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CURRENT RADIO SERIES God's Secrets   CURRENT TV SERIES Unchained

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  --John 10:29 The Christian life isn’t just a matter of you and me holding on and hoping for the best. No, the Christian life is actually about God holding you and me in his grip, and us trusting him to not let go. You see, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I are still going to stumble and fall. God understands our humanity. And he knows our possibilities for greatness as well as our possibilities for failure. Think about the apostle Peter and Jesus at the time just before the crucifixion. Peter told Jesus there was no way that he would ever deny him. And yet, he did just as Jesus said he would. Jesus knew in advance about the shame, regret, and the complete sense of failure that Peter would experience. He knew all about it! Yet God was holding onto Peter every step of the way, and restored him in a mighty and extraordinary way to build his church. A personal failure is a painful thing and it can send you reeling on a detour from the path that God has for you. It’s easy to feel so lost that you wonder if God even knows where you are. But I assure you that the Lord knows exactly where you are and he knows exactly what’s going on in your life. So live your life with the great joy that comes with knowing Christ and the power of his redemption. When you fall, get back up and embrace his grace and forgiveness. And remember that he has you in his grip and nothing can take you out of his hand. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS ABOUT GOD HOLDING YOU IN HIS GRIP AND YOU TRUSTING HIM TO NOT LET GO.

How the Heart Is Revealed

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house,”
1 Chronicles 29:2–3

God did not allow David to fulfill his heart’s desire to build a Temple that would become the permanent home of the Ark of the Covenant. However, He did send word through the prophet Nathan that David’s son Solomon would take on the project. David could have sulked and complained that it wasn’t fair that he wasn’t going to be allowed to do something for God that he wanted to do. Instead, he recognized that God had the right to command and control his life, and set out to make it easier for Solomon to complete the task he would have preferred to do himself.
David’s heart is on full display in both his obedience to a command from God that did not match with his desires and his willingness to personally invest his own resources in the Temple project. Both of these are an expression of David’s heart for God. This is the same man who was inspired to write, “I will love thee, O LORD, my strength” (Psalm 18:1). It is not what we say with our words, but what we do with our actions that reveals what is within our hearts.
 

Today’s Growth Principle: 

If we love God as we should, the results will be on full display for all to see in our lives.