Tag: My word

46.t. “Wilderness” – 10.z. “Is anything too hard for the LORD? “

Num 11:23  And the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”

 Genesis 18:14    Is anything too hard for the LORD? 

 Isaiah 50:2  Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst.

 Isaiah 59:1    Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear

 Micah 2:7    Should this be said, O house of Jacob? Has the LORD grown impatient? Are these his deeds? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly?

 Luke 1:37     For nothing will be impossible with God.”

 Ezekiel 24:14     I am the LORD. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not relent; according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord GOD.”

 Numbers 23:19    God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

God had not suddenly become weak or limited. God had resources that Moses knew nothing about. God would meet Israel’s need in a completely unexpected way. (Guzik)

Is the divine power diminished?  What has not God done to convince mankind that his power is always unlimited? And yet man is still ready to fall into the weakness of thinking that there are circumstances in which the power of God cannot afford relief or deliverance. (Benson)

Even true and great believers sometimes find it hard to trust God under the discouragements of second causes, and against hope to believe in hope. God here brings Moses to this point, The Lord God is Almighty; and puts the proof upon the issue, Thou shalt see whether my word shall come to pass or not. If he speaks, it is done. (Henry)

Is there any limit to what God can do? NO.  Is there a limit to what we think God can do? YES. I wonder why it is that we put limits on what God can do. He can do all things. Nothing is impossible for God. Absolutely Nothing! He is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of everything seen and not seen. He can do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine.

“He who believes in Me will live even if he dies”

John 5:24  “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life”.

John 6:40  “This is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day”.

John 11:25  “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies”.

John 14:1-3  “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also”.

Resurrection is not a wishful thing, it is a promised reality and the trusted hope of all who believe. Our savior will return again and gather His own onto Himself and forever we will be with Him in eternity. As His return is ever-increasing closer to that last day, let us continue to keep our eyes focused on Him and live for His honor and glory in all we think, say, and do.

30.p. “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

 

Matthew 5:2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 Job 42:6  therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

 Psalms 34:18    The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

 Proverbs 16:19    It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.

 Psalms 51:17    The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

 Isaiah 66:2   All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

 Proverbs 29:23   One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

 James 2:5   Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

Jesus had been teaching and healing every disease and demon possession. There were multitudes following Him and he goes up onto a mountain, sits down, the disciples come, and begins to teach them. We know this first part of the teaching to be the beatitudes. Someone has said that it is more like “Be – Attitudes” the attitudes every believer should “be.” It has been said if you took all the good advice for how to live ever uttered by any philosopher or psychiatrist or counselor, took out the foolishness and boiled it all down to the real essentials, you would be left with a poor imitation of this great message by Jesus. It expresses the spiritual implications of the rule of Jesus in our lives and tells us how we will live when Jesus is our Lord. All of these character traits are marks and goals of all Christians. It is not as if we can major in one to the exclusion of others. Blessings which have its secret within itself, that joy which is serene and untouchable, and self-contained, that joy which is completely independent of all the chances and changes of life.” (Barclay)  “Note, also, with delight, that the blessing is in every case in the present tense, a happiness to be now enjoyed and delighted in. It is not ‘Blessed shall be,’ but ‘Blessed are.’” (Spurgeon)

The poor in spirit recognize that they have no spiritual “assets.” They know they are spiritually bankrupt. “Not what I have, but what I have not, is the first point of contact, between my soul and God.” The call to be poor in spirit is placed first for a reason, because it puts the following commands into perspective. They cannot be fulfilled by one’s own strength, but only by a beggar’s reliance on God’s power. No one mourns until they are poor in spirit; no one is meek towards others until he has a humble view of himself. If you don’t sense your own need and poverty, you will never hunger and thirst after righteousness; and if you have too high a view of yourself, you will find it difficult to be in need of salvation through Jesus Christ. If we were to be able to examine our souls in light of the holiness of God we would find our hearts so far removed from God that our only true response would be an attitude poor in spirit. We would see the huge difference and no possible means to gain it. We would be left void of any self-reliance and worth. All of our earthly treasures would vanish away in meaningless vapors. It is when we come to this “poor in spirit” in our lives that we begin to understand the mystery of salvation and the need for redemption. 

20.j. “You humbled yourself before the LORD”

Joel 2:12  “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

 2 Kings 22:19    because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the LORD, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the LORD.

 Isaiah 66:2   All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

 

Those of us who love God are also prone to wander away from God. A. W. Tozer used an analogy to explain why that is. He said, “Every farmer knows the hunger of the wilderness, that hunger which no modern farm machinery, no improved agricultural methods, can ever quite destroy. No matter how well prepared the soil, how well kept the fences, how carefully painted the buildings, let the owner neglect for a while his prized and valued acres and they will revert again to the wild and be swallowed by the jungle or the wasteland. The bias of nature is toward the wilderness, never toward the fruitful field.” The same can be said about our relationship with God. No matter how sincere our intentions, the bias of life causes us to wander away from God. We do not mean for it happen. But the very real concerns we have about our families, about our jobs, about our finances cause us to focus on the temporal instead of the eternal. Pretty soon, we find ourselves in a place we never thought we would be. And we wonder, “Is it ever possible to regain our relationship with God? Is it ever possible to restore that intimacy with a God who we have lost our passion for?” (Jeffress)

17.u. “The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light”

 John 12:30   Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

 John 5:22-27   For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,  that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.  Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.  “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.  And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

 Acts 26:18    to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

 2 Corinthians 4:4   In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

 Hebrews 2:14    Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,

 1 John 3:8    Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

Now is the time of judgment.  Jesus came to suffer and die to redeem mankind from the curse of sin and of judgment and the penalty of sin. To say there is no God and no sin is to believe a lie.  A lie that Satan has been promoting since creation.  Throughout history, man has either chosen to embrace this lie or reject it.  Embracing the lies of Satan will seem to give a certain amount of self-satisfaction, self-reliance, and self-importance.  Pride, greed, hate, anger, and fear are manifestations of embracing Satan’s lies.  They consume the soul and blind the eyes of our souls to the light of Jesus Christ.  These lies are promoted by “sons of disobedience”.  Those who willing choose to deny and reject God and His Son Jesus Christ.  Satan’s lies will be laced with half-truths and have the ability to water down the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the point of it having no impact in their lives.  This is so sad.  On Judgment Day these people, from across all walks of life and from the beginning of creation, will bow before the One they have rejected and denied.  They will be judged unworthy because of their unbelief and lack of trusting in, clinging to, and relying on Jesus Christ. They will be judge righteously in the light of Him who they have rejected.  They will receive their just reward for this rejection and denial – an eternity in torment – total separation from God,- in total darkness void of anything but unimaginable pain and suffering – for all of eternity.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

Today is the day of salvation. Do not delay a second longer.  Do not plan on it for another day or time in your life.  How many people will end up in hell tormented for eternity because they chose to live another day for themselves rather than surrendering to the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ?

A passing shadows

“Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.”

Psalms 89:47  Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man!  What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah  

Job 7:7     “Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.

Job 9:25-26    “My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good.  They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.

Job 10:9    Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?

Psalms 39:5     Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah  Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

Job 14:1     “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.

James 4:14     yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Ecclesiastes 3:19     For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.  All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

Ecclesiastes 8:8    No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.

Hebrews 9:27    And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

John 8:51     Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Psalms 49:15     But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.

2 Corinthians 4:14     knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

Sometimes I wonder if we live without thinking about our end.  There is an end to life as we know it.  What then?  Eternal life or eternal death (a death without being dead – a death of total separation from anything good – a death without the presence of God).  We hear of people saying things like -“well most of my friends will be in Hell so it won’t be lonely for me”, – Or “I’ll see you in Hell”,  – Or “All the fun people will be in Hell so it won’t be all that bad”.  Lies!!  Separation for God while we are alive might be a sliver of what it will be like – no peace, no hope, always striving for something more but never getting that which satisfies the soul.  This is what a life this side of death without Jesus Christ is.  It is made up of things that have no eternal value.  Scripture says this life is like a passing shadow or a vapor, here one day and gone the next.  It says no one has power over the day of death.  Yet man listens to lies as if this day will never come and that there is no eternal judgement after death.  If you live to be 100 years old, life is short in comparison to eternity.  If there is lies, no satisfaction, always needing and looking for more stuff to satisfy in this short life, imagine what it will be like for eternity – Scripture says those who reject Jesus will be cast into the “lake of Fire” that burns forever and there is weeping and gnashing of teeth forever.  Separation from God now is the choice people take in the presence of God, while He is near.  After judgement God separates Himself from those who rejected Jesus.  Come to Jesus, seek Him while He may be found, and find peace for your soul this side of eternity and forever.

Bread of Life

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,”

John 6:60  When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”  But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?  Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.  But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)  And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”  After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.  So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”

Matthew 11:6    And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Hebrews 5:11    About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing

2 Peter 3:16     as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

Jesus had just told them that He was the bread of life and to eat of this would give them life. For this many walked away.  I wonder if we are like this when we choose to stay away from His word.  If God’s word is not permeating our life what is feeding our spiritual soul?  Apart from His word, nothing. We will waste away, drift away, and lack that which gives us joy, hope, faith, love, kindness, strength, power, grace and mercy.  These are seeds that need spiritual watering from His word. If we don’t see His word essential for living, what does that say about our belief.  His word will continue to grow us.  Fruit of the spirit will be produced and we will be a light shining for Him to use for His glory and honor.

Led by the Spirit

“For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”

John 3:1  Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”  Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”  Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Isaiah 55:9    For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,  so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

John 1:13    who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

How does the Spirit of God lead us?  How do we know we are being led? When we become a “child of God”, “a new creation”, “born again” we are given the Spirit of God to dwell inside us to lead us in all truth and on paths that honor and glorify Him.  We are able to hear His whispers of leading and we find comfort, peace, purpose, faith and meaning in our lives.  Confusion is replaced with confirmation.  Feeding of our spirit/soul comes from being in His word.  Little time in His word leaves our mind and soul open to things that do not honor or glorify Him. Little time in His word will create an emptiness and confusion and leaves a void that will be filled with something this world has to offer.  To be led by the Spirit of God we must be wanting, waiting, willing, and seeking to be led each day.