Knowing God's nature:
      How many know that serving God is not the easiest way in this sinful world, but it is the right way? In order to serve the Lord with gladness, as the Bible instructs, we must have total confidence in the very nature of God.
Yes, confidence in the good times and in what we consider bad times.
  Let's look at some of the Bible's descriptions of God's nature.
  1 Jn 4:7&8, Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. V8, He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (KJV)

1. God is love: His will is always best.

As we read in   1 Jn 4:8 and 1 Jn 4:16 God is love. This doesn't say, God loves, though He certainly does love with a perfect and unconditional love. The scripture says that God's very nature is love.  Never in your life will God ever express His will toward you except it is an expression of perfect love.  God's kind of love always seeks the very best for a person.
God does bring discipline, judgement, and wrath on those who continue in sin and rebellion. Even this discipline is always based on love.
Hebrews 12:6,  For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. (KJV)   Again, Prov. 3:12, For whom the Lord loveth He correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. (KJV)  (Ever got a whooping from God? He must really love you.)   Because His very nature is love, we can be confident that however God expresses Himself to us is always best. (Ref : Rom. 8:28)
I thank God for every time I get off track in my walk with Him that something happens in my life that causes me to seek Him more diligently.
Yes, we can thank God that He cares enough to point out the error of our ways and helps us get back on the right track.
  Two more verses that describe God's love toward us are John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16, Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us:   Our trust in the love nature of God is crucial. We should never look on our circumstances without seeing them in the light of the cross where God clearly demonstrated His love for us for all time.  Romans 5:8, But God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. (KJV)   We need to remember that God's love never changes. God loves us with His perfect love even when we make the biggest bonehead mistakes.   We should never allow our hearts to question the love of God. Every dealing God has with us is an expression of His love toward us.  If we really believe that God is love, we will also accept the fact that His will is always best.
  Proverbs 3:5, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;  and lean not unto thine own understanding. (KJV)   If we really believe that God is love, we will also know that His commands are for our good.  Most people hear words like commands, judgement, statutes, and laws and have a negative impression, but God's commands are expressions of His nature of love.   Deut. 10: 12&13, And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. v13, To keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? (KJV)
(Notice: for thy good)    The foundation for such scripture is, God's love relationship with us. When we come to know God by experience, we will be convinced of His love. When we are convinced of His love, we can trust and believe Him. When we trust God, we have no problem obeying Him.
1 John 5:3, For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous. (KJV)
Almighty God loves us deeply and has given us guidelines so we don't miss the fullness of our love relationship.    The purpose of God's commands is to steer us clear of the landmines this life, and our enemy, the devil, throws at us.   Ex: If you had to walk through a field full of land mines, would you rather it be a guided tour with a guide who knew the way, or without a guide and just wing it and rely on your own judgement?    John 16:13 , Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.   Jesus said, in John 10:10, The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  (KJV)   (I can't speak for anyone else, but I have taken enough wrong turns in life to realize, I need a guide. What about you?)
When God gives us a command, He is trying to protect and preserve the best He has for us.  God is not restricting us but is freeing us. God's purpose is that we might prosper and live.  God's commands are designed to guide us to life's very best, and then to eternal life with Him.

2. God is all knowing: His directions are always right.   Part of God's nature is: He is omniscient, knows the beginning and the end. He knows the past, the present, and the future. There is nothing outside the knowledge of God.   Whenever God expresses Himself to us, His directions are always right. Therefore, when God gives us a directive, we can count on the fact that God has already considered every factor that must be considered. You will never follow God's leadership and find out later that He must have been mistaken. His direction is always right.   How many of us have ask God for direction and didn't like the answer, so we ask for several alternatives so we can choose the right one? As I have stated in the past," it's hard to hear from God when we've already decided what the answer will be. He knows the right one from the start.   As we seek to know and do God's will, we must wait before Him until we clearly know His will and His directions for carrying it out.   Human wisdom and knowledge will not be adequate, but God's wisdom is always enough.  No matter what assignment Almighty God has for us, He is able to bring it to pass.   2nd Timothy 1:12, For the which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed him against that day.
The final point I will talk about today is; God is all powerful: He enables us to do His will.   Acts 1:8, But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (KJV)   Christian, be assured that if God leads you to it, He will also lead you through it.   When we know God by experience and know His nature of love, we begin to realize that there is no happier or fulfilling place than in the center of His will.   My friends, let us begin to see all of life's circumstances through the lens of God's love and His care for us.   Romans 8:38 tells us, Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. (KJV)

    Have a blessed week and keep on keeping on , in Jesus name.

Pastor Tom Aldridge