Praise be to God!

Our God is an awesome God

I don’t know if you’re like me, but when I hear someone say our God is an awesome God, my brain instantly goes to the song of the same name.

AWESOME GOD LYRICS – MICHAEL W. SMITH

You can listen to it here http://youtu.be/38V8jnN1Kpw (just got chills rewatching it).

When He rolls up His sleeves
He ain’t just puttin’ on the Ritz
(our God is an awesome God)
There is thunder in His footsteps
And lightning in His fist
(our God is an awesome God)
Well, the Lord wasn’t joking
When He kicked ’em out of Eden
It wasn’t for no reason that He shed his blood
His return is very close and so you better be believing
that our God is an awesome God

REFRAIN
Our God(our God) is an awesome God
He reigns(He reigns) from heaven above
With wisdom(with wisdom) pow’r and love
our God is an awesome God

And when the sky was starless in the void of the night
(our God is an awesome God)
He spoke into the darkness and created the light
(our God is an awesome God)
Judgment and wrath he poured out on Sodom
Mercy and grace He gave us at the cross
I hope that we have not too quickly forgotten that
our God is an awesome God

Refrain x3

Our God is an awesome God
Our God is an awesome God
(Our God is an awesome God)
(Our God is an awesome God)

The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.

That is an amazing song, and through out the song we see so many ways that our God is awesome. But it is the scripture selected for today that has the message I want highlighted. He is awesome and gives power and strength to His people. I have quite a few friends who are going through some big things in their lives right now. Turmoil in their families, pain and suffering because of ailments and injuries, stress and discord at work, or even lack of money to sustain themselves and their family. But the God of Israel provides us with power and strength to persevere and run the good race.

Press on!

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Letting go of the hurts of the past, is not easy, as it’s described as straining in these verses. We have to strain forward, battling through the painful things that are going on now while forgetting what lies behind. In our Tuesday night Bible study, It said that forgetting in this verse didn’t mean, not remembering exactly. Instead it meant “not letting it have an effect”. In the same way that God remembers our sins no more, we are to forget or not let our past have an ill effect on us any longer. That’s not easy, and it often does come with strain. For me that meant going to a counselor and baring my soul (not to say that I’m in great shape now – long way to go yet). That was a strain. It’s not easy to confess all that has been bringing you pain, whether your fault or someone else’s, it’s not easy to forget (or forgive). But God gives us all that we need to attain this goal, starting with His example. May we strive to be more like Him.

Where do you get your power and strength?