----CREATED BY HIM and FOR HIM~~

--"I have created him for my glory, I have formed him;
yea, I have made him. --[Isaiah 43:7] --

---MY obedience to God is not so much to gain God's favor and blessing for myself as it is to please Him and to further His plan on earth. We and all the rest of creation were created by God at His will, which is the actual meaning of "for thy pleasure they are and were created." That is, God created us because it pleased Him to do so. Accepting this reality enables us to find purpose, fulfillment, significance, and peace of mind.

In his pursuit of happiness, man often ignores the very source of happiness. Man was created to please God and rich blessings follow when he fulfills that purpose. Man experiences fullness of joy here on earth and is promised pleasure forevermore after life here is over (Psalm 16:11). But in pursuing his own pleasure, man finds himself in bondage to pleasure. This is sinful, and it produces guilt, shame, and all manner of pain and trouble. The devil tries to give assurance that the guilt is unfounded, but man on his own can never attain the peace and joy that God intends for him.

Man thinks there can be no happiness unless his own will is gratified. The only way to change this mentality is to change course. This is called repentance--a change of mind, will, and action, away from doing our will to doing God's will. That is the heart of the Gospel. God offers forgiveness for past wrongdoing when we repent, confess our sins, and experience His marvelous grace. We then receive the Spirit of God as a daily guide to walk on a path that pleases Him. God is doing His pleasure, and we are the unworthy recipients of His goodness. What a blessing! ~~

-"For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is Truth." --[1 John 5:4,5,6 /NASB]

--BSW/LH~
--"Nothing He Can't Do" // (lyrics) Community Music ~ <https://youtu.be/ol1nSO-oZU0>
~~~~