can’t

May 5, 2018

“Fully Human”

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17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, – Hebrews 2:17a NIV
Sometimes when I am reading about one of the great miracles that Jesus did when He was here on earth, I forget that He was a man just as we are. I want to attribute those miracles to someone with access to more power than we have access to. If I could truthfully do that then I would be relieved of trying to live up to His example. But, woe is me, because to do that would be to deny His full humanity and therefore, it would be a lie. So, I must agree with Jesus that I have access to the power that enables me to do “greater things than these”.

12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. — John 14:12 NIV

​I recognize the sins that I commit and I ask forgiveness for them. But how many times have I sinned by omitting or not doing what the Holy Spirit has asked me to do and used the excuse “I can’t”?  God is not a man that He should lie and He says that we can through His power. To believe anything less is to believe a lie.  

So, today, right now,  Father, I ask your forgiveness for those times when I could’ve and I should’ve but I didn’t.  Make me more aware when those situations arise again and arouse in me the boldness and power to do what you have asked me to do. Thank you for your forgiveness, your mercy and your love. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. — 1 John 1:8-10 NI​V​

 

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

Post 05-05-2018

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March 10, 2017

Christ Lives In Us!

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 Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us  — Col. 3:11b NLT
Col. 3:9-15 NLT

As Christ becomes more real to us, and as we learn to be obedient to the urging of His Spirit abiding in us, we realize more and more, the weaknesses we have and our inability to control them. Until we can say “I can’t but Jesus can”, we will always have these temptations of the flesh. We have to allow Jesus to control our urges and desires. The more we allow Him to do so, that much more of our sinful nature is stripped away and we put on more of His nature. It doesn’t matter what your ethnicity or your past is. The only thing that matters is Christ in us. Since we are God’s holy people, we must clothe ourselves with His characteristics. Love, mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience is what Jesus looks like. What about us, what do people see when they look at us?

Gal. 5:22-26 NLT


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

Post 03-10-2017

October 1, 2016

I Can’t Help Myself!

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5  Trust in the Lord with all your heart;    do not depend on your own understanding.
— Proverbs 3:5 NLT
 
Proverbs 3:5-8 NLT
 

This may well be one of the best known and most repeated verses in the Bible.  What exactly does God want each of us to take away from this verse? Does it mean that we should realize that God is much more intelligent than we are?  He is, of course, but is there more here in this verse?  Could it be a rebuke to all of those self-help programs that people spend so much time, effort and money on only to find that when they have finished those programs nothing has really changed?  Is this verse a directive that says, you can’t help yourself, you need Jesus?  Could it be the first step in our coming to salvation?  After all, if we could help ourselves, if we could clean ourselves up, then it would have been totally unnecessary for Jesus to die. Jesus died on the cross to accomplish for us what we can never do for ourselves.  The natural, carnal mind will never understand this.  We must be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to teach us to have faith in God and to trust Him with all of our hearts.  Without the Holy Spirit’s guidance we will never understand the depth nor the width of what God wants to do for us and through us.  Our understanding is a broken reed that will support little or no weight.  God’s wisdom is a staff of strength that will bear up under any burden.  Learn to lean on Him, His wisdom and His understanding in the good times as well as the rough patches.

Post 10-01-2016

 

April 28, 2016

God Answers Every Prayer!

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13 And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life!  — 1 Kings 3:13 NLT
1 Kings 3:3-14
It has been said that when we get to heaven, if we should ask God why He didn’t answer our prayers, He will show us a list of all the prayers we have ever prayed and His answer to each one.  Then, He will show us a list of all the prayers we should have prayed but didn’t and His answer to all of those.  The list that we prayed will be in the thousands and the list we should have prayed will be in the tens or hundreds of thousands.  Why are we so hesitant to ask God for everything that we need?  No, He isn’t some heavenly Santa needing a list of our needs, but He does want us to ask.  We need to realize that every breath we take is an answer to prayer.  God owes us nothing, but He wants to give us everythng.  The old expression that “God helps those who help themselves” is not Biblical.  God wants us to be totally dependent on Him for our needs.  As long as we think that we can do it ourselves, He will allow us to struggle.  We must reach the same point that Solomon reached and admit to God, that we can’t.  As Solomon asked, “how can one man do this?”,  we need to admit to God that we can do nothing without Him and that we believe with all of our hearts that we can do all things through Him.  It is at this point of need and full realization that we are helpless, that God can move in and use the full force of heaven to accomplish what needs to be done.  When we feel that God has not answered our prayers, He has either said “No” or “Wait for my timing”.  That is the two answers we don’t want to hear, so we just say that God hasn’t answered.  Instead of rebeling and complaining, we need to use that time of waiting to prepare for what God is going to give us that we didn’t ask for.  After all, He gave us the most precious and expensive gift He could give when He gave us His Son, why would He withhold anything else?
32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? — Romans 8:32 NLT
Post 04-28-2016