applecider

[kingdomreigns]

Ten Truths About God’s Absolute Being

1. God had no beginning.

God is who he is means he never had a beginning. And that just staggers the mind. Every child asks his parents, “Where did God come from? Who made God?” And every wise parent says, “Nobody made God. He just was always there. Always. No beginning.”

2. God is without end.

God is who he is means God will never end. If he didn’t come into being, he can’t go out of being, because he is being — absolute being. There’s no place to go outside being. There’s only he. Before he creates, he’s all there is. Absolutely.

3. God is absolute reality.

God is who he is means God is absolute reality. There’s no reality before him. There’s no reality outside of him unless he wills it and creates it. He’s not one of many realities before he creates. He is simply absolute reality. He’s all that was — eternally. No space. Space didn’t exist. The universe didn’t exist. Emptiness did not exist. Only God existed forever, absolutely and absolutely all.

4. God is utterly independent.

God is who he is means that God is utterly independent. He depends on nothing to bring him into being. He depends on nothing to support him. He depends on nothing to counsel him. He depends on nothing to make him what he is. He is absolutely independent.

5. Everything depends on him.

God is who he is means everything that is not God depends totally on God. All that is not God is secondary, dependent. The entire universe is secondary reality. Let that sink in, because nobody in this city believes that. And if the church doesn’t, you’re just like them. All the universe is secondary. Humanity is secondary. God is primary, absolute first, last, glorious. Everything else is secondary.

6. Nothing compares to God.

God is who he is means all the universe is, by comparison to God, as nothing. Galaxies compared to God are nothing. All the universe by comparison to God is as nothing. Contingent, dependent reality is to absolute, independent reality as a shadow to substance, as echo to thunderclap, as bubble to ocean. All that we see, all that you are amazed by in your land or around the world — all the world, all the galaxies — compared to God, is as nothing. If you put God on one side of the scales and the universe on the other side of the scales, the universe goes up like air or dust on the scale. Isaiah 40:17: “All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.”

7. God cannot be improved.

God is who he is means God is constant. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. He cannot be improved. He cannot be diminished. He’s not becoming anything. He is who he is. There’s no development in God. There’s no progress in God. Absolute perfection cannot be improved.

8. God sets the ultimate standard.

God is who he is means he is the absolute standard of truth and goodness and beauty. There’s no law book that he consults in deciding what is right. There’s no almanac to establish facts for God. There’s no guild, no musical guild, for example, to determine what is excellent and beautiful. He’s the standard. He himself is the standard of the right, the true, the beautiful.

9. God always does right.

God is who he is means God does whatever he pleases, and it is always right, always beautiful, always in accord with truth. There are no constraints on God from outside that he doesn’t will to exist, and thus govern. All reality that is outside of him is subordinate to him. So, he’s utterly free. He’s the only free being in the universe, in fact. He is utterly free from any constraints that don’t originate from his own will.

10. Nothing is worth more.

God is who he is means he’s the greatest, the most beautiful, the most valuable, and the most important person in existence. He’s more worthy of interest and attention and admiration and enjoyment than all persons and all realities put together, including the entire universe.

— John Piper <Desiring God>

[teslaqueen07-deactivated2023011]

12 signs you might be a modern-day Pharisee

How can you tell if you’re a legalist? Here’s a quick checklist:

I determine whether God likes me or not based on how well I’ve kept the rules.

I might acknowledge I was saved by grace alone, but I think my effort has something to do with staying saved.

I tend to pray less when I fear that God is probably mad at me about something.

I think I’m disqualified from the Christian faith because I’ve messed up, in spite of the fact that I’m still alive and breathing.

I tend to notice the “bad behavior” in others without giving thought to their past pain, poor upbringing or unknown circumstances.

When other sinners suffer for their choices, I hear a tiny voice saying “serves them right.”

I’m more passionate about the rules I find easy to keep, and minimize the ones I personally struggle with.

I’m all about being “in the Word” but sometimes fail to let the Word get into me.

I love going to Bible study more than serving or witnessing because it “feeds me” and makes me feel more spiritually mature.

I recognize that traditions are not necessarily biblical … unless they’re my traditions.

[alwaysrememberjesus]

Carry the Light

[thewordfortheday]

The days of the blameless are known to the LORD, and their inheritance will endure forever. In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty. Psalm 37:18-19

Once there were two people who were at the end of their ropes. There was Elijah, hungry and parched, by the dried up brook, at the end of his resources. And there was a widow at the end of her hope with just a handful of flour and a little oil, her very last meal.

By themselves they could do nothing. Each looked doomed to die. Both must have wondered what God could possibly do to save the situation.

Apart, their lives seemed hopeless. But God brought them both together, there, outside the village of Zarephath. Elijah was almost fainting from hunger; the widow may have been weeping as she collected the twigs. Even though they may have reached rock bottom from an earthly perspective, they still clung to their faith in God.

Elijah needed faith to leave the safe haven of the brook. The widow needed faith to believe that if she fed this strange man first, there would still be food for her own family. And through their faith they were preserved.

Famines may touch our lives. But even in those times, God can use us to be a channel of His blessings to others. And He will not let us down. Just when the jar seems empty He will fill it so that there is just not enough but overflowing that we could share with others. (1 Kings 17)

[thehopefulquotes]

“Someone can be madly in love with you and still not be ready. They can love you in a way you have never been loved and still not join you on the bridge. And whatever their reasons you must leave. Because you never ever have to inspire anyone to meet you on the bridge. You never ever have to convince someone to do the work to be ready. There is more extraordinary love, more love that you have never seen, out here in this wide and wild universe. And there is the love that will be ready.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

[nightlyquotes]

“Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our life.”

— Akshay Dubey

[thoughtkick]

“Don’t turn people into your home, or you’ll end up homeless.”

— Unknown

[remanence-of-love]

[thoughtkick]

“I hope I made you feel something, because you made me feel everything.”

— Gemma Troy

[quotefeeling]

“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself, the challenge is to silence the mind.”

— Unknown

[applecider7-7]

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

-- Psalms 27:14

KJV Holy Bible https://bibliacomigo.page.link/Xxa86okCzo4ojvyz8

[applecider7-7]

[applecider7-7]

[applecider7-7]

If it's painful u stop. If u keep forcing yourself to someone who cannot appreciate your worth you stop and give yourself a break. Pause, breathe and walk away from the pain. U don't have to hurt urself just because you care so much for another human being. If that person is beginning to be invisible. Stop chasing because u can see, you are not blind. That person is.

[quotefeeling]

“A soulmate is someone who is willing to grow with you, who chooses to be with you until the end, and will love you through good and bad. It’s not about sunshine and laughter, it’s about mundane moments filled with unknowns.”

— T.B. LaBerge

[quotefeeling]

“You know all those things you’ve always wanted to do? You should go do them.”

— E.J. Lamprey

[applecider7-7]

A love to last a lifetime (A WOLF'S LOVE) - Chapter 16 Royston Castle's Princess Part 1 (on Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/1183775100-a-love-to-last-a-lifetime-a-wolf%27s-love-chapter-16?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_reading&wp_uname=APPLEd18&wp_originator=dBJHI2UlIqzJJJO659TVQWKY49oDpAyptRgn5bJaY25PJtNOeuYewrNZpVTl74LYfQ8MMiY0AiweQ7ptdlHKteWd7V1GPrnkMopCV4isykF3Rf8W9Bc5EAoEUoXDNHZJ King Linus, whose name is known for his vicious, merciless act, feared in all four kingdoms of the supernatural realms of the earth. But even as vicious as he is, he was scarred by years of his solitude, with no queen to rule by his side, a mateless king. It is said he vanished for many years, and that his kingdom no longer exists, but his long ensconced invisibility will now unveil his secrecy in his return. To them, he is a myth, a legend. But a ravenous fury awakens and reveals his true power to those who wanted to destroy him. No one can define his strength, power, that emanates throughout his being. The beast within him will ascend and unleash its power within to protect the one destined for him.