One of the things I love about my Lord is how He never ceases to amaze me. His goodness is truly awesome and some of the best gifts that He has ever given me were things that I never saw coming, involved no plan or idea of mine and had absolutely nothing to do with my merit or worth. In each of these instances I perceived that God was pouring out His love on me in a visible and remarkable way and all I could do is receive it in humility and thanksgiving.
I had such an instance recently and not only did it grow my love for the Lord and His ways it also reminded me of past events where I know He displayed His love for me in grand fashion. Having just celebrated Memorial Day, which is all about remembering and celebrating the heroes who served, many giving the ultimate sacrifice, I can’t help but see the correlation to my remembrance of God’s love for me and the fact that He is the One who gave His only son for the sin of all humanity and deserves to be celebrated as the true hero for all mankind.
At Christmas time we are often told to “keep Christmas in our hearts all year long”, and we should. At Easter, we are told to keep the crucified and risen savior in our minds at all times, and we should. But is it any less important to have those times of remembrance and celebration that Memorial Day calls to mind? And in those times of remembrance and celebration for all that God has done we can hopefully draw strength and inspiration as we look back and see the victories that God has won on our behalf and the way that He displayed His lovingkindness for us.
Taking it a step further, our remembrance and celebration should also cause us to seek God ever more strongly and ask for Him to show His glory and power again and again. I truly believe that one of the reasons that we don’t see more miracles and open displays of God’s glory is because we aren’t asking for them. We make the mistake of not expecting God to be awesome and limiting His power and intervention by our doubt and our lack of asking, seeking and knocking.
God truly wants us to pray with fervent expectation in our hearts. If we come before Him seeking Him to work in power and glory then He will, although it will almost never be in the way that we expect (it will be much better!). Celebrate all that God has done for you. Remember who He is and how much He loves you. And then seek Him with all you have, expecting Him to show His power and glory in your life. I promise that you will be amazed when you perceive His work!