Marshall Mabry - Undignified Worshiper of Jesus Christ

Some worship thoughts for followers of Jesus Christ!

Tag: giving

The Only Thing We Can Call Our Own is “Sin.”

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On February 15, 2016

In Praise and Worship

seven-deadly-sinsMatthew 25:26
“His master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?”

All that we have that is good and perfect comes from our Father of Lights. Everything else comes from us. Our cars and homes may give us the appearance of real ownership, but when they become idols stealing our thoughts from the true Giver they become illusions to our faith. If we have truly surrendered our lives to our Savior, then even our choices are not ours. Whether we buy some convenience for ourselves or spend excess wealth on the needy — the choice is not ours, but is Christ’s alone. Jesus knows our hearts. He knows the weakness of our flesh. He said to “have faith for I have conquered the world.”

It is very hard to live in His beautiful creation and not desire comfort and joy. But, at what cost? He intends for us to work. To take care of His creation and those who can’t take care of themselves; the widows and orphans. Without believing in Jesus Christ we are orphans! Lost people place misguided trust in their property and wealth, their affluence, their limited strength and finite knowledge. Yet, even they still realize that life compared to eternity is just a moment.

Christ is the Alpha and Omega! The Beginning and the End! As we come closer to the completion of our journey through His story we must realize that we really don’t own anything. Our very breath and heartbeats were numbered before the Beginning by an Almighty God. We limit God’s greatness and define His boundaries by claiming “anything, but our sin.” By truly surrendering all, we acknowledge that He is indescribable, uncontainable, limitless, and infinite. How Great Thou Art?

Praise Jesus! Oh, the wonderful Cross! Jesus bore our sin and cast it as far as the East is to the West. Hallelujah! We are free!

(taken from a devotion March 5, 2009)

God Loves a Cheerful Giver

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On November 19, 2013

In Praise and Worship

Cheerful Giver“You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” ~ 2 Corinthians 9:7 (NLT)

We should make giving the highest priority in our life. Everyone in our lives deserve the example of a cheerful giver. Jesus said we are more blessed when we give than when we received. In Malachi (3:10), our Heavenly Father challenges us to test the boundaries of His blessings on the basis of our faithful giving. His example of giving is the Cornerstone of our faith. He loved us so much “He gave!” It cost Him, His most precious possession — the life of His son.

We all have needs to survive in this world. However, our perception of need is not God’s. Trapped in time, we can not see beyond the vail of this moment. Trapped in our world, we can not experience the true freedom of endless space and dimensions. We can only know the truth in our presence. For example, you may be at Dairy Queen enjoying (praising God for) your favorite desert. Yet, somewhere else, an anxiously, expectant mother is giving birth to love. Still, somewhere else, a lonely, dying old man lays in silence and regrets all the God opportunities he missed in his life. “We can only know the truth in our presence.” We can only imagine — anything and anywhere else!

  • This life is not as important as Eternal Life. — It must be completely surrendered to God. (Eternal life is the pursuit of the knowledge of His endless love.)
  • Your physical health in the present is not as vital as the health of your eternal soul. — “Gouge out the sinning eye, cut off the sinning hand.” (Your eternal soul’s health is based on the richness of God’s love that you send it from the “here and now.”)
  • Your material possessions have no value in heaven. — If you believe yourself to be wealthy, Jesus said to give all your possessions away to the poor and follow after Him. (Follow after God’s love! Be wealthy in His love, then you will have treasure in heaven.)
  • Your relationships in this world are meaningless, unless you have given God’s love away. — It’s why we have life!

You can give all your precious, physical posessions away to the poor, but without love — it’s meaningless. Your life is required. The love in your life is what God wants you to give away – because it’s Him! This world desperately needs Him.

Find love, grab love, catch love, receive love, seek love, fill your life with the abundance of His love. But, don’t just hold on to it! Share it and give it away. Not only will you bless others and our world, but God will return it to you “pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing.”

The Gift of Life

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On December 9, 2012

In Praise and Worship

(taken from personal devotion written 08/28/09)

God in His great love and through the majesty of His awesome power created the universe. All creatures in Heaven and Earth and below the Earth are marvelous testimonies to His handiwork. Every atom, every particle of energy that exists is under His control and Will. He wills it and it is so! Of all His creations — Man is His delight. Hallelujah!

Man was made in the form of His image. It was for His pleasure Man was given life to walk and commune with Him. How precious is life to our Heavenly Father! So much so that even death was alien to His initial creation. Adam and Eve were created to be fruitful and multiply — and live. To eat of every tree in the Garden – except one. God loved us so much that He gave us the freedom to choose in life. To our downfall, Man rebels and chooses His own way – a way that leads to death — through sin. God never created sin — or it’s by products; suffering and death. They are created by the choices of Man.

Though sin has limited our lives on this earth, God in His great love for us renews His mercy each day. Every breath, every heartbeat, every moment in our lives is by His amazing grace.
• This day is His gift to us.
• This day is our only opportunity to prove our worship of Him alone.
• This day is our day of salvation.
• This day we are to rejoice and be glad in it.
• This day we are to love Him and our neighbor.
We are “sons of the day.” (1 Thes 5:5)

As we journey through this gift of life these three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love. Love is the greatest. God is love. Our first gift from God is His love.
• He loves us so much to create us from nothing and give us life.
• He loves us so much that He gives us the freedom of choose Him or ourselves in our lives.
• He loves us so much He gives us the Way to be with Him eternally.
• He loves us so much He gave us His only begotten Son, Jesus
Christ, and through Christ we will have life in abundance. We were created to live! Not just in this world, but eternally with our Lord, our Savior, our God, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I Surrender All

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On March 7, 2012

In Praise and Worship

God is so big! Of the estimated 155 billion people ever born, all have had the unique privilege of having a personal relationship with him. It is our personal journey called “life.” It’s very simple. Live a selfish life serving yourself, or a life serving Him by serving others. Jesus showed us the way. In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us the Truth on how to live a peaceful, harmonious, righteous life. In verse 33 He says “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” The more stuff you have in life, the more you have to learn to surrender. This makes life proportionately more complicated. If you own ‘stuff’ like a car, house, furniture, etc., chances are you have loans, insurance, taxes, and other responsibilities to maintain your stuff. Every piece of stuff you own requires a certain amount of time and effort to maintain it. Many of us are more controlled by grasping onto our hard-earned stuff, rather than knowing that God gave it to us so that we could learn to give it away.

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