Footsteps In The Valley: Did You Know God Keeps A Scrapbook?

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Did You Know God Keeps A Scrapbook?

One of the latest craft trends that has really taken off in the last few years is scrap booking. It is no longer just a matter of sticking little corner holders in a photo album to hold the family pictures and saving newspaper clippings. Now people are creating wonderful works of art with their scrapbooks. Fancy papers, stickers, and a lot of other wonderful new extras are offered to frame our special photos and memories with. There are now whole sections at craft stores devoted to scrap booking and there are scrap booking parties where people go to buy materials or share time together as they work on their own scrapbooks.

A couple years ago at Thanksgiving time my older brother and his family came down from the Chicago area to visit. He is the only one that lives far away from the rest of the family, so it is a wonderful time when they are able to come. My sister-in-law is very much involved with her scrap booking hobby and asked if we could help her when she came to visit. My brother had a bunch of photos from our childhood and my sister-in-law wanted to make an album with them. She thought that we could help her by giving the times, places, people, and stories behind the photos so that she could record the information as she put the pages together. What I thought was going to be an activity that took just a couple of hours went on for hours and hours, turning into one of the most special Thanksgivings the family has ever had. We started out looking at pictures and ended up remembering, sharing, laughing, and teasing about the wonderful memories that went with the family photos we went through. We gave our own perspectives to the memories and events, as well as filling in the gaps for each other's memories. I can't remember when I've had so much fun with my brothers and my sister.

We all like to reminisce on special memories in our lives. Things we did, times shared with loved ones, activities with friends, and touching moments forever engraved into our hearts by something said to us. We laugh, we cry, and we smile as we look back at the wonderful times in our lives. Did you know that God keeps memories like this too? Did you know that He keeps a special scrap book with records of what the faithful say and what is on their hearts?

Malachi 3:16 tells us about a book of remembrance. It says, "Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name." God loves to see his faithful children sharing His word, witnessing to others, praising Him for the blessings in their lives, and meditating on His name. When we do this He is recording it in a special book, just as we do when we scrap book. He is looking for memories of the faithful.

Just as Jesus wanted His disciples to hold Him to be more important than anything else on earth, He expects the same of us. This is a weighty responsibility that can only be met with the purest commitment to Him. He must be the most important thing in our lives. We must love God above everything else, just as it tells us in Exodus 20:3 when it says, "You shall have no other gods before me." God is looking for those that are willing to give up all worldly possessions, forsake all worldly relationships, and obey Him above all others. He is not looking for memories from those that just give lip service to God and their faith. He is looking for memories from those that live by their faith, those He knows personally through prayer, those that seek His knowledge in the scriptures, those that reach out being servants to others honoring Him, and those that seek the lost to bring them to Him. In other words, God is seeking memories for his book of remembrance that honor and glorify Him. He is looking for those that have their faith written across their hearts.

In Malachi 3:16 it tells us that when we live by our faith and do the things that honor and glorify the Lord, He hears us and listens to us. When we live by our faith we have an open communication line with God. He listens to us, He hears us, He is able to be an active part of our lives, and He will bless us. What have you done today that God would want to put in His book of remembrance?

FaithfulToOne©2007

His Book Of Remembrance

This morning when I wake up Lord
I will sing out and praise Your name
For the salvation that has changed me
My life will never be the same

I will meditate on Your name
I will seek wisdom in Your word
Today let me spread Your seeds
To those Your name they've never heard

Let me live my life to honor You
In all the things I do and say
Forgive me for failing You falling short
Please never take Your loving mercy away

I pray that my gifts and talents
Glorify You when others look
And that they bring You pleasure
to be recorded in Your book

FaithfulToOne©2007

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GOD GIVES US HOPE

HOPE_________________________ _____________________________ God is my comfort _______________ When I grow weak_______________ His love and grace_______________ Are what I seek_________________ _____________________________ Through Almighty God____________ There is Hope__________________ _____________________________ I will soar like an eagle____________ With strong open wings___________ Singing praises to Him____________ Like an angel sings_______________ _____________________________ Through our Praise______________ There is Hope__________________ _____________________________ I will not grow weary_____________ As I continue to run______________ My strength is renewed___________ By God’s only Son_______________ ____________________________ Through our Savior______________ There is Hope__________________ _____________________________ I will seek the Lord______________ For all that I need_______________ It is only with Him______________ That I can succeed______________ ____________________________ Through the Cross______________ There is Hope_________________ ___________________________ My heart fills with joy____________ During dark lonely hours__________ God’s love poured out to me________ With the Holy Spirit’s powers_______ _____________________________ Through the Holy Spirit___________ There is Hope__________________ ____________________________ I cling to the Word _____________ As my faithful guide ____________ Scriptures direct me____________ God always at my side___________ ___________________________ Through the Bible______________ There is Hope_________________ _____________________________ I pray for His wisdom_____________ To quench my soul_______________ With prayers I give Him___________ Complete control________________ _____________________________ Through our Prayers_____________ There is Hope__________________ ____________________________ My blessings come______________ With trust in the Lord___________ He is my strong shield___________ And my battle sword____________ ____________________________ Through our Trust______________ There is Hope_________________ ____________________________ My faith growing stronger_________ With sincere dedication__________ Inspired by Christ’s love__________ And His promise of salvation______ ____________________________ Through our Faith______________ There is Hope__________________ ____________________________ I pray for your new faith _________ Please search from within________ Believe in Jesus Christ___________ Free the chains of your sin________ ____________________________ Being Born Again_______________ Is our only True Hope____________ ________________________ FaithfulToOne © 1999______ _________________________ _________________________ Psalm 25:5_________________ guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. ___________________________ Psalm 31:24 __________________ Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD. ___________________________ Psalm 33:2 __________________ May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you._______ ___________________________ Psalm 62:5 ___________________ Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. ____________________ ____________________________ Psalm 119:114 _________________ You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. _________________ ___________________________ Psalm 130:5 __________________ I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. _________________ ___________________________ Jeremiah 23:16 _______________ This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. ___________________________ Jeremiah 29:11________________ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ___________________________ Lamentations 3:25 ____________ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; _________ ___________________________ Romans 12:12 ________________ Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. _____________________ ___________________________ Romans 15:4_________________ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. _______________________ ____________________________ Romans 15:13 _________________ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.______ ____________________________ 1 Timothy 6:17_________________ Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.