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12.3 Billion Light Years

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12.3 Billion Light Years

My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8

This one will blow your minds, guys. I recently read this in Mark Batterson’s book, ID: THE TRUE YOU …
Spatial distances are almost incomprehensible, but let me give it a shot. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. Light waves are so fast that you can have a real-time conversation with someone halfway around the world.
The sun is approximately 93,000,000 miles from Earth. If you got into your car and started driving 65 mph, twenty-four hours a day, it would be a 163 year trip. But traveling at the speed of light, our sunshine is only 8 minutes old.

Astronomers have discovered galaxies 12.3 billion light years away. That means it takes light, traveling at 186,000 miles per second, more than twelve billion years to reach the outer edge of space. And God says in Isaiah 55:8 that’s about the distance between our thoughts and His thoughts.

The Psalmist says in Psalm 145:3 that “There are no boundaries to His greatness; His greatness no one can fathom! You and I underestimate God by approximately 12.3 billion light years.

Sometimes we analyze and categorize and theorize instead of just letting God be God. I think God is looking for people who don’t tell Him what He can’t do. Mark Nepo said, “Birds don’t need ornithologists to fly.” Birds don’t need ornithologists to fly and God doesn’t need theologians to do miracles.

God knows NO boundaries. He isn’t limited to four dimensions of time and space. Psalm 36 from The Message says, “His love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, His purpose titantic, His purposes oceanic. Yet in His largeness, NOTHING gets lost.

Wow, my brothers. How big is YOUR God today. Is there a situation you are facing that seems HUGE? Guess what — He is bigger than any situation you may be facing today. Read that verse from Psalm 36 today and remind yourself how big He really is. — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

Dig This Quote: We do not develop habits of genuine love automatically. We learn by watching effective role models – most specifically by observing how our parents express love for each other day in and day out. Josh McDowell
Determined Digging: Level 1: Proverbs 4:23; Level 2: Psalm 66:16-20

Our God Reigns

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OUR GOD REIGNS

Yesterday I reminded us of the fact that despite everything go on around us, GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL of ALL THINGS.

What a difference a week can make! Two weeks ago, we remembered the events of the Triumphant Entry. Last week we focused in on the Cross, the burial and the glorious Resurrection of our Savior.

During the days and weeks after the resurrection, Jesus was seen alive and well to many before He ascended into heaven. It wasn’t just a rumor that He was alive — Peter say Him! The Twelve saw Him, and over 500 at one time saw Him!

He is alive, my brothers. Our God reigns. Be reminded of these words today as you gather together to worship HIM!

How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him
Who bring good news, good news:
Announcing peace, Proclaiming news of happiness.
Our God reigns, our God reigns!

Our God reigns! Our God reigns!
Our God reigns! Our God reigns!

(Verse 2)He had no stately form, He had no majesty
That we should be drawn to Him.
He was despised and we took no account of Him,
Yet now He reigns with the Most High.

Our God reigns! Our God reigns!
Our God reigns! Our God reigns!

(Verse 3)It was our sin and guilt That bruised and wounded Him.
It was our sin that brought Him down.
When we like sheep had gone astray
Our Shepherd came And on His shoulders bore our shame.

Our God reigns! Our God reigns!
Our God reigns! Our God reigns!

(Verse 4)Meek as a lamb that’s led out to the slaughterhouse,
Dumb as a sheep before its shearer,
His life ran down upon the ground like pouring rain
That we might be born again.

Our God reigns! Our God reigns!
Our God reigns! Our God reigns!

(Verse 5)Out of the tomb He came with grace and majesty;
He is alive, He is alive.
God loves us so, see here His hands, His feet, His side.
Yes, we know He is alive.

Our God reigns! Our God reigns!
Our God reigns! Our God reigns!

Worship Him today. Rejoice! He reigns. — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 11; 1 Samuel 17-18; Luke 11:1-28

Dig This Quote: Men who are not secure in Christ cast about for spiritual life preservers with which to support their confidence, and in their frantic search they not only cling to the shreds of ability and righteousness they find in themselves, but they fix upon their race, their membership in a part, their familiar social and ecclesiastical patterns and the culture as a means of self-recommendation. The culture is put on as though it were armor against self-doubt, but it becomes a mental straitjacket which cleaves to the flesh and can never be removed except through comprehensive faith in the saving work of Christ.” Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life

Determined Digging: Level 1 — Psalm 127:1; Level 2 — Psalm 51:10-13

TAKE THE CHALLENGE: May is fast approaching and we will be hosting our 2nd annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 8th. You can help in two ways. 1. walk – call guest services to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk. 2. (this is a fun one) Sponsor Freedom Fighters for the walk. We are having a friendly competition between the 2 groups of devotional readers (Freedom Fighters and Victory Call).

Our goal is to raise more funds for the Freedom Fighters team than the women raise for the Victory Call team.If you would like to join the fun, simply go to this link on our website: Donate for Family Freedom Walk fill out the information and indicate in the “DESIGNATION” area : Family Freedom Walk: Freedom Fighters or if you prefer make your check out to America’s KESWICK and put in the memo line: FFW/Freedom Fighters and mail to : America’s KESWICK 601 Route 530 Whiting, NJ 08759. ALL DONATIONS MUST ARRIVE NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY, MAY 5TH in order to be counted for our TEAM. Come on men, we can do it!!!

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Life’s Marathon

“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (King James Version)

Today folk seem to feel that we must all win the race. Our children should all be above average. Or Founding Fathers said we were all created equal not that we all ended our lives equally.

In a Marathon only one wins but all who reach the finish line can wear the Tee Shirt. “I ran in the Marathon” Can we wear the the shirt that says “I ran in Heaven’s Marathon!”

In a Marathon many have fallen but got up and ran again. Some have even come in the next day. So when you stumble and fall, get up, run on. Trust God who is able to keep you from falling to get you to the finished line. Jude 1:24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy…” — Dr. George Van Sandt is a friend of America’s KESWICK and contributor to Freedom Fighter

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 29; Judges 7-8; Luke 5:1-16

Dig This Quote: The word ‘christian’ means different things to different people. To one person it means a stiff, upright, inflexible way of life, colourless and unbending. To another it means a risky, surprised-filled adventure, lived tiptoe at the edge of expectation…If we get our information from the biblical material, there is no doubt that the Christian life is a dancing, leaping, daring life. Eugene Peterson

Determined Digging: Level 1 — Psalm 91:1; Level 2 — Psalm 51:1-4

Count Yourself

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COUNT YOURSELF

“Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:11

One of the messages that I heard the late Pastor Bill Raws share with the men of the Colony of Mercy was from this very text. As a part of the message he would graphically describe to the men that a casket is sitting in the front of the chapel and inside it is a dead body. All the life has been drained from it, and it is dead.

He likened us to that dead body according to Romans 6:11. Count on it — we are dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. The coffin has been nailed shut.

However, the problem is that we don’t want to be dead. Even after the funeral we try to pull ourselves out of the coffin and live the old defeated life.

Listen to what Bible teacher, Chris Tiegreen, from Walk Thru the Bible, has to say about this exchanged life:

Many Christians miss out on experiencing the victorious, joy-filled life, not because they aren’t in face crucified and raised in Jesus, but because they don’t know it. Perhaps it is only a theological belief or a matter of creed. Perhaps it is misunderstood as something to strive for rather than to accept. Perhaps it is seen as a future possibility rather than an established position.

None of that is enough. A Christian will really experience the joy and power and victory of the Christian life when he or she believes its foundation: We were crucified with Jesus, and now we are raised in the HIS life. And it must be more than belief; we must KNOW IT, COUNT ON IT, CLING TO IT as a rock-solid event as certain as the day we graduated, got married, or signed a contract.

Too many Christians are TRYING to make the Christian experience true for them. They have put the cart before the horse. EXPERIENCE DOESN’T LEAD TO TRUTH, TRUTH LEADS TO EXPERIENCE. Instead of praying FOR the resurrected life, ACCEPT IT and LIVE IT. Instead of hoping you will die to sin, COUNT OF THE FACT THAT YOU ALREADY HAVE!

Our struggles are often a product of how we see ourselves. If we see ourselves as sinners TRYING to be BETTER Christians, that is how we will live. If we see ourselves as sinners who were BURIED WITH CHRIST and RAISED TO NEW LIFE, that too is how we’ll live. Romans 6:11 tells us what to see. COUNT ON IT, and watch your experience line up with truth. (from ONE YEAR DEVOTIONAL — WALK WITH GOD — Tyndale)

This, my brothers, is the VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN LIFE! You are in the coffin! Dead to sin! The casket lid is closed. Locked. Buried. Now count on it — YOU ARE NOW ALIVE TO GOD IN CHRIST JESUS. — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 19; Leviticus 25; Mark 1:23-45

Dig This Quote: Our God is not the “great I WAS” or the “GREAT I USED TO BE,” but He is still the “GREAT I AM!” – Testimony from a Dad whose son was in a terrible accident (The Rewards of Simplicity …)

Determined Digging: (Level 1) Psalm 27:4; (Level 2) Psalm 34:1-10

Check out this week’s STEWARDSHIP INSIGHT FROM GEORGE http://keswickgeorge.blogspot.com/

God’s Glory on Display (Part 2)

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God’s Glory on Display (Part 2)

I love reading from a scientist’s point of view, how our great God displays his glory in nature. It reminds me of how truly awesome and majestic He is.

Mark Batterson in his new book, PRIMAL, shares Psalm 29 from The Message. He calls this Psalm “Ode to a Thunderstorm”

Bravo, God, bravo!
Gods and all angels shout, “Encore!”
In awe before the glory,
in awe before God’s visible power …

God’s thunder tympanic,
God’s thunder symphonic.

God’s thunder smashes cedars,
God topples the northern cedars …

God’s thunder spits fire.
God thunders, the wilderness quakes;
He makes the desert of Kadesh shake.

God’s thunder sets the oak tree dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches.
We fall to our knees — we call our, “Glory!”

During the past few days we have witnessed God’s power and glory as He has painted the landscape with snow — and tons of snow! The last storm brought down many trees on our property (as well as wires!!!).

When the sun comes out the trees just seem to sparkle and glow with beauty. Icicles are hanging every where, and when the sun shines on them, they are spectacular.

As a kid I was not real found of thunderstorms. But even thunderstorms display the glory of our God. I learned something new about thunderstorms from Mark Batterson’s book:

There are approximately two thousand thunderstorms somewhere on planet Earth at any given time. And there are approximately one hundred lightning strikes per second, or 8.64 million lightning strikes per day! That is a lot of standing ovations.

Batterson reminds us in the Psalm 29 that the angels shout, “Encore!” after each one!

When was the last time you shouted, “Bravo!” when you saw a sunrise? A sunset? The beauty of a moon as it arises each night? The heavens declare God’s glory. Don’t miss it. It is another gift He gives us daily to enjoy. — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 18; Leviticus 23-24; Mark 1:1-22

Dig This Quote: The purpose of simplicity is not to prune those things away that bring us joy and enrich our lives. Instead, the purpose of simplicity is to streamline our loves in such a way that we have more room, time and energy for the pursuits and people that God ordains for us. – The Rewards of Simplicity Pam and Chuck D. Pierce

Determined Digging: Level 1 — Psalm 27:4; Level 2 —Psalm 34:1-10

God’s Glory on Display

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God’s Glory on Display

“God’s glory is on tour in the skies,
God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures every evening.

Their words aren’t heard, their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
Unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

God makes a huge dome for the sun — a superdome!
The morning sun’s a new husband leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete racing to the tape.

That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts, warming hearts to faith.” — Psalm 19:1-5 — from The Message

The heaven’s do declare the glory of our great God. In his book, PRIMAL — A QUEST FOR THE LOST SOUL OF CHRISTIANITY (Multnomah), Pastor Mark Batterson shares this amazing insight about the glory of the God displayed in the heavens:

The sunrise is so consistent that we take it for granted, but few things are a miraculous as the celestial dance that takes place on a daily basis. Our planet spins around its axis at a speed of 1,000 mph. And while our planet does a 360 every twenty four hours, it is also hurtling through space at an unimaginable speed of 67,000 mph.

You may not have big plans for today, but you will travel 1.6 million miles in your annual lap around the sun. Quite an accomplishment! And to top it off, the Milky Way galaxy is spinning at approximately 490,000 mph. It takes the Milky Way two hundred million years to make one full revolution.

No wonder David the Shepherd boy wrote in his journal:
I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?

God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world! — Psalm 8 from The Message


Ponder this today, my brothers, the God who made the heavens and earth, the One who has put the universe on display — loves YOU with an everlasting love! “How majestic is YOUR name, O Lord, in all the earth!” — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

NEW FEATURE: The Scriptures are now linked right to Bible Gateway. Click on the highlighted verses and it will take you right to the text. Today’s verses are from the New American Standard Version

Digging Deeper: Proverbs 17; Leviticus 21-22; Matthew 28

Dig This Quote: Worship is transcendent wonder. Wonder for which there is no limit or measure; that is worship!” – Thomas Carlyle, nineteenth-century Scottish essayist

Determined Digging: Level 1 —Psalm 27:4 ; Level 2 — Psalm 34:1-10

Experiencing God — The Seven Realities

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Experiencing God — The Seven Realities

“Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand).” Jeremiah 33:3 (The Amplified Bible)

God longs for you and I to experience Him. The Old and New Testament biblical characters did not have a corner of experiencing God. You and I have the same privilege. The question is do we long to have him enter into our world.

In his classic Bible study, Dr. Henry Blackaby suggests that there are SEVEN REALITIES to Experiencing God:

1. God is always at work around you.

2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.

3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.

4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.

5. God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.

6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join what God is doing.

7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you.

Throughout the next several weeks, I’d like to invite you to travel on this journey with me as we take our time exploring these seven principles. I want to suggest that you grab your journal and begin to open your eyes and heart, and experience HIM in a way that could literally turn your world upside down.

Will you join me on the journey? — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 19 Nehemiah 12-13; Acts 4:23-37

Great Quote: What you need to do, is to put your will over completely into the hands of your Lord, surrendering to Him the entire control of it. Say, “Yes, Lord, YES!” to everything, and trust Him so to work in you to will, as to bring your whole wishes and affections into conformity with His own sweet, and lovable, and most lovely will. It is wonderful what miracles God works in wills that are utterly surrendered to Him. He turns hard things into easy, and bitter things into sweet. It is not that He puts easy things in the place of the hard, but He actually changes the hard thing into an easy one. Hannah Whitall Smith

A Threefold Victory

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…fashioned like unto his glorious body… (Philippians 3:21)

             The motto of America’s KESWICK states that it is a place and a ministry “where God speaks to hearts and transforms lives.”  Through the years thousands have come to KESWICK with such a desire, a need, and an expectation.  Many have heard the message of hope and have expressed hope in the message.  Some have asked, “What is the key to a transformed life?  Is there such a thing as a victorious life?”  Others have referred to “the formula” for such a changed and victorious life as “a secret.”

             For some the “victorious life”appears to be a mystery solved by only a few.  Yet “victory” is the theme of our Bible and the provision of our Lord.  Examine our verses for the day as an illustration.

             “For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself” (Phil. 3:20-21).

             Here is a threefold victory.  First, our Lord shall “change our vile body.”  We may have difficulty in acknowledging that our body is vile, that it is humiliated to the degree of such serious need.  We may have the difficulty in understanding that our Lord can in fact change such a body.  We may call it a “key,” but it is certainly no “secret,” that acknowledging both our need and His provision are essential to victorious living.

             Secondly, our Lord shall “fashion” our new body “…like unto His glorified body….” The design of our life belongs to Him.  That must be our expectation and our willingness.  We must cooperate but not dictate.  When He begins to perfect the changes inherent in our redemption and along the lines of His design, we must give to Him our will but not our opinion.

             Thirdly, our Lord shall “subdue” our changed body – and “all things unto Himself.”  If we are to have victory now we acknowledge our de-crowning in submission to His subduing.  That is grace on His part, yieldedness on ours, and victory in all.

 Dr. Robert L. Alderman – from the KESWICK devotional Real Victory for Real Life – 365 Devotional Thoughts in the Spirit of America’s KESWICK 


 Scripture Reading:  Exodus 1-3, Matthew 14:1-21, Proverbs 21


“Promotion, publicity, personality, politics, popularity and even prosperity we have in abundance. But there is a dearth of God-empowered men and women with a deep love for the Savior, unconditional commitment to Him and complete indifference to their own well-being.”

James R. Graham

A Provision for Victorious Living

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“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)

The heart of the Victorious Christian life is a moment-by-moment walk with the Lord. God is glorified when I fulfill His will and purpose for my life (Heb. 13:21) as I “…walk in the Spirit…” (Gal.5:16a).

The Bible teaches that when I accept Christ as my Savior, the Holy Spirit permanently indwells me (I Cor.6:19). It is also true that I’m indwelt by the “old man” (Rom.6-7). He works to neutralize my “walk in the Spirit” by prodding me to disobey God.

While God’s high standard is “go and sin no more” (John 8:11b), He knows that I will (I John 1:8) and has made a wonderful provision for me to deal with personal sin which breaks fellowship. That provision is I John 1:9. I wish I had been taught this early in my Christian life. It would have resulted in more time logged in fellowship rather than a lot of carnal living.

God in His grace uses this simple truth of instantly confessing sin as soon as I am conscious that I have willfully disobeyed God. The basic idea for confess is to “agree” with God about your sin. The issue isn’t feeling sorry for sin – although you might, and that is all well and good. The point, however, is acknowledging or agreeing with God about your sin. The “if” gives me the freedom to confess or not confess. I choose, moment by moment, to agree with God or to be out of fellowship.

The verse closes with a promise that “if” I obey and “agree” with God, “He is faithful and just to forgive [me].” It always happens because Christ’s death made full payment for all my sins. There is the added blessing of “…and cleanses [me] from all sin and unrighteousness.” All the things I didn’t recognize as sin or forgot about, God forgives. The simple act of believing what God has promised in His word spells defeat for the “Old Man.” I learn from my disobedience and move on in Christian life. This is real victory! 
Dave Shoppy was the Director of Development for America’s KESWICK for a number of years until the Lord called him home.
God’s Word for YOU: Proverbs 16; Genesis 41-42; Matthew 12:1-23

Great Quote: “The Gospel is a fact, therefore tell it simply; it is a joyful fact, therefore tell it cheerfully; it is an entrusted fact, therefore tell it faithfully; it is a fact of infinite moment, therefore tell it earnestly; it is a fact about a Person, therefore preach Christ.”- Archibald G. Brown