In The Beginning God

Philippians 3:16 (Amplified) Only let us hold true to what we have already attained and walk and order our lives by that.

So what are those foundation stones to which I need to hold fast? In looking back over the past 30+ years, what lessons have I already learned? To what have I already attained, that I might walk and order my life by that?

The very first thing that comes to my mind is the belief that God IS and that He has existed from the beginning.

Genesis 1:1 (Amplified) IN THE beginning God (prepared, formed, fashioned, and) created the heavens and the earth. [Heb. 11:3.]

John 1:1-3 (Amplified) IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. [Isa. 9:6.] He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being.

Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].

Nothing else that I believe would make any difference if I didn't believe that God IS. If God didn't exist, then life would have no meaning, no purpose. But I DO believe that God IS, and more than that, that He cares personally about each & every person who is conceived on the face of the earth, that He is intimately involved in the affairs of men, and that He has a plan for all of the craziness we call life. I believe that He cares about ME and for ME and has a plan & a purpose for MY life. Yes, I dare to believe that the Creator of heaven and earth, the universe, and all that therein is, cares about ME. Not that I matter in and of myself, because I DON'T see myself as the center of the universe and all that important, but I matter because He has created me and as my Creator, He is intimately, personally involved in the details of my life. Believing that leads me to the second foundation stone of my faith, which is that He loves me.

John 3:16 (Amplified) For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

John 3:16 is probably the first verse that most people learn when they start to go to church. Most believers know it like the back of their hands. When we read that verse and put our name in place of the word "world", it comes alive in a very personal way. God so greatly loved and dearly prized me, Cindy, that He gave up His only begotton Son, so that if I, Cindy, would believe in Him, I should not perish but have everlasting life. Wow! Such love!

1 John 4:9-10 (Amplified) In this the love of God was made manifest (displayed) where we are concerned: in that God sent His Son, the only begotten or unique [Son], into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins.

1 John 4:19 We love Him, because He first loved us.

The love of my heavenly Father is like a rock under my feet. It is a sure foundation. The wonderfully amazing thing about His love is that it's unconditional.

Romans 5:8 (Amplified) But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.

God didn't say that I had to clean up my act first and then He'd love me. Thankfully, He loved me while I was still a sinner. He embraced me, even though I was covered with the filth of my sins.

Ephesians 2:13 (Amplified) But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were [so] far away, through (by, in) the blood of Christ have been brought near.

1 John 1:7b (Amplified) ...the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].


Revelations 1:5 (Amplified) And from Jesus Christ the faithful and trustworthy Witness, the Firstborn of the dead [first to be brought back to life] and the Prince (Ruler) of the kings of the earth. To Him Who ever loves us and has once [for all] loosed and freed us from our sins by His own blood, [Ps. 89:27.]

To quote from the chorus of Charles Wesley's hymn, And Can It Be That I Should Gain?....
Amazing love!
How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love!
How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Blessed are You, Lord God Heavenly Father, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, Guardian and Shepherd of my soul, Who has loved me with an everlasting love and called me by name, that I might be Your child and the sheep of Your pasture.