{"id":4561,"date":"2018-07-11T08:10:10","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T14:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=4561"},"modified":"2018-07-11T08:10:10","modified_gmt":"2018-07-11T14:10:10","slug":"i-can-only-imagine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=4561","title":{"rendered":"I Can Only Imagine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I am pleased to report that I am doing much better. It seems that the prednisone boost, and medication to relieve nerve pain in addition to prayer has give me relief from the constant pain I was experiencing. I trust that I will be able to return to some of my therapy and work out routines and just normal activities..<\/p>\n<p><strong>BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY&#8230;.\u00a0<\/strong><em>&#8220;<span id=\"en-NLT-13301\" class=\"text Job-19-27\">I will see him for myself.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Job-19-27\">Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Job-19-27\"><em>I am overwhelmed at the thought!&#8221;<\/em> Job 19:27 NLT<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The song <em>&#8220;I Can Only Imagine&#8221;\u00a0<\/em>propelled the music group Mercy Me to national prominence. The movie titled after the song relays the story of how the words and music of the song emerged out of the illness and death of songwriter Bart Millard&#8217;s father. His abusive and alcoholic father experienced a true change of life when he began a journey of surroundings his life to Christ.<\/p>\n<p>Because of his changed life Bart&#8217;s father went from misery in life and relationships to a place of healing and hope. In similar fashion with vastly different circumstances Job found himself in the deep misery of life. His family and fortunes are gone. He has lost his esteem in the eyes of others, and felt the pain of misunderstanding and rejection.<\/p>\n<p>He says, <em>&#8220;<span id=\"en-NLT-13289\" class=\"text Job-19-15\">My servants and maids consider me a stranger. I<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Job-19-15\">\u00a0am like a foreigner to them.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NLT-13290\" class=\"text Job-19-16\">When I call my servant, he doesn\u2019t come;\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Job-19-16\"><em>I have to plead with him!&#8230;<span id=\"en-NLT-13292\" class=\"text Job-19-18\">Even young children despise me.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Job-19-18\">When I stand to speak, they turn their backs on me.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NLT-13293\" class=\"text Job-19-19\">My close friends detest me.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Job-19-19\"><em>Those I loved have turned against me.&#8221;<\/em> (Job 19:16,18-19 NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Job then utters some familiar sounding words, <em>&#8220;<span id=\"en-NLT-13294\" class=\"text Job-19-20\">I have been reduced to skin and bones\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Job-19-20\"><em>and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.&#8221;<\/em> (Job 19:20 NLT) (From my past health crisis, those are words of Job I can relate actually relate to.)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>However, in the midst of all the &#8220;gloom and despair&#8221; Job offers a resounding declaration of hope and a future.\u00a0<em><span id=\"en-NLT-13299\" class=\"text Job-19-25\">\u201cBut as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Job-19-25\">and he will stand upon the earth at last.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span id=\"en-NLT-13300\" class=\"text Job-19-26\">And after my body has decayed, y<\/span><\/em><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Job-19-26\"><em>et in my body I will see God!&#8221;\u00a0<\/em> \u00a0(Job 19:25,26 NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>But Job doesn&#8217;t stop there. As He considers the prospects of the glory of God&#8217;s awesome presence, he goes on and says, <em>&#8220;<span id=\"en-NLT-13301\" class=\"text Job-19-27\">I will see him for myself.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Job-19-27\">Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><span class=\"indent-1\"><span class=\"text Job-19-27\"><em>I am overwhelmed at the thought!&#8221;<\/em> (Job 19:27 NLT)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Job knew &#8220;of&#8221; God. He had learned and believed in this powerful, awesome God. But actually beholding Him &#8220;face to face&#8221; was an overwhelming thought! Job &#8220;could only imagine&#8221; what that would be like, and was overwhelmed by the thought.<\/p>\n<p>As Paul wrote to the Corinthians he encouraged them with the words,\u00a0<em><span class=\"text 1Cor-2-9\"><span class=\"oblique\">\u201cEye has not seen, nor ear heard,<\/span><\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span class=\"text 1Cor-2-9\"><span class=\"oblique\">Nor have entered into the heart of man t<\/span><\/span><\/em><span class=\"text 1Cor-2-9\"><span class=\"oblique\"><em>he things which God has prepared for those who love Him.\u201d<\/em> (1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The old hymn declared, <em>&#8220;O that will be glory for me, when by His grace, I shall look on His face.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>One of our former church members passed away recently. As a friend was visiting her just a few hours before she left this life, she told her friend, <em>&#8220;Jesus is coming for me!&#8221;<\/em> Then she declared, <em>&#8220;Look there He is!&#8221;\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The anticipation of heaven is not being with those who have gone before us, it is beholding our Savior face to face. Imagine that and like Job you will be overwhelmed by the thought.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am pleased to report that I am doing much better. It seems that the prednisone boost, and medication to relieve nerve pain in addition to prayer has give me relief from the constant pain I was experiencing. I trust that I will be able to return to some of my therapy and work out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4562,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4561\/revisions\/4562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}