Includes...
Legendary basketball coach John Wooden used to tell his players... "Be quick, but don't hurry."
It is good to be quick but hurrying is a mental state that makes us out of control and often leads to mistakes.
When God created time and the gift of a day he wasn't being stingy.
He wasn't thinking how can I give these people barely enough time each day.
He was generous and gave us more than enough time each day.
But when we are in a hurried frantic state it steals time from us.
We all have 24 hours a day but we all experience those 24 hours differently and some of those hours can be stolen.
And being in a hurry is one of the biggest things that steals our time because we lose control and make mistakes that take longer to fix.
The other part of this is being quick... We should be quick to do the things we know to do.
In today's communion it's a time of thanksgiving for the gift of enough time and asking for God's help to be quick but not hurried. We are ...
This is a time of year when things are often in transition and shifting around, which makes it a pivotal decision time. All along our path with God there will be little forks in the road, where we get to decide whether to keep moving forward. When we choose to follow his lead during these pivotal times he will often give us an amazing confirmation after we take the step.
During these times it is important to slow down and seek God on which way to go. Some of these decisions will stretch our faith and take courage, which moves us to another level. During this season of the year points of contention seem to also arise with others. During these times it is important to handle these with generosity and grace, even if someone is wronging you. If you will choose to be generous and honor God at these forks in the road or points of contention, God has a pattern that he will immediately give you an amazing promise about something he has for you.
Consider the story of Ab...
Imagine going to God and trying to connect with him, but he says...Maybe later I am really busy right now.
Or as you are talking with him he is staring at his phone, working on a tablet, or distracted by something else.
In the gospels we see the example of the little children coming to Jesus while he was doing ministry. His disciples get angry because Jesus is too busy doing important things to spend time with the children. But, Jesus stops what he is doing and makes time to connect with the kids.
It seems that most everyone is too busy these days. The other day I made it a priority to slow down and connect with my kids. We had been in a very busy season of life and I was reminded of how important it is to simply be present and listen without distractions or being hurried. I had been too busy and not taking the time to really connect with them.
The reality is that being too busy is a mindset...much of it is in our minds. God made there to be more than enoug...
A couple of days ago I came across this verse in Psalm 114:7-8... Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, 8 who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.
When the Israelites came out of Egypt they needed water and Moses struck the rock and water came out.
Jesus was/is the rock and out of him came a pool and springs of living water.
This verse also reminded me of how the Old Testament said we used to have hearts of stone, but God has rolled them away and given us hearts of flesh. And now inside of us we have a pool and springs of living water.
In this living water is an unlimited inexhaustible supply of everything he has. His Spirit, power, love, grace, wisdom, kindness, greatness, peace, joy, health, energy, time, finances, and much more are all in this living water.
As we take communion today let it be a time of gratitude that because of the sacrifice of Jesus our old hearts were rolled awa...
Sometimes we don't exactly know what to pray or ask for. In these times we can appeal to God's "Hesed."
Hesed is a Hebrew word that is in the Old Testament hundreds of times. Hesed is hard to translate into English and most of the time it is translated as steadfast love, but it means so much more than this.
Here is some of what it means...
Fidelity or loyalty to a covenant with an eager or ardent desire for mercy, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, loyalty, compassion, love, grace, and unfailing love.
God is unwavering and steadfast in his commitment to His covenant in Christ. God is abounding with hesed. It is who he is.
In our covenant relationship with God he has bound or obligated himself to hesed for us.
When blind Bartimaeus was calling out to Jesus he was saying in Hebrew... Have hesed on me!
As we take communion today it is a time to appeal to God's hesed because of our covenent with him in Christ.
I am praying for you.
Daniel
P.S. As we go ...
The other day I came across Exodus 31:16-17 which says, The Israelites must keep the Sabbath, celebrating it as a permanent covenant for the generations to come. 17 It is a sign between Me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’”
This passage got me thinking... If God never gets tired, why was he refreshed?
Then a few days later I came across Philemon 1:20 where the apostle Paul says...I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.
The word refresh in the Exodus passage is the Hebrew word Naphash, which means to refresh with breath or with a current of air. This is the same word that is used when God breathed into Adam's nostrils.
Then Proverbs 11:24-26 came to mind,
One gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor. 25 A generous soul will prosper, and he who refresh...
In October our message was on writing out prayers and as we went through the month we discussed the idea of turning these prayers into love letters to God, that are written from the heart. During October I saw God miraculously answer much of what I had written out, but there were many times when I wanted a prayer answered within a certain deadline and in almost every case the prayers were answered after the deadline.
And almost every time when the deadline had already passed there was the temptation to quit and give up. Something I am learning is NOT to get defeated by time. Often we are believing for something to happen and when it doesn't happen in the timing we want there is the tendency to give up or get discouraged. This is simply getting defeated by time. Even if a deadline has already passed God can still do the impossible.
God has an appointed time for everything and the timing may not be for us to know. It is for God to decide when the perfect time is....
Isaiah 1:18-20 says, "Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land. 20 But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.”
While homeschooling my kids this year the thing I care most about is their willingness when it is school time. My number one rule is for them to do what they know to do and do it with a good attitude. If they need help with anything they can ask, but when their hearts are not willing to do the work for whatever reason it makes the day so much harder and shuts off real learning from taking place. When their hearts are willing it is so much more enjoyable for everyone and they learn and grow so much faster. Working with anyone who is unwilling is never very much fun.
A willing heart is one of the things God most wants from us. Go...
Today's communion is a time to meditate on Psalm 34, which has some amazing promises. David wrote this Psalm during a very trying time when he was on the run from Saul and was fleeing the country to escape. This Psalm has some of our 4 fundamentals in them.
Psalm 34
Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.
1 I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.
2 I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Magnify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
9 Fe...
Time is often the biggest source of pressure in our lives. Imagine you have a bill to pay or project to complete and it's due 5 years from now versus tomorrow. The difference in time creates much more pressure. To give someone extended time, is to give them grace. We even call it a grace period.
I believe God built time and change into the world because he loves us too much to let us stay the way we are right now. But, God gives us extended time to get things right. The other night I was reading in the gospels about the disciples asking Jesus when everything would be fulfilled in his kingdom. And Jesus told them, 'It's not for you to know the dates and times the Father has set."
This may be a silly question but why are we not supposed to know this? I think it is because God uses this principle of extended time, and if we knew the dates and times we would think they are too far out.
The gift of extended time is also something we can implement into our own live...
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