The Most Important Thing You Need to Know About God

How do you picture God?

Who do you see when you pause to pray?

A fireman who will put out the fires in your life?
A genie or fairy godmother who will grant your every wish?
A judge who will punish you when you fail?
A hard to please parent who always expects more?
An administrator who makes decisions from a distance?

Is He intimate or impersonal?

The truth is … how you and I picture God will deeply influence not only our relationship with Him but it will have a huge impact on the way we live our lives.

Rev asked me recently, "What is the most important thing you'd want someone to know about God from your story?" This is my answer... #Faith #God #CountingMyBlessings

Let me explain…

For most of my life, I pictured God watching me from afar … blessing good behavior and withholding blessings for bad behavior. When things weren’t going well, I believed I needed to make life adjustments so I could once again please God and earn His favor.

I believed that “God is love” and “Jesus loves me.” I’d learned both things as a young child in Sunday School.

And because of those childhood lessons, I believed God loved me so much He gave Jesus as the sacrifice for my sins. I believed that it was through faith in Jesus, my eternal future was and is secure. All true!

This is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

The problem … I was focusing on the eternal message and missing out on the things God was offering me every single day.

I didn’t understand the intimate personal relationship He wanted with me.

Yet, this is how intimate and personal God is … He gave my childhood pastor the following verse for me.

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”
Revelation 3:20

He told me as a child, that He wanted a personal friendship with me. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the message!

It took me another 40+ years to finally understand the truth … and in all honesty, I’m still a work in progress.

Recently, Rev asked me, “What’s the most important thing, you want people to know about God from your story?”

I have to admit, my voice cracked and my eyes filled with tears as I started to put my feelings into words. In fact, my greatest concern as I type this is that my message will fall short.

You see, because I had a distorted picture of God, I missed out on many of the blessings He wanted to give me to live each day.

♥ I missed out on experiencing God’s peace because I believed the enemy’s lie that I must obey God perfectly to gain His pleasure.

But the truth…

The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love.
Psalm 147:11

♥ I missed out on God’s courage and strength because I believed the enemy’s lie that I was on my own for day to day living.

But God’s Word says…

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.
Psalm 46:1

So, the most important thing I want you to know about God from my story is…

I want you to know how very much Your Father loves you and wants to give you everything you need to live each day.

I want you to know He meant it when He said…

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord, your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9

For too many years, I missed the promise part of that verse…

I was not strong and courageous.

I was afraid of:

Rejection
Death (my own or a loved one’s)
Illness
Not being good enough
Not being loved
Not being a good mom
Heights
Getting lost or losing my child in a crowd
Not being in control of my weight, my health … my life

It wasn’t pretty!

On the outside, the picture looked good but on the inside I was a mess. I craved strength, courage, peace, contentment, and a whole host of other things God promises in His Word … but I wasn’t willing to surrender control of my life.

Why?

Because of another verse:

In this world you will have trouble.
John 16:33 (NIV)

I know, I left out the other important parts of the verse, too. The…

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.” and “Take heart! I have overcome the world” parts.

In my defense, all I had to do was look around. Bad things were happening everywhere and I’ll be honest with you, I saw very few people, even Christians, living in victory.

I saw people like me, who were going to church, putting on their Sunday smile … just trying to do it right and avoid “trouble.”

But troubles happen and they happened to us.

Many of greatest fears became reality.

I’d spent a lifetime trying to please God and people to control my circumstances and avoid “trouble” and it all collapsed around me.

But God in His mercy allowed me to hear the Spirit whisper Jesus’ words…

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Matthew 11:28–29

And I did…

I surrendered it all at the foot of the cross, cried out to God for help, and started getting to really know for myself who God says He is in the Bible.

And I’ve spending time at His feet every day since … more than a decade of learning that God is who He says He is and that He keeps His promises.

I’ve learned…

Even when everyone else forgets, God doesn’t; when no one seems to notice, God sees; when not one seems to care, God cares; when you feel all alone, you aren’t.
Life Application Bible Notes pg. 87

I laid my junk at the foot of the cross. I gave Him my fear, my need to control, my need to please, my doubts, my “self.”

I surrendered it all!

And God replaced what I gave Him with those things I’d been craving all along … strength, courage, peace, contentment, and so much more!

What’s the most important thing you need to know about God?

Your Father loves you!
You can know Him and have a relationship with Him through Jesus.
You can trust His Spirit to teach and guide you.
You can believe that He is who He says He is.
You can count Him to keep His promises.

When you seek Him first … HE WILL GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED!

My story is the reason the tagline here at Counting My Blessings is “at the intersection of faith and life.”

Because…

Once you have experienced the saving power of faith in Jesus, God is able to give you everything you need for your life right now … today!

I want you to believe that when Jesus said…

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and He will give you everything you need.”
Luke 12:31

It is a promise you can count on.

He is not only able to give you everything you need, it also makes Him happy to do so. The next verse says…

“So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.
Luke 12:32

Your Father loves you!

He gave Jesus for you and to you because that’s how much He loves you.

He won’t withhold the thing you need today. In fact, It makes Him happy to give you His kingdom’s blessings!

So, don’t wait! Don’t suffer with fear, anxiety, discouragement, or anything else for one more day.

Make today the day you surrender everything at the foot of the cross. The day you start seeking God with all you’ve got.

The day you start picturing Him happily giving you everything you need.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

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Day 14 – God, Please Help Me Surrender to Your Will

12 / 5 / 18

I want to live completely surrendered to God’s will. I pray about it often…

But when life gets rocky or the wait for an answered prayer seems looong … surrendering is the last thing I want to do.

What I WANT is to do SOMETHING that will SOLVE the PROBLEM NOW!

Thankfully, by God’s grace, He’s allowed me to fall flat enough times that I’ve learned the foolish futility of failing to follow His will or wait on His timing.

So, today I’m praying again for God’s help to surrender, maybe You need His help too…

God, Please Help Me Surrender to Your Will

Father, I want to surrender to Your will. I know You love me and I believe You know what’s best for me.

But surrendering is hard sometimes.

Jesus said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Honestly, I don’t want the cross-carrying part of following. I want smooth and pleasant. I want comfortable and easy. I want the roses without the thorns.

Please help me remember that Jesus also said:

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28–30

And when I bring my heavy burdens, You promise…

To help me carry any burden You allow. 1 Peter 5:7
To never leave me or forsake me. Hebrews 13:5
To give to give me strength and hold me close. Isaiah 41:10
To comfort me. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4
To increase my faith. James 1:2-4
To equip me for anything You allow. Hebrews 13:21

You promise – that in all things You are working for the good of those who love You, who have been called according to Your purpose. Romans 8:28 (NIV)

Help me trust Your plans and purposes as I trust You are loving and good, just and faithful, merciful and gracious.

And remember that nothing can separate me from Your love. Nothing! Romans 8:38

I trust You to give me everything I need to surrender to Your will.

So by Your grace and with Your help, this is my prayer…

Here’s what I want to do: I want to take my everyday, ordinary life—my sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before You, God, as an offering. (Based on Romans 12:1 – MSG)

I believe You will give me Your all-sufficient grace for whatever You allow. 2 Corinthians 12:9

And I believe I will be able to declare: You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,that I might sing praises to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever! Psalm 30:11–12

Amen.

I am so blessed that you are joining me for this journey…

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Why It’s Better for Rule Followers to Surrender to Love

7 / 22 / 167 / 22 / 16

I’m a first-born rule follower. I like rules. I understand rules. Rules make sense.

If you do A and B happens and you definitely don’t do X if you want to prevent Y from happening.

It’s simple like math.

Rules are black and white.

And following the rules pleases people . . . especially parents, teachers, and people in authority.

Rule followers understand following the 10 Commandments. And most importantly they have to be careful they don’t fall in line with the Pharisees and obey God to earn whatever it is they believe He can give them.

It’s a little harder for those of us who like to follow the rules to understand the idea of surrendering to love because…

Love is less like math, less black and white.

Love seems gray. Because as imperfect people you and I have experienced imperfect love.

Let me explain –

Have you ever had your heart broken? Beth Moore asks it this way in Living Beyond Yourself, “Who didn’t love you? Who didn’t love you that was supposed to love you?”

If you’ve given your heart away to someone only to have it crushed; you understand the problem of surrendering to love. You see once you have trusted someone enough to love them if they hurt or betray you . . . your walls of defense go up. A self-preserving decision that says, “I don’t ever want to feel like that again.”

We’ve all been hurt by someone.

And that makes it almost impossible to grow up without some brick and mortar being added to our defensive walls. And that means going forward most of our love relationships will have an element of self-protection and lack of trust.

Too often you and I paint God with a “human” brush.

He asks us to surrender completely to His perfect love . . . we wonder, “Can I really trust His love, or is He just like all the others?”

Add in the world’s adversity and affliction . . . how often have you been asked, “If God is good and loving, why is there so much pain and suffering?”

And the old lie Satan has been whispering since the garden, telling us God is holding out on us and if He really loved us He’d want us to be happy.

It’s easy to see how you and I can become rule followers trying to earn a right relationship with God.

In many ways, rules just seem easier. They make sense. Obey the rules and avoid the consequences of pain and suffering. Obey the rules and reap the rewards.

It’s supposed to work, isn’t it?

Even if we don’t admit it . . . many of us hold on to a bit of that belief just in case. (Look at the doctrine of every other world religion that teaches a message of good works to earn paradise.)

There’s a huge problem with that message because we won’t obey the rules perfectly and no matter how hard we try to follow the rules there is no guarantee we’ll avoid pain and suffering. In fact, the opposite is true.

Jesus said, In this world, you will have trouble. John 16:33

And “trouble” sends us right back to the thought, “If God is good, how can He allow..?”

A loving God and a world in trouble can leave you and me with a “crisis of faith.”

What do you do when you have a faith crisis?

Jesus said we should ask, search, and knock.

“Ask, and God will give to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open for you. Matthew 7:7

Stillness and God’s Love

Going to God in stillness—asking, searching, and knocking you will find in book after book and page after page. In Old Testament and New…

God’s love has never changed, never faltered.

“Yahweh! The LORD! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.” Exodus 34:6

O my Strength, to You I sing praises, for You, O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love. Psalm 59:17

For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation. Psalm 100:5

God loves first, last . . . always.

God is love.This is how God showed His love to us: He sent His one and only Son into the world so that we could have life through Him.This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God’s love for us. He sent His Son to die in our place to take away our sins. 1 John 4:8–10

He will not love us less if we fail or more if we obey because love is who God is.

You and I don’t need a protective wall with Him. We can trust His perfect unfailing love completely.

And because we can trust Him we can surrender everything to Him.

Surrender to His Love

I used to focus on verses in the Bible that talked about love and obedience.

I show kindness to thousands who love me and obey my commands. Exodus 20:6

But I had it backwards.

Jesus, looking at the man, loved him and said, “There is one more thing you need to do. Go and sell everything you have, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” Mark 10:21

Jesus knew this man’s heart. He knew he would choose to walk away, but He loved him anyway. He loved him before he surrendered . . . before he followed.

I pray each day and ask God to help me surrender . . . not to the rules, but to His perfect love. That He would help me simply…

Be still and know . . . Him. Psalm 46:10

Because the more I know Him the more I want to surrender to Him.

I know following the rules seems easier. It makes sense. You and I want to earn that reward. But our loving Father doesn’t work that way. He loves us first and most and you and I can trust Him completely.

Now it’s time for…

Faith ‘n Friends Blog Hop

I’m so glad you’re here!

This is a place to share faith, make friends, and have fun.

I’d love to connect with you on social media!

I’m finding #Friendship and #Inspiration at #Faith ‘n Friends #BlogHop Come join the fun!

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Deb Wolf
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** If you are interested in hosting Faith ‘n Friends Blog Hop
with me, email me at – deb@debwolf.com

I’m excited to share the following posts with you this week.

Goldilocks Issues

by Laura Thomas
@ Laura Thomas Author

and

15 Practical Tips for Maintaining Peace

by Chizobam Idahosa
@ Beautiful in Jesus

Thank you, Laura and Chizobam, for joining the Blog Hop!

No More Rules Blog Hop

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What to Do When You Need to Give Up

6 / 23 / 159 / 6 / 15

No more hiding behind the image of pseudo-perfection. I was a mess. Embarrassingly so.

I needed answers, but even more than answers I needed help, comfort, peace, and hope.

I needed God.

Not a deal or a bargain for a life that looks good, but the real living presence of God.

That was the beginning of surrender for me.

I had come to the end of myself and I didn’t have anything to offer . . . nothing.

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So, I picked up my Bible and began reading . . . Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus all the way through Revelation. For the first time, Scripture was my life-line.

This time, not to learn how to be a better “good little church girl.”

I needed God to help me become a woman of faith . . . empty, surrendered, and completely in love with the Savior, Jesus.

I needed to know His presence.
I needed to know He could pick up the pieces of my messy life and hold me together.
I needed to know He could help and guide days.
I needed to know He was faithful and true to His Word.
I needed to know He really loved me.

No pretense. No bargaining.

That’s what I wanted and needed, but it didn’t happen over night. I’m a slow learner.

It’s hard to stop old habits isn’t it? Hard to give up long-held beliefs.

There was still something deep down inside that thought . . . if I could just get it right, just do it right . . . maybe then God would get on board and fix my mess and the mess around me.

As I spent those days devouring His Word, my faith grew, but there was still part of me afraid to give Him access to every detail of my life. I knew I needed more of Him and I wanted more too, but giving up control…

What if God didn’t share my hopes and dreams? What if His plans were different from mine? What if like Job things got worse before they got better?

Some might call it lack of faith, but I think it was lack of trust.

I believed Jesus was and is who He said. I believed He showed us the Father, but I feared His plans and purposes for me. I was afraid of pain and tragedy. Bad things happen. I’d struggled with infertility and loss. I’d been hurt by lies, gossip, and rejection. And I was smart enough to know things could always get worse.

So, it was hard to give up my need to be “good.” Good girls belonged. Good girls got approval. Good girls were praised. It was hard to give up fear and the need to be “good.”

Do you find it hard to completely surrender, too? Have you gotten the message that you need to be “good” to fit in at church and receive God’s love?

If so, I’m sorry.

It is important for you to know that believers don’t intend to give confusing messages about God and His love. We don’t mean to say one thing and do another. It’s just that we’re confused too.

We make God too small, too human. We want to take a huge God, the great I AM, and make Him understandable. We want to define and explain Him.

And that’s what has changed for me. It’s taken years of personal one on one time with my Father for me to accept that He may never put my mess back together. And that’s okay.

Because although He hasn’t healed the mess . . . He has healed me.

That’s what I want you to know when you visit Counting My Blessings.

God may not clean up the mess going on around you, but He will clean up the mess going on inside you.

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I’m a slow learner and I hope that gives you hope; because I can promise you . . . God will not give up on you.

He wants you to know Him. Huge. Powerful. Indescribable. Unimaginable. Loving. Caring. Personal.

When I give up trying to define and explain Him. When I quit trying to manipulate and control Him. When I sit quietly at His feet and allow Him presence in my heart and mind—that is when I can finally know Him. That’s when fear is replaced with His perfect love.

And that’s better. So much better in fact, I’m gradually rejecting old fears and replacing it with His perfect love.

“His perfect love casts out all fear.” 1 John 4:18

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A Prayer for When You Don’t Want to Surrender

5 / 8 / 154 / 23 / 16

^{A Prayer to Surrender Control}

For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for well-being and not for trouble, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Father, It’s hard to give in and give up control, to surrender my wants and wishes, my hopes and dreams to You.

It’s hard to trust when inside I’m screaming, “Me! Me! Me!”

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Please help me Lord. I know Your ways are best, but my inner two-year-old whines to get what I have set my heart on.

So, I foolishly do things by myself and end up in a mess. You’ll rescue me, won’t You?

I pray, “Your will be done and in Jesus name,” to get Your stamp of approval. You want what I want. You want my happiness . . . don’t You?

I listen to people who tell me what I want to hear, even when I know it’s wrong. You understand, don’t You?

Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9

Father, Help me trust You completely. Help me focus on Your promises. Help me remember the ways You’ve proven Yourself true and faithful.

Lord, forgive me. I’m ashamed of myself.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not trust in your own understanding. Agree with Him in all your ways, and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Father, by Your grace and with Your help I will surrender my all to You.

I am only the manager of blessings You’ve given. Believing anything else is selfish, stubborn, foolish, and idolatry.

There is freedom, comfort, contentment, joy, peace, and understanding in trusting You completely.

In You there is no need to manipulate people, things, circumstances, or truth. In You I have all I need, and by the power of Your Spirit . . . I have all I want.

Father, by Your grace help me to begin each day surrendered completely to You with this prayer:

I have surrendered this day to You, Lord. I will follow where You guide and I will do Your will as You show it to me. Father, help me this day to fulfill this vow – that my life might glorify You alone . . . in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Thank you Father for Your grace and mercy. Thank you for Your forgiveness and love.

Beauty I’ve shared a post by Jenni DeWitt at Genuflected before.

Her story is powerful and beautiful, filled with hope and love.
It’s faith-building for each of us to read the words of a mom,
whose young son has leukemia, share hope, faith, and
truth of the emotional roller coaster of life with an ill child.

Please go over and read her post –
Sometimes God Says No.
And remember to keep Cooper and the
family in your prayers.

Carla Gasser is joining Ifeoma Samuel at
Purposeful and Meaningful.

You can visit her At the Crossroads.
She says she likes to think of life as a journey,
and she ponders, writes, and speaks about those places
where faith and life intersect.

Her post Be Still is sure to bless and inspire you.

Anita Ojeda shares a journey through caregiving, depression,
and stress, at Blessed (but Stressed).