When I set out to do a biblical word study concerning  Heaven (The Heaven Posts)  I really didn’t know how many places the word itself would take me. But we certainly have been round about all sorts of spiritual topics haven’t we?

Today for instance we are talking about disabled ability.

Over the course of thirty something years of Christianity I have come to know myself as a weak man. I know my faults, failures and limitations better than anyone. I count myself among the poor, the needy and the helpless …more now than I did when I first accepted Christ, but I also count myself among the provided for, the able and the helped as well.

In myself I can do nothing. At least so Jesus tells me in John 15. But in Him, with Him, by Him Oh now that’s a different story!

You see “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” Phil. 4 .

I am ” made more than a conqueror through Christ!” Rom. 8 .

And so “forgetting what is behind I press onward toward the high calling of Christ!” Phil 3

Christian you are probably standing in a position right now that looks entirely impossible. Truth be told it probably is or it would be if you had to deal with the situation in your own power or strength; BUT YOU DON’T!!! We believers never go anywhere alone. Christ comes with us; So begin acting on that truth and involve Him in your situation. God will save you like He will save Zion! Praise His name because in the end we win!

⁶ Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.

⁷ Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

⁸ They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.

⁹ Save, Lord: let the king hear us when we call. Psalm 20:6-9 KJV

She smiled at me. Her most disarming smile it was. “Oh! It is so good to see you. I  heard about….I just think that’s the most wonderful idea… all kinds of support I’m sure.”

My blood ran cold and I couldn’t help looking over my shoulder  to see who was getting ready to stick the knife in my back. It was something of the lie that floated behind her smiling eyes. I couldn’t hear her words of encouragement through the static of her actual agenda.

Like me, I’m sure you’ve been to the place of dangerous shadows more than once. Every step on that field is spongy and sure to give way at a moment’s notice. But how we walk in the face of impending danger designates us faithful or otherwise. Do we answer trouble real or perceived with our own strength, our own show of arms or do we remember that success is found only in the name of the Lord our God?

God has promised salvation by the power of His right hand. God has promised to hear our cries from His throne in Heaven…if we make them. And there’s the rub! If we want God’s salvation…if we want God’s saving strength to flow into us we have to seek it. We must pray!

If we pray, God will help. If we try to help ourselves and exclude God from the process God will watch from a distance.

So what do you do when your heart is overwhelmed? What do you do when you are in trouble? Do you just knuckle down and work harder? Do you fight and scheme in your own strength? Or do you go to the God of all power and might and solicit His aid?

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Ma. 11:28-30

The “Heaven Posts” are a word study through the Bible concerning the use of the word “Heaven”. 

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

 Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words,

whose voice is not heard.

 Their voice goes out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun,

which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,

and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

  Its rising is from the end of the heavens,

and its circuit to the end of them,

and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple;

the precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the Lord is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true,

and righteous altogether.

 More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and drippings of the honeycomb.

  Moreover, by them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward. Psalm 19:1-12a

Anywhere you go on the face of the Earth you are going to be confronted with the heat or the light of the sun. In some places it is warmer. In some places it’s light lasts longer but wherever you go it is always there.

Likewise the Word of the Lord is inescapable. Even those who have never been exposed to it somehow know the core of it and are convicted of the depths of their own sin.

Paul says it this way: “

 what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,7 in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things…28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do bwhat ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” Rom. 1:18-32

For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them Rom. 2:12-15

We can pretend it isn’t so. we can cover our eyes and say “I can’t see the light.”

We can close our ears to the gospel and say “I can’t hear you!”

But in the end there are two things everyone will have to attest to: The sun shone on our lives and the gospel message was true!

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.12Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.  Phil. 2:9-13

Dear reader let me encourage you to give your life to Jesus today! Choose Him as your only God.

With all the writing I have been doing for Turbo Follow and House On Fire it has been a while  since I visited the Heaven posts. This group of blogs was created as a word study using the word “heaven” through the Bible.

When last we spoke in this vein we were in the midst of the Book of Job. You can find other Heaven posts at

http://wp.me/P39vIx-fv

Here are my thoughts on Heaven today:

The foundations of heaven tremble;
they shudder at his rebuke. Job 26:11 NLT

It is fascinating to me and more than a little sad that when God is angered the heavens themselves shudder but mankind for the most part remains unrepentant and shuttered against God. The fact that all men have this uncanny ability to harden their hearts and wink at sin is a disaster of unmitigated proportions. It’s bigger than a tsunami. It’s more deadly than global climate change or the loss of the ozone.

Of all creation it seems that men are the one species native to Earth  able to circumnavigate the displeasure of God and ignore it. God is angered and the birds flee the sky. God shakes with fury and the hills and the mountains melt like wax. The sky itself grows dark and the moon glows red to reflect and respond to the anger of the Lord. Mankind alone in the midst of creation does not bow. This is a fact echoed in history…in current events…and in prophecy.

Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had control over all these plagues. They did not repent of their sins and turn to God and give him glory. Rev. 16:9

Now that may sound truly disheartening but it makes the miracle of salvation all the more miraculous. If the hearts of men are so shuttered and hardened against God by the power of sin the question is not why aren’t more people coming to Jesus and getting saved but like the disciples asked “Then who in the world can be saved?” Mark 10:26

Jesus answer is the same today as it was then “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” Mark 10:27

The power of sin is mighty and it has wrought inestimable damage on the history of our race; But the power of God is greater still and He is about the business of undoing the works of the devil. So for a moment I join the heavens in shuddering that I may someday join the New Heaven and the New Earth in rejoicing over the miraculous redemptive power of my God! In fact my rejoicing starts today! His grace has saved me!

Have you ever experienced a time when you felt the weight of sin you had done? How did you move past that?

Job 22:12-14 NIV

“God is so great—higher than the heavens,
higher than the farthest stars.
13 But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing!
How can he judge through the thick darkness?
14 For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us.
He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’

My God sees everything. He misses nothing. According to the Scripture He is intimately acquainted with every man, woman and child on the planet. He clocks the moment we awake and He is aware when we fall asleep. He sees our public triumphs and is present at our private failures. The Bible goes so far as to say he keeps track of the numbers of hairs on our heads ( when you consider half the population is bald that’s not as huge a miracle as say healing cancer…but still).

  In spite of all He sees, though, God does not interfere where He is not invited. God is sovereign and He has sovereignly given us free will. For some of us that means God is intimately involved in our everyday decisions through prayer. He is our safety rope as we scale the peaks of life. For others of us that means God is totally cut out of our lives and any rope we have from Him is only enough for us to hang ourselves with. Those who pursue God intentionally and regularly understand that God is the unseen visitor at every gathering and the silent participant in every conversation. Those who ignore God take His invisibility and silence as absence or abandonment.  For them if God exists He exists somewhere far off and only observes our lives From a distance.

Pastor Howard Renker said to our congregation just the other night, “What you perceive is what you will believe. What you believe is what you will receive.”

Applying that logic, where we perceive God to be in our lives determines what we will believe about Him. That belief will affect what we can receive from Him. So if we think of God as far away in Heaven we may believe He is not present to help us with our everyday problems. If we believe that, then we will receive little help from Him on an everyday basis. If however we believe that Jesus lives with us in our homes,  in our hearts and is ever-present with us, then we will believe He is present to help us with the broken down car or the wayward child. In that case we will receive help everyday.

So let me ask, is God working with you from a distance or is He close at hand? 

What needs to change in order for you to see God as “closer” to you?

Even now my witness is in heaven.
My advocate is there on high. My friends scorn me,
but I pour out my tears to God. Job 16:19, 20

     There are times in this life when no other human being can truly understand what we are going through.

Well meaning people can put an arm around us and whisper “I know how you feel. I’ve been there.”

Honestly, though, I have come to understand that each of our trials is different. No one experiences exactly the same emotions even if they go through the same set of circumstances. Every divorce, every bout with cancer, every death of a loved one is different because every one of us is different. We are as unique in our pain as we are in our personhood. In the end that means no one can fully know what we are going through. No one can fully sympathize. No one can jump inside our minds and psychically experience our emotions with us. We are alone in our pain. EXCEPT FOR GOD!

You see Jesus can read minds. He alone in all the universe fully connects with us in our difficulty. He is witness to our deepest and most private pains. He is God who can be WITH us like nobody else can be with us. He is not just beside us. He is in us and GOD KNOWS.

Not only does God know,  He cares. He is our advocate. He is on our side. The Bible goes so far as to say it this way, “Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.” Rom. 8:34 NLT

God knows your heartache even when you feel nobody else “gets it.”

Don’t give up. Trust that the judge of all the Earth will do right by you!