This morning, let us remember and praise God for His simplicity. The simplicity of God refers to His “condition of being free from division into parts.” This is related to His pure spirituality. He has no body that he should be divided into different organs or broken into different parts and pieces. He always remains whole, complete, intact.
Read MoreThis morning, let’s praise God for His immutability/unchangeability. The doctrine of God’s immutability flows from the perfection of His being. He who is perfect cannot change in any way. If He were to change for the better, He was not perfect. If He were to change for the worse, He is no longer perfect. If He were to become different in any way, He would not be perfect any more. God is immutable 1) in His being; 2) in His perfections; 3) and in His purposes and promises. Herman Bavinck says,
Read MoreToday, let us praise God for His omniscience. Omniscience is God’s infinite Being applied to knowledge: He knows all things—of Himself, of all things that have ever existed and exist and will ever exist, as well as all thing that are possible. He doesn’t acquire knowledge through observation, reflection, examination, and experience over time (as an eternal God, He is not subject to time or sequence of time, remember?). He knows all things all at once. Nothing ever happens in this universe, which did not already exist in the omniscient mind of God. No movement of a subatomic particle, no movement of our thought is outside of God’s omniscience. How great is His infinite, divine mind!
Read Morelet us remember to praise God for His infinite being. As an infinite Being, God is without limitation. His infinite Being applied to time is His eternity: He is not bound by time or by sequence of time. His infinite Being applied to space is His omnipresence: He is not bound by space—“He is wholly everywhere, yet nowhere in space.” His infinite Being applied to ability is His omnipotence: He is able to do all that He wills to do without any hindrance or frustration. You get the idea.
Read MoreWe have been reflecting on the importance of beginning our prayer with adoration. We have talked about praising God for His creation, providence, and redemption. We can, and should, praise God also for who He is, of course. So, let's consider some of God's attributes. The first attribute the Westminster Shorter Catechism mentions is God's pure spirituality: "God is a Spirit...." This means that God doesn't have a body like us. But is this something we should praise God for? Let's think about that.
Read MoreToday, we continue our reflection on the importance of starting our prayer with adoration. If we should praise God for His creation and providence, we should praise Him all the more for His redemption. This is so because our redemption is the ultimate goal, for which God does everything in His providence. The reason that God preserves this fallen world by His common grace is so that all of His elect might be saved in due course and time. God’s providence is the stage on which God’s redemptive drama takes place. We can say that even God’s creation was for our redemption. God intended the first creation, which is characterized by physicality and temporality, to be replaced by the new creation, which is characterized by spirituality (which does not do away with our body but incorporates our resurrected and glorified body) and eternity.
Read MoreWe continue our reflection on the importance of beginning our prayer with adoration. Last time, we spoke of praising God for His creation. As you probably expected, we should also praise God for His providence. Providence is everything God does to preserve and govern the world and all His creatures and drive them all to His intended goal: God “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11); “he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17); “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
Read MoreWe spoke of the importance of beginning our prayer with adoration—praising God for who He is and what He has done and what His promises are. This morning, let’s briefly reflect on praising God for His creation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1);“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3);
Read MoreWe are forced to make all kinds of adjustments as we live through this pandemic. I hope one of them is spending more time in prayer. “O, what peace we often forfeit, o, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!”
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