God taught me something when I was reading Jeff Zweerink's article "Increases in Oxygen Prepare Earth for Complex Life" from June 30, 2010.  
Jeff, from Reasons to Believe, was pointing out how God created two large oxygen increases on earth to make it abundant enough for complex life.  He points out that when God worked through the tectonic shifts that resulted in the formation of the first tall mountains, He also released a supply of molybdenum into the oceans which He used to spur forth more biological activity, more complexity of life there.  This is awesome in itself as a fact, but what struck me was a spiritual parallel.
As God moves and acts in our circumstances in the visible world-  it is like the lifting up of tall mountains- whether that be a dilemma, a challenge or a problem to solve in life through faith and trust and effort. He is not only working in the elevating or arranging things in the visible realm that we can see, but He is also working in human hearts- like the working of releasing another element (molybdenum in this case) in the hidden realm of the heart.  This encourages me to realize that God's power is indeed great in that He is releasing courage or hope or motivation within our hearts to overcome that challenge (mountains raised up around us).  The other aspect of this spiritual teaching parallel is that the element God released into the ocean depths- or into our deceitful and wandering hearts is an element which is specifically used to bring forth more complex activity within- so this seems to be teaching us to believe that God is giving us more of the spiritual ingredients that spur us on to deeper faith, greater trust and other spiritual growth and formation toward Christlike maturity.  One last encouraging idea is coming to my mind, that God said that the waves of the see are proud and this reminds me of the pride in our human hearts- and the hope and joy that God knows how to release elements of spiritual power into our hearts in spite of its pride as well.
Hallelujah!  May the Lord also build your inventory of His love, power and goodness.  Amen.

Awhile back, I wrote to you about stepping out in faith in the area of receiving a general blessing from someone.  Well, over the last 2 days, I have been able to practice that in a more specific way so I thought I would share it with you.

A person online simply said the generic words, "God bless you." I thought I would honor God and that Christian's wish by receiving what they had given.  So the Holy Spirit helped me to think of what kind of a blessing of grace I might need to meet a challenge or temptation that may lie ahead of me in my day.

A situation came to mind in which I would need patience and mercy in order to deal kindly with a person I was going to be meeting with.  So I told that person who gave me the blessing, that I had received grace for mercy and patience for that evening and I appreciated that gift from them.  Then I went on with my day until the meeting time.  The Holy Spirit reminded me that I had received the blessing already and so it was available for me to access in the time of need or temptation. 

So the evening progressed and the situation and temptation were upon me.  Then at the time when I usually feel defeated I had a new response, I had faith that I had been given mercy to avoid the usual response.  I ended up getting through the night without going back to my old response and instead remained patient, trusting and quiet- relying on that grace from God's blessing received online from another Christian who knew nothing of my challenges that day.  Praise God!

Again today when I was online, another blessing from God was prayed my way and I again paused a moment to think of how God might want me to receive more intentionally this gift of grace or mercy or something from Christ's inheritance for me to use to live out a more godly life.  I had felt flustered about my schedule and use of time a few minutes before so I determined that the Holy Spirit might desire that I use this blessing for grace to honor God with my schedule with the rest of my day.  A brief moment later, I was reminded of some things God had brought to my mind at church the day before and so as I looked at those notes from church I sensed that the Holy Spirit was already leading me forward in using that blessing in giving me direction for my schedule to honor God!  What a joy to work with such a God.  May you be blessed in quiet moments to ponder what blessing God has for you when someone says, "God bless you!"  Amen

While reading a few scriptures today I realized that Jesus proved  himself logical in Matthew Chapter 12, while the lawyers and his persecutors did not prove themselves logical in this debate.

In verse 22 the people bring a man who was blind and mute to Jesus.  Jesus heals him, "so that he could both talk and see." 

So we have something unusual happening here, and people start trying to explain what caused this supernatural event from their limited human perspectives, backgrounds and biases/worldview filters.

Some people "were astonished and said, 'Could this be the Son of David?'"  They are thinking from a perspective of something beyond human power, spiritual, and they have the background of a promise from God about a savior coming through a human lineage of King David.  They are thinking in line with what the Bible reveals about a God who cares and made a promise which He is able and willing to keep.  They open their minds to think, wow, maybe we are blessed to be alive at the time God is keeping his promise of a savior!  So they give credit for the supernatural power displayed to this God they have read about and have maybe been expecting.

But another group of people come from a worldview of religion that they can control.  They are comfortable with believing in a set of rules to obey rather than a living God who is involved with their life, can talk to them and have a relationship with them.  They were more comfortable with rules that only demand good external behavior, but do not criticize inward thoughts and attitudes.  They were threatened, but not teachable.  If they opened their mind to say, "Oh no, this does look like it could be God come down to earth to overcome disease and evil!" They had to admit that their external form of religion was wrong and they would have to admit it to God and relinquish their power of holding control over others as leaders of the church and the law.  Those that did not want to do that, resisted and had to use an illogical defensive argument about the devil working at cross purposes to his own welfare.  The devil working against himself rather than to admit the other explanation which has a logical foundation.
They say, "It is only by Beelzebul (another name for the devil), the prince of demons, that this fellow (Jesus) drives out demons." (vs 24) This is not logical because if the devil went around telling his demons to evict the humans they move into, the devil would be harming his own kingdom and purposes.  He would be destroying his own works and 'family' so to speak.  Logically, that which is evil and unclean brings about evil thoughts, actions, speech and results, and that which is good brings out good from itself and good results.  Just like apple trees bear apples and camels produce camels. 

Jesus goes on to explain that the Pharisees, his attackers are not using logic or rational arguments against him in verses 25-28. 

 

Edwin and Nancy Cole, explain a wonderful difference between the fulfillment in men and in women in their book "The Unique Woman", which I thought was eye-opening and clarifying.  Maybe it will help you as well.

"A Biblical understanding of men and women reveals that each derives satisfaction from different sources.  Men were created in Adam who was given stewardship over the earth by which everything would be replenished after its kind.  To this day, a man's uniqueness is basically satisfied in relationship to his job,  and his fulfillment comes from the reproduction process involved in it."

Genesis 2:15  The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
(Satisfaction in pleasing God and in serving the purposes  you were created for.)
"Adam had charge of the garden and he loved God, but God has no peer.  Therefore, Adam was "alone" because he had no peer. [Just like the one in whose image he was made].  For love to exist, there must be an object to love.  God created woman to be Adam's peer, the object of his love.  She was created as his 'help meet' or his 'completer.' "

Genesis 2:18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."  (Image of God in man, by his oneness as well as his nature to love and be loved.)

"When God created woman, he took the rib out of Adam to make  her.  The rib was something symbolic of something taken out of Adam and placed in Eve.  If God  had created the woman out of anything other than that which was already in Adam, He would have created the woman  inferior to the man.  Woman was made from man in the beginning, but ever since then man has come from woman.  With this, God shows the equality of men and women."

"God took the feminine, the nurturing, the tenderness of his own nature already inbreathed into Adam, and gave the woman those strengths -- leaving the man with the masculine, disciplinarian, the tough.  Each were God-given strengths."

Genesis 2:21-23 So the LORD God caused the amn to fall into a deep sleep; and while he wassleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh.  The the LORD God made woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.  The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman', for she was taken out of man.
(Not only did God take out a physical rib as part of man, but also a spiritual and emotional part of him and put it in the woman He made.)

"When God created the man, He called  him Adam. After he created the woman and brought them together in the union of marriage He called them Adam.  She is the complement to the man, and together they make 'one' or a 'whole'."

Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (With a part of him missing, he becomes one when he finds his lost rib/part and she finds the rest of herself in him and so they only take on one name as one complete being.)

"The man's greatest fulfillment is in reproduction (harvest of things or souls) and so is the woman's. [Because they are one.]  A man's uniqueness is basically satisfied to his relationship with his job, but a woman's uniqueness is basically satisfied in relationship to a man."

Genesis 2:15 Man as steward using his part of the complete skill set (emotional, mental, spiritual and physical blessings). His uniqueness as part of the complete man in God (1/2) is satisfied in his special stewardship job given by God.
Genesis 2:23 Woman as the one who completes the man with her part of the package of skills and blessings (emotional, mental, spiritual and physical). Her uniqueness as part of the complete man in God (other 1/2) is satisfied in coming and completing the man, her special job given by God.
They both share the greatest fulfillment of reproduction/fruitfulness, given to them Complete Man (love giver and love receiver, masculine and feminine, but still mysteriously made one by God who is triune, but One God, Himself love giver and love receiver.)
See pages 21-23.

Isaiah 42:9 states, "I (God) will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools."
This is God talking about how He operates through His shifting, lifting, dropping and settling of the tectonic plates beneath the surface of the earth's crust.
This is part of God sustaining enough land mass above the oceans and rivers and seas to keep things on earth in balance and space available for the current and growing human population- the ongoing preparations for his command to be fruitful and multiply to be carried out on the planet.
Science and scripture meet here in this bit of the word of God which speaks of His great, great power.
This also speaks of his work and involvement in our every day lives and their circumstances.
What do you think?  And where does your thinking begin?  What foundation do your thoughts operate from-  an underlying hypothesis of what you have chosen to believe is ultimate truth?  Can you b

Astronomers now see that in order to have a planet suitable for advanced life such as ours, a long string of arrangements and elements must be in order.
1. The sun must be maintained and reigned in on numerous aspects which impact life on our planet.
2. Gas giant planets must be arranged and monitored to protect life from the erratic features of the universe
3. We need a certain type of spiral armed galaxy to sustain life, 97% of the universe is missing this.
4. A protective zone around the spiral armed galaxy must be built/established in the right "neighborhood"
5. The neighboring galaxies must not be random but more small galaxies than large to assist in its health
6. The spacing cannot be unguided as it has an impact on its symmetry and maintenance.

1.Praise God for arranging the details of the sun's heat, radiance, flares, violent activity and influence on us in the physical realm as well as in the spiritual realm.  Do you see how we can draw from the physical truths to understand the spiritual dynamics of God's sovereign hand in our earthly lives?  Take courage and comfort in the fact that God watches over the volatility of the heat of your trials and tests of faith.  Praise Him for shining enough light on your sins and blessings so as to not show you more than you can handle with Jesus' help. 
2. Praise God for his angels who fight for us in the heavenly realms and sheltering us from the enemy. Praise Him  for giving us the shield of our faith to also knock down the darts of the enemy as well as the insults and unkind words that other humans throw at us.  We are not alone in the violent unloving climate of this temporary world, so take courage.
3. We are so special that God had to go to great lengths after the sun details and the gas giants, then He had to create a fancy symmetrical galaxy with a spiral arm in it.  No other type of galaxy would do, for the special mission of life for human beings over a long period of time.  And not just any spiral armed galaxy, but a very special one with specially ordered parts.  Praise God and delight in the fact that you are this special.  So much attention to detail had to be paid just to get you to have a safe place to stay alive- after your descendants were also given life here.  Praise God for building all of this fancy infra-structure to support our existence to give us the opportunity to meet him and make the mercy arrangements to get to the next world with His son!  He is like a super roller coaster designer- all for us!
4. Praise God for all of the control He exercised over his unbounded power- in order to protect us from dying from its effects in the universe.  Praise Him for using this massive power to make a way for us to experience life without being demolished by its magnitude as in the protective zone needed around the spiral galactic arm swing which would instantly kill all of us had He not made arrangements to set up mighty buffers and barriers on our behalf, sheltering us from its magnificent force as if in the shelter of the palm of his hand or the feathers of his wings.  if He makes such efforts to shelter us from the mightiest creative power of all, why should we doubt that He will not also shelter us from the much lesser powers of deception of the evil one who stalks us on the earth?  May we praise Him today for this great work done for us, and begin anew in greater faith and love of who He is and how He loves us.
5. As we look at this next arrangement made by the Designer to allow life to exist for created beings, it is reminiscent of peeling layer after layer of skin off an onion.  Here we see detail after detail that must be handled and come out perfectly to its specifications as in an architectural diagram in order for life to come to pass at all and then to endure for any time period.  This is no small matter for animals, fish, birds, plants and humans to live and thrive over many years on earth in the universe of God's might.  This next layer of design deals with the type of neighboring galaxies that surround the galaxy that is to house humanity with all of its animal and plant blessings as well.  The mix matters, the sizes matter, the quantity of dwarf galaxies are essential to establishing peace and steadfastness of the galaxy chosen for life.  Think about a spiritual parallel to this aspect...  The surrounding climate, details, bodies, influences all must be approved, or looked into so that they meet certain benevolent specifications.  So it is with our circumstances in earthly day to day situations.  God looks into those bodies of humans, philosophies of deception and truth which are in our society and the neighboring countries who impact us.  He holds back those which would otherwise bring a threat to our spiritual life, He sees to it that we have enough support to maintain balance, promote our growth toward Him and greater faith.  Praise  Him.
6.  Even spacing and distance between galaxies is a factor not ignored or allowed to be unguided.  Also with life in the Spirit, He graciously spaces and times the episodes we face which test our faith.  We have so much to be thankful for.

Did you ever have a list that could bring tears of joy to your eyes?  Obviously I am not speaking of a "To Do" list or a list of bills!  I recently printed out only parts of a long list that delights my heart, mind and soul.  It is a list of scientific features and details that scientists have discovered in the last few years that appear to need to be managed or precisely set just right in order to keep the image of God (human beings) alive on earth!  To me this long list is a list of some of the extreme attention to detail that the Creator invests in me and you.  This is a testimony of his love for His son and for each of us specifically- all the work He planned and executed for us to experience this life and have opportunity for the next eternal life beyond!

Even if some of the things on this list of scientific data ("ingredients of love")are not grasped by my brain, I can appreciate the magnitude of what was arranged for me to be here now. 

In human terms there was a lot of button pushing, brake applying, lever pulling, dial turning, knob twisting,  and the list goes on and on. 

On one page alone there are 49 arrangements that needed to be seen to on my behalf. 
1.The first arrangement was to see to the number and timing of close encounters that earth would have with nearby stars.  If a dice were rolled and that number was too many, then one or more of my ancestors would have been destroyed by the close encounter and I would not have been born.
2. The fifth on the list of details to watch over to get just right for this many generations of humans to get to me and my children was the "absorption rate of planets and planetismals by parent star".  I don't know the details, but I am thankful that in our wild and powerful universe there is a Creator who created a parent star that does not absorb Earth, Jupiter, Venus, Mars us before I have been created and been able to live and meet Jesus.
3. There are at least 14 factors about an individual star that impact life on our earth- even things like its color matter to human civilization.  Some of the other things that cannot be ignored or left to chance are: rotation rate, amount of metal within, age, rate of change in rotation, magnetic field, carbon-oxygen ration, get this one "space velocity relative to Local Standard of Rest"  wow does that smack of God's laws or what!?
4. Number of moons matters, tidal force must be set, magnetic fields need to be gauged in more ways than one, axial tilt needs to be a certain way without fluxuating much, stellar winds need to exist, but not destroy life.
5. Our solar system encounters with interstellar gas clouds and cloud-lets needs to be confined and limited to a certain number and need to occur only at certain acceptable & beneficial time periods.Who would have thought that cloud-lets needed to be guided or minimized ?  So cool!
6.The structure of a comet cloud which surrounds the planetary system needs to be of a certain order and a certain way to allow for simple life to exist even for a few months.
7. The density of baryons in the "Local Volume of the universe" as well as the density of baryons and matter in and around our neighboring Local Group of galaxies" impacts global civilization.
8. How close our solar system is to a black hole during the history of humankind must be within a specific and safe parameter. 
9. The timing of outward migration of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.   So a range/distance boundary for how far these planets can migrate and a set of guidelines or controls on histories time line is indicated by science.
10.For our global benefit (meaning all humans)the nearness of interactions between solar system nebulae and white dwarfs or neutron stars or stellar winds from a neutron star or a collapsar disk- all had to fall into helpful, life-protecting, non-destructive limits not only in areas of power emanated but also in non-harmful and life promoting arrival and departure. 

Are you feeling loved and special yet?  These are just a very few of the 7 pages (49 items each) I printed out of the 22+ pages in the research done.  Some of these are factors needed to be just right just for simple life to exist for 90 days, some are for sustaining intelligent physical life in a globally distributed high-technology civilization.  You can find these on www.reasons.org/links/hugh/research-notes.  Praise God!

Did you ever think that something as "petty" or "unimportant" as termites might matter when it comes to sustaining your ancestors' lives and your own life here on earth?  Well, according to the research done by scientist Hugh Ross from Reasons-To-Believe.Org the quantity of termites was one of hundreds of details that needed to be monitored and precisely determined in order to make a place in space for us here on earth.  If there were any fewer of the little buggers, not enough methane would be released into our atmosphere and earth would be too cold for us to survive here.  And if there were more of these tiny critters we also would not be alive today because the planet temperature would be too hot for us to live.

The termite is not the only tiny creature that functions to balance our temperature on earth.  There are invisible bacteria both in swamps, lakes and oceans also that need to be at a certain precise population to adjust the global warming and cooling which some of us humans think is only impacted by our car pollution and other technological influences.  (If we work on finding a way to raise more low cholesterol, red meat of the ostrich who takes up lots less land than cattle, we could also cut down on the huge methane released into the atmosphere by the slaughter of cows to produce meat.  See "Hidden Treasures In The Book of Job", by Hugh Ross- in Chapter 10.)

Hugh Ross in his discussion of Noah's day and the wickedness of the people of the earth then, talks about how sin spreads. This is in his book, "Hidden Treasures in the Book of Job". It is more serious than many of us would like to admit, but we need to be honest and truthful about it, as honest as the Bible is.
He speaks of sin as a cancer which the surgeon needs to remove and he needs to be aware of all the tissues that the cancer infects.  He gathers his truths about sin from both Old and New Testaments.
"Piecing together Old and New Testament passages on sin's defiling effects, we see that reprobation's impact begins and spreads in the following order:

1. to the sinners first (Romans 7:8-11)
But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of desire. For without the law sin was dead.  For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
2. to their progeny (next) (Exodus 20:5)
You shall not bow down yourself to them (idols) nor serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me...
3. to their domesticated animals (Joshua 6:21)
Even Joshua 6:17 speaks of it- And the city shall be accursed, even it and all that are in it...And they utterly destroued all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, sheep ann ass, with the edge of the sword.
4. to their material goods (Numbers 16:23-33)
Depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of their's lest you be consumed in all their sins.  If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited by the common fate of all men then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD make a new thing and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them and they go down quick into the pit; then you shall understand these men have provoked the LORD.  ...swallowed them up and their houses and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods.
5. to their inhabited land (Leviticus 18:24-28)
Defile not you yourselves in any of these things; for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you.

So even though it may be hard for us to believe that the land and houses and pets can be contaminated by the evil influence of sin, it is true.  We should stretch our faith to incorporate that which scripture tells us is true and search out our ways and see if we are subtly being swept into a sin which is influencing our house, our pets, our land.  Ask the Lord about it.  I can see it in pets when people train them to do mean things, but the homes and the land influence must be less easy to see a manifestation of. 
What do you think- keeping your ideas in line with what scripture teaches us

Hugh Ross, in his book, "Hidden Treasures in the Book of Job" gathered a collection of the most recent astronomical discoveries about the fine-tuning needed and done to generate life and sustain it in our universe.  He then compared that list of recent discoveries in the field with the list of scientific and creation facts revealed in the Book of Job.  This is what he said about the comparison and the conclusions he then drew.

"The list almost entireley overlapped...How can this overlap be explained?  One explanation is that four thousand years ago God anticipated and prepared for three significant developments: (1) movement of most of the world's population to cities, away from meaningul contact with nature; (2) a degree of research specialization that imparis recognition of the full extent of God's handiwork in nature; and (3) spiritual blindness and confusion that requires stunning new revelations and reminders of God's existence and calls to worship him alone."
Think about this for a minute...God in his all-knowing goodness said something like this to himself..." Ok, people are going to start looking at technology and not at my educational nature, they are going to move away from the beautiful natural countryside I made to help them draw near to me and move closer to the city for work etc and spiritual times are going to be harder as the enemy tries to lure them away with more and more distractions, so I have arranged for the astronomers to be making new discoveries about the universe in rapid succession to tell the people in the cities about me as the Creator."  Our beloved God is so carefully watching over our technological society advancing so rapidly that He is making sure that we still have avenues to hear about his great love, great power and sovereignty.  I needed my worldview expanded in this area.  I think I had begun to exclude God from the realm of a highly technological society, thinking that only the people were in control.  So this is a good wake up call to correct that wrong thinking, God is sovereign in country and in the city, over old fashioned lives and highly advanced scientific and technological arenas as well.  How does this view of God's watching over our world and society in this way impact you today?  What will you take away with you as a comfort or wake-up call?