18" From Heaven

“The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.”

Psalm 145:18  



Most people have no idea that everything they could ever want or need in this life is no more than eighteen  inches away from us at any given moment in time. Just ask my dog, Chloe. She walks around the house almost daily with a ball in her mouth while pushing another one with her nose or paws just waiting for me to throw it for her. If I didnt know better I would think she was auditioning for the circus.

My wife says our dog is just a big kid as when she gets excited she pulls every one of her toys out of her toy box that end up underneath the furniture where I find myself stretched out on the floor reaching for a ball or toy that is just beyond my reach underneath our furniture. I can try twisting and contorting myself into all kinds of positions to get my hands on them only to end up unable to reach them.

Have you ever reached for something that was just outside your reach and no matter what you did you found yourself just inches away? The worst instances are those things that you can actually see and touch with the tip of your finger but you can’t get a grip on it to take hold of it. When that happens I usually just lay on the floor feeling defeated looking for something close by that can extend my reach.  

Laying on the floor with my dogs play toy just beyond my reach reminded me of how I can feel about my prayer life at times. It seems like even if I keep asking, seeking and knocking as the bible teaches, the answers just seem beyond my reach. My arm and your arm might be too short but not God’s. Are you aware today that God Himself is close by and that nothing in this universe is beyond His reach. That’s so important to know in these days we are living. In the book of Isaiah it says that, “God’s arm is not too short that He cannot save.” Thats so good to know when you find that that the things you are praying and reaching out to God for in prayer are just beyond your grasp, say like eighteen inches away.  

Eighteen inches away represents two things this morning. First, eighteen inches is about the distance between your head and your heart. The Bible teaches us that our sins have separated us from God and the only way we are capable of laying hold of Him is when we do so in both our head and in our heart. Romans 10:8-11 puts it like this, “But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

Salvation you could say is never more than eighteen inches away. The Christian faith isn’t based upon faith but on facts. The apostle Paul laid the facts of our faith that we believe in our heart in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Secondly, eighteen inches represents the distance from your knee to the ground. Just think today, loved one, that the storehouse of heaven that is filled with the requests to our prayers is also stocked overflowing with answers, just waiting for you and me to bow our knee before God and let our requests be known. 1 John 5:14-15, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” The gospel of Mark reminds us, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:24). Psalm 107:28-30 echo’s the same hope, “Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, So that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; So He guides them to their desired haven.”

Yes, loved one, health, hope, and heaven are never more than eighteen inches away. So, lets pray in faith today and believe as we bow our knee to the God of heaven who hears us, who loves us and promises that He will meet all our needs! Remember, we are never more than eighteen inches from heaven. God is near!

 
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”

Ephesians 1:3


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