Heard with Our Ears – Praying Pint

9.b. “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them”

Joel 1:2 Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.

Exodus 10:1-2   Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them,  and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.”

Deuteronomy 6:7     You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Psalms 44:1   O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:

Psalms 78:3-8    things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.

Psalms 145:4    One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.

Isaiah 38:19   The living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day; the father makes known to the children your faithfulness.

We are instructed to speak of God to our families about His faithfulness and what He has done in our lives. There are moments in our lives where God has shut the mouths of lions, split the Red Sea, healed, and most importantly softened our heart so that our ear might hear and our mind understand His holiness, our sinfulness, and redemption and salvation through Jesus Christ. Our salvation and other grace and mercy acts of God should ever be told in those God moments with our children and their children. God’s acts of grace, mercy, love, power, and might do happen in the lives of those who continue to grow in their faith. If you are in a dry spell is it because of your lack of faith? Or is it a time of testing to grow your faith? Or is it a time of trials to draw you back to faith in Jesus Christ and the power and might in the palm of His hands? We know from Scripture that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” We also know Scripture says “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?”

How are we to have faith stories about how Jesus Christ delivered, moved, encouraged, and gave refuge and power in our lives if we are neglectful and complacent in time in God’s Word? The truth is we will not. Our days will run on and on being the same day after day in our self-reliant and self-centered ways. No stories of how Jesus Christ worked in our life. No acts of power. No acts of wonder. No acts of …… We will see the hand of Jesus Christ in our lives and be able to tell wonderful and glorious stories of His acts of grace, mercy, wonder, and love when we desire and seek to be in His Word and then intentionally choose to humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow, trust, and obey. Start your journey with Christ anew. Spend time in His word, grow in faith, and watch, see, and proclaim the great acts of His power in your life.

137. Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

1 Kings 8:22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.

Exodus 15:11    “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

1 Samuel 2:2    “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

2 Samuel 7:22     Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Psalms 35:10     All my bones shall say, “O LORD, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

Psalms 86:8     There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.

Psalms 89:6-8     For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you?

Isaiah 40:18     To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

Jeremiah 10:6     There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.

Micah 7:18    Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

Nehemiah 1:5     And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

When we are actively reading God’s word with a heart desire to know, honor, glorify, worship, serve, follow and obey Him we will start to see God in increasing awe. We will rightfully be saying “Who is like You?” and “There is none like You.” We ask the question and answer it very simply because our minds cannot grasp or fathom the magnitude, depth, hight, or length of the wisdom, gloriousness, holiness, and love of God. When we humbly start our seeking to know God we have a basic thought of who/what God is. As we spend more and more time in His word with a heart desire to know Him more we become aware that God is so much more than we can comprehend. We grab on to words of praise and say “There is none like You.” You tell us that you are Creator of heaven and earth and all there is and we have no clue how to process this knowledge with understanding other than to say “Who is like You?” We read of Your power, might, all-knowing, and steadfast love and say “There is none like You.”

It is not as though we should come to a point in our searching to know God and stop because the knowledge and understanding of God are too great. No, we ought to keep searching to continue to grow in faith, service, and love for and to God. We will see new mercies and faithfulness emerge because we will continue to be allowed to see them. It seems as though they are a portion of a reward for knowing Him more and more each day. Our faith will grow with each new nugget of understanding and knowledge of God. Our want to live in such a way to honor His name more and more will continue to grow because of our understanding and knowledge of Him keep increasing.

How do we know Him more? Stay in His word. How do we honor Him? intentionally choose to stay in His word each day with a desire to humbly serve, follow, and obey Him. God is more than worthy of our time. Start spending more intentional God-honoring time with Him today!

40. There is none like you, O LORD

Deuteronomy 3:24 “And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, ‘O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?

Nehemiah 9:32     “Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us,

Psalms 106:2     Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD, or declare all his praise?

Psalms 145:3     Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

Psalms 145:6     They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.

Deuteronomy 11:2    And consider today (since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it), consider the discipline of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm,

Exodus 15:11     “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

Jeremiah 32:18-21    You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts,  great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.  You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day.  You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror.

Psalms 71:19    Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?

Jeremiah 10:6     There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.

2 Samuel 7:22    Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Isaiah 40:25    To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

Isaiah 40:18     To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

If you were asked who is God or what is God how would you reply? Our understanding of Him starts with; Romans 1:19-20 For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Psalms 19:1-6 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

We would answer the question based on our understanding and knowledge of Him, our relationship with Him, and our closeness to Him. Time with Him and time spent seeking Him and time spent desiring Him and time spent worshiping Him, and time spent praying to Him, and time spent relying on Him, and time spent trusting Him and time spent hoping in Him, and time spent clinging to Him, and time spent following Him, and time spent obeying Him, and time spent listening to Him, and time spent in His word all develop, grow and nurture how we would answer these questions.

Think how hard it would be to answer these questions if you neglect or become complacent in your walk with Him. Even if you have a close walk with Him we seem to be limited in an adequate reply. All the words of the world would not scratch the surface of who God is. That is how awesome He is.

These lyrics of a song by Natalie Grant explain how we limit God by how we think of Him:

I tried to fit you in the walls inside my mind. I try to keep you safely in between the lines, I try to put you in the box that I’ve designed. I try to pull you down so we are eye to eye.

When did I forget that you’ve always been the king of the world? I try to take life back right out of the hands of the king of the world. How could I make you so small? When you’re the one who holds it all. When did I forget that you’ve always been the king of the world?

Just a whisper of your voice can tame the seas. So who am I to try to take the lead. Still, I run ahead and think I’m strong enough. When you’re the one who made me from the dust.

Oh, you set it all in motion. Every single moment. You brought it all to me. And you’re holding on to me.

Little by Little

The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little.

Joshua 24:12
And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow. I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.

Deuteronomy 7:20
Moreover, the Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you.

Psalms 44:1
O God, we have heard with our ears,
our fathers have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
in the days of old:
you with your own hand drove out the nations,
but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but them you set free;
for not by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm,
and the light of your face,
for you delighted in them.
You are my King, O God

There a few important things God has spoken to me about. 1.Fathers told their children stories of what God had done. What has God done for you? Are you telling anyone? 2. Not everything was done at once but “Little by Little. 3. People did not have any room to share in their victory. It was by God’s hand then were victorious.

Telling our children, families and friends of what God has done brings out our testimony or our faith in God. This not only reminds our heart and mind of God’s sovereignty but also reaffirms that our faith is not in vain as others make think. This may also bring hope to others who, at the time, may not acknowledge it.

God’s plans and purpose are for our good. Sometimes we want it all to happen at once. It is good to know that there are times when our battles, trials, and burdens are removed “Little by Little”. What ever you put into God’s hands allow His purpose and timing.

Make sure to honor God in all of your victories. The victory is His alone and we are blessed to have been able to see His power and strength in the battle. Remember these battles, trials, burdens and speak of God’s amazing power over all of them. Speak of His greatness.