Run with endurance~

July 17, 2013

:-) "Experience the unconditional love of God". :-) I love that phrase.  Synonyms for experience are: encounter, know, endure, suffer...  Walking a life of faith is going to present us with opportunities for each of these; opportunities to encounter (to meet with), opportunities to know (to be acquainted with; to understand), opportunities to endure (to continue to exist), and opportunities to suffer (to undergo, or feel pain or distress); all so that we can become more like Christ. I love that one day we shall be like Him, and we shall see Him as He is... and we shall be LIKE Him!. “ Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).  We will endure hardships, see pain, feel pain, be completely confused as to what is going on and why things happen, but we must keep pressing on in the faith.  Life is dismal without Christ.  “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12: 1-2).  Lord, I am guilty of not trusting You at times, please forgive me and help me to press on in You.  I desire to live for you, to honor and glorify You with my life. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Turning back the hands of time~

July 3, 2013

Turning back the hands of time~

I find myself often desiring to turn back the clock so that bad things that happened did not.  And in this, it causes me to think.  If I were able to turn back time, and those bad things didn’t happen, there would also be much good that would be undone.  Many prayers unsaid, many hearts untouched, many lives unchanged… many things that are not worth turning the hands of time back.  For everything that happens has purpose. “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:” (Eccleasiastes 3:1).  God has plans beyond our comprehension.  His plans are good, and while there is pain, injury, and confusion, His plans are not of evil.  (Jeremiah 29:11)  I love the Word of God that provides us with many answers, much encouragement, and humbles us at His feet.  He is sovereign, there is nothing that happens that comes as a surprise to Him, no accident that He didn’t know was going to happen.  Before we were even “substance” in our mother’s wombs, He had written, and fashioned all of our days. (Psalm 139:16)  As hard as it is to see people you love suffering, and hurting and think that there is something that you could have done or not done to prevent it, “it is what it is”.  That little phrase bothered me when someone used it in reference to one of those bad things that happened, but I may see it a little different now, because it truly “is what it is”.  Thankfully God is who He is. (Exodus 3:14) Thankfully His ways are not our ways. (Isaiah 55:8)  Thankfully His will will be done.  Thankful that God uses our lives for His glory.  “I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever.  Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it.  God does it, that men should fear before Him.  That which has already been, And what is to be has already been; And God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3: 14-15).  “Nothing CAN be added, nothing CAN be taken from it…” Because God is God!  Imagine with me if Jesus’ friends could turn back the hands of time. They would have turned it back so that Jesus would not have had to suffer and die.  He would not have been betrayed.  He would not have been beaten badly.  He would not have been the atonement that we so desperately needed.  Now that would not have been good for ANY of mankind.  We would all be destined for hell.  Thank You God, that I cannot alter the hands of time, and that I have an all sovereign God that has the very hairs of my head numbered. (Luke 12:7) I submit to You and long for more of You in my life. In Jesus' Name, Amen.