Study from God’s Word… [Readings and study from overviews of The Apocrypha] … Passage for Reflection: 2 Peter 3: 4 … NIV 4They [scoffers who appear in the “last days”] will say, "Where is this 'coming' He promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."
My Journal for Today: Today, my devotional leader/author, F. LaGard Smith, jumps forward, in his devotional, launching into the New Testament in The Daily Bible in Chronological Order by quoting from Peter’s second Epistle, where the Apostle was reminding Christians to be faithful and avoid complacency or waning to worldliness; and, in spite, of the affliction and confusion they were facing under the oppression of the Romans, Peter exhorted believers to be faithful and wait for the second coming of our Messiah, who had shown Himself as God by dying on the cross, being resurrected from the dead, and ascending into Heaven to become our intercessor until He comes again. [see 2nd Peter 3: 1 – 10 - linked here]
But in his readings for this date, Dr. Smith highlights the historical period of the transition between Old and New Testaments, … that period of about 400 years where there was relative silence and waiting for the Jewish Messiah to appear. And reading from other non-conical historical records or delving into the Apocryphal writings, we read that the Jews became very confused and somewhat cynical, very likely asking the question of why to hold faithful to God’s Law and expectation of a Messiah after four centuries of God’s relative silence.
And that type of “WHEN” question certainly could be raised by New Covenant Christians, … could it not? And we have a relative “silence” of two millennia to voice our question. We Christians await the Lord’s second coming; but the more orthodox and faithful Jews are still waiting for His first arrival. Wow! … That certainly does take faith, doesn’t it? But God, in His own timing, apparently desires that His people, the Jews, and we Gentiles grafted into His family, wait for Him patiently and faithfully; because He desires that many more come to Him in faith [see 2nd Peter 3: 9 from linked passage above].
FAITH is the operant concept here. God has always, as evidenced by the Old Testament I’ve been reading and studying this past year, desired for mankind to honor His Covenant with His people. And faith is evidenced by mankind, being ever faithful in waiting on Him to show His love for His children, especially in His coming among us as the Lamb of God. And now that we transition from the Old Covenant to the New, we, who are privy to the unfolding of history (“HIS story”) in the New Testament, are even called to a more patient waiting period than these 400 years where the covenant of Abraham and the prophesies of God’s called prophets were unfolding for God’s people to await the coming of their Messiah.
But now we Christians know – by history and evidence – that the Messiah was God’s Son, Jesus; and our New Testament is the “Gospel” record of His coming, His life, His death on a cross, His resurrection, and His ascension, having chosen Apostles and disciples to carry on His gospel message to the world as well as His charge to go forth in witness to His Name and His gospel truth (see Acts 1: 8 and Matt. 28: 19-20).
So, in the next months, until the end of this year, I will continue to expectantly read His New Covenant and to pray to grow in my faith to be patient and let God’s timing and His will dictate our Lord’s second coming.
When will it occur? >>> I don’t know. Will it occur? … ABSOLUTELY !!!
My Prayer for Today: Lord, please come soon. We need the fulfillment of Your promises. Help me to be faithful as I wait on You. Amen
Showing posts with label God's timing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's timing. Show all posts
Friday, October 15, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
2010 – July 29 – Beyond the Point of No Return
Study from God’s Word… Jeremiah, Chapters 10 - 12 … Passage for Reflection: Jeremiah 11: 14 … NIV Don not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when the call to me in the time of their distress.
My Journal for Today: Today’s highlight verse is a hard passage from God’s word to receive. Is there really a time when it’s too late for God to hear us; and apparently the answer is, “Yes.” As Dr. Smith points out by analogy in his devotional for today, when a parent is dealing with a recalcitrant child, there comes a time when the hand of the father is on its way to the butt of his disobedient child when no amount of last second pleading will stop that hand of loving correction.
For ancient Israel and Judah, in the times of Jeremiah, God’s people had once again turned away from God. God had to put up with years and years of repeated idolatry and whorish living from His chosen ones; and here they were again disregarding the Covenant God had made with their ancestors (and with them). And we read, in today’s Bible reading from the book of Jeremiah that God had “pulled the trigger” on their punishment; and no amount of last minute pleading was going to help. God had turned them over to a future captivity by the Babylonians; and any last minute pleas to Him were not going to stop them from learning that God was serious.
Just yesterday, I was with a group of serious Christians who gather once a month in a designated place to pray, in earnest, for our city and our land, both of which have gone the ways which can be documented in that fateful passage in Romans 1: 18 -32 [linked here for your review], which I’ve cited on a number of occasions this year. And when I review that passage, even when I’m with such like-minded and on-track Christians, praying diligently and desperately for God’s deliverance, I can’t help but think that we may be in that place when God is no longer in a listening mode; and we are about to experience our Lord lifting His hand of protection from the evils of this world to show all of mankind what it is to be without His Spirit protecting the world from the evils of the Devil and his minions.
My, oh my! That prospect is horrible to contemplate.
I’ve heard it preached and prophesied by men of God, like John MacArthur, that we may – in fact and in reality – may be in that place where the hand of the Father is already in motion and no amount of last minute pleading is going to stop our Lord from showing mankind that we cannot live without Him and we cannot be the correction which is needed to save us from ourselves.
Now that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be giving up on my pleas or my prayers, or stop gathering with others to cry out for God’s mercy. I will do that; but I’ll do it because I have hope in the scenario that God has already played out in the Person and finished work of His Son, Christ, The Messiah. And I have hope in what my God has promised will take place when The Bridegroom comes for His Bride, the Church. And finally, I believe that we, who are that remnant of believers in a perverse generation, will be protected – somehow – from the hand of God, … even if that hand will come upon our land with the lifting of protection, allowing Satan to bring his evil upon our world.
Oh, how I will continue to plead …
My Prayer for Today: Oh, Lord, have mercy on us! Protect us. Guide us with Your light out of the darkness. Help us to walk through the valley of the shadow of death into Your loving arms. Amen
My Journal for Today: Today’s highlight verse is a hard passage from God’s word to receive. Is there really a time when it’s too late for God to hear us; and apparently the answer is, “Yes.” As Dr. Smith points out by analogy in his devotional for today, when a parent is dealing with a recalcitrant child, there comes a time when the hand of the father is on its way to the butt of his disobedient child when no amount of last second pleading will stop that hand of loving correction.
For ancient Israel and Judah, in the times of Jeremiah, God’s people had once again turned away from God. God had to put up with years and years of repeated idolatry and whorish living from His chosen ones; and here they were again disregarding the Covenant God had made with their ancestors (and with them). And we read, in today’s Bible reading from the book of Jeremiah that God had “pulled the trigger” on their punishment; and no amount of last minute pleading was going to help. God had turned them over to a future captivity by the Babylonians; and any last minute pleas to Him were not going to stop them from learning that God was serious.
Just yesterday, I was with a group of serious Christians who gather once a month in a designated place to pray, in earnest, for our city and our land, both of which have gone the ways which can be documented in that fateful passage in Romans 1: 18 -32 [linked here for your review], which I’ve cited on a number of occasions this year. And when I review that passage, even when I’m with such like-minded and on-track Christians, praying diligently and desperately for God’s deliverance, I can’t help but think that we may be in that place when God is no longer in a listening mode; and we are about to experience our Lord lifting His hand of protection from the evils of this world to show all of mankind what it is to be without His Spirit protecting the world from the evils of the Devil and his minions.
My, oh my! That prospect is horrible to contemplate.
I’ve heard it preached and prophesied by men of God, like John MacArthur, that we may – in fact and in reality – may be in that place where the hand of the Father is already in motion and no amount of last minute pleading is going to stop our Lord from showing mankind that we cannot live without Him and we cannot be the correction which is needed to save us from ourselves.
Now that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be giving up on my pleas or my prayers, or stop gathering with others to cry out for God’s mercy. I will do that; but I’ll do it because I have hope in the scenario that God has already played out in the Person and finished work of His Son, Christ, The Messiah. And I have hope in what my God has promised will take place when The Bridegroom comes for His Bride, the Church. And finally, I believe that we, who are that remnant of believers in a perverse generation, will be protected – somehow – from the hand of God, … even if that hand will come upon our land with the lifting of protection, allowing Satan to bring his evil upon our world.
Oh, how I will continue to plead …
My Prayer for Today: Oh, Lord, have mercy on us! Protect us. Guide us with Your light out of the darkness. Help us to walk through the valley of the shadow of death into Your loving arms. Amen
Monday, November 02, 2009
2009 – Day 305.Nov 02 – Ministering Together
2nd Passage for Study: Acts 11: 19 – 26 … Linked for your study …
My Journal for Today: Same passage again today. Yes, I know; but today, though related to yesterday’s message on “The Power of Two,” Swindoll presents some essentials about doing ministry together which make God’s work so much more effective. And these points are illustrated by the historical story of Barnabas, who needed help in building the church in Antioch, going to get this new dude in Tarsus who was causing such a stir in the Christian community there. And we see the three principles which Swindoll proposes about doing ministry with teamwork being lived out in the tandem ministry of Paul and Barnabas. Let’s look at those three directives.
The first is WHATEVER GOD PLANS, HE PURSUES. It is wise for those in ministry to have a clearly defined mission statement; but even wiser is the reality that the mission statement must be God’s plan, not ours. Our designs on ministry may sound good in a corporate mission statement, but if God is not in that mission, it will only produce marginal results for God’s kingdom – only what WE can do with OUR OWN power. But when God is in the mission and the ministry, with Him providing the power, Godly things and Godly results are the outcomes. God, through Barnabas, went after Paul to build His church in Antioch. It’s was God’s plan; and he needed just the right pair of workers to get the job done; and that is related to point #2, which Swindoll wants to illustrate.
Secondly, WHOMEVER GOD CHOOSES, HE USES. And it is often the case that God uses the most unlikely people to do His work so that when His results are accomplished, God, the Father, will get far more glory than if a human “superstar” were the chosen vessel of purpose. Paul, the wild former Jew hater, was chosen by Barnabas (and God) to go to Antioch. Who would have thunk it?! But later Paul wrote about such a choice of ministry vessels by God, when he wrote in 1st Cor. 1: 26 – 27, For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.
Above we see God using God-led OBJECTIVES and God-chosen PEOPLE. And the final principle Swindoll brings out is all about God-directed PLACES. It will always be the case that WHEREVER GOD SELECTS, HE SENDS. God wanted Paul in Antioch; and He led Barnabas to get the former Saul from Tarsus to go, the two of them, to the place of God’s choosing. If we let God pick the places in His timing, ministry sparks will fly; and that’s exactly what happened in Antioch. Within a year of ministry with Paul working with Barnabas, the Church, which was labeled “Christianity” there, thrived and grew for God’s glory.
And I can really identify - personally - with these three principles Swindoll posits today. About ten years ago, God put a plan into motion which would have seemed quite ridiculous to the world. The objective was to take a recovered sex addict, yours truly, and reshape him into a church elder; and God went on to establish a ministry to restore Christians trapped in sexual sin so that these fallen believers could be productive and fruitful as Christian disciples. Up to that point, no church in America could be found to have such a ministry; but out of those unlikely circumstances, Battle Plan Ministries was birthed. And in ten years of ministry, scores of Christians have walked away from habitual sexual sin into fruitful lives as powerful warriors for Christ; and the ministry reaches out all over the world via the Internet. Who would have thunk it?!
I hope we all come to let God give purpose to our calling and to let Him choose the people and the places to exercise His plan. Because when we do, He will provide the power; and He will get the glory.
My Prayer for Today: Dear Lord, choose the time, choose the place, and send the people. And may You get all the glory You are due. Amen
My Journal for Today: Same passage again today. Yes, I know; but today, though related to yesterday’s message on “The Power of Two,” Swindoll presents some essentials about doing ministry together which make God’s work so much more effective. And these points are illustrated by the historical story of Barnabas, who needed help in building the church in Antioch, going to get this new dude in Tarsus who was causing such a stir in the Christian community there. And we see the three principles which Swindoll proposes about doing ministry with teamwork being lived out in the tandem ministry of Paul and Barnabas. Let’s look at those three directives.
The first is WHATEVER GOD PLANS, HE PURSUES. It is wise for those in ministry to have a clearly defined mission statement; but even wiser is the reality that the mission statement must be God’s plan, not ours. Our designs on ministry may sound good in a corporate mission statement, but if God is not in that mission, it will only produce marginal results for God’s kingdom – only what WE can do with OUR OWN power. But when God is in the mission and the ministry, with Him providing the power, Godly things and Godly results are the outcomes. God, through Barnabas, went after Paul to build His church in Antioch. It’s was God’s plan; and he needed just the right pair of workers to get the job done; and that is related to point #2, which Swindoll wants to illustrate.
Secondly, WHOMEVER GOD CHOOSES, HE USES. And it is often the case that God uses the most unlikely people to do His work so that when His results are accomplished, God, the Father, will get far more glory than if a human “superstar” were the chosen vessel of purpose. Paul, the wild former Jew hater, was chosen by Barnabas (and God) to go to Antioch. Who would have thunk it?! But later Paul wrote about such a choice of ministry vessels by God, when he wrote in 1st Cor. 1: 26 – 27, For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.
Above we see God using God-led OBJECTIVES and God-chosen PEOPLE. And the final principle Swindoll brings out is all about God-directed PLACES. It will always be the case that WHEREVER GOD SELECTS, HE SENDS. God wanted Paul in Antioch; and He led Barnabas to get the former Saul from Tarsus to go, the two of them, to the place of God’s choosing. If we let God pick the places in His timing, ministry sparks will fly; and that’s exactly what happened in Antioch. Within a year of ministry with Paul working with Barnabas, the Church, which was labeled “Christianity” there, thrived and grew for God’s glory.
And I can really identify - personally - with these three principles Swindoll posits today. About ten years ago, God put a plan into motion which would have seemed quite ridiculous to the world. The objective was to take a recovered sex addict, yours truly, and reshape him into a church elder; and God went on to establish a ministry to restore Christians trapped in sexual sin so that these fallen believers could be productive and fruitful as Christian disciples. Up to that point, no church in America could be found to have such a ministry; but out of those unlikely circumstances, Battle Plan Ministries was birthed. And in ten years of ministry, scores of Christians have walked away from habitual sexual sin into fruitful lives as powerful warriors for Christ; and the ministry reaches out all over the world via the Internet. Who would have thunk it?!
I hope we all come to let God give purpose to our calling and to let Him choose the people and the places to exercise His plan. Because when we do, He will provide the power; and He will get the glory.
My Prayer for Today: Dear Lord, choose the time, choose the place, and send the people. And may You get all the glory You are due. Amen
Monday, July 27, 2009
2009 – Day 207.July 27 – The Fog Is Lifting
Passage of the Day: Esther 7: 1 – 2 … 1 So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther. 2 And on the second day, at the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!”
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll closes out this devotional entry by quoting Solomon from Eccl. 3: 1, 7, which states, “There is a time for every event under heaven … a time to be silent and a time to speak.” And Esther had the discernment to know when to do both. On two previous occasions our heroine had the opportunity to blow away Haman’s scheme to get rid of the Jews; but she kept silent. And now all of a sudden, when her husband, the King, asks her a third time for her regal request, she recognizes that the fog has lifted and the time, God’s time, is right for revelation of Haman’s evil plan. It’s the time God raised the child of the Covenant to be the savior of her people – the time for Esther to shine God’s light for His glory.
In this world in which we live, so often it’s like we’re boating around in a small craft which has been enveloped in a dense fog. It’s so hard to hear where to go because there’s so much noise coming at us through the soupy saturation of information in our culture. It’s hard to see which direction to go because there are so many battle fields which call to us for attention. We’re blinded by all the evil strongholds the enemy has setting up, walling us off from the truth. But then it’s like the fog lifts for a time – in God’s timing – and we discern what must be done and that we have been called to take action for our Lord. And God hands the torch to us; and we must shine His light.
Yes, my friend, at times it’s hard to know when to wait and when to act; but first we must know there will be a time and a place to make a choice for Godly truth; and there will be a time to shine God’s light and dispel the darkness which surrounds us. We know from Christ’s own command (in Matt. 5: 16) that God desires for us to shine His light in the darkness for all to see Him working through us so that He will be glorified. So, it is our responsibility to wait for His time to lift the fog so that we can see where to go and what to do. And when the fog lifts, it will be our time to carry His light into an ever darkening world.
Get ready, our (your) time will come!
My Prayer for Today: Oh, Lord, we wait for You to lift the fog and show us our calling and to give us Your enabling grace. Amen
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll closes out this devotional entry by quoting Solomon from Eccl. 3: 1, 7, which states, “There is a time for every event under heaven … a time to be silent and a time to speak.” And Esther had the discernment to know when to do both. On two previous occasions our heroine had the opportunity to blow away Haman’s scheme to get rid of the Jews; but she kept silent. And now all of a sudden, when her husband, the King, asks her a third time for her regal request, she recognizes that the fog has lifted and the time, God’s time, is right for revelation of Haman’s evil plan. It’s the time God raised the child of the Covenant to be the savior of her people – the time for Esther to shine God’s light for His glory.
In this world in which we live, so often it’s like we’re boating around in a small craft which has been enveloped in a dense fog. It’s so hard to hear where to go because there’s so much noise coming at us through the soupy saturation of information in our culture. It’s hard to see which direction to go because there are so many battle fields which call to us for attention. We’re blinded by all the evil strongholds the enemy has setting up, walling us off from the truth. But then it’s like the fog lifts for a time – in God’s timing – and we discern what must be done and that we have been called to take action for our Lord. And God hands the torch to us; and we must shine His light.
Yes, my friend, at times it’s hard to know when to wait and when to act; but first we must know there will be a time and a place to make a choice for Godly truth; and there will be a time to shine God’s light and dispel the darkness which surrounds us. We know from Christ’s own command (in Matt. 5: 16) that God desires for us to shine His light in the darkness for all to see Him working through us so that He will be glorified. So, it is our responsibility to wait for His time to lift the fog so that we can see where to go and what to do. And when the fog lifts, it will be our time to carry His light into an ever darkening world.
Get ready, our (your) time will come!
My Prayer for Today: Oh, Lord, we wait for You to lift the fog and show us our calling and to give us Your enabling grace. Amen
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