Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

In my opinion, the first way would unquestionably be through the sacrifice of His own Son to allow me (as if I were the only person who had ever lived) to spend eternity in His presence through faith in Christ.

Then would be the provision of all the items encompassed by the phrase "our daily bread" in the Lord's Prayer (which Martin Luther's commentary itemized as including "everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like", for all of which (as Luther said elsewhere) there is no intrinsic "merit or worthiness" in me that would somehow obligate God to supply them, especially since I (as is the case with each of us) was born with a sin nature that put me at enmity with God from birth until being regenerated by the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ.

Finally (for me at least), in addition to answers to specific prayer requests, would be the day-to-day working out of individual events (especially when viewed from the perspective of hindsight) over which I had no control that led to favorable outcomes or circumstances that I could not have foreseen or even been able to verbalize in prayer.

September 15 2020 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Grant Abbott Supporter Child of Father, Follower of Son, Student of Spirit

I will suggest 3 ways that God tells us we matter to him: 1) God loves us, 2) God listens and responds, 3) God blesses us.

God loves us passionately, wholeheartedly and continuously:

Romans 5:8
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” [the passion of Christ’s suffering]

2 Corinthians 5:18-19
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. [God wholeheartedly gave to reconcile us]

Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [continuous love, nothing can stop it]

God listens and answers us:

Jeremiah 29:12-14
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

God blesses us:

Ephesians 1:3-14
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment —to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. 

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

September 16 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

Jesus not only came to save us, He calls us His friends. (John 3:16; 15:15 ESV) 

Answered Prayer--“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (Psalm 56:8; see too Ps 116:1). Grant mentioned God listening and answering.

And as Tim said with his ready reference to Martin Luther and "our daily bread," God is faithful to provide us with what we need for each day. 

And as Grant graciously gave in his answer, His blessing is a way God uses to show us that we matter to Him (“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8, ESV)).

September 16 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report