Is God Good All The Time?

Hey guys, so i was thinking about what to write a blog on and during the week something really prompted me to write it on the goodness of God.
I want to start off with this, God is good all the time!

I think that is really important!

If you walked into a church and asked if God is good, most christians would say yes. Now here comes the challenge, if they were sick and you asked them if God was good and they said yes God is allowing my suffering to make me a better person then that is not saying God is good. It is the devil who comes to kill, steal and destroy, God and the devil have not changed jobs. We need to make sure we don't have a too big view of the devil and a too little view of God. God is so extremely good and God does not punish. He is good because he brings mercy to us, not pain and troubles. God is for us and not against us!

God does not lack anything, he is perfect and good, the fault is with us. We do not understand his goodness and use the excuse that God is testing us in our suffering and our tough situations. That is not true, that says God is not good when he is extremely good!

In the bible Jesus healed everyone who came to him. He never turned them away saying that God is using their troubles to make them a better person. He healed ALL who came to him.

I read a book called 'The Shack' a while ago (if you have not read it then read it!) and i'll just share a few things that are written.

- God said, 'There are millions of reasons to allow pain, hurt and suffering rather than to eradicate them but most of those reasons can only be understood with each persons story. I am not evil! You are the ones who embrace fear and pain and power and rights so readily in your relationships. Your choices are also not stronger than my purposes and i will use every choice you make for the ultimate good and the most loving outcome.

- God said, 'The real underlying flaw in your life, is that you don't think that i am good. If you knew i was good and that everything is all covered by my goodness, then while you might not always understand what i am doing, you would trust me.

- God said, ' Just because i work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies does not mean i orchestrate the tragedies. Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace.

God does not inflict pain, hurt, sickness and disease, that comes form the devil. God is good and therefore he only does good, it is who he is, he is good! It says in these verses how good God is...

Psalm 34v4
Taste and see that i am good, blessed are those who take refuge in him.

Romans 8v28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.

Mark 10v18
'Why do you call me good?' Jesus answered. 'No one is good except God alone.'

Psalm 143v10
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God, your spirit is good.

God is good all the time and we need to praise him all the time.

Malachi 3v10
'Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this.' Says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if i will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

Challenge Gods goodness!

Hope this has helped!
Gilbo.

Addicted to love...

Loving Jesus!

Hey guys, Gilbo here. I wanted to write a blog about something God was speaking and teaching me about at Newday, I want to talk about loving Jesus!

In Mark 12 v 28-30 it says:

'One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him,"Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."

I love this verse because Jesus is saying he wants ALL of you!
The most important thing you can do with your life is love Jesus, over and above anything else! Out of loving God comes everything else, it is the foundation for everything. Out of your adoration for Jesus comes submission to him and his glory, it causes you to humble yourself and surrender ALL of yourself to him.

Why do we love Jesus?

It's simple because he first loved us! He is more than worthy to be loved and adored!

I know it's not always easy to love Jesus and I def struggle with it at times, it takes time and discipline. We need to make time and set aside time to spend with God, which i know i need to do and i challenge you to as well, we are building relationship. The more we know about God, the more we know about ourselves. Loving Jesus = getting to know God better. If you love someone you spend quality time with them!
Loving Jesus means your whole life becomes about Jesus, you can'thelp it.
1 Corinthians 10 31 says 'So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it ALL for the glory of God!'

We need to keep reminding ourselves of how worthy and good he is and then we can't help but love him but we quickly forget how good he actually is.
We need to love him in time of difficulty too, this produces character and gives us great strength only God can give. I can defintely testify to that!

When we love God, his heart and his will becomes ours, we get a heart to love others and i really pray and ask that you would daily bless the people around you, ask for God to abundently bless them! When we love God, our hearts are transformed and we become like Jesus!

I also pray that you do eveything you can to make sure your loving Jesus ALL the time, it is well worth your time and your entire life!

Gilbo