Put Your Weight In To It!

One time my spouse and I were out bowling.  As I stepped up to throw my bowling ball down the lane, my spouse yells out, “Put your weight in to it!”  Now, both of us had gained some weight over the years, but was there really any reason to say that to me in public?  Of course, there was a roaring of laughter behind me.  Some good friends I had.  Really what my spouse was trying to say was that I would stand a better chance of hitting a strike if I put some force in to my swing.  My spouse was right.  If I was wimpy about my swing I could end up dropping the ball or tossing it in to the gutter.

As Christians, we need to put weight in to our witnessing.  We need to depend more on the Holy Spirit.  He will take our wimpy attempts and make them powerful efforts that are effective. Read Acts 1:8.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Many times we don’t even attempt to witness because we are afraid or think someone else can do it.  We don’t like rejection or are worried about what people will think of us.  Other times we don’t witness, because we just don’t seem to know who to witness to.  We hang out with our closed circle of friends and that is it.  All we need to do is ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us who we should witness to.  He will open our eyes.

It is just common sense to realize that if God said He was going to give us the power and that we would be witnesses for Him, then we will be.  We have nothing to be afraid of.  We have all the power and abilities we need to witness.  So let’s get out there and put some weight in to it!

Limitless Energy

According to the X-journals, “Next year, 192 giant laser beams at the National Ignition Facility in California will target this pea-sized capsule, which contains hydrogen, in an effort to trigger the world’s first controlled nuclear fusion reaction. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)” Scientists goals with these experiments is to hopefully one day to lead to the taming of the sun’s energy and other sources like the sun to produce limitless energy.  I am always amazed at the new developments and experiments taking place in science.  It’s a wonderful thought to think that there could be limitless energy to use.  It would bring down our expenses, and probably have a whole ripple effect on the economy.  People who were previously without energy could now have energy.  Our cars could be fueled and the environment helped as a result.  It is going to take time though.  This is just the next step in the experiments.  For now we are going to have to make due with energy systems we have now.

There is good news now on the energy front though.  God has limitless energy.  Read Isaiah 40: 28 – 29.

“28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding. 29 He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless.”

There is only one way God could constantly be strengthening the powerless or helping the weary to not grow faint.  That is because He has limitless power.  Nothing will ever make His power grow dim.  No matter how many times humans may have to call on Him to regain their spiritual and physical strength, God will not run out of energy to provide them so they can revive.  What an encouragement to know our God is limitless in energy and so many other ways we could name.  So don’t be afraid to ask for help from God.  Why keep struggling along on your own God is there to help. Don’t think you will be a burden to Him.  He is limitless!

Put Your Weight In To It!

One time my spouse and I were out bowling.  As I stepped up to throw my bowling ball down the lane, my spouse yells out, “Put your weight in to it!”  Now, both of us had gained some weight over the years, but was there really any reason to say that to me in public?  Of course, there was a roaring of laughter behind me.  Some good friends I had.  Really what my spouse was trying to say was that I would stand a better chance of hitting a strike if I put some force in to my swing.  My spouse was right.  If I was wimpy about my swing I could end up dropping the ball or tossing it in to the gutter.

As Christians, we need to put weight in to our witnessing.  We need to depend more on the Holy Spirit.  He will take our wimpy attempts and make them powerful efforts that are effective. Read Acts 1:8.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Many times we don’t even attempt to witness because we are afraid or think someone else can do it.  We don’t like rejection or are worried about what people will think of us.  Other times we don’t witness, because we just don’t seem to know who to witness to.  We hang out with our closed circle of friends and that is it.  All we need to do is ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us who we should witness to.  He will open our eyes.

It is just common sense to realize that if God said He was going to give us the power and that we would be witnesses for Him, then we will be.  We have nothing to be afraid of.  We have all the power and abilities we need to witness.  So let’s get out there and put some weight in to it!

Thankful for His Power and Might

Have you ever watched any of the “World’s Strongest Man” competitions?  They have quite a wide variety of competitive elimination rounds (Loading Race, McGlashen Stones / Atlas Stones, Truck / Airplane Pull, Overhead Press, Fingal Fingers, Power Stairs, Squat, Dead Lift, Keg Toss, Car Carry, Hercules Hold, Carry and Drag, Farmer’s Walk, Yoke Walk / Fridge Carry,  Husafell Stone, Duck Walk, Log Throw / Caber Toss, Tug of War, Pole Pushing, and Crucifix (To read how intense these really are and how much weight is involved click here).  Wouldn’t it be cool to be even able to lift half of what these guys lift?  To just not strain your back mowing the lawn or lifting a heavy laundry basket would be an answered prayer.

Spiritually it would be great to be that strong too.  We strain our spiritual muscles just trying to walk up to someone to invite them to church.  Yet in Colossians 1 we learn that we can be strengthened with God’s power and might.

⁹ For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, ¹⁰ so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing [to Him], bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. ¹¹ May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy.

All we need to do is ask Him for knowledge of His will, wisdom and understanding, then walk worthy of Lord.  He will strengthen us as result with all power according to His might.  Then we will have the strength, endurance, patience and joy we need as we serve Him.  We won’t be burning both ends of the candle.  We won’t be stressed or worried.  We won’t be afraid to witness to others about Jesus.  We won’t give out when it gets tough.  God’s power and might will supply us.  Common sense tells us that this is what we should want.  That this is what we must do and that we will be blessed.

I am thankful that God’s power and might can sustain me to do His work and that I will glorify Him by displaying His power and might, not my own.

Supernatural Meets Natural

Have you noticed the rise in the number of shows that deal with the supernatural?  All kinds of ghost hunting or haunted house reality shows, shows about mediums, and shows about people who talk with the dead to solve the problems they left behind and the list goes on and on.  The world is becoming pre-occupied with the supernatural.  They love the adrenalin rush of running in to a ghost.  They love the idea of being special because they can talk to the dead.  Yet all these things are not the supernatural God wants us to focus on in our lives.  He actually finds these things disgusting and they were called sins in the Old Testament.  In the New Testament, Jesus and His disciples were busy kicking demons out of people’s lives.  So nothing has changed.  We really shouldn’t have a part in ghost hunting and other such evil supernatural things for the thrill or fun of it.  Instead, God wants us to expect Him to supernaturally work through us to reach the lost.  Read this story in Acts Chapter 3:

¹ Now Peter and John were going up together to the temple complex at the hour of prayer at three in the afternoon. ² And a man who was lame from his mother’s womb was carried there and placed every day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so he could beg from those entering the temple complex. ³ When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple complex, he asked for help. ⁴ Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, “Look at us.” ⁵ So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I have, I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” ⁷ Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong. ⁸ So he jumped up, stood, and started to walk, and he entered the temple complex with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. ⁹ All the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰ and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple complex. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

Do you see what happened?  The supernatural met the natural world through Peter.  God used Peter to heal a lame man.  Peter as a natural man could not do that, but with God in Him he could.  Peter didn’t even have to think about it.  He was so close to God that He knew what God expected him to do and he did it.  We can receive some good instructions from this story.  We are human and natural just like Peter.  We can let the supernatural meet the natural through us too.  Are you willing to believe God will work through you? Does the supernatural invade the natural in your life?  Are you making sure you are that close to God  so that He can speak to you and work through you on a moment’s notice like He did with Peter?

His Powerful Voice

There are a lot of interesting experiments being done right now in the world with sound waves.  Sound is being used to levitate objects and move them, as weapons for the battlefield, to fight environmental noise, and to power engines.  A new type of sound “acoustic luminescence”; that is, light being emitted from liquid under high-intensity sound is being worked with as well.  It is thought that it could lead to hundreds of different applications, from nuclear fusion to sewage treatment.  Apparently there is a lot more power in sound than I ever knew.  The maker of sound, God, has always known there was power in sound.  When He speaks, things come in to existence.  When He speaks, there is life.  His Word is powerful.  Beyond that just His voice is powerful.  Here are three verses that the Lord gave us in His Word to describe His voice:

Psalm 29:3

³ The voice of the LORD is above the waters. The God of glory thunders— the LORD, above vast waters,

Psalm 29:5

⁵ The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.

Psalm 68:33

³³ to Him who rides in the ancient, highest heavens.  Look, He thunders with His powerful voice!

What an encouragement it is to know that our God is powerful right down to His voice.  Nothing about Him is weak.  I have been out in the night air when it thunders and I am in awe of the intensity of volume it makes.  I have sat on the beach and been moved by the greatness of the sound of the rolling waves.  These beautiful and magnificent sounds drown out anything else I might be hearing at the time.  Then there are those moments when I hear the still small voice in my soul speaking to me.  Not another person can hear it.  Yet, it is powerful.  It is God’s mighty voice moving my heart.  I am encouraged that I have His powerful voice to listen to that drowns out the sounds of this world.

Limitless Energy

According to the X-journals, “Next year, 192 giant laser beams at the National Ignition Facility in California will target this pea-sized capsule, which contains hydrogen, in an effort to trigger the world’s first controlled nuclear fusion reaction. (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)” Scientists goals with these experiments is to hopefully one day to lead to the taming of the sun’s energy and other sources like the sun to produce limitless energy.  I am always amazed at the new developments and experiments taking place in science.  It’s a wonderful thought to think that there could be limitless energy to use.  It would bring down our expenses, and probably have a whole ripple effect on the economy.  People who were previously without energy could now have energy.  Our cars could be fueled and the environment helped as a result.  It is going to take time though.  This is just the next step in the experiments.  For now we are going to have to make due with energy systems we have now.

There is good news now on the energy front though.  God has limitless energy.  Read Isaiah 40: 28 – 29.

“28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding. 29 He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless.”

There is only one way God could constantly be strengthening the powerless or helping the weary to not grow faint.  That is because He has limitless power.  Nothing will ever make His power grow dim.  No matter how many times humans may have to call on Him to regain their spiritual and physical strength, God will not run out of energy to provide them so they can revive.  What an encouragement to know our God is limitless in energy and so many other ways we could name.  So don’t be afraid to ask for help from God.  Why keep struggling along on your own God is there to help. Don’t think you will be a burden to Him.  He is limitless!

Supernatural Meets Natural

Have you noticed the rise in the number of shows that deal with the supernatural?  All kinds of ghost hunting or haunted house reality shows, shows about mediums, and shows about people who talk with the dead to solve the problems they left behind and the list goes on and on.  The world is becoming pre-occupied with the supernatural.  They love the adrenalin rush of running in to a ghost.  They love the idea of being special because they can talk to the dead.  Yet all these things are not the supernatural God wants us to focus on in our lives.  He actually finds these things disgusting and they were called sins in the Old Testament.  In the New Testament, Jesus and His disciples were busy kicking demons out of people’s lives.  So nothing has changed.  We really shouldn’t have a part in ghost hunting and other such evil supernatural things for the thrill or fun of it.  Instead, God wants us to expect Him to supernaturally work through us to reach the lost.  Read this story in Acts Chapter 3:

¹ Now Peter and John were going up together to the temple complex at the hour of prayer at three in the afternoon. ² And a man who was lame from his mother’s womb was carried there and placed every day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so he could beg from those entering the temple complex. ³ When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple complex, he asked for help. ⁴ Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, “Look at us.” ⁵ So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them. ⁶ But Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I have, I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” ⁷ Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong. ⁸ So he jumped up, stood, and started to walk, and he entered the temple complex with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. ⁹ All the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰ and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple complex. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

Do you see what happened?  The supernatural met the natural world through Peter.  God used Peter to heal a lame man.  Peter as a natural man could not do that, but with God in Him he could.  Peter didn’t even have to think about it.  He was so close to God that He knew what God expected him to do and he did it.  We can receive some good instructions from this story.  We are human and natural just like Peter.  We can let the supernatural meet the natural through us too.  Are you willing to believe God will work through you? Does the supernatural invade the natural in your life?  Are you making sure you are that close to God  so that He can speak to you and work through you on a moment’s notice like He did with Peter?

Thankful for His Power and Might

Have you ever watched any of the “World’s Strongest Man” competitions?  They have quite a wide variety of competitive elimination rounds (Loading Race, McGlashen Stones / Atlas Stones, Truck / Airplane Pull, Overhead Press, Fingal Fingers, Power Stairs, Squat, Dead Lift, Keg Toss, Car Carry, Hercules Hold, Carry and Drag, Farmer’s Walk, Yoke Walk / Fridge Carry,  Husafell Stone, Duck Walk, Log Throw / Caber Toss, Tug of War, Pole Pushing, and Crucifix (To read how intense these really are and how much weight is involved click here).  Wouldn’t it be cool to be even able to lift half of what these guys lift?  To just not strain your back mowing the lawn or lifting a heavy laundry basket would be an answered prayer.

Spiritually it would be great to be that strong too.  We strain our spiritual muscles just trying to walk up to someone to invite them to church.  Yet in Colossians 1 we learn that we can be strengthened with God’s power and might.

⁹ For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, ¹⁰ so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing [to Him], bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. ¹¹ May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy.

All we need to do is ask Him for knowledge of His will, wisdom and understanding, then walk worthy of Lord.  He will strengthen us as result with all power according to His might.  Then we will have the strength, endurance, patience and joy we need as we serve Him.  We won’t be burning both ends of the candle.  We won’t be stressed or worried.  We won’t be afraid to witness to others about Jesus.  We won’t give out when it gets tough.  God’s power and might will supply us.  Common sense tells us that this is what we should want.  That this is what we must do and that we will be blessed.

I am thankful that God’s power and might can sustain me to do His work and that I will glorify Him by displaying His power and might, not my own.

His Powerful Voice

There are a lot of interesting experiments being done right now in the world with sound waves.  Sound is being used to levitate objects and move them, as weapons for the battlefield, to fight environmental noise, and to power engines.  A new type of sound “acoustic luminescence”; that is, light being emitted from liquid under high-intensity sound is being worked with as well.  It is thought that it could lead to hundreds of different applications, from nuclear fusion to sewage treatment.  Apparently there is a lot more power in sound than I ever knew.  The maker of sound, God, has always known there was power in sound.  When He speaks, things come in to existence.  When He speaks, there is life.  His Word is powerful.  Beyond that just His voice is powerful.  Here are three verses that the Lord gave us in His Word to describe His voice:

Psalm 29:3

³ The voice of the LORD is above the waters. The God of glory thunders— the LORD, above vast waters,

Psalm 29:5

⁵ The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.

Psalm 68:33

³³ to Him who rides in the ancient, highest heavens.  Look, He thunders with His powerful voice!

What an encouragement it is to know that our God is powerful right down to His voice.  Nothing about Him is weak.  I have been out in the night air when it thunders and I am in awe of the intensity of volume it makes.  I have sat on the beach and been moved by the greatness of the sound of the rolling waves.  These beautiful and magnificent sounds drown out anything else I might be hearing at the time.  Then there are those moments when I hear the still small voice in my soul speaking to me.  Not another person can hear it.  Yet, it is powerful.  It is God’s mighty voice moving my heart.  I am encouraged that I have His powerful voice to listen to that drowns out the sounds of this world.