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But He Is God


In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:4-6) 

          How can we have joy when times are tough? Paul said that he prayed with joy for the Philippians. Things back then weren’t pretty for Christians. The government hated them. People of other faiths hated them. Once again, Dell Tackett’s admonition to “Look on the face of God” comes to mind. We can have joy, and pray with joy for people facing tough times because God is omnipotent. Nothing can stop Him from carrying on the good work He began in us. He doesn’t get tired. He doesn’t take vacations. 
          We can have that joy because God is omnipresent. He doesn’t have to stop working on His work in me so that He can take some time to go work on you. He could work on both of us even if I’m in Erie and you’re in San Francisco, or Jakarta, or in orbit of one of the Pleiades.
          We can have that joy because God is
faithful to Himself and to us. 
wise. He knows what He’s doing.
love. He acts in our best interest.
merciful. He doesn’t give us more discipline than we need.
gracious. He gives us more of Himself than we deserve.
immanent. He is with us always.
transcendent. He is detached and can see the big picture.
just. He will see that the wrongs are made right – eventually.
patient. He doesn’t give up because we fail.
God. He has all these charactistics and more.
          Were He any less than God, we would have reason to fear and mourn. But He is God.

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