BEFORE AMEN (Lucado) - You Are Good

Post based on Max Lucado's book, BEFORE AMEN: The Power of a Simple Prayer, 2014
YOU ARE GOOD

Major Lucado quotes from Chapter 3:

• Most people suffer from small thoughts about God.  In an effort to see him as our friend, we have lost his immensity.  In our desire to understand him, we have sought to contain him. The God of the Bible cannot be contained. 
• If God were only mighty, we would salute him.  But since he is merciful and mighty, we can approach him.  
• If God is at once Father AND Creator, holy - unlike us - and high above us, then we at any point are only a prayer away from help. 
• Before you face the world, face your Father. 

1.1.15  O God = Good
Psalm 31:19 GNT
How wonderful are the good things
    you keep for those who honor you!
Everyone knows how good you are,
    how securely you protect those who trust you.

        What a great thought to ponder at the start of a new year: God is good.  How often do we utter these words when something goes 'right'?  God is good.  But the immensity of that goodness is hard to grasp.  We have just snuggled into the comfortable lap of our Abba with the words, "Our Father" or "Hey, Daddy!" and now we must realize that we are sitting in the presence of the God of the Universe, the Creator of All.  That's a pretty big jump!!  
        Our God is good at many different things.  We don't have to be good at everything because our Daddy is good!  Abba Dad expects us to do well those tasks for which Dad has gifted us, but we can leave the rest to God (or those God has put in our path with the right gifts!)  Our God is good in that Abba Dada wants what is good for us, to the point where Papa gently corrects and steers us to the good.
        "O God" might be our opening prayer.  It is wise to remember that also spells GOOD.  We can continue our prayer from that assurance.  

1.3.15  Taste and See
Psalm 34:8 MSG
Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—how good God is.
Blessed are you who run to him.
     God is mighty, the ultimate power and creator of all.  There's no doubt of that.  But this is a mighty that we don't have to just bow down before and worship.  It is a mighty that we can approach or as the psalmist said, we can 'taste and see'.  What a combination of power and mercy, of universe and individual, of expansive and personal.  

     Taste and see.  Get to KNOW God's goodness.  Run to it!  God is just a prayer away, a simple conversation that will provide the opportunity to experience the goodness and mercy of the Almighty. The end of the 23rd Psalm echoes in my mind right now, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."  Dwelling in the house of the Lord is a constant diet of tasting God and seeing God.  Dwelling is being intimate with God.  Goodness and mercy are included in the bargain.  What a deal!  We are indeed blessed!

1.4.15  Thy Will Be Done
Matthew 6:10 MSG
Do what's best - as above, so below.

For now, I will leave both versions of this prayer
drawing on the post.  It shows how different the
design can be whether drawn on the computer or
by hand.  Either way, typing the prayer words in
the background is intense!!  Prayer TWICE today!

       Father Tim in Jan Karon's Mitford books calls this 'the prayer that never fails' - Thy will be done.  I include it here because it is part of Jesus' tutorial, part of the 'God is good' portion of the Lord's prayer.  And I like the reminder that God knows best, Father KNOWS Best, as the old TV show proclaimed.  We can pray for what WE want, but our prayers should always include 'your will, God' because that is what will be GOOD.  We don't have all the answers, but God does.  When we acknowledge that difference in position, we allow ourselves to receive fully the goodness God wants to share.  

1.5.15   Before You Face the World, Face Your Father
Hebrews 1:3 MSG
This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!
     The world we face every day when we roll out of bed isn't always a world of goodness and mercy.  Relationships fail, things go wrong, afflictions happen, and pain is endured.  Why face that alone and unequipped to handle it all?  Why not begin the day with the assurance that God's goodness will penetrate the ugly and make it better, if not in reality than in perception.  When we know we are walking each day hand in hand with our Abba-Daddy who is strong and mighty, we are ready to walk ANYWHERE!  
     Start the day with a moment of face-to-face time with God.  Guaranteed to make for a better day!