The ocean of Gods love
A friend of mine sent me an E-mail yesterday refering to the ocean of God and it struck me as a direction I was headed in this journal up until a few weeks ago but since in a journal we don't work on any specific time table here I'am going to go back to 5/30/03 if you have been following along at all with me please go back and read that entry and some of the ones before that.
At any rate I was writing about using prayer as a means of calling for reinforcements,both personally and corporately as a body.Specifically I have asked a number of people to pray for my needs both personally and in the ministry.I don't know if there is truly a difference between personal life and ministry life or not since they should be so interconnected as to be one.I don't think Jesus punched out at five o'clock and thaen said I'am on my time now.Well as for where I was going in the book of act the 17th chapter Paul says this in verse 27 "God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps find Him,though He is not far from each one of us .'For in Him we live and move and have our being.'As some of your own poets have said we are His offspring."
Now Paul was speaking to a group of unbelievers but he referred to what I believe we could consider the ocean of God.Gods quality which I have heard called His omniprescence or His being everywhere all at once.Now let us look to Collosians the 1st chapter and verse 15 "He (meaning Christ) is the image of the invisible God,the firstborn of all creation.For by Him all things were created:things in heaven and on earth,visible and invisible,whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;all things were created by Him and for Him.He is before all things ,and in Him all things hold together." Now I believe we really have to get a grasp of this ALL things,does it really mean ALL things?I believe it does.All things God is everywhere right now keeping everything running in proper order.From the rising and setting of the sun,to the tide of the ocean to every last drop of rain and the fall of every snowflake.It is awesome to try to comprehend that God did not just create the world and all the people and then go off on a vacation over the last ten thousand years but He has been completely involved throughout all of history with all of His creation.
And yet when we pray for each other do we realize we are actually connecting with another person in love?I have been praying for my friends more than ever before and I have found that my love for them has increased so much I can't really express it except it is like I feel like i'am joining with God in keeping things held together in their lives.And i remember the story in acts where God sent an angel to set up a meeting between Cornelius and Peter and it was during both their prayer times.Cornelius being a gentile could have knocked on Peters door al day so to speak of course and not gotten in because up until Peters prayer experience he still considered the gentiles unclean but when both men got with God,He made the connection.I have been noticing more of an openness with sharing my faith with my co-workers lately but you know what I have been praying for them EVERYDAY not just intending to pray for them,not just sending some wishful thinking their way but bringing them to my Father by name.It seems as if the Holy Spirit has already been talking to them before I show up.Pray for me and I will pray for you.
At any rate I was writing about using prayer as a means of calling for reinforcements,both personally and corporately as a body.Specifically I have asked a number of people to pray for my needs both personally and in the ministry.I don't know if there is truly a difference between personal life and ministry life or not since they should be so interconnected as to be one.I don't think Jesus punched out at five o'clock and thaen said I'am on my time now.Well as for where I was going in the book of act the 17th chapter Paul says this in verse 27 "God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps find Him,though He is not far from each one of us .'For in Him we live and move and have our being.'As some of your own poets have said we are His offspring."
Now Paul was speaking to a group of unbelievers but he referred to what I believe we could consider the ocean of God.Gods quality which I have heard called His omniprescence or His being everywhere all at once.Now let us look to Collosians the 1st chapter and verse 15 "He (meaning Christ) is the image of the invisible God,the firstborn of all creation.For by Him all things were created:things in heaven and on earth,visible and invisible,whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;all things were created by Him and for Him.He is before all things ,and in Him all things hold together." Now I believe we really have to get a grasp of this ALL things,does it really mean ALL things?I believe it does.All things God is everywhere right now keeping everything running in proper order.From the rising and setting of the sun,to the tide of the ocean to every last drop of rain and the fall of every snowflake.It is awesome to try to comprehend that God did not just create the world and all the people and then go off on a vacation over the last ten thousand years but He has been completely involved throughout all of history with all of His creation.
And yet when we pray for each other do we realize we are actually connecting with another person in love?I have been praying for my friends more than ever before and I have found that my love for them has increased so much I can't really express it except it is like I feel like i'am joining with God in keeping things held together in their lives.And i remember the story in acts where God sent an angel to set up a meeting between Cornelius and Peter and it was during both their prayer times.Cornelius being a gentile could have knocked on Peters door al day so to speak of course and not gotten in because up until Peters prayer experience he still considered the gentiles unclean but when both men got with God,He made the connection.I have been noticing more of an openness with sharing my faith with my co-workers lately but you know what I have been praying for them EVERYDAY not just intending to pray for them,not just sending some wishful thinking their way but bringing them to my Father by name.It seems as if the Holy Spirit has already been talking to them before I show up.Pray for me and I will pray for you.