MARK THE HAND OF GOD
Forget not all His benefits.
Psalms 103:2
It is so easy to forget. Many of us get stuck on ungrateful, “What have you done for me lately?” If we were able to see clearly we would be humbled by His constant care for us and speechless at His perfect detail in orchestrating our lives. What may seem like a meaningless existence, adrift in the swelling tides of life, tossed to and fro by the constant onslaught of trouble and disappointments in this howling wilderness, is actually a beautiful work of art being painted by the Master Artist. His plans are perfect, His promises are sure, His purposes will be fulfilled. Here is Spurgeon’s thoughts on this powerful short verse.
“It is a delightful and profitable occupation to mark the hand of God in the lives of ancient saints, and to observe his goodness in delivering them, his mercy in pardoning them, and his faithfulness in keeping his covenant with them. But would it not be even more interesting and profitable for us to remark the hand of God in our own lives? Ought we not to look upon our own history as being at least as full of God, as full of his goodness and of his truth, as much a proof of his faithfulness and veracity, as the lives of any of the saints who have gone before? We do our Lord an injustice when we suppose that he wrought all his mighty acts, and showed himself strong for those in the early time, but doth not perform wonders or lay bare his arm for the saints who are now upon the earth. Let us review our own lives. Surely in these we may discover some happy incidents, refreshing to ourselves and glorifying to our God. Have you had no deliverances? Have you passed through no rivers, supported by the divine presence? Have you walked through no fires unharmed? Have you had no manifestations?”
I often think back on the great things God has done for me and my heart is filled with gratefulness and with a confidence of His future care. I remember how He kept me from tragedy in my rebellious years, He cared for me when I couldn’t care for myself. I remember how He drew me to salvation and revealed His love for me. I remember how He supernaturally brought my wife Parris into my life and called us both into His work. I remember His care for me in starting our church in NOLA, His faithfulness to provide for us, and the incredible harvest He has given us year after year. He kept us in Katrina and blessed us with new churches in New Orleans and Mandeville. He has come to us again and again with waves of revival, raised up worship team after worship team, blessed us with Beyond the Grave and Feed the Multitudes. Bless The Lord oh my soul! Forget not His benefits. Not only has He brought me out of a horrible pit, He has crowned my life with His lovingkindness.
5 thoughts on “MARK THE HAND OF GOD”
Hallelujah, Good Morning, Pastor Frank, Praise the King, what a POWERFUL short verse.
You know as I look back at my life, He has done some amazing things as well for me.
I’m still here through all this mess we are going through, I woke up this morning to say Good Morning Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, I Love You. He has Saved me from this world and still is working on us and Family. Even though things get tough and scary sometimes I have my Daddy, Jesus, and Holy Spirit with me working things through. He has supplied some wonderful things in my life also and continues to do so daily, the best one I have received is the I Am, and His LOVINGKINDNESS. Don’t know where we are heading, but I know its some where Very good. It’s going to be AWESOME.
It’s all His, my life, my family, everything. O how I walk in the world for Him, get up in the morning for Him, breath with Him, ha, He is all up in me and I in Him. 🙂
He has us all doing His great work somehow or another somewhere, even when we walk through the world
with His 9 fruits of the Spirit truly shining and glancing off of us. Nothing but smiles, 🙂 Joy, , goodness, kindness, faithfulness, self control, peace, patience, gentleness, but the main one all is ha, LOVE. Let your Mark of the Hand of God SHINE BRIGHTLY as you walk through His Earth, HIS EVERYTHING. WHAT A MARK HE REALLY IS. GLORY, HONOR AND PRAISE TO THE KING OF KINGS..
Jk old on its going to be a awesome ride. Have Your way, Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, with lots of LOVE. Have an awesome day in Our LORD=KING.. The Real Marker that Marks everything truly. O how I Love YOUR Presence. Thank You Holy Spirit.
Just yesterday morning I was “overwhelmed” with thanking God for the ideas He GAVE to the inventors THRU THE YEARS that have given us the “gadgets” and what we consider necessities !! Without HIS LOVE IMPARTING THOSE IDEAS TO HUMANS where would we be today ??? HE is such a GREAT PROVIDER!!! The sun, the wind, the rain SUCH A GREAT PROVIDER !!! His UNDYING LOVE TO US – just humans !!!
Forgot to say love you all. Whew,
I know Mary’s song has been the biggest blessing God has bestowed upon me to date. Through the beautiful women of God, I was able to gain new perspective on life, learn what intimacy with God truly is, allow God transform me by the renewing of my mind. God’s hand has been in my life and now I’m blessed to be able to look back and see how He’s been drawing me to salvation and revealing His love to me. Today I am being equipped to continue my walk of faith and do God’s will. I’m blessed and highly favored. Thank you Jesus!! Thank you for Victory Fellowship, Mary’s song and all the beautiful women of God that God himself placed in my life to help change me, to help awaken my spirit to God and His kingdom! Praise His Holy name! Thank you Pastor Frank for being the man of God, He called you to be, your encouraging words have always blessed me. God bless you!
Mark the Hand of God-Forget Not ALLHis Benefits’
We enter into His gates with thanksgiving in out hearts.
God saved me. He set me up, won me completely, and pulled me out of a life of debaucherie and profligate evil. But I want to focus on two particular deliverances. He delivered me from cigarette smoking. In a non-charismatic church, I heard an excellent sermon on “bad habits,” and the solution. I did everything suggested, but added one more thing. I prayed. I told God something like, “You KNOW that I cannot quit smoking. I’ve tried, and I always go back to it, and smoke more than ever before. You have revealed to me that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I do not want to defile Your temple any longer. If you will take away these physical cravings, I will not pick them up again for any other mental or emotional reason. I had not heard anything in that prayer in the sermon, nor even that I ought to pray. But I followed through with all of the suggestions in the sermon as well. I never have had another cigarette, nor another craving.
The other deliverance was from thoughts of suicide. I listened to them 60 times a day. No kidding. If I broke a shoelace, seriously, here came the thought, “I might as well kill myself.” I fought back, with willpower, and “NO,” for years, and then with the Word after I was saved and began to mature. When I was 43, I was in a revival service in Ft Worth. Rodney said, “Even in our charismatic and Pentecostal circles, we neglect this ministry. For instance, who here would say that they have thoughts of suicide. My hand shot up. “Come here!” He commanded. I ran down. (120 others did, too. I got there first.) He asked me, “How long?” “Since age 15.” “OUT!!!”
He shouted, raising his hand. I hit the floor laughing. Never had another thought of suicide. That was 15 years ago, so I’ve been spared ~5,300 of these horrible thoughts.
God has done innumerable other wonderful things for me, and Holy Is His Name!