The mixed media artwork here was created in an attempt to move from being overwhelmed by all the needs the artist was aware of to  a place of peace.  The purple printed paper ribbons display an explosion of God's multi-faceted graces being sent out into the world to meet all of today's needs.  The line-design artwork adds detail depicting the love and care God puts into meeting those personal, cultural, and group needs and the exquisitely unique power He alone wields in handling the dilemmas we see in human life on earth.  The numbered "truth bullet points" below the explosian of God's love and power were the comforting answers for the various kinds of problems rumbling around in the mind of the concerned artist.  Maybe you have some similar rumblings that are akin to worry that you can receive these same truths for your own comfort.

Truth #1- God gives enough grace today to accomplish all of His purposes.  Truth #2- Today's Joy is better than my dreams and hope because Jesus is in it.  Truth #3 - Today God gives enough grace needed to begin works of healing, to bless and to advance the healing already begun in others, and to complete the healing in others.  Truth #4- God has and gives enough of  his goodness today to strengthen the weak and the weary.  Truth #5- God gives enough guidance today to bring the wayward home or to bring them around the corner of repentance.  Truth #6- God gives enough love today to thaw a frozen heart or to save a child.  Truth #7- Today God gives enough grace to plant every seed needing to be planted in its perfect timing and to harvest every seeker.  Truth #8- God gives enough grace to give hope to the needy and wisdom to the decision makers and pace as a platform to stand firm upon.  Truth #9- God gives enough mercy today to hug each tearstained face and to comfort each lonely, afflicted soul in each country.  Truth #10- God gives enough beauty to thwart the schemes of evil in war or in our minds.  Truth #11- God gives enough grace to restore, revive and repair any damaged relationship and forgive any sin.  Truth #12- God gives enough joy and revelation to light the way to Himself and scatter the enemy. 

May you receive all the blessing God has planned for you today as you read and examine this artwork. Amen.

I found it very interesting and eye-opening when I read about how King David received curses that were hurled at him in one situation.  He was fleeing Jerusalem because of his son Absalom was trying to take over the throne and threatened to kill him.  (2 Sam 15:13-14) Then Shimei pelted David and his officials with rocks and cursed him verbally. "Get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel! The LORD has repaid you for all the blood you sehd in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned.  The LORD has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood."  When David's soldiers want to stop this man from cursing and hurling insults and rocks at David and the others, David tells him to leave him alone and let him curse.  David says, "If the LORD told him, 'Curse David', who can ask, 'Why do you do this?' And then David things maybe God will later blessing him for bearing with the insults at this time.   He says, "It may be that the LORD will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today."  What do you think about this situation?   Do you think David was believing that God allowed Shimei to do this cursing so he realizes that there must be a purpose that will bless David in character-building?  Maybe he recalls the sin he committed with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband that he carried out and realizes that these curses may be part of God's necessary consequences.
I also find it comforting that David and his team reached their goal and were refreshed after they endured the insults.  So we can take that as an encouragement  when we experience similar trials. 

I really had my eyes opened about logic and the unseen  parts of the universe through a couple of books.  One book that I will share with you in a series of blog articles is "Come Let Us Reason" by Norman Geisler and Ronald M. Brooks. 
These men distinguish between a rationalist and a reasonable (logical) person.  The rationalist tries to determine all truth through reason alone, the reasonable person however only tries to discover truth, not determine it.  They use logic to test the truth of their statements about God.  *Side note- that last sentence sounds like what you might call a "faith scientist".  A person using scientific observations and logic on the path of discovery of the unseen world of faith. 

Here was a question posed to the authors which you may have posed at some point yourself.
"The Bible says that God can do the impossible.  Doesn't that mean He is not bound by logicial limitations?"
Oooo, sounds like a tough question doesn't it?  Let's see how Ronald and Norman logically answer this:
****God can do what is humanly impossible, but not what is actually impossible.  (There is a difference between what we know to be impossible for humans and what is  logically impossible for God.)
****Hebrews 6:18 says it is impossible for God to lie.  So there are actual things that are impossible for God to do.  They just not be things that you are thinking of from your human perspective.
****James 1:13 says God cannot be tempted. 
****2 Timothy 2:13 says It is impossible for him to deny his oath. He is a perfectly good God who cannot do evil.
God cannot make a square circle. He cannot make a triangle with only 2 sides, neither can anyone else, human, angel or demon.  These things are self-contradictory and cannot exist.  They are logically impossible.

How does that change your thinking or challenge it?  Points to ponder for sure.  I appreciate the fact that God requires Himself to be logical, how about you?  It stretches my understanding to ponder how the things that are impossible for God to do are related to "absence of evil" in his character?  How does this bless you?

Here is another interesting question posed in the book, "Come Let Us Reason" by Norman Geisler and Ronald M. Brooks.  It gives great clarity to me how they explain away the misunderstandings conveyed in the question. 

"If God created the laws of logic, then why can't he break them?  After all, He created the laws of nature and He breaks them every time He does a miracle?"

Here is there answer. 
****Natural law is really only a description of how things normally operate, but laws of logic are more like ethical laws that tell us how our minds should operate, even if that is not the way we always think. 
Natural laws deal with the ways things are; logical laws deal with the way things ought to be.  One is prescriptive, the other is descriptive.  One calls for obedience, the other does not.  Logic flows from Gdo's rational nature.

Let me know how these logic statements strike you.  Does it impact your worldview of God or his power?

Deuteronomy 30:11-14 is a great group of scriptures to help stretch our faith and worldview about the reality of space, time and how many dimensions our universe actually has.  Let's take a look and see how the scriptures actually have "dimensional wisdom" in them.

"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.  It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it? Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it? No the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it."

In our limited 3-D human thinking we cannot see heaven so we use the term 'up'.  God lives up there above the sky and clouds, because it is beyond the reach of our physical eyes and it is a dimension that we understand because we have experienced it in our 3-D experiences. 
This scripture is actually guiding us toward realizing that God and his heavenly invivsibly kingdom are not actually up, but very near us even in within us.  He is speaking in 5th, 6th, 7th dimension terms.  He is showing us a deeper truth than we can comfortably express in 3-D terms.  The Bible addressed the terms we are comfortable with- up (height) and across (length or width) and then in effect tells us that Heaven is more than these dimensions- it is not limited to these!  "No, the word is very near you....in your heart". The no is pointing out something greater than the up and across dimensions.  The invisible realm penetrates all that we see - even our own bodies which are mere tents!  Tents have space or dimensions within them- they are not solid within their canvas walls.

A dimensional point to ponder and marvel at the depth of our world and the world to come. 

In our study of logic in the book "Come Let Us Reason" we come across faulty logic that is used against the Bible today.  This faulty logic is the use of a cliche, which sometimes fit, but tend to overgeneralize and often contradict each other.  When someone tells you that the Bible was written by humans and so it must have mistakes in it they are using a faulty logic.  They are believing that "The Bible must err, because 'to err is human' and the Bible was written by humans."  The wrong logic is found twice.  One failure in the cliche 'to err is human'  is that it means humans have the tendency to err, but it does not mean that humans err 100% of the time. So the Bible could be written during the times that no errors were made. 
The other false use of this cliche is that it was not only humans who were involved in writing the Bible. The Holy Spirit was also involved in supervising and inspiring the writing of the Bible for His holy purposes in humanity.  So the logic is false because it does not tell the whole truth about the authors of the Bible. 
So the next time someone tells you that they have a scientific or accurate argument about why they do not trust or believe the Bible you can tell them that this argument is not scientific or accurate and why.  But be sure to tell them in love so you can talk to them about that Holy Spirit's work in your own life and plant a seed of spiritual truth in their heart.

It may not be another person who brings this argument up to you, it may in fact be your own thoughts which have been trained with faulty arguments from our culture.  So you can also use these facts of logic to dismantle this falsehood about the Bible in your own worldview. 
We can correct this cliche and have more truth in our thinking about the Bible.  We can say, "The Bible does not have errors in it just because it was written by humans who tend to err.  The Holy Spirit was inspiring and working with the humans to write the Bible and so I can trust and believe it to be error-free.  I am thankful that humans do not err 100% of the time."  May we be enabled to stick to the facts and avoid cliches that are illogical and untruthful. Amen.

The other day as the offering plate was passed to me for my financial gifts a new thought crossed my mind.  How could a person give specific "offering prayers" or a tithe of prayer  into the offering basket or into a wider understanding of the offering basket?  A person could make a commitment to the Lord to give either a one time offering of prayer for a certain cause or person that day or could ask the Lord to give them the faithfulness to carry out a tithe of prayer on a daily basis like Daniel appeared to do three times a day.  What kind of prayers or intercessions would you like to put in the offering basket to honor, bless and please the Savior, the Creator and the Counselor?  I would love to hear your responses and so would God.  Please write in or just carry out the idea in your home and let us know you did it.

When I think of the offering plate I think of funds or resources to bring more people out of the darkness of selfishness and this world's short-term ways and into the endless kingdom of light with Jesus, free from sin and evil and rebellion.  So I might think to add a prayer to mix together with the funds to reach a certain person, family or tribe in a certain country.  Maybe these might be some I would like to put in.  Dear Lord, please help a missionary in Tibet to not despair, bring them fresh encouragement and strategy this week so that they are fruitful and patient for your holy timing.  Please prepare the hearts of the Tibetans they minister to- remove the rocks and till up their hearts for the seeds to be planted this week and arrange for the fertilizer and watering of your Holy Spirit with the circumstances of their lives bringing them to maturity. Amen.  Dear Lord, I trust you fully with the salvation plan and timing for my cousins and uncle and aunt in Wyoming who have strayed far from your will these days.  Help me be more faithful to pray for them in confidence in your unlimited power and ability to overcome the obstacles in their hearts and history, because you are greater than this world and Job says that no human can overcome the pride of the human heart but you are surely able to rescue humans from this great enemy- pride. I praise you in advance for your marvelous power and ways - you are worthy of all praise and I gladly give it to you. In Jesus victorious name, amen.

Let this blog article be an avenue for you to give an offering of prayer  into God's spiritual offering basket today.  Blessings to you.

If you ever struggle with maintaining proper perspective on a problem or a terrible day, here is a piece of artwork (click on image for larger picture) that may help.  The actual size is 3.5'  long and it represents eternity and the many ways God is working in it.  Today (labeled in a rectangle lower right quarter of picture) with all its difficulties is marked by a little yellow dot indicated by an arrow on the lower right quarter of the picture.  This helped me to keep in mind that today's point in eternity is very small compared to eternity past and eternity future.  It also may help you to see the many ways that God works within time on our behalf.  There are times that are flat and maybe depressing and the times that are joyful that may look like mountain tops in the drawing.  There are lines indicating when we wander away and seem lost, but God draws us back in to himself and his path.  There are places that depict friction and how it soon is resolved and angelic events giving us support.  By looking at the picture your focus might be taken off of the problem of the day as you shift to examining God's activity within you and in your circumstances through a larger chunk of time.  Instead of only viewing the problem, you have a chance to see from God's perspective- that there is life before and after your current dilemma.  You can imagine how the lines extend beyond the image here into heaven. You may envision lines which show the awe and delight of seeing Jesus face to face and lines that show waves of joy joy and peace and harmonious lines of  sinless relationships.