Higher Thoughts Higher Ways

Higher Thoughts. Higher Ways. Part 1, Pleasing God and Maximizing Your Life Isaiah 55:8, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Hebrews 11:6, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. As people of faith, we must often do things that are "counter-intuitive," meaning that we don't think, respond, act as we feel, or do what is usual (2 Corinthians 5:7). We should become comfortable with doing opposite of “conventional" or worldly wisdom. Like pilots who must learn the necessity of flying by instruments, rather than by their physical senses and emotions. Counter-intuitive acts of faith include: • Become exalted by humbling oneself • Give away, gain more • Being still to know what to do • In everything giving thanks • Love those who hate you • Do good for those who do not treat you well • Serve people who have less than yourself • Rejoice when persecuted and more..... Aviation is a good illustration of living by faith. The act of something heavier than air flying is counterintuitive. When man first attempted to fly, they tried to build machines that acted like birds or built hot air balloons. Pilots have to train themselves to do things that are counterintuitive, yet they have to be practical, realistic, fact and reality based. They (and we) rely on scientific laws or principles such as gravity and lift. Example of person flying upside down: Example for airplane crash of JFK Jr.: On July 16, 1999, however, with about 300 hours of flying experience, Kennedy took off from Essex County airport in New Jersey and flew his single-engine plane into a hazy, moonless night. He had turned down an offer by one of his flight instructors to accompany him, saying he "wanted to do it alone." To reach his destination of Martha's Vineyard, he would have to fly 200 miles--the final phase over a dark, hazy ocean--and inexperienced pilots can lose sight of the horizon under such conditions. Unable to see shore lights or other landmarks, Kennedy would have to depend on his instruments, but he had not qualified for a license to fly with instruments only. In their final report released in 2000, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the crash was caused by an inexperienced pilot who became disoriented in the dark and lost control. Like pilots, people of faith must learn the necessity of flying by instruments (by the Word), rather than by their physical senses and emotions. 2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. We must learn to operate, or fly, in various conditions. Walking by faith is the only way to do David did it.