Coffee With The Lord

During my time of “coffee with the Lord” today I felt prompted to rejoice and “revel” in the words of an old hymn with a recurring refrain… “What a wonderful Savior!”  I really believe the Lord was setting me up for my Bible reading in Romans today…  Check it out…

“Christ has for sin atonement made,
What a wonderful Savior!
We are redeemed! the price is paid!
What a wonderful Savior!

Refrain:
“What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus!
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord!

“I praise Him for the cleansing blood,
What a wonderful Savior!
That reconciled my soul to God;
What a wonderful Savior! (Refrain)

“He cleansed my heart from all its sin,
What a wonderful Savior!
And now He reigns and rules therein;
What a wonderful Savior! (Refrain)

“He gives me overcoming pow’r,
What a wonderful Savior!
And triumph in each trying hour;
What a wonderful Savior! (Refrain)

“To Him I’ve given all my heart,
What a wonderful Savior!
The world shall never share a part;
What a wonderful Savior!” (Refrain)

• E. A. Hoffman, 1891

The theme of my Bible reading today?  How to “get right with God” (i.e. how a person can be “justified”, acquitted, declared righteous before God!)  Read the following declaration by Paul, the great apostle, and do what I did this morning – “revel” in his inspired words – and see if you don’t find yourself saying (and if you know the words and melody… singing) “What a wonderful Savior!”

 “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known…This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified (i.e. made right with God) freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, to be received by faith… Where, then, is boasting?  It is excluded!  For we maintain that a person is justified (i.e. made right with God) by faith apart from the works of the law (i.e. simply keeping a list of religious rules and ceremonies).  (Romans 3:21-31)

My response to these wonderful words… Thank you Heavenly Father, for sending your Son, Jesus!  Thank you Jesus for offering yourself on the cross for this sinner!  Thank you, Holy Spirit for revealing this wonderful plan of salvation to Paul, the apostle!  Bottom line? WHAT A WONDERFUL SAVIOR!!

Talk about a “New Year” – a new beginning, a fresh start…

Let’s get right to the point: “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done, you can be forgiven and made right with God by putting your faith in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on your behalf by dying for your sins on the cross! That “good news!” … VERY good news!!!

That’s the message of Romans 3:21-26 in God’s word – the Bible. Read it for yourself… I did this morning.

Have you ever had a powerful, awe-inspiring, unforgettable experience with the Living God – a genuine, authentic “God-encounter”?  Where and when did it happen?  What was its impact on you?  Did it happen in church or somewhere else?  What were you doing at the time?  What was your response?

Now I think everyone needs to have an experience like that!  I’ve had a few… and they were life transforming!

Isaiah had one… He was in the temple (“church” if you please).  But experiences like this are not limited to “church” – they can happen anywhere.  Moses was in the “wilderness” when he experienced God’s presence in a “burning bush”.  Paul, the great apostle, was on a horse on his way to Damascus to do something evil.  John was all alone, exiled on a desolate island.  God can show up ANYWHERE!!  I encountered God powerfully as a farm boy in the middle of a plowed field one day (I’ll have to tell you that story someday J)

This morning during “coffee with the Lord” I read about Isaiah’s “God-encounter” in Isaiah 6…

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim… and they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”  At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty!”  Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”  (Isaiah 6:1-8)

The “where” and “when” of this account doesn’t really matter that much – however, “church” is a wonderful place to encounter God!  The impact of Isaiah’s experience is significant… Whenever we truly have a God-encounter we become painfully aware of our inadequacy, our sinfulness, and the fact that without God’s mercy “we are ruined!”  But as is often the case in a God-encounter, when we cry out to God for mercy and grace, He hears us and mercifully forgives and cleanses us.  Furthermore, he often “sends” us. 

My prayer?  Oh Heavenly Father, give us more “God-encounters!”