We constantly get upset with God when our timetable and His don’t match…when He doesn’t do things in the time frame we think they need to be happening. That’s when we should realize that God’s timing and ours are no way alike. The Lord is not concerned by time…His concern is imperatively with the final outcome…not by how long it takes to get there. Not surprisingly then, if you look up the Hebrew words for thousand and day, they can both mean the same… an indefinite period of time. The Lord’s timing may not be always to our liking…but it’s always perfect.
Month: July 2013
July 26,2013 10:30 AM
I wanted everyone to know that I will be speaking at the Idaho Auxiliaries in Ministry Convention on July 26 at 10:30 AM. The convention this year will be at The First Church of the Nazarene in Idaho Falls, Idaho. For more information you can call Donovan Stokes @ 719-205-3750. The title of my talk is Gifts, Talents, and Passions Finding God’s Ultimate Purpose in Your Life. I’m excited to share what God has given me.
Galatians 2:20 ” I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Water baptism is an outward declaration of an inward commitment. When we are lowered into the water, our “old self” dies…only to be brought up or raised up to new life. That fleshly, worldly body is gone…exchanged for a new spiritual one. Our mortal body has been exchanged for an immortal one that is no longer a slave to sin. As it says in II Corinthians 5:17, ” Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come!” We come up out of that water a new person in Christ.
Job 5:18 ” For He wounds, but He also binds up; He injures, but His hands also heal. “
The hands of Jesus…boldly touching the leper…patting the little child…tenderly holding the sick. The hands of our Savior…mixing dirt and His spit to wipe on a blind man’s eyes…breaking up bread and fish to feed the crowds…taking the hand of a dead girl and commanding her back to life. His hands quickly catching Peter as he’s sinking in the water from fear. The hands of Jesus are a testament to His life and His Walk on the Earth…they bear witness to all He was and did. But it’s those exquisitely hideous nail-scared hands of our Lord that bear the real and vivid testament to us all today…those gapping, wounded hands showing graphically just how far He would go to save us from our sins.
Isaiah 26:10 ” Though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and regard not the majesty of the Lord.”
The Lord’s kindness and mercy is extended to all…it is us who turn away, not Him. It is us who look with disdain on His grace, never taking into consideration what it will cost us in the end. Romans 2:4 says, ” Do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience – not realizing that God’s kindness leads you towards repentance?”
I Corinthians 1:5 ” For in Him you have been enriched in every way – in all your speaking and in all your knowledge…”
The Lord would say to you…Do not waste you time lamenting for things you do not have…for talents or gifts I have not given you. Rather, use what I have given you. Use the talents, gifts and passions I have placed uniquely in you, and do not limit Me. Do not limit My working through you. Use what you have. You need nothing else. You lack nothing I have not already placed in you. Do not limit Me in Your life. Trust Me, and you will never lack… for lacking is not of Me…as is fear and anxiety. Trust Me.
II Thessalonians 3: 13 ” And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.”
Perseverance…to continue steadfastly, especially in something that is difficult or tedious. This verse exhorts us to not give in to trouble, or to become exasperated by difficulty. We are to persist…not losing heart and giving in to discouragement. As I’ve heard it said somewhere before…When you’re at the end of your rope…tie a big “God” shaped knot, and hang on!
Romans 10:13 ” for, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Everyone’s journey to the Cross is different and unique. It may be after a long and deliberate search, it may be in the middle of a terrible crisis… but the good news is regardless of how we reach that point, as soon as we call upon the mighty name of Jesus – He’s there! His hand is ever reaching…His ears are ever pricked for our voice. All we need to do is call – He will do the rest.
Job 28:28 “…the fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and shun evil is understanding.”
To stand in awe of the sovereignty of God and all He is…to revere His power and authority…to understand totally where you would be without Him…that is the start of true wisdom. Wisdom is not a gift given to you, it must be obtained by walking out your life…day by day…situation by situation…trial by trial. And through this learning experience, we start to discern what is good for us, and what is bad. We learn to turn away from what is wicked and in the process gain invaluable insight into who our Savior really is.
Mark 9: 23-24 ” Jesus said, ‘Everything is possible for him who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘ I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’ “
We all want to be that Super-Saint who stands firm in their trust and faith in the Lord…but there are times when even the mightiest of us have our confidence shaken. In this story, a father has brought his sick son to the Disciples to be healed, but they were unable, so now Jesus is assuring him that the boy can be made well. The father in his fear and frustration says…I want to trust you Jesus, but I’m lacking in confidence to wholly trust Your power and authority over this…please help me! Jesus did not berate or belittle the father for his honesty, but rather He reached out and healed the boy, and in the process enabled the father to defeat and triumph over his unbelief.
Safetypinlove 