Repost: His Word Is Enough

My Bible reading today included Matthew chapter 8.  There are multiple examples in this chapter of Jesus performing miracles by touching someone, while other times He just spoke.  I wrote about this in February of 2019 and decided to repost it today:

Along with studying women of the Bible, I am reading one chapter in the Bible each day.  I read Proverbs with its 31 chapters in January.  This month I'm reading Matthew which has 28 chapters.

While reading Matthew chapter 8 on Friday, I was amazed at the many times Jesus healed or delivered with just His Word.  He touched people, but He also just spoke.

Verse 3 He touched a leper and healed him
Verse 13 He spoke the word to the Centurion and his servant was healed.
Verse 15 He touched Peter's mother-in-law and healed her.
Verse 16 He cast out spirits with His word.
Verse 26 He rebuked the winds and sea and there was a great calm.
Verse 32 He spoke the word and evil spirits came out of two men.

It continues in chapter 9:
Verse 2 He spoke to the one sick of palsy and he arose.
Verse 20 The woman with the issue of blood touched Him and in verse 22 Jesus told her that her faith had made her whole.
Verse 25 He took Jairus' daughter by the hand and she arose
Verse 29 He touched the eyes of two blind men and their eyes were opened

I've been thinking on this and wondering why Jesus chose to touch some and not others.  I think it's a beautiful example of what happens in our lives today.  Sometimes we can feel His presence so strongly.  It's a beautiful, almost indescribable feeling.  It mends broken places in us.  But there are other times we can't feel a thing.  We may see others being touched, but our own spirit feels dry and empty.  It's in those times that we need to turn to His Word.  We need to search the scriptures for the answer to our problem.  We can't rely solely on feelings.

The last couple of days we were in Hawaii it was very rainy.  But after the rain out comes the sun and with it rainbows.  We don't see rainbows often in California, but they are in abundance in Hawaii.  I am always awed when I see them.  They are a reminder of God's promise.  Others may use them for different purposes, but rainbows will always be God's reminder that He keeps His Word.

Just as we were taxiing down the runway on January 31st, I snapped shots of this beauty.  I'm thankful that even when I can't feel it, God is always faithful and His Word is true.

Standing on the Promises

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
 Standing on the promises of God.

Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I shall not fall,
Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call.
Resting in my Savior as my All in all,
Standing on the promises of God.

That's a Promise!

I decided to go for a run before church this morning.  We are getting more rain this week so I'm taking advantage of any day that it isn't raining.  The sky started off colorful:

Right about the 2.5 mile mark I turned around to head home and saw this:

I followed the rainbow towards home for several minutes...

It slowly disappeared from sight:

Two miles later, I made the final turn on our street and was greeted by another rainbow!

Genesis chapter 9 tells us about the first rainbow:

12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

 

I'm thankful for this beautiful (and colorful!) reminder of God's grace this morning!

Repost: Promises to Make or Break

While working on yesterday's post, I spent some time reading old posts here on my blog.  I stumbled on this one that was posted almost a decade ago - July 28, 2010!  These promises that we need to make or break will help us on our journey to fear not.

I read an interesting article in the latest edition of Endurance News which is published by Hammer Nutrition. Although the focus of the article is geared toward athletes, it was easy to relate it to other areas of life as well. What goal would you like to accomplish and what is holding you back? Have you made promises to yourself that you need to break?

Promises to Make

Resolve that you will do this for fun
The pain = gain crowd eventually loses interest, because in the end it is impossible to keep up something you don’t enjoy.

Promise not to focus on beating someone else in a competition
Why should you let someone else decide for you whether you are successful? Your true competition is yourself.

Promise to trust yourself.
You are not lazy, you are not inept, and you will improve. So many athletes negate their success by telling themselves they cannot succeed. They are right.

Promise to do what you are doing.
I often see people who want to be fit trying to read a book while they stair climb or listen to music while they ride. They never seem to make any progress. All the best athletes I know pay full attention to what they are doing.

Promise to keep other life goals intact.
A friend of mine let his business languish while he put everything into qualifying for the Hawaii Ironman, and almost did. It cost him five years to put his business affairs back together. He became overweight and stopped his athletics. But there is a happy outcome. I now see him running and riding and since he has aged up, maybe he will achieve his objective.

Promise to try something new.
If you find the long distance cycling training for triathlon pleasant, maybe a double century is the direction you should go. How about unconventional multi-sports events involving kayaking
and mountain bike legs?

Promise to finish.
A finish in a challenging event is always more satisfying than having gone fast at some point, only to fail and DNF.


Promises to Break

Limits to ambition.
If you vow you will never do an event longer than an Olympic triathlon, you may later find that a half iron distance event is actually more fun. I once told myself I would never do an event I couldn’t complete in one day, only to find I really enjoyed multi-day bike races.

Promises to slow down.
So many athletes reach a point where they stop trying to go faster and from there they begin a slide towards giving up entirely. The essence of these sports is that they are a challenge, so a promise to participate halfheartedly is to miss the main point.

Keeping to a preordained race plan, no matter what.
You can sometimes save a race by abandoning intended pacing in favor of one that that feels right and matches the conditions you experience on the course. Last fall in a very hot 12-hour time trial, I slowed after hour 9 when the temperature became an issue. Several of my age group competitors then passed me as they kept hammering onward. But they all dropped out by hour 11 and I won the age group.

Promises to maintain a set schedule of goal paces and times.
You might be observing these standards, when they are beyond your ability or current level of fitness. If you blindly persist it will likely lead to injury or sickness. If your plan is going south as you approach race day you may well find that a somewhat more free form approach will work better. Once in a while forget about pacing and do some runs and rides just for pleasure. Often your fitness will improve and your goals become obtainable as you find your own natural pace.

Promises to quit.
Some athletes do this at some arbitrary age or when they can no longer maintain some previously obtainable pace. I once promised to reach my athletic peak at age 55 and indeed I did finally do an Ironman when I attained that age. Then I realized that I could still get better, so I broke that promise and went an hour faster the following year.

Thus, I have found that many promises I have made were unworthy of me and I have benefited greatly from abandoning them. Do you have commitments that are not working for you and holding you back? If so, by all means break those promises.

- by Bill Nicolai

His Word Is Enough

Along with studying women of the Bible, I am reading one chapter in the Bible each day.  I read Proverbs with its 31 chapters in January.  This month I'm reading Matthew which has 28 chapters.

While reading Matthew chapter 8 on Friday, I was amazed at the many times Jesus healed or delivered with just His Word.  He touched people, but He also just spoke.

Verse 3 He touched a leper and healed him
Verse 13 He spoke the word to the Centurion and his servant was healed.
Verse 15 He touched Peter's mother-in-law and healed her.
Verse 16 He cast out spirits with His word.
Verse 26 He rebuked the winds and sea and there was a great calm.
Verse 32 He spoke the word and evil spirits came out of two men.

It continues in chapter 9:
Verse 2 He spoke to the one sick of palsy and he arose.
Verse 20 The woman with the issue of blood touched Him and in verse 22 Jesus told her that her faith had made her whole.
Verse 25 He took Jairus' daughter by the hand and she arose
Verse 29 He touched the eyes of two blind men and their eyes were opened

I've been thinking on this and wondering why Jesus chose to touch some and not others.  I think it's a beautiful example of what happens in our lives today.  Sometimes we can feel His presence so strongly.  It's a beautiful, almost indescribable feeling.  It mends broken places in us.  But there are other times we can't feel a thing.  We may see others being touched, but our own spirit feels dry and empty.  It's in those times that we need to turn to His Word.  We need to search the scriptures for the answer to our problem.  We can't rely solely on feelings.

The last couple of days we were in Hawaii it was very rainy.  But after the rain out comes the sun and with it rainbows.  We don't see rainbows often in California, but they are in abundance in Hawaii.  I am always awed when I see them.  They are a reminder of God's promise.  Others may use them for different purposes, but rainbows will always be God's reminder that He keeps His Word.

Just as we were taxiing down the runway on January 31st, I snapped shots of this beauty.  I'm thankful that even when I can't feel it, God is always faithful and His Word is true.

Standing on the Promises

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
 Standing on the promises of God.

Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I shall not fall,
List’ning every moment to the Spirit’s call.
Resting in my Savior as my All in all,
Standing on the promises of God.

Unbroken Promises

I know I disappeared for a few days, we are home from Missouri and I have lots to catch up on!  Before I do, I have to write about our Sunday morning service.  Pastor Justin Prather preached a message about unbroken promises.  He gave a simple, yet powerful example.  He asked for volunteers to crack an egg over their head and smear it on their face.  There were no volunteers until he offered $20 - then he had ONE taker!  A second volunteer joined and the first volunteer was joined by a friend who said he would do it for free.  My pictures aren't the clearest but here they are:

Rubbing egg on their faces...

Really rubbing it on their faces!

When it was all rubbed in, Pastor Prather said, "I'm not giving you the money."  The young men sat with egg on their faces in stunned silence...

Pastor Prather went on to preach about how often we break our promises to God and when we do it's like rubbing egg on God's face.  The young man in the middle was the first volunteer and he was NOT happy about not getting the money.  I hadn't seen him or his friend before and after asking several others, as far as we know this is the first time he'd ever been in our church.

At one point during the message, Pastor Prather went back to the young man and said, "Have you ever made a promise to someone and not kept it?"  The young man nodded his head.  Pastor Prather said, "Now you know how they felt."  I was sitting across the aisle and had a perfect view of his face, I could tell this really hit home.

Right at the end of his message, Pastor Prather gave the young man the $20, "I keep my promises," he said.  I don't know where he's been or what experiences he's had at any other churches, but I don't think he'll ever forget this message!

I'm so glad God always keeps His promises!

Rainbow Reminder

"I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth." Genesis 9:13

I never get tired of seeing rainbows.  We had a quick storm that blew through this morning and the result was this beautiful rainbow!  God never breaks His promise.  "And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth."  Genesis 9:16.

I have seen more rainbows in the past nine months than I have in years.  I think it's God's way of reminding me that He knows where I am.  This has been a year of change, uncertainty, sorrow, joy, and adventure.  But God's peace has been with me and His bow in the cloud reminds me of an everlasting covenant that He will not break.

Romans 8:35-39 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Has a storm blown through your life recently?  You can KNOW that God hasn't forgotten you, He knows right where you are.  The clouds will break, the sun will shine again, and you'll see His bow in the cloud.

The Promise

Genesis 9:13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

I took these pictures from our condo this morning and was reminded of the promises of God.  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"  John 3:16.  May your Resurrection weekend be blessed, and remember, every promise God makes will be fulfilled!

Promises to Make or Break

I read an interesting article in the latest edition of Endurance News which is published by Hammer Nutrition. Although the focus of the article is geared toward athletes, it was easy to relate it to other areas of life as well. What goal would you like to accomplish and what is holding you back? Have you made promises to yourself that you need to break?

Promises to Make

Resolve that you will do this for fun
The pain = gain crowd eventually loses interest, because in the end it is impossible to keep up something you don’t enjoy.

Promise not to focus on beating someone else in a competition
Why should you let someone else decide for you whether you are successful? Your true competition is yourself.

Promise to trust yourself.
You are not lazy, you are not inept, and you will improve. So many athletes negate their success by telling themselves they cannot succeed. They are right.

Promise to do what you are doing.
I often see people who want to be fit trying to read a book while they stair climb or listen to music while they ride. They never seem to make any progress. All the best athletes I know
pay full attention to what they are doing.

Promise to keep other life goals intact.
A friend of mine let his business languish while he put everything into qualifying for the Hawaii ironman, and almost did. It cost him five years to put his business affairs back together. He became overweight and stopped his athletics. But there is a happy outcome. I now see him running and riding and since he has aged up, maybe he will achieve his objective.

Promise to try something new.
If you find the long distance cycling training for triathlon pleasant, maybe a double century is the direction you should go. How about unconventional multi-sports events involving kayaking
and mountain bike legs?

Promise to finish.
A finish in a challenging event is always more satisfying than having gone fast at some point, only to fail and DNF.


Promises to Break

Limits to ambition.
If you vow you will never do an event longer than an Olympic triathlon, you may later find that a half iron distance event is actually more fun. I once told myself I would never do an event I
couldn’t complete in one day, only to find I really enjoyed multi-day bike races.

Promises to slow down.
So many athletes reach a point where they stop trying to go faster and from there they begin a slide towards giving up entirely. The essence of these sports is that they are a challenge, so a promise to participate half-heartedly is to miss the main point.

Keeping to a preordained race plan, no matter what.
You can sometimes save a race by abandoning intended pacing in favor of one that that feels right and matches the conditions you experience on the course. Last fall in a very hot 12-hour time trial, I slowed after hour 9 when the temperature became an issue. Several of my age group competitors then passed me as they kept hammering onward. But they all dropped out by hour 11 and I won the age group.

Promises to maintain a set schedule of goal paces and times.
You might be observing these standards, when they are beyond your ability or current level of fitness. If you blindly persist it will likely lead to injury or sickness. If your plan is going south as you approach race day you may well find that a somewhat more freeform approach will work better. Once in a while forget about pacing and do some runs and rides just for pleasure. Often your fitness will improve and your goals become obtainable as you find your own natural pace.

Promises to quit.
Some athletes do this at some arbitrary age or when they can no longer maintain some previously obtainable pace. I once promised to reach my athletic peak at age 55 and indeed I did finally do an ironman when I attained that age. Then I realized that I could still get better, so I broke that promise and went an hour faster the following year.

Thus, I have found that many promises I have made were unworthy of me and I have benefited greatly from abandoning them. Do you have commitments that are not working for you and holding you back? If so, by all means break those promises.

- by Bill Nicolai