Tag: Jordan

17. “‘I am the Son of God’”

John 10:31  The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.

“He is not ‘making himself God’; he is not ‘making himself’ anything, but in word and work he is showing himself to be what he truly is – the Son sent by the Father to bring life and light to mankind.” (Bruce) The judges of Psalm 82 were called “gods” because in their office they determined the fate of other men. Also, in Exodus 21:6 and 22:8-9, God called earthly judges “gods.”  If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came: Jesus reasoned, “If God gave these unjust judges the title ‘gods’ because of their office, why do you consider it blasphemy that I call Myself the ‘Son of God’ in light of the testimony of Me and My works? “The judges as well as the lawgivers and prophets of the old dispensation, as it is pointed out in verse 35, were those unto whom the word of God came, while Jesus is Himself sent by God, the very Word of God made flesh.” (Tasker) Even after Jesus refuted their charges they still chose to pick up stones to stone Him.  Hardened hearts and minds do not listen or even try to understand.  We need to be mindful of what we may harden our hearts and minds to in the Word of God.  Jesus went to the very place where you would think they would see and understand.  God sent His Son, the Messiah, to His chosen people and He was rejected by those who should have seen and recognized Him clearly.  Jesus was rejected and left. John did not do any miracles but He followed and obeyed the call on his life by God.  He had special work to do and had a lasting influence.  It is easy to think that special service is only given to very special people and that great tasks are not for common people.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Have you ever heard of Mordecai Ham?  He was the preacher who spoke the Word of God when Billy Graham was saved. Here are a few others who did not let their work interfere with their faith.  William Turner MA was an English divine and reformer, a physician and a natural historian. He has been called “The father of English botany.”   Robert Boyle was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, theologian, chemist, physicist, and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry, and one of the pioneers of modern experimental scientific method. Sir Isaac Newton was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific revolution.   John Ray (1627–1705): English botanist who wrote The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation (1691) and was among the first to attempt a biological definition for the concept of species.  Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716): He was a philosopher who developed the philosophical theory of the Pre-established harmony; he is also most noted for his optimism, e.g., his conclusion that our Universe is, in a restricted sense, the best possible one that God could have created.  • Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723): Dutch Reformed Calvinist who is remembered as the “father of microbiology”.

Firmin Abauzit (1679–1767): physicist and theologian. He translated the New Testament into French.  Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772): He did a great deal of scientific research with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences having commissioned work by him.[31] His religious writing is the basis of Swedenborgianism and several of his theological works contained some science hypotheses, most notably the Nebular hypothesis for the origin of the Solar System. 

• Mikhail Lomonosov (1711–1765): Russian Orthodox Christian who discovered the atmosphere of Venus and formulated the law of conservation of mass in chemical reactions.

• John Abercrombie (1780–1844): Scottish physician and Christian philosopher[48] who created the a textbook about neuropathology.  

Marshall Hall (1790–1857): notable English physiologist who contributed with anatomical understanding and proposed a number of techniques in medical science. A Christian, his religious thoughts were collected in the biographical book Memoirs of Marshall Hall, by his widow[51] (1861). He was also an abolitionist who opposed slavery on religious grounds. He believed the institution of slavery was a sin against God and denial of the Christian faith. 

• Benjamin Silliman (1779–1864): chemist and science educator at Yale; the first person to distill petroleum, and a founder of the American Journal of Science, the oldest scientific journal in the United States. An outspoken Christian,[55] he was an old-earth creationist who openly rejected materialism.  

Michael Faraday (1791–1867): Glasite church elder for a time, he discussed the relationship of science to religion in a lecture opposing Spiritualism. 

• James David Forbes (1809–1868): physicist and glaciologist who worked extensively on the conduction of heat and seismology. He was a Christian as can be seen in the work “Life and Letters of James David Forbes” (1873). 

Charles Babbage (1791–1871): mathematician and analytical philosopher known as the first computer scientist who originated the idea of a programmable computer. He wrote the Ninth Bridgewater Treatise,[61][62] and the Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864) where he raised arguments to rationally defend the belief in miracles. 

Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873): Anglican priest and geologist whose A Discourse on the Studies of the University discusses the relationship of God and man. 

John Bachman (1790–1874): wrote numerous scientific articles and named several species of animals. He also was a founder of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.  

James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879): Although Clerk as a boy was taken to Presbyterian services by his father and to Anglican services by his aunt, while still a young student at Cambridge he underwent an Evangelical conversion that he described as having given him a new perception of the Love of God. 

Gregor Mendel (1822–1884): Augustinian Abbot who was the “father of modern genetics” for his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants.[71] He preached sermons at Church, one of which deals with how Easter represents Christ’s victory over death. 

Emil Theodor Kocher (1841–1917): Swiss physician and medical researcher who received the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid. Kocher was a deeply religious man and also part of the Moravian Church, Kocher attributed all his successes and failures to God.

George Washington Carver (1864–1943): American scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor. Carver believed he could have faith both in God and science and integrated them into his life. He testified on many occasions that his faith in Jesus was the only mechanism by which he could effectively pursue and perform the art of science. 

Charles Milton Altland Stine (1882–1954) was a chemist and a vice-president of DuPont who created the laboratory from which nylon and other significant inventions were made. He was also a devout Christian who authored a book about religion and science. 

Ronald Fisher (1890–1962): English statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist. He preached sermons and published articles in church magazines. 

• Igor Sikorsky (1889–1972): Russian–American aviation pioneer in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Sikorsky was a deeply religious Russian Orthodox Christian[140] and authored two religious and philosophical books (The Message of the Lord’s Prayer and The Invisible Encounter). 

Sir Robert Boyd (1922–2004): pioneer in British space science who was Vice President of the Royal Astronomical Society. He lectured on faith being a founder of the “Research Scientists’ Christian Fellowship” and an important member of its predecessor Christians in Science  

Stanley Jaki (1924–2009): Benedictine priest and Distinguished Professor of Physics at Seton Hall University, New Jersey, who won a Templeton Prize and advocated the idea modern science could only have arisen in a Christian society. 

Denis Alexander (born 1945): Emeritus Director of the Faraday Institute at the University of Cambridge and author of Rebuilding the Matrix – Science and Faith in the 21st Century. 

Francis Collins (born 1950): director of the National Institutes of Health and former director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute. He has also written on religious matters in articles and the book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. 

William Newsome (born 1952): neuroscientist at Stanford University. A member of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-chair of the BRAIN Initiative, “a rapid planning effort for a ten-year assault on how the brain works.”[240] He has written about his faith: “When I discuss religion with my fellow scientists…I realize I am an oddity — a serious Christian and a respected scientist. 

Mary Higby Schweitzer: paleontologist at North Carolina State University who believes in the synergy of the Christian faith and the truth of empirical science.

  Gerhard Ertl (born 1936): 2007 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry. He has said in an interview that “I believe in God. (…) I am a Christian and I try to live as a Christian (…) I read the Bible very often and I try to understand it. 

Fred Brooks (born 1931): American computer architect, software engineer, and computer scientist, best known for managing the development of IBM’s System/360 family of computers and the OS/360 software support package, then later writing candidly about the process in his seminal book The Mythical Man-Month. Brooks has received many awards, including the National Medal of Technology in 1985 and the Turing Award in 1999. Brooks is an evangelical Christian who is active with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

15.u. “And many followed him, and he healed them all”

John 6:1  After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

Matthew 4:24-25    So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them.  And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Matthew 12:15    Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all

Matthew 15:30-31    And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them,  so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

Fame spread and large crowds, great crowds, and many followed Jesus.  The fame of His healing the sick, healing those possessed by demons, healing the blind, mute, and lame all pointed to Jesus being who the prophets spoke of hundreds of years before.  Can’t you hear what people were saying?  He healed my blind son, He cast the demon out of my brother, He healed my paralyzed friend, My dad can hear again, my daughter is no longer sick……. and the word spread about Jesus.  Signs and wonders were all given out of grace and mercy but they were also given to show that Jesus Christ was the Son of God.  Many glorified God because of the miracles that Jesus did.  Don’t you wonder how many came to the knowledge and understanding of the Gospel after Jesus was crucified?  Do you wonder how many hearts were broken when He was hung up on the cross?  How hard would that have been to see the very man who healed you or a friend or a family member being beaten, whipped, and hung on a cross?  Wouldn’t your heartache?  Wouldn’t you have questions?  Wouldn’t you say this is all wrong?  You have to know there were those in the crowds who doubted Jesus Christ even though they saw what He did.  People today are healed still today but I would have to say that there is more doubt than ever before in the history of mankind.  Jesus Christ is still the same though we have changed and thoughts about Him have dwindled.  Our culture shouts out that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are nothing more than fairytales or man-made stories of weak men.  In their hardened hearts they have set their path straight to eternity in hell.   In their wisdom, they deny signs, wonders, and miracles that have been recorded for us so that our faith in Jesus Christ would continue to grow and we would forever continue to give glory to God.

15.b. “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John 3:22  After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison). Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Jeremiah 1:5    “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

1 Corinthians 4:7    For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Matthew 25:15     To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

1 Corinthians 12:11    All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

Romans 12:6   Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us

1 Corinthians 15:10    But by the grace of God I am what I am,

James 1:17    Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

1 Peter 4:10-11  As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:  whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 John’s disciples seemed alarmed, but it didn’t bother John one bit. John would not allow envy or the fickle crowds make him forget his mission: to announce that the Messiah had come, and then to step back and let the attention be focused upon the Messiah. John first answered his worried disciples that everything he had – including those who responded to his ministry – were a gift from God. If they are God’s gift, then they should be received gratefully. John then reminded his disciples that he knew who he was, and he also knew who Jesus was. Understanding that, he could keep his proper place; not too high (thinking he was the Christ) and not too low (thinking he had no call or place in God’s plan). John explained to his followers that he was like the best man at a wedding; he isn’t the bridegroom. He isn’t to be the focus of attention, but to supervise the bringing of two people together.  “John had no sense of envy or rivalry. It is not easy to see another’s influence growing at the expense of one’s own; it is even less easy to rejoice at the sight. But John found his joy completed by the news which his disciples brought.”  John the Baptist understood it was good for him to become less visible and known, for Jesus to become more visible and known. In even larger aspects, this should be the motto of every Christian, especially leaders among God’s people. Jesus should become greater and more visible, and the servant should become less and less visible. John that Baptist also did not quit his work just because Jesus was doing a similar work and doing it for more people. He labored on, content to do what God called him to do even though Jesus gained more and more attention and John less and less.

12.l. “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord”

Habakkuk 3:3  God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed— but he marches on forever.

Deuteronomy 5:24     And you said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live.

Psalms 114:3-7    The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.  What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?  O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?  Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,

Revelation 5:13   And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

Isaiah 6:3  And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”  And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.  And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

As Habakkuk prayed for a revival he began to praise the God who brings revival. Habakkuk glorified the power and majesty of God. It is good to praise God like this, and God’s people need to do more of it. It is good to praise God because it gives appropriate honor and glory to God, it declares God’s specific works, it teaches and reminds us of who God is and what He has done, it places man in proper perspective under God, and it builds confidence in the power and works of God.

Do you ever wonder what is proper praise and worship of God?  How do you get to the place in your hearts and minds where praise and worship flow out.  God revealed and Habakkuk saw the judgment, anger, and wrath of God coming because of the defiance and rebellion of His people.  Habakkuk prayed for revival and in this prayer he called out to God with praise and worship, remembering who God is.  Nothing else is worthy of the praise and worship of God.  He alone is worthy.  When our hearts, minds, and souls are intentionally committed to honor, serve, follow, obey, rely, and trust God our hearts will overflow with praise and worship of Him.  When our eyes to our hearts and ears to our minds are clouded with things of this world, and the Word of God is neglected and void in our desires, what should be praise and worship are turned into worry and fear and defeat.  Habakkuk remembered the power of God and how He has control over all things.  It confirmed in his heart and mind that nothing is impossible for God.  We certainly have a lot that could cloud our eyes and deafen our ears to things of God. A global pandemic, riots, confusion, fear, foolish thoughts on what is right and wrong, division, hatred, defiance of God, wars, plagues ……  You have to wonder how much more chaos needs to happen before mankind and nations will recognize the hand of God in all of this and only in and through His power and glory will it stop. In all of this God is in control and His plans and purposes are perfect.  Mankind attempts to deny God’s hand in these happenings and you don’t have to see and hear much news to know their hearts are full of pride and defiance and void of fear/reverence of God.  Do you want to see and end to all that is happening? Turn to God.  Do you want peace in chaos?  Turn to God.  Do you want wisdom to see God’s hand in what is happening?  Dive deep into His Word.  Do you want to hope for the future? Believe in Him alone who can do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine.  Keeping our hearts, minds, and souls pure through His Word and a deep desire to praise and worship Him will flow through us.

1.j. Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways.

1 Chronicles 22:17  David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, Is not Jehovah your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? for he hath delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before Jehovah, and before his people. Now set your heart and your soul to seek after Jehovah your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of Jehovah God, to bring the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of Jehovah.

Deuteronomy 4:29    But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 32:46-47   he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Haggai 1:5    Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways.

Psalms 27:4    One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life

1 Chronicles 16:11    Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!

David brings to the minds of everyone that it is obvious that God is with them because there is rest on every side, the inhabitants have been delivered into David’s hands and the land had been subdued.  All of this at the hand of God.  What normally happens when there is rest from trials and troubles?  What happens when we are prosperous and healthy?  Does God’s word stay relevant, important, sustaining, and guiding?  Does His word find a place in our heart and mind every day?  Do we hunger and thirst for His word?  I fear not.  I fear we become neglectful and complacent when there is rest from our trials and prosperity abounds.

How do we fight this?  We fight it with an intentional choice to humbly seek and desire to serve, honoring, following, trusting, and obeying God more and more each day.  We fight neglect by not being neglectful – it is an intentional choice.  We fight complacency by not being complacent – it is an intentional choice.  We need to be intentional about our commitment and walk with Jesus Christ.

156. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.

1 Kings 17:1  Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” And the word of the Lord came to him: “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

2 Kings 3:14    And Elisha said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you.

Jeremiah 15:19     Therefore thus says the LORD: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.

Acts 27:23  For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship,  and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’  So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.

“The Creator lives”, “before whom I stand”, “to whom I belong”, “to whom I worship.”  These are words of faith and understanding.  They speak of the certainty of God and the action of worship.  These are words of people who live each day with God first in their life.  They choose to serve Him, they seek to serve and honor Him, they cling to Him and trust Him,  they rely on Him, and they find purpose in following and obeying His leading.  Each of these people lives in morally declining cultures with society blindly following practices that are not of God.  They chose God over conforming to the moral decline.    Every day they hungered and thirsted for God’s leading and found purpose in reliant obedience.

Our lives should have God’s word deep into our heart and mind so that we are a light in a dark and lost world.  Read His word each day with intentional purpose to gain understanding and wisdom and knowledge of God.  Read His word each day to grow in faith, trust, reliance, hope, joy, strength, power, and love.  Read His word each day to have fuel in our heart and mind that the Holy Spirit can speak into our lives and direct us on paths that bring honor and glory to God.

120. The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms

2 Samuel 10:15   But when the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together. And Hadadezer sent and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the Euphrates. They came to Helam, with Shobach the commander of the army of Hadadezer at their head. And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan and came to Helam. The Syrians arrayed themselves against David and fought with him. And the Syrians fled before Israel, and David killed of the Syrians the men of 700 chariots, and 40,000 horsemen, and wounded Shobach the commander of their army, so that he died there. And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Syrians were afraid to save the Ammonites anymore.

Psalms 18:38    I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet.

Psalms 46:11    The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Psalms 46:1   God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Deuteronomy 33:27    The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, ‘Destroy.’

Jeremiah 16:19   O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.

How many times in our life do we limit God as our refuge, our strong tower, our fortress, our strength?  God has not and does not change.  God is and will continue to be God, author, and finisher, alpha, and omega, beginning and end.  All things have been created by Him and He is in control of all things.  At His voice light was created, heaven and earth were created, life was created, and galaxies and universes were formed.  Great deeds and wonders have occurred.  And yet we still limit what God can do in our life.  Take a look at the first 10 minutes of this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J6yeIxKmJ4&feature=youtu.be  You will have a refreshed look and understanding of how limitless God is.

Don’t limit God, but choose to seek and trust God for in Him alone we will find peace, joy, hope, and strength for today and tomorrow.

68.   For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off

Joshua 4:6   that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

Exodus 12:26-27     And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’  you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

Exodus 13:14     And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

Deuteronomy 6:20-21    “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’  then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

Deuteronomy 11:19     You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Psalms 44:1    O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:

Psalms 71:18     So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

Psalms 78:3-8     things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.  He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children,  that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,  so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;  and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Acts 2:39     For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

When you children ask in time, you have heard and know,, teach to their children, fathers have told us, asks you, and when your children say to you…. all indicate that your children will see something in your life, something you do, something say, something you set aside, something you don’t do, something you don’t say, something you give away and they will ask you about it.  Obviously they as well as others should see something different in our lives.  They might even ask us why.  We might be given chance to tell them the reason for the hope that we have, the reason for the way we act, speak and think, the reason we give, the reason we forgive, the reason we study His word, the reason we pray, the reason we have belief, trust and faith.  Spending time in God’s word will give you reason, purpose, and meaning.

67. “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Joshua 3:11   Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”

So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

Exodus 15:8     At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

Psalms 33:7     He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;

Psalms 78:13    He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.

Psalms 114:3-5    The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back.  The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.  What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?

  Matthew 8:26-27    And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

We doubt we wonder, we both believe and believe not.  Do you believe the Red Sea was split in two or that the Jordan river was stopped flowing or that Jesus calmed the sea?  These are all recorded so that we might believe in the awesome power and might of God.  It also shows His love for those called by His name and wrath for those who reject Him.  There was the destruction of Egyptians and of those in Jericho.   All things are possible for God the creator of all things both seen and unseen.

Think about the trial or trouble you are going through and need God’s intervention.  Certainly, since our God can stop a river, split the Red Sea, calm the storm, all by the way seem impossible to do, He is more than able to do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine.

Do you want to grow your faith?  Read His word.  Study it.  Meditate on it.  Seek to understand it.  Believe it.  Desire it.  Time spent in His word every day is never wasted, honors Jesus, gives hope, and encourages us in the sovereignty and awesome power and might of God our creator and father.

Lift up your eyes

Genesis 13:14  The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward,  for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.  I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.  Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”  So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.

Genesis 28:14     Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Deuteronomy 3:23  “And I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying,   ‘O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?  Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’  But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again.  Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan.

Abraham and Moses were both given a promise.  Both were give to righteous men.  Yet the promise was different in it’s intention.  To Abraham, he was told to  look east, west, north, and south and that it was all given to him.  To Moses, he was told to look east, west, north, and south and that he would see it but not cross the Jordan and set foot on the possession but Joshua would.

Living for God has promises that direct us to keep our eyes on that which is to come, heaven.  No matter what direction we look, we have promises of love, joy, peace and rest.  As well we have promises of trials, pain, and work.  In both we have God who loves us and wants us to desire Him and life eternal.  The problem seems to be that we get so caught up in the temporary things of this life as we look to the east, west, north, south, that it over clouds our thinking of what our life should be all about.

The promise of eternal life through Christ ought to over shadow all that is temporary in this life no matter what direction is before us.  This promise alone should make our hearts thankful and our actions worthy of serving, honoring, and glorifying God.

How easily do we forget the promises of God’s all powerful hand, awesome power, steadfast love, ever present guidance and place of refuge?  Too often I would guess.

Stay in His word, learn of and trust in His promises, and keep your eyes on serving, honoring, glorifying Him until that eternal day arrives. Do not let your eyes and heart get distracted by what is to the east, west, north, or south.