beyond

August 21, 2019

“It Is Not Beyond Your Reach”

11 “This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach.— Deut. 30:11 NLT


Deut 30:11-14 NLT


This was the message that God gave to Moses to give to the children of Israel. Time and again, God would give them this message. Time and again, God changed the hearts of His people. They would disobey and go astray. Being a just God, He was required to discipline them. They would repent and turn back to Him and He would soften their hearts and accept their offerings again. That was the Old Testament. Then Jesus died on the cross for our sins and established a new and better covenant.  Now, Jesus says the whole law hinged on two commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.  Two commandments that are certainly not hard to understand, but God knew we would fail, so He sent us a Helper, His Holy Spirit.  Now, He is closer to us than He has ever been.  We don’t need to look for Him anywhere because He abides in us and is all around us. Or as St. Patrick said: “Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left.”.  There is no need for us to go anywhere or search anywhere because He abides in us and leads us into all truth.  Two commandments, easy to understand, but not so easy to follow on a daily basis.

John 14:15-21 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 08-21-2019

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June 19, 2019

“Beyond Anything You Cu;d Imagine”

8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.— Isaiah 55:8 NLT

Isaiah 55:8-11 NLT

It is impossible for humans to know all of God’s thoughts and plans.  Just as He created the whole universe by His spoken Word, He holds it all together by the power of His Word.  How could our finite, human minds even begin to understand the intricate details of how nature works?  Our scientists fit a little piece here and a little piece there, but they can’t put it all together.  Just as the people of Babel thought they would build a tower to the heavens, we may think that we can figure it all out.  But just as God confused their language and made it impossible for them to work together, He will confound our human plans. The wisdom of humans is foolishness when compared to the wisdom of God.  As Job could not answer God about the intricacies of nature, neither can we answer Him.  We, as Job did, can come to only one conclusion and that is this: “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. Job 19:25 (NLT)  Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  The question is not “Will I do this?” The question is “When will I do this?”  Accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord today and enjoy spending an eternity with Him.  He is the One who made it all possible  by dying on a cross for our sins.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 06-19-2019

January 27, 2017

It’s Not Difficult!

even-smaller-bug-light1

11 “This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach. — Deut. 30:11 NLT

This was the message that God gave to Moses to give to the children of Israel. Time and again, God would give them this message. Time and again, God changed the hearts of His people. They would disobey and go astray. Being a just God, He was required to discipline them. They would repent and turn back to Him and He would soften their hearts and accept their offerings again. That was the Old Testament. Then Jesus died on the cross for our sins and established a new and better covenant.  Now, Jesus says the whole law hinged on two commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.  Two commandments that are certainly not hard to understand, but God knew we would fail, so He sent us a Helper, His Holy Spirit.  Now, He is closer to us than He has ever been.  We don’t need to look for Him anywhere because He abides in us and is all around us. Or as St. Patrick said: “Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left.”.
There is no need for us to go anywhere or search anywhere because He abides in us and leads us into all truth.  Two commandments, easy to understand, but not so easy to follow on a daily basis.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 01-27-2017

August 27, 2014

Wrong Motives Lead to Frustration

God is waiting to show you the Way.

God is waiting to show you the Way.

1 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.—James 4:1-3 (NLT)​
I beg​ to differ with the words Garth Brooks sings, there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer. God always answers our prayers. ​He answers us in one of four different ways.
1. Do it now–and of course that is the answer we want so we recognize it right away.
2. Delay–​It ​wasn’t what we wanted to hear so we assume God didn’t answer our prayer.
3. Don’t do it–I’m not hearing that so God must not have answered
4. Dynamically Different–​He answers in such a better and highly effective way than what we anticipated that we don’t recognize it as His answer.
​When our prayers are from wrong motives and for selfish reason, His answer is always no.​ Then, because of our pride, we get angry with God and accuse Him of all sorts of things. God understands that anger and when you get through pouting and ask Him, He will forgive you. God is not bound by our desires or our timetable. Even the “yes” answers are not always immediate. We have to wait on His timing. His ways and His thoughts are so far above ours that there is no comparison.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.—Isaiah 55:8 (NLT)
​So​ when we don’t get the answer we want or it is not in the time frame we wanted. Relax, God is still in control.
Post 08-27-14