Imagine…


Imagine is not a new word, no God used this word in the scriptures:

Eph 3:20-21

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine , according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
NIV

But what does it mean? Imagine means to see or picture something in your mind.

So when someone says It’s more than I could imagine that means it’s more than I could see in my mind.

Originally imagine was something very special and to exceed your imagination was something that only God could do. Only spiritual involvement and no human involvement.

However nowadays imagine has been redefined and normal humans can do this.

I watch HGTV exclusively because I thought it was clean. But I have seen the term imagine used repeatedly to simply describe people’s reaction to what a designer has done for them. So in other words the result is far more than what they had seen in their minds, so it’s more than they had expected.

However, imagine actually and originally meant far more than a person actually do. It meant something that only God could do. So to redefine it is actually pretty risky. And I don’t think that’s good.

I am having an extremely rough time. Why? As a human I just don’t know, and honestly as a Christian I’m obviously not following what the scriptures say. For example, Jesus told us that we would have problems in this World, but He said: “I have overcome this World.”

Also in Rom 8:38-39 Paul says:
38 For I am convinced that nothing xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NIV

So what’s my problem?

What exactly don’t I understand?

I understand it all. I understand that Jesus said that we’ll have trouble. I also understand that Paul said that nothing will separate us from the love of God, and I am alive today and living very well.

So what’s my problem?

There’s nothing going on in me that wasn’t also going on in the Apostles.

Were they all perfect? No. Were their lives all wonderful & pleasant? No. But they lived in this World like I do and like you do too and they had faith so no matter what happened they believed.

And that’s what I have to do. I have to have enough faith to believe that even though there are problems for me in this World and things aren’t happening the way that I would like for them to, God is still God and they will be very different in Heaven.

You may need to do that too.

I’m thankful that I can. And I’m thankful that even though I’m having very difficult times I can think like this.

I had a horrible and I mean HORRIBLE problem this morning. Horrible.

But I felt God’s presence even though it was bad.

No, I can’t say that I handled it perfectly and erased the fact that it had occurred, although I’d like to, but I am moving forward through this day.

The steps that I did take so far to correct it were absolutely impossible for me to do. But I did them, and I did them fine. Why? God helped me.

Many times while I was doing them I was totally shocked! But I knew that the only reason that I was able to keep going was that God was far stronger than what I was trying to do. Circumstances are not circumstances to God. He created even my circumstances.

My wife says that I’m stupid, but I don’t think so. I have God.

Last night some really serious, bad & good things happened. Just the fact that I can write to you today says that bad things may happen but nothing is bigger than God.

I could go through the list event by event but the most important part is what God did.

In brief someone was out to kill me and while the world just couldn’t help me, God could and did!

You should know that He is always watching and He can help you far more than anyone else or anything else can!

So today I have a whole human life because of Him. In fact every day I have a whole human life because of Him.

Life

For most people their life is a challenge that they have to conquer. But to me it is not a challenge that I have to conquer, no, it is very simply based on whatever God chooses to make happen.

I have recently been faced with some absolutely humongous challenges.

I have moved to another city where I have lost my roommate, my friends, my medical help, my Church and my transportation.

I have now lost my wife and my family.

As a human I’ve lost everything and I mean everything.

Most days I just sit at home. I never go outside. I have to manage all of my finances online because I cannot write checks. I just take each day as it comes. And on top of that I’m happy!

Because I know that God loves me. Life is not a challenge for me, it’s His choice.

I never know if I will live or die but knowing and believing that He gives and takes life gives me unbelievable comfort.

Just knowing that the future is His takes the pressure off of me. It’s not up to what I do, it’s His choice, not mine, because frankly I can do nothing.

And to know that He chose to teach me that makes me feel very blessed.

This is a long way from where I was. A long way. I was an executive for an airline owned company and I traveled all over the world. I was highly successful by the world’s standards but God brought me to where I am today.

Yes, I’m blessed, but so are you.

Now we can look at life much differently. The World tries to teach us to believe that everything is up to us, but it’s not. It’s true that this applies to this World but remember who is in control of this World and who controls where we are going.

All of the sudden success isn’t what we used to think it was.

Success in this World applies only to this World, not where we are going to be forever. Our lives may or may not be long, but this World is not going to be here forever, and our ancestry will not last forever, but we will.

So the next time you wonder about the future, think about forever. And you don’t have to wonder at all because forever is His and He gave it to us.

God’s Love

As adults & humans we think that we have Love all figured out. But we don’t.

What we understand & feel is ALL human & God is NOT human. Don’t forget, He created humans. So Love is far beyond each of us.

In the Old Testament God tried again and again to show His Love, but people had a hard time seeing past themselves, so when the time was right, because of His Love, He figured out what to do & sent His son.

The Bible clearly states that it would be possible for someone to give their life for a righteous man but NOT for an unrighteous person. And unfortunately we were all unrighteous. Totally.

So once again God was showing His Love. Did we see it? No we killed Him. But God’s Love stayed strong.

And it’s just as strong today!

God is the same yesterday, today & forever. So His Love will always be there. I don’t understand it but I receive it every moment of every day! And I accept it. That’s what faith is all about.

No, it’s not something that I can see and clearly understand. Nope. But I do receive it and so I know it’s there. So now I’m telling you.

I don’t know of anyone else that’s like me. For God to look at MY LIFE and Love ME is far beyond anything that I can comprehend. But He did.

This morning I was thinking I am not in a good place right now and then I realized God loves me so that’s a great place to be!