Isaiah 40:27-31
Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God"? --
Why do people think that they're invisible, life is not fair and nobody cares?
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the Earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. --
You know you've been taught all about God, Who He is, what mighty, miraculous things He has done, and His eternal being. Remember Who He is.
He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. --
Whatever we lack, however we come up short, God will supply our need.
Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, --
Even the strongest and most virile athletes and warriors have a limit to their strength and stamina.
Yet they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they will mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, and they shall walk and not faint. --
Those who fully trust in the Lord will never run out of resources.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, June 10, 2016
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Word Study On "Faith"
Hebrews 4:1-16
(2) The word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. --
This is believing; conviction of the Truth revealed; fidelity, being faithful to and living according to the Truth.
(3) For we who have believed ... --
This comes from the same root word: to have faith, to entrust oneself into Christ's care.
(6) ... failed to enter because of disobedience. --
This is from a word that means "unpersuadable," so it means obstinate, rebellious, disobedient. So because they did not take to heart to believe the Truth of what their own eyes had seen to put their trust in God to have their own best in mind and follow His ways; instead they still thought they knew better, and refused to follow the "Manufacturer's Instructions," so they missed out on the blessings God wanted to give them.
(11) Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. --
This is the same word that is in v.6. We need to hold fast, diligently, to the trust we have put into God and Christ Jesus. He never changes, so no matter what's going on down here, He's still on His Throne.
(14) Since then we have a great High Priest Who has passed through the Heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. --
This is two words: "homo," meaning the same; and "logos," an utterance: To say the same thing. So we are to rely so completely on Jesus because of Who He is, what He went through and experienced, and what He accomplished on the Cross on our behalf: What we have been taught by God in His Word.
(16) Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the Throne of Grace. ...
Our confidence is to be such a solid knowing of God, His character, His love, His faithfulness, His power to do everything He wants to do and His goodness to only want to do what would be good and beneficial for us; that we have boldness, out-spokenness, frankness, bluntness, speaking plainly and openly before God's Heavenly Throne itself.
To have the freedom of a little child to climb up onto his daddy's lap for a hug.
That is the "faith" we are to have. This chapter tells us that the benefits (the "rest") God has planned for His people before the world was created, has not yet been fully given; He still has benefits (rest) left for us today, too. We only need to trust Him completely to access it.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
(2) The word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. --
This is believing; conviction of the Truth revealed; fidelity, being faithful to and living according to the Truth.
(3) For we who have believed ... --
This comes from the same root word: to have faith, to entrust oneself into Christ's care.
(6) ... failed to enter because of disobedience. --
This is from a word that means "unpersuadable," so it means obstinate, rebellious, disobedient. So because they did not take to heart to believe the Truth of what their own eyes had seen to put their trust in God to have their own best in mind and follow His ways; instead they still thought they knew better, and refused to follow the "Manufacturer's Instructions," so they missed out on the blessings God wanted to give them.
(11) Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. --
This is the same word that is in v.6. We need to hold fast, diligently, to the trust we have put into God and Christ Jesus. He never changes, so no matter what's going on down here, He's still on His Throne.
(14) Since then we have a great High Priest Who has passed through the Heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. --
This is two words: "homo," meaning the same; and "logos," an utterance: To say the same thing. So we are to rely so completely on Jesus because of Who He is, what He went through and experienced, and what He accomplished on the Cross on our behalf: What we have been taught by God in His Word.
(16) Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the Throne of Grace. ...
Our confidence is to be such a solid knowing of God, His character, His love, His faithfulness, His power to do everything He wants to do and His goodness to only want to do what would be good and beneficial for us; that we have boldness, out-spokenness, frankness, bluntness, speaking plainly and openly before God's Heavenly Throne itself.
To have the freedom of a little child to climb up onto his daddy's lap for a hug.
That is the "faith" we are to have. This chapter tells us that the benefits (the "rest") God has planned for His people before the world was created, has not yet been fully given; He still has benefits (rest) left for us today, too. We only need to trust Him completely to access it.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Hope For The Living
Ecclesiastes 9:4-6
Anyone who is among the living has hope --
Even my mother-in-law who had Alsheimers' became a Christian, realizing that Jesus took her place on the Cross. And God placed this memory of being saved directly into her long-term memories, because she had lost all her short-term memory capacity!
For the living know that they will die, --
So they can prepare for death.
but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, --
There's no second chance after death to earn any more than they already have in life.
and even their name is forgotten. --
Very few people's names are still known years, decades and centuries after their death.
Their love, their hate, and their jealousy have long since vanished; --
Vanished from this world, as their life has left this world.
Never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun. --
Only while we live can we have an influence on what happens in this world. When we die, that opportunity ends. No one who is is dead--no saint, no ancestor--can any more have any part in Earthly happenings. They may be able to watch us (see Hebrews 12:1), but they can't do anything for us. It's all up to us now.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Anyone who is among the living has hope --
Even my mother-in-law who had Alsheimers' became a Christian, realizing that Jesus took her place on the Cross. And God placed this memory of being saved directly into her long-term memories, because she had lost all her short-term memory capacity!
For the living know that they will die, --
So they can prepare for death.
but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, --
There's no second chance after death to earn any more than they already have in life.
and even their name is forgotten. --
Very few people's names are still known years, decades and centuries after their death.
Their love, their hate, and their jealousy have long since vanished; --
Vanished from this world, as their life has left this world.
Never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun. --
Only while we live can we have an influence on what happens in this world. When we die, that opportunity ends. No one who is is dead--no saint, no ancestor--can any more have any part in Earthly happenings. They may be able to watch us (see Hebrews 12:1), but they can't do anything for us. It's all up to us now.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
God Is Beautiful!
Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time....
God has put His beauty into everything He has made. I marvel at the beauty of the clouds, the trees, the water. Everywhere I go I see His beauty--in the mountains, in the desert, in the snow. I see Him in the stars and in the order He has put into all His works. I admire His faithfulness to His Truth, to keep the chaos from overcoming the order of the sun, the moon and the stars, and the seasons on this Earth until He has completed all His purposes for us. He is beautiful!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
He has made everything beautiful in its time....
God has put His beauty into everything He has made. I marvel at the beauty of the clouds, the trees, the water. Everywhere I go I see His beauty--in the mountains, in the desert, in the snow. I see Him in the stars and in the order He has put into all His works. I admire His faithfulness to His Truth, to keep the chaos from overcoming the order of the sun, the moon and the stars, and the seasons on this Earth until He has completed all His purposes for us. He is beautiful!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, June 6, 2016
The Spirit Of Life
Ecclesiastes 3:18-21, and 12:7
I also said to myself, "As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath (spirit of physical life); humans have no advantage over animals [in this respect]. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all came from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the Earth?"
And the dust returns to the ground it came from and the spirit returns to God Who gave it.
We see here that all living things have a spirit of physical life (breath) that leaves the body at death, leaving the body dead, to decay into the dust from which it was originally taken at Creation.
And we see that the spirit of Man returns to God Who gave it (when He breathed the breath of life into Adam, and Adam became a living being, Genesis 2:7). So we also see here that the spirit of life in the animal most likely returns to the Earth.
Solomon could not see past death, but he still, in his wisdom, came to the right conclusion.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I also said to myself, "As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath (spirit of physical life); humans have no advantage over animals [in this respect]. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all came from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the Earth?"
And the dust returns to the ground it came from and the spirit returns to God Who gave it.
We see here that all living things have a spirit of physical life (breath) that leaves the body at death, leaving the body dead, to decay into the dust from which it was originally taken at Creation.
And we see that the spirit of Man returns to God Who gave it (when He breathed the breath of life into Adam, and Adam became a living being, Genesis 2:7). So we also see here that the spirit of life in the animal most likely returns to the Earth.
Solomon could not see past death, but he still, in his wisdom, came to the right conclusion.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, June 5, 2016
The Fruits Of Our Labors
Ecclesiastes
Solomon, the wisest person who ever lived, the wisest king who ever reigned, wrote this book at the end of his life. All his life he watched and observed and studied every field of science and the humanities, and he recorded his findings here.
The key phrase in this book is, "under the sun" (16x). This refers to our life here on this Earth. In this world, no matter how great we are, or how much we accomplish, we will have to leave it all when we die. So it's all "chasing after the wind," or "toil[ing] for the wind" (4x).
So the best we can hope for in this World is to be able to enjoy the fruits of our labors (2:24, 3:12-13, 5:18-20, 8:15). This is a gift from God. I knew a man who worked hard every moment of every day of his life and built a beautiful home for his family and filled it with all kinds of lovely and interesting things. But he could never just sit down and enjoy the work he had done. God had not granted him this gift.
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Solomon, the wisest person who ever lived, the wisest king who ever reigned, wrote this book at the end of his life. All his life he watched and observed and studied every field of science and the humanities, and he recorded his findings here.
The key phrase in this book is, "under the sun" (16x). This refers to our life here on this Earth. In this world, no matter how great we are, or how much we accomplish, we will have to leave it all when we die. So it's all "chasing after the wind," or "toil[ing] for the wind" (4x).
So the best we can hope for in this World is to be able to enjoy the fruits of our labors (2:24, 3:12-13, 5:18-20, 8:15). This is a gift from God. I knew a man who worked hard every moment of every day of his life and built a beautiful home for his family and filled it with all kinds of lovely and interesting things. But he could never just sit down and enjoy the work he had done. God had not granted him this gift.
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Why God Can Do All Things
Job 42:2
I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
Jeremiah 32:17
Ah, Lord God, Behold, You have made the heavens and the Earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You!
Luke 1:37
The Angel told Mary: For nothing will be impossible with God.
Mark 10:27
Looking upon them, Jesus said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."
God is the Maker of everything that exists. He designed every atom and every molecule and assembled them in an orderly fashion into all the matter that is--animal, vegetable and mineral. And every element in the Periodic Table and every other element we don't know about yet.
As the Designer and Maker and Inventor of everything, He is the Owner, and can do whatever He wants with it. He is fully knowledgeable of all the inner workings of His Creation, and no part of it (like us or demons) can keep Him from fulfilling all He has planned for it--His purposes cannot be thwarted.
And because He is good and true and faithful, His order and beauty are evident everywhere.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
Jeremiah 32:17
Ah, Lord God, Behold, You have made the heavens and the Earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You!
Luke 1:37
The Angel told Mary: For nothing will be impossible with God.
Mark 10:27
Looking upon them, Jesus said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God."
God is the Maker of everything that exists. He designed every atom and every molecule and assembled them in an orderly fashion into all the matter that is--animal, vegetable and mineral. And every element in the Periodic Table and every other element we don't know about yet.
As the Designer and Maker and Inventor of everything, He is the Owner, and can do whatever He wants with it. He is fully knowledgeable of all the inner workings of His Creation, and no part of it (like us or demons) can keep Him from fulfilling all He has planned for it--His purposes cannot be thwarted.
And because He is good and true and faithful, His order and beauty are evident everywhere.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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