps 37:3-6 says, “Get insurance with God and do a good deed, settle down and stick to your last.  Keep company with God, get in on the best.  Open up before God, keep nothing back; he’ll do whatever needs to be done:  He'll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon.”

Embrace the best Rom 12:1 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

Think about the best Phil 4:8-9  Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious — the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

False perceptions of God?

“One of the main reasons people hold false perceptions of God is our tendency to project onto God the unloving characteristics of the people we look up to. We tend to believe that God is going to treat us as other do.: We like to think that we develop our image of God from the Bible and teachings of the church, not from our relationships—some of which have been painful. It’s easier if our God image is simply based on learning and believing the right things. Yet, intensive clinical studies on the development of peoples’ images of God show that it is not so simple. One psychologist found that this spiritual development of the God image is more of an emotional process than an intellectual one.

People bring out the importance of family and other relationships to the development of one’s “private God.” “No child arrives at the ‘house of God’ without his pet God under his arm.” And for some of us the “pet God” we have tied on a leash to our hearts is not very nice, nor is it biblically accurate. This is because our negative images of God are often rooted in our emotional hurts and destructive patterns of relating to people that we carry with us from our past.

Imagine a little girl of seven who has known only rejection and abuse from her father whom she loves dearly. At Sunday School she is taught that God is her heavenly Father. What is her perception of Him going to be? Based on her experience with her natural father, she will see God as an unstable, rejecting, abusing person she cannot trust. Consider just a few ways in which your image of your father possibly may have affected your perception of God, which in turn affects your self-image.

If your father was distant, impersonal and uncaring, and he wouldn’t intervene for you, you may see God as having the same characteristics.  As a result, you feel that you are unworthy of God’s intervention in your life. You find it difficult to draw close to God because you see Him as disinterested in your need and wants.

If your father was a pushy man who was inconsiderate of you, or who violated and used you, you may see God in the same way. You probably feel cheap or worthless in God’s eyes, and perhaps feel that you deserve to be taken advantage of by others. You may feel that God will force you—not ask you—to do things you don’t want to do.

If your father was like a drill sergeant, demanding more and more from you with no expression of satisfaction, or burning with anger with no tolerance for mistakes, you may have cast God in his image. You likely feel that God will not accept you unless you meet His demands, which seem unattainable. This perception may have driven you to become a perfectionist.

If your father was a weakling, and you couldn’t depend on him to help you or defend you, your image of God may be that of a weakling. You may feel that you are unworthy of God’s comfort and support, or that He is unable to help you.

If your father was overly critical and constantly came down hard on you, or if he didn’t believe in you or your capabilities and discouraged you from trying, you may perceive God in the same way. You don’t feel as if you’re worth God’s respect or trust. You may even see yourself as a continual failure, deserving all the criticism you receive.

But I want you to know today God as the best at patience. He is patient and available for you. You are worth God’s time and concern. You are important to God and He is personally involved in every aspect of your life.

God is the best at kindness. He is acting kindly and graciously on your behalf.  You are worth God’s help and intervention. God’s loves you deeply be convinced that He wants to relate to you personally.

You Heavenly father accepts you, God accepts you regardless of what you do. God doesn’t dump on you or reject you when you struggle, but understands and encourages you. Accept yourself even when you blow it or don’t perform up to your potential.

Your Heavenly father is the best protector, God protects you in life. You are worthy of being under His care and you rest in His security.

Your heavenly father is giving. The Best giver! He gives to you and supports you. You feel are worth God’s support and encouragement. God will give you what is best for you, and you respond by giving of yourself to others.

By the power of the Holy Spirit today I want you to know that the God who expects the best I the God that gives his best. He can transform not only your life by the image you have of him. To believe that God’s want to give you his best, you must believe He is the best!  As you look at the best, as you hang with the best you see he is the best and will produce the best in you.

God is the best

Ps 95:1-6   Come, let's shout praises to God, raise the roof for the Rock who saved us!  Let's march into his presence singing praises, lifting the rafters with our hymns! And why? Because God is the best, High King over all the gods.  In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns, in the other hand grasps the high mountains.  He made Ocean — he owns it!  His hands sculpted Earth!  So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God, who made us! Oh yes, he's our God, and we're the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.

2 Chron 2:5 "The house I am building has to be the best, for our God is the best, far better than competing gods.

   

Ps 21:7 Is it any wonder the king loves God? that he's sticking with the Best?

   

Ps 34:8-10 Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see — how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him.  Worship God if you want the best; worship opens doors to all his goodness. Young lions on the prowl get hungry, but God-seekers are full of God

He always gives the best

The Best Robe…happen when you come home Luke 15:22-24 "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.  NIV

The Best Wine…happens when you run out of the cheap stuff. John 2:10 Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

The best still happens in the midst of trials Psalm 91:1-15 You who sit down in the High God's presence, spend the night in Shaddai's shadow, 2 Say this: "GOD, you're my refuge. I trust in you and I'm safe!" 3 That's right — he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards. 4 His huge outstretched arms protect you — under them you're perfectly safe; his arms fend off all harm. 5 Fear nothing — not wild wolves in the night, not flying arrows in the day, 6 Not disease that prowls through the darkness, not disaster that erupts at high noon. 7 Even though others succumb all around, drop like flies right and left, no harm will even graze you. 8 You'll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance, watch the wicked turn into corpses. 9 Yes, because God’s your refuge, the High God your very own home, 10 Evil can't get close to you, harm can't get through the door. 11 He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go. 12 If you stumble, they'll catch you; their job is to keep you from falling. 13 You'll walk unharmed among lions and snakes, and kick young lions and serpents from the path. 14 "If you'll hold on to me for dear life," says GOD,” I’ll get you out of any trouble. I’ll give you the best of care if you'll only get to know and trust me. 15 Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times; I’ll rescue you, and then throw you a party. 16 I'll give you a long life, give you a long drink of salvation!"

The Best Training…”The best training is to learn to accept everything as it comes, as from Him whom our soul loves. The tests are always unexpected things, not great things that can be written up, but the common little rubs of life, silly little nothings, and things you are ashamed of minding (at all). Yet they can knock a strong man over and lay him very low.”

Amy Carmichael in Candles in the Dark

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Give God your best! Prov 3:9-10 Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over.  Don’t give the best God, who give the best… just the rest  No leftovers! The poet said:

Leftovers

Leftovers are such humble things,
We would not serve to a guest,
And yet we serve them to our Lord
Who deserve the very best.

We give to Him leftover time,
Stray minutes here and there.
Leftover cash we give to Him,
Such few coins as we can spare.

We give our youth unto the world,
To hatred, lust and strife;
Then in declining years we give
To him the remnant of our life.

- Source unknown

This Christmas receive from God the best so you can give the best to him.

Pastor Mike