So High You Can’t Get Over It

We used to sing this chorus in church school:

“So high you can’t get over it. So low you can’t get under it.

So wide you can’t get around it. You gotta go through the door.” *

I thought of that song when I read Psalm 36:5-7 (NIV):

5 “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.”

Dear loving, faithful Lord,What gigantic love and huge faithfulness! “So high I can’t get over it!” So much greater than I can comprehend. Please keep filling me with Your love so it overflows to others. (Romans 5:5)

6 “Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O Lord, you preserve both man and beast.”

You, Lord, are absolutely righteous and just. In this world, righteousness and justice seem far away. Evil and lies seem to triumph, but You are greater than all. Jesus, You have overcome the world. You are worthy of all my trust and praise.

Your love is so large that it even includes care for animals! For example, You told Your people not to muzzle the ox as it treads out the grain (Deuteronomy 25:4). How glad I am, Lord God, that You care for both people and animals!

7 “How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

A million “thank-you’s” is not enough for Your unfailing love, and it can never be bought or bartered for. Yet You lavish it freely on us, Your human creations. Amazing! Fantastic! Fabulous! Wonderful God! I will hide in Your refuge. I will trust in the shadow of Your wings. Amen.

*The door is Jesus. “I [Jesus] am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out [freely] and will find pasture.” (John 10:9 AMP)

Help Me Say No

In one joke I read, three priests confess to each other their worst sins. One says, “I get angry and explode over small things,” and he gives an example of a recent failure. The next confesses his struggle with lust and mentions his latest difficulty. The third then says, “Well, my big sin is gossip, and I can’t wait to go talk to some of my friends!”

Seriously, I can’t tell you my most serious struggles lest someone be tempted to gossip. But maybe I can share a couple of things that often help me when I want to take the wrong path.

One possibility: I confess my sinful thoughts to God, receive His forgiveness and thank Him for it. (1 John 1:9)

A second avenue of help: Remember Jesus’ presence. He is here. He will help me say no to temptation.

Thank You for being near me today, Lord! I need You every minute. Without Your help, I would go my own way, which leads to destruction. But I will trust You to help me do what is good—which pleases You.

Psalm 145:17-18 “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. 18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” (NIV)

Look What God Has Done!

Can you believe it? God points to us as examples of His grace and kindness! That’s what Ephesians 2:6-7 says: “For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.” (NLT) Maybe He says something like this:

“Angels, Principalities, Powers! Look at __. See all I, God, have done for them—forgiving, reshaping, renewing. See what they were and what they are now in Christ Jesus. And look at My light shining through them to others. Notice how I have planted a flower garden in their heart, taking toxic memories and redeeming them to promote spiritual growth.”

When we get discouraged, let’s remember what God has already done and choose gratitude and trust instead of discouragement.

(Image -The Gift of Grace, –-LightForEachDay.com. Found on Pinterest)

Do What It Says

A friend and I discussed how to pray for a mutual friend who reads Scripture every day. She said, “We could pray that they can and will apply their Bible reading to their life.”

“Oh yes,” I thought. “That will really help.”

Then the Holy Spirit whispered in my heart, “How are you doing in that department?”

Uh-oh! How many times have I read, for example, Proverbs 3:5 (“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your own understanding”) and went on trusting in what I thought was best? And how about Philippians 4:8 (“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, …noble, …right, …pure, …lovely, …admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things”)? Do I think about those things or about how irritated I am about seemingly unsolvable yard problems? I almost know Ephesians 4:29 by heart (“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen). So why do I hear complaining and criticism coming out of my mouth?

Image from Pinterest.

Oh Jesus, I’m struggling to practice what I read too! I need to obey James 1:22 (“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says”). Please let Your Holy Spirit help me as I turn from my own foolish way onto Your right paths. Thank You for Philippians 1:6 (“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”). Amen.

Bible Verses from the NIV.

Trust Jesus Start to Finish

Jesus, You are the author and finisher of my faith. As You begin Your work in me, You teach me to set my mind on things above and on the Holy Spirit. You empower me to end a mind set on what I want or what might please others.

You start my mind remembering what I need to remember, such as Your mercy, forgiveness, and love which extends all the way to Calvary. You are the author of the sound mind that forgets what You have forgotten like forgiven sin carried away at the cross and the shame of imperfections which are covered by Your love.

(Verse graphic from (Pinterest.)

Lord, You have begun a good work in me and will continue it until the day of Your return when I will see You face to face and will be like You.

I could never thank You or praise You enough for all Your works. Let Your name be glorified forever and ever. Amen!

Hebrews 12:2 “[Looking] unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith….”

Philippians 1:6 “[Being] confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

(Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version.)

Amazing!

Lord God, You know me—who I am inside. You know where I am and what’s going on around me. You also know these things about the past and the future.

Amazing Knowledge!

Holy God, Your everlasting love surrounds and upholds me. You protect me and grant me shelter. You gave Your Son who gave Himself willingly to the cross, so my sins could be carried away from me as far as the east is from the west.

Amazing Grace!

Merciful God, You take me by the hand and lead me where I should go.

Amazing Love!

Savior God, You give me eternal life. No one can ever take me away from You.

Amazing Joy!

Isaiah 41:13 “For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” NIV

Psalm 23:3 “He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” NIV

John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me.” New Living Translation

Sing a Joyful Song

At this time of celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I remember the Easter hymns we sang in church as I grew up. I loved “Christ Arose” partly because of the building excitement in the chorus:

“Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes;
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!” *
(Words and music by Rev. Robert Lowry, 1826-1899.)

Now that I’m older, I value more and more the truth of the song. Jesus Christ conquered death, and He offers true eternal life to those who choose to receive and follow Him.

Christ is risen! Hallelujah! He is risen indeed!

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20 NIV)

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3 NIV)

*Several performances of this song are available on YouTube. I liked this one by the Klondike Baptist Church Praise Team: https://youtu.be/UYcEH6vzVas

Dump the Regrets

“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16 NIV).”

One type of arrow, regret, targeted a weak spot in my shield for years. Now I’m learning to protect myself from it.

With the reminders of sin for which I’ve already repented, I can just mark them forgiven and let them go.

But many of those arrows catch fire from coals of ‘I wish’ or ‘if only.’ For example, “I wish I had made wiser relationship choices in college,” or “If only I hadn’t made so many stupid mistakes about a career, then life would be more worthwhile now.”

Wonder what Jesus would say about those regrets? He might say to me, “My child, do you think I have no power to work even your failures and mistakes into My plans and purposes? Can I not do what I said in Romans 8:28 and take these, along with all the rest of ‘the good, the bad, and the ugly’ and make something better than what anyone could have imagined?”

I’m so silly!

“Oh, right, Jesus. I must have thought You and the Father and the Holy Spirit were wringing Your hands and moaning, ‘If only she hadn’t done that! Now what will We do?’”

Then we would laugh.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

“But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.’” (Jeremiah 18:4-6)

(Both verses New International Version)

Life Overflowing

Niagara Falls – September 2018

God offers me abundant life through Jesus Christ. But if I stubbornly cling to my own way, and don’t listen to Jesus and don’t obey Him, my life limps along in mediocrity. In fact, the more I try to take control of my life, the more “the mediocre” turns to “the pits.” (Matthew 7:24-26)

However, if I listen to Jesus and seek Him in His Word and try to obey what He says, I grow in His love and find more of His goodness—more abundance in life.

Therefore, let me choose to listen and obey.

John 10:10 “…I [Jesus] have come that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” (Amplified Bible)

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land….” (New Living Translation)

Thought Replacement Therapy

God has told us to bring every thought captive to obey Jesus Christ. But how can I do that? My thinking patterns have become knotted and twisted around experiences, people, and natural tendencies. I can drag the whole bundle to Jesus. When I do that, He shows me loose ends protruding from the tangles.

Then the Holy Spirit and I pull one free from the bunch, straighten it out and make it obey Christ. For example, I don’t need to hold onto a bad attitude about some disappointed expectation. When I start to stew, I can say to myself, “No. That’s the old way. I’m new in Christ. I’ll let go of the disappointment and rejoice in Him.” And the next time I think about what happened or didn’t happen, I’ll stop and remind myself that I’m rejoicing in the Lord.

When that thought thread is brought into submission, we can start pulling on another one.

“…[We] take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” –2 Corinthians 10:5
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” –2 Corinthians 5:17
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
(Scripture verses are from the New International Version)