From Ben Fronczek.... ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK

ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK

ASK, SEEK, KNOCK Luke 11: 5-13
 

 Do you ever feel a wee bit impatient with God? Like, does it ever seem like it takes too long for Him to answer your prayers? Certainly all of us have had questions concerning prayer at some point in our life.  Like… – Is He really listening to me?

- Why do I have to keep praying for something I have already prayed for when I know that God is going to answer that prayer one way or another? Isn’t that unbelief Or…

- What about those times when we pray and waited for an answer, and yet no answer is forthcoming? What are we to do? Now after talking about prayer already, in the Sermon on the Mount saying that we should not pray like the show off hypocrites of that time, the Lord continues his instruction by telling a story here in chapter 7 saying, 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” 

Luke records it a little different,  Read: Luke 11:5-13 (click on link)  

I like Luke’s account because he recalls this story that Jesus told about the man coming to his friends house with a request. Both accounts are still meant to teach the same lesson. So what is Jesus attempting to teach us by telling us this story, this parable? Just like in Matthew 7, Jesus instructs us to ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK. And if we approach Father God and ask, seek, and knock, something is going to happen. Those who seek will find. Those who ask will be answered, and those who knock, doors will be opened. But then Jesus goes on and tries to help clarify this by giving these two illustrations.

First of all, the one where a friend comes banging on someone’s door in the middle of the night.  

“Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him…”

In order to understand this parable we need to understand a few things about first century culture. First of all, food was not as readily available as it is today. There were of course, no 24 hour stores to run to. Therefore enough bread was baked each day for the needs of that day. Now it was also an accepted rule of hospitality that a visitor should be welcomed and cared for, regardless of the hour of his arrival. In order to avoid the intense midday heat, people often traveled in the evening and after dark. A traveler arriving near midnight was not uncommon.

Here is the dilemma. This poor unprepared host has a late arriving guest who is hungry after a long and exhausting journey and it is his duty as host to provide a meal, but he has no bread. And not to provide for his guest’s would not only bring shame upon himself and his family but to the village as a whole. But what was one to do if he had nothing to serve? Well he’d probably go to a friend’s house regardless of the time and to ask for his help. And this was possibly something they would all have considered doing if they had to.

The rest of the story speaks of this tension, as Jesus continues the story in verse seven, 

“…⁷ “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’

Even today it is easy to understand this man’s reluctance to help his friend. Anyone who has ever wrestled to get children into bed, understands this man’s unwillingness to do anything that will wake them. But since the whole family slept in the same room, to get up and meet this man’s needs was a real inconvenience. The man inside the house initial refused the request; friendship alone was not a sufficient reason to upset the whole household. Ultimately, the reluctant friend got up and gave his neighbor what he needed. Why? For one reason only, the persistence of the man making the request.

Jesus is not comparing God to a sleepy, selfish and angry neighbor. He is contrasting the two. He is telling the disciples that if a neighbor can be persuaded to meet the needs of a friend, how much more will your FATHER in heaven meet the needs of His children.

And likewise the second illustration is similar.

 

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”    

So what can we learn from Jesus here?                                                            

#1. I believe that Jesus is letting us know, without a doubt that prayer is important.  

Not just prayers of thanksgiving and praise, which I believe that God deserves to hear from us every day, Jesus lets us know that all right to ask God for things we need.  As a matter of fact it seems as though He wants and expects us to ask. Doesn’t every father or mother expect their children to ask of them?  In doing so a child express their confidence in their parent helping them with their need as well as show the comfort they have in that relationship. Many times we won’t ask of strangers but we have no problem asking of someone we love and trust.  Same is true when we ask of God. God not only expects his children to ask, it is also a sigh of how much we love and trust Him.

#2. The second thing I see here is that Jesus seems to be indicating that there should be some degree of persistence as one asks of God.

It wasn’t because it was the man’s friend at the door that he got up out of bed to give him bread. Rather the text says in verse 8 that it was because of the man’s boldness or otherwise translated, ‘persistence’ in other versions.  It’s the only time the original Greek word used here for persistence appears in the entire New Testament. The Greek word carries the idea of “shamelessness.”

The text tells us that the man who came making the request was without shame, persistent and bold, as he continued pleading and pounding on the door until his friend responded. Maybe the reason for our failure in prayer is that we have not been persistent enough. We haven’t been beating on God’s door asking and seeking enough.

#3. And that leads to the next thought.  We may wonder, ‘What gives us the right to come boldly or shamelessly come to God with our needs.’ 

Maybe this little story will help:

A Roman emperor traveled down the street in his chariot as a part of a parade, Cheering people lined the streets while the legionnaires were stationed to keep the people at a safe distance. The emperor’s family sat on a platform to watch him go by in all the pride of his position. As the emperor came near the place where his family was stationed, a young boy jumped from the platform, burrowed through the crowd, and tried to dodge a legionnaire so he could run to the emperor’s chariot. The soldier stopped him and said, “You cannot go near him.” The boy laughed, then said; “He may be your emperor but he is my father.” Then he ran into his father’s open arms.”

The writer of Hebrew reminds us as believer’s that because our high priest Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, we can  “come boldly before the throne of grace” (Hebews 4:14-16). We have no need to fear because we are children of the King of kings. Over and over we see that if Jesus wanted to communicate anything it was that God is not some kind of distant, all powerful, impersonal deity. Rather God is our abba Father who art in heaven and Holy is his name. From the very beginning HE wanted sons and daughters that would be His children.

Listen to what the apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:3-6  

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. ⁴ Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.^”  NLT

As a son, and a daughter you have every right to plead to your Father in heaven, and I believe he expects us to do so.

I believe another thing we see here in the text is that…
 

#4 WE ARE TO PRAY EXPECTANTLY    

From the first story we learned that God does answer prayer, and from this second analogy we learn that His answers are always good ones. Because God is a good God, a loving heavenly Father, He can be expected not only to answer our prayers, but in answer them in such a way that they will be for our highest good. (Romans 8:28)  The bottom line of the whole matter is now given in Matt. 7:10, 

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Now I believe that as we keep asking and seeking, part of this seeking is seeking to discover what God’s will is in the matter. I don’t think God will put things into our hands until we’re ready or He first prepares our hearts. God has a plan and we need to accept His timing and plan. Someone has said it this way, 

 “The greatest blessing of prayer is not just getting an answer but being the kind of person that God can trust with the answer.”  

And sometime that answer will be a “NO.” Today I want to remind you that you have a Father in Heaven who does care for your needs. He wants you to ask, seek, and knock with persistence and  expectation. We need to be reminded that He isn’t being mean by having us wait for what we ask for, nor is He being cruel by saying no. Rather, like a perfectly loving parent we need to trust Him, not only trust Him in His timing and but also trust His judgments as well. I pray that you can have that kind of relationship with Him.

(Based a little on a sermon by John Hamby)

For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566

From Jim McGuiggan... Pepeismai gar! (for I am persuaded)

Pepeismai gar!

Pepeismai gar! Paul said that something (Someone) had persuaded him some time earlier and that as he wrote he was still utterly convinced that nothing could separate humans from the love of God that is seen in and as Jesus Christ (Romans 8:38).

Romans, Chapter 8

 35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  36 Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

38 πεπεισμαι γαρ οτι ουτε θανατος ουτε ζωη ουτε αγγελοι ουτε αρχαι ουτε δυναμεις ουτε ενεστωτα ουτε μελλοντα  39 ουτε υψωμα ουτε βαθος ουτε τις κτισις ετερα δυνησεται ημας χωρισαι απο της αγαπης του θεου της εν χριστω ιησου τω κυριω ημων

Note: I have added both the English and Greek text for clairty.  Gary

 

In a whole series of trenchant denials he lists what might be offered as proofs that God had changed his mind and turned from his commitment to creation. Ten times he says "no!" What about death? Does that not prove that God has turned from us, that in the face of our moral ugliness he has finally and forever walked away? "No, in fact, it was through death, the death of Christ, that God placarded his faithful refusal to abandon us!" What of life with all its dangers and challenges? "Nor that!" What about evil angels? "Nor those!" And what of emperors and such? "Nor those!" And on he goes. Ten times he says no—this man who knew what pain and deprivation and loneliness was—ten times he says no and concludes by saying "and nothing else you could name!" can keep God from us.

He didn't persuade himself of this! The verb is passive. He didn't use to think that way but now that he had seen the brutal realities of life, day in and day out, he had changed his mind. The verb is a perfect passive. He was persuaded and that frame of mind was still with him after all he had seen and heard and felt and experienced!

And if we had made a list of our own that had things in it that weren't explicit in his he'd have said, "Nor that!" or "Not that either!" He'd have said no until the cows came home because for him, amidst all the teeming number of realities, there was one that was more real than all else—God's self-disclosure in Jesus Christ.

Had we asked him if he didn't accept that harsh realities were real, he'd have said, "Oh, they're real enough. I've met them face to face and so have a host besides me. But God is real! And Jesus Christ is real. I look at all those harsh realities, walk around them, pick them up and feel their weight and how solid they are and then I turn and see him watching me. One look at him and the remotest hint of hesitation in me burns away and the adventure continues. I get weary, of course, and I don't always feel joyful and clear-headed. But that's part of the adventure, don't you know. I have the complete awareness that even when I feel these I'm still in the adventure. It's part of the adventure that you brawl with tough realities. The real secret is to see him and once you've seen him, really seen him, there's no going back. By then he has you and you don't want to go back. Back to what, for pity's sake? Back to less than him? That isn't a real option. Not for people like us"

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... Basics For Living In Christ (Colossians 3:1-11)

                     "THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS"

                  Basics For Living In Christ (3:1-11)

INTRODUCTION

1. In chapters 1-2, Paul has maintained that Christ is "all-sufficient"
   in matters of salvation and overcoming sin - cf. Col 2:10

2. Beginning now in chapter 3, Paul gives some basic and practical
   admonitions that pertain to living a life in Christ

3. When carried out, these "Basics For Living In Christ" will assure
   that we find in Christ everything we need for this life and the one 
   to come

[The first admonition is found in verses 1-4...]

I. SEEK THE HEAVENLY (1-4)

   A. SET YOUR MIND ON THINGS ABOVE (1-2)
      1. Why is this so important?
         a. It is essential if we desire to be "transformed" - Ro 12:2
         b. It is necessary if we want to be able to "live according to
            the Spirit" - Ro 8:5-6
      2. How do we "seek those things which are above"?
         a. By directing our minds' attention to such things mentioned
            in Php 4:8
         b. More specifically, by setting our attention on the Word of
            God, where we find:
            1) Christ foreshadowed and foretold in the Old Testament
            2) Christ's life and teachings in the Gospels
            3) Christ's church in the Book of Acts
            4) Christ's fuller teachings in the Epistles
            5) Christ's encouragement and ultimate victory in the Book
               of Revelation

   B. FURTHER REASONS TO SEEK THOSE THINGS ABOVE (3-4)
      1. We "died" (3)
         a. This occurs when one is baptized into Christ, which is a
            burial into His death in which we are "crucified with Him" 
            - Ro 6:3-6
         b. We "died" to sin , that we might be free from sin and now 
           live with Christ - Ro 6:7-13
      2. Thus, we were also "raised with Christ" (1)
         a. Which occurs when one comes forth from baptism - Col 2:12
            ("...in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him...")
         b. We were raised so that we might "walk in newness of life" 
            - Ro 6:4
      3. Our life is "hidden with Christ in God" (3)
         a. As Paul wrote to the Galatians:  "I have been crucified with
            Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;
            and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith
            in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." 
            - Ga 2:20
         b. We have denied self, crucified self, so it is now Christ Who
            is to live in us!
      4. When Christ appears in glory, so will we! (4)
         a. The first three reasons for us to "seek the heavenly" were
            based upon what has happened in the PAST
         b. This motivation is predicated upon what is promised for the
            FUTURE!

[And what a wonderful promise that is!  But to obtain that promise 
requires not only that we set our "minds" on things proper, but that we
properly deal with our "bodies" as well.

To put it another way, from verses 5-9 we learn that we must also...]

II. SLAY THE EARTHLY (5-9)

   A. WE MUST "PUT TO DEATH" THE SENSUAL SINS (5-7)
      1. Those that appeal to the "lust of the flesh"
         a. Fornication
            1) Grk., porneia {por-ni'-ah}
            2) A general term for any illicit sexual intercourse;
               includes adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality
         b. Uncleanness
            1) Grk., akatharsia {ak-ath-ar-see'-ah}
            2) Uncleanness in a moral sense: the impurity of lustful,
               luxurious, profligate living
         c. Passion (inordinate affection, KJV)
            1) Grk., pathos {path'-os}
            2) Used by the Greeks in either a good or bad sense; in the
               NT in a bad sense, it means depraved passion, vile
               passions
         d. Evil desire (evil concupiscence, KJV)
            1) Grk., epithumia {ep-ee-thoo-mee'-ah}
            2) Desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden,
               lust
      2. Also that which appeals to the "lust of the eyes"
         a. Covetousness
            1) Grk., pleonexia {pleh-on-ex-ee'-ah}
            2) Greedy desire to have more, covetousness, avarice
         b. Described by Paul to be equivalent to idolatry!
            1) For covetousness puts things in the place of God
            2) We are to set our minds on things above (where God is),
               but when we covet material objects we have our minds on
               things below, making such objects our idols!
      3. Motivation for putting these things to death
         a. To avoid the coming wrath of God! - Col 2:6-7
         b. It's one thing to do these things when we "lived in them",
            but in Christ we have "died to them"!

   B. WE MUST ALSO "PUT OFF" THE SOCIAL SINS (8-9)
      1. Sins of the "emotions"
         a. Anger
            1) Grk., orge {or-gay'}
            2) Movement or agitation of the soul, impulse, desire, any
               violent emotion, but esp. anger
         b. Wrath
            1) Grk., thumos {thoo-mos'}
            2) Passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon
               subsiding again
         c. Malice
            1) Grk., kakia {kak-ee'-ah}
            2) Malignity, malice, ill-will, desire to injure
      2. Sins of the "tongue"
         a. Blasphemy
            1) Grk., blasphemia {blas-fay-me'-ah}
            2) Slander, detraction, speech injurious, to another's good 
               name; impious and reproachful speech injurious to divine
               majesty
         b. Filthy language (filthy communication, KJV)
            1) Grk., aischrologia {ahee-skhrol-og-ee'-ah}
            2) Foul speaking, low and obscene speech
         c. Lying
            1) Grk., pseudomai {psyoo'-dom-ahee}
            2) To lie, to speak deliberate falsehoods; to deceive one by
               a lie, to lie to
      3. The reason for putting off all these things:  we must complete
         in PRACTICE what we started in PRINCIPLE - Col 3:9b
         a. When we were baptized, we "put off" the old man with his 
            deeds (in principle)
            - Col 2:11-12; 3:9
         b. In practice, it does not occur overnight, thus the need for
            such admonitions as: "But now you must also put off all
            these..." - Col 3:8

[Finally, and briefly, we notice in verses 10-11  an admonition by
Paul which will be expanded upon in the next section (12-17).  He
encourages us to...]

III. STRENGTHEN THE CHRISTLY (10-11)

   A. FOR WE HAVE PUT ON THE NEW MAN (10)
      1. In baptism into Christ, we "put on Christ" - Ga 3:27
      2. Thus, in PRINCIPLE we also put on "the new man" who is renewed
         "according to the image of Him who created him"
      3. What we have done in PRINCIPLE (Col 3:10), we will need to do
         in PRACTICE (cf. Col 3:12)

   B. FOR THE GOAL IS "CHRIST IS ALL AND IN ALL" (11)
      1. To be renewed according to the image of Christ! - cf. Ro 8:29
      2. To become like Christ, and in so doing, destroy the barriers
         that have long divided man!

CONCLUSION

1. This is what might be called "the whole duty of man" in New Testament
   terms:  to be renewed according to the image of Christ!

2. To accomplish this goal, we must heed the admonitions of Paul and...
   a. Seek The Heavenly
   b. Slay The Earthly
   c. Strengthen The Christly

3. We will examine more what is involved in "strengthening the Christly"
   in the next study (verses 12-17)

4. For now, did you notice that everything in this chapter assumes that
   one has been "raised with Christ" (cf. Col 3:1, "IF THEN you were
   raised with Christ...")?
   a. How are we raised with Christ?
   b. Paul has already described how, in Col 2:11-13, where we learn
      that it is in baptism that God will raise one who has faith in the
      working of God!
   c. Have you been baptized into Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
      your sins (Ac 2:38), and to be able to walk in newness of life
      (Ro 6:3-5)...?

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

From Gary.... Blending the logical and arbitrary into faith

Yesterday, my granddaughter Elizabeth posted the bit of prose on facebook, and today she added her signature "fire-bird" (really a picture of a sparkler with an unusual camera setting). I was VERY IMPRESSED WITH HER COMPOSITON and was glad when she gave me permission to use it!!!

Coincidence is a funny thing and yesterday was no exception, as Chat Tagtoe presented an excellent lesson based on the text of chapter 6 below.  Now, most of us who are familiar with the book of Joshua, immediately think of the following text...

Joshua, Chapter 24
 15 If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”


But, Chad's lesson was on the sixth chapter of Joshua, so, please read the following and we will continue on from there...

Joshua, Chapter 6

1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the children of Israel. No one went out, and no one came in.  2 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Behold, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the mighty men of valor.  3 All your men of war shall march around the city, going around the city once. You shall do this six days.  4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.  5 It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him.” 

  6  Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before Yahweh’s ark.” 

  7  They said to the people, “Advance! March around the city, and let the armed men pass on before Yahweh’s ark.” 

  8  It was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before Yahweh advanced, and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh followed them.  9 The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the ark went after them. The trumpets sounded as they went. 

  10  Joshua commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” 11 So he caused Yahweh’s ark to go around the city, going about it once. Then they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.  12 Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up Yahweh’s ark.  13 The seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before Yahweh’s ark went on continually, and blew the trumpets: and the armed men went before them. The rear guard came after Yahweh’s ark. The trumpets sounded as they went.  14 The second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. They did this six days. 

  15  On the seventh day, they rose early at the dawning of the day, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. Only on this day they marched around the city seven times.  16 At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for Yahweh has given you the city!  17 The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.  18 But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so would you make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it. 19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy to Yahweh. They shall come into Yahweh’s treasury.” 

  20  So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.  21 They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.  22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring out from there the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her.”  23 The young men who were spies went in, and brought out Rahab with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. They also brought out all her relatives, and they set them outside of the camp of Israel.  24 They burnt the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only they put the silver, the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron into the treasury of Yahweh’s house.  25 But Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all that she had, Joshua saved alive. She lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. 

  26  Joshua commanded them with an oath at that time, saying, “Cursed is the man before Yahweh, who rises up and builds this city Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.”  27 So Yahweh was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land. 

Now, Jericho was a very great walled city, a model of invincibility.  So, just marching around it a blowing a trumpet doesn’t make much sense to conquer it, but they did it anyway.  Funny thing is, when Jericho was discovered by an archaeologist some time ago, the walls were burnt with fire and were facing outward.   Not a natural occurrence, which supports the Biblical account.  Chad pointed out that the command to conquer it in the unusual way found in Scripture was an arbitrary command of God and not a logical one.  Sometimes God does that... tells us to do things which seem to make no sense to us- like Naaman being told to dip seven times in the Jordan to cleanse him of leprosy or Jesus commanding that we be baptized (Matthew 28:18-20).   Lizzie's prose hit home to me because we all make choices (like the famous Joshua one, above) and some people will simply not do ANYTHING that does not seem logical to them.  However, there is a concept that we should all warm up to from the word of God- that we are but mere human beings and GOD; well, GOD is ALMIGHTY.  I like the way the God inspired the prophet Isaiah to say....

Isaiah, Chapter 55

7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 
  8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” says Yahweh.
  9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
  10 For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky,
and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth,
and makes it grow and bud,
and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
  11 so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth:
it shall not return to me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing I sent it to do.

Don't like this, well, then --- don't listen!  Will not change a thing; sooner or later, WE ALL have to come to grips with our own mortality and meet our maker!!!  Like I have said before, yesterday was a day of coincidence and driving to Sunday Evening church services, I heard the following song on the radio....

 The LOGICAL song 

(click to listen [and view])

Over the past few months my life has been influenced by two adorable little miniature poodles (Buddy and Pal), but I have influenced THEM AS WELL.  Each and every day, I walk them multiple times.  As we are about to cross from the carport to the front driveway, I pull on the leash and say "STOP"- and they STOP until I say "GO".  Along the route to the dog walk, I usually repeat these commands a couple times.  They know to do what they are told, even though I doubt if they understand WHY!!!!!  They don't think logically; they are dogs.  We are far more advanced than they, but we too can learn; and frankly there is no better instructor than God.  

WE JUST HAVE TO STOP AND GO TO THE WORD OF GOD AND LISTEN...  FAITH WILL HELP US MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES IN LIFE MORE THAN LOGIC EVER WILL!!!!

PS. 

I know these things are difficult for the logical, organized, modern mind to grasp, but sooner or later, we all encounter things we will never fully understand and if we are wise, we will look to faith to fill in the gaps. Anyway, that's what I do- and it works for me!!!  I pray that it will for you as well!!!

Your friend,

Gary