Father, you are greater than anyone or anything in all the universe. For you created all that is, all that was, and all that is to come. There is no one like you. From everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You existed before time began. You have always existed, just as you are. No beginning, no end. Always and forever the great I AM. Yet you were not content to keep the love you have between yourselves, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You wanted to share that love with beings you created who could accept your love, bask in your love, rest in your love and revel in your love for them. You wanted to give because that is part of your nature. You are the great Giver of all. So, you made man in your image, in your likeness, one who was capable of receiving and giving your love. Sometime after the creation of man, and after he and she had walked with you for some time, the evil one entered the scene. The evil one did what he does best – he lied to the man and the woman. In his lie, he called on them to commit the same evil that got him thrown out of heaven. He said, you will not surely die if you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. No, your Creator is holding out on you. Your Creator knows that if you eat from it, you will be like him, knowing both good and evil. In other words, he called them to be wise of themselves, to put themselves above God’s instructions and thereby be like God. In other words, the evil one called them to “pride.” Incredibly, the woman believed the lie, at the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, gave some to her husband who was with her, and they both ate of the fruit. The evil one thought he had screwed up God’s plan. For they instantly died spiritually, realized they were naked and vulnerable, covered themselves and tried to hide from you. However, all was not lost, for you foresaw all this and you had a plan. A plan you made from before the foundation of the world. You immediately put your plan into action, a plan to redeem man. Jesus was the culmination of your plan. For through him, and what he did, you reconciled man to yourself and defeated the evil one forever. Now we can live lives of freedom from sin and death. When we believed in Jesus and your plan, you made us new creations, new people inside. New hearts, new desires, completely and thoroughly new. Just as you cannot be touched by sin, these new creations cannot either. Yes, we have an old sin nature that tries to get us to sin, but we are free from sin because of what Jesus did and all our sins are forgiven. Father, thank you for the freedom to trust you with everything. Thank you for the freedom from trying to make life work on my own. You are showing me every day how you provide for me, how I can rely on you, how I can rest in your goodness. And what a good rest it is! In the past few days, you have shown me more freedom from trying to make life work on my own in various ways. These were not your ways, but my own ways. Now I am free to trust you to provide in each of these ways. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Your ways are far above my own ways. Your goodness is beyond anything I can conjure up. You are simply and utterly good. It is in you I put my trust. In your goodness and your great grace, mercy and lovingkindness. You are my lifeline. When things go wrong in this life, I know the plans you have for me are good. You will bring them to pass, no matter what happens. For all of this I am so grateful, so very grateful. Again, thank you! A thousand million times of saying “thank you” would not be enough. I owe my very life to you. I give my very life to you to do with as you please. This is my prayer. Amen.
