God's Timing

Regardless of how I would like to view myself sometimes, I am not a patient person.  One of my biggest pet peeves are long, and unnecessary lines.  They always seem to be the worst when you are in the biggest hurry as well.  For example, I walked into the local Wal-Mart last week to pick up two or three items.  (Yes, I made it in and out without anything extra)  It took me maybe four minutes total to find what I needed, and I thought to myself, this is going to be a quick trip.  Boy was I wrong.  Out of over 20 registers at the front of the store, only four were open and checking out customers.  FOUR!  The lines were long, and I waited almost half an hour before I got out of the store.  I am proud to say that I kept my cool, because I did realize that it was not the poor girl's fault who checked me out, and she did not deserve some of the comments that she was receiving about the lines.  But, it was still ridiculous.  Then, on the way home I pulled up to a red light, when it turned green five cars got through before it changed back to red.  And guess who was the first one to have to stop, THIS GUY.  I did not think it would ever turn green.  I especially got fed up when there was at least a full minute and a half when no traffic was coming through the green light!

I wonder sometimes if we have this same attitude towards God as we experience things in our lives.  It seems like we are always in a hurry to be in a relationship, to get that new job, or buy a new home.  And when it does not happen, we either try to force the issue or question God as to why.  Not only this, but we tend to demand answers of Him.

Psalm 46:10
"Cease striving and know that I am God;"

Some translations also use the phrase "Be still."  We can also look at a point of being patient.  We should not put so much in making things try to happen the way we want, and just be patient.  And what should we do while being patient.  Know that He is God.  Know that He knows what He is doing.  Trust in the fact that He is sovereign over all things.  Have faith in His will for your life.

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

We must seek His will in our lives, and trust that He knows exactly what to do in our best interest.  Through this, we draw closer to Him.  What do we do in the time being, we serve.  We stay faithful in the areas in which we currently find ourselves, and we work hard until He is ready to move us where He wants us to be.

Thanks for reading, and I pray that God will continue to bless you all!

Work in Progress

What a wild ride life has become.  Life is full of twists, turns, and curve balls that we must navigate through.  I can see where many people struggle through this life in the midst of all of these changes and challenges.  With all of the new developments in my life, this is the first opportunity that I have had to write again.  However, I have felt great encouragement these last few months in the direction God is taking me in life.

In this busy life, numerous things can cause us to lower our dependency on our Creator, and hence drive a wedge between us.  Sometimes we develop a sense of self reliance to where we try to make God fit into a neat little box that suits our own purpose.  On the other hand, we sometimes can doubt our own worth when faced with adversity.

Instead of looking at life through what we see, maybe we should look at ourselves as God sees us.  We are His creation, and we were created for His purpose.  No matter how low we are, He loves us.  I stumbled onto a video that I felt was an incredible depiction of how God sees us.  Are we perfect?  No...definitely not.  However, we are a work in progress.  We just have to allow God to finish His work in us.  Hope you enjoy.

Thanks for reading/watching, and may God bless you all!

Thoughts for the New Year

Is it just me or has 2012 flown by?  It seems to have come and gone in a whirlwind, and left many of us wondering at what all has happened over the past year.  Did we accomplish our goals that we set out to do?  Did we make a difference somehow in this world that we live?  Many times a lot of us make new resolutions for what we want to accomplish in the upcoming year.  Things that we hope will last more than a week, when in reality they don't.  Still, we have this hope for future things.  And as Christians, we sometimes find ourselves asking what can we do this year?  And, can we stick to it?  It all seems to focus around change.  Yet, there is always a fear of the unknown when change comes around.

Jeremiah 29:11-13
"For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."

This verse really rings true to any believer.  In whatever we plan to be different for this year, God already knows about it.  And as long as we are seeking His will in our lives as the driving force for the changes that we want to make, we have no reason to fear.  All of us were born with a purpose.  A purpose designed by God before the creation of the world.  He knows our beginning, our end, and everything in between.  And the plans are for our own good.  Contrary to what you may hear from some people, everything that happens in our lives is for our good.  God does not delight in bad things happening to us.  He has a future for us, and that should give us hope for what is to come.  And when we pray, He listens.  When we seek Him with all of our heart, we will find Him. 

So now that we have no reason to fear this new beginning, what now?  I have three things that I believe will help us as we look forward to 2013.

1.  Forget the Past  
 
Philippians 3:13-14
"Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Whatever has happened last year, be it good or bad, it is in the past.  We cannot go back and change what has happened in our lives.  Many people spend a lot of time dwelling on this.  A famous quote I hear a lot "If I knew then, what I know now" comes to mind.  That is a chapter in our lives that has come to a close.  We must leave it in the past and reach forward to the future and what God has prepared for us in it.  There are new challenges, new opportunities for service, and new blessings on the horizon.  In the end, there is a robe and a crown of life waiting on us.  That is what we are working toward.  We must live each day with the end in site.  Thinking of heaven makes every little thing that happens here seem not worth worrying about.

2.  Wait on the Lord

Isaiah 40:31
"Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary." 

We must understand that things will happen in God's timing and not our own.  His plan has been laid out in our lives, and nothing is going to change that.  We must take comfort in that, and let God lead.  Many times we tend to take matters into our own hands.  Because lets face it, none of us are very patient people in this day and time.  I know that I am not.  And when we do, we tend to make a mess of things.  But God has a time and place set aside for everything.  And His timing is perfect.

Ecclesiastes 3:11
"He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end." 

3.  Treat Each New Day as a Special Gift



Lamentations 3:22-24 
"The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.  “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” 

Each new day is just that, a new day.  And each new day is a gift from God.  His love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy, grace extend to us brand new each day.  He is always there for us.  So, we likewise, need to be there for Him each and every day.  How can we do this?  We need to talk to Him, seek Him, and search for ways to serve Him.  We should be in a constant state of prayer.  Yes, He already knows what is on our hearts.  But, it is still important for us to pray.  Because our faith is based on a relationship.  And you cannot have a good relationship when one party is not communicating.  We seek His will in our lives by reading and studying our bibles.  The scripture is a written account of how He wants us to live.  If we try to model our lives based on these scriptures, we find ourselves drawing closer to His will in our lives.  Lastly, we need to serve.  Our main commandment is to witness to the lost.  This is not only done by the conversations that we have with others, but in the way that we live.  Our actions show who we truly are.  They are our biggest witness to this world.  We need to share the good news of His birth, and His death for all of our sins.

Perhaps you may be reading this today, and have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  If not, all of the hope that is mentioned above is not in your life.  For without Christ we have no hope.  I urge you to seek Him.  He can take anything that you are going through right now, and turn it around.  He can take your life and give you hope.

2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."  

He is the only one that can do this for you.  If you are seeking, I encourage you to click the tab at the top of this page for the Plan of Salvation.  Read through this, as it explains the need that we have for Christ.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this devotion, and I hope that it helps with the hope of this new year.  I pray God will bless you all in 2013!