HIS TIMER

I gathered all the ingredients and began to place them in the bowl.  I mixed and mixed, then poured into the two rectangular pans.  My oven was ready and waiting for the German chocolate cake.  I never set a timer, but with all the other cooking I was involved in, I decided today would be a great day to start using it.  I set the timer for 35 minutes and got back to work on my other dishes.  As the timer went off, I opened the oven to find two perfect cakes.  Why don’t I use the timer all the time?

We all have a timer.  When we begin growing in our mother’s wombs the timer is set.  We are then born and we begin to live out our earthly journey.  We experience situations that are placed within our path.  Some of these things bring us joy and some bring us sadness. 

Sometimes on our journey things happen and we question.  We want to understand the how and why of things that happen.  We want to know what time, where to go, how to get there, and what will happen when we do get there.  When we know, or when we think we know, we feel more secure. 

We want some things to go fast and some things to go slow.  We wish time away when things are difficult, but it is His time.  It is within His time that enables us not to miss what He wants us to understand. 

Everyone has a timer and we don’t know when that timer will go off.  One thing we do know is that when it does ding, if we have accepted God as our lord and savior, we will be at rest with Him in our eternal home. 

God’s timer is so much different than our timer.  He has complete authority over time and we need to trust in that. 

One day our timer will go off and we will be “done” to HIs perfection!

Ecclesiastes 3:1New International Version (NIV)

A Time for Everything

3 

There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

UNWRAP THE GIFT IN YOU

Yep I got one of those lectures from my husband.  One of those talks that towards the end of the 20 minutes I wish I wouldn’t have asked his opinion.  Yes he is smarter than me!  He knows money, he knows management and he knows business.  He is an expertise at agriculture and all the in’s and out’s of the farming world. 

Did I say he was smarter than me?  Yes I did, but I need to finish that.  He is smarter than me in all the areas I listed above, but he isn’t smarter than me when it comes to teaching, writing, speaking and knowing how to write the perfect speech that will reach all the personality types that are sitting in the room.  

So is he smarter than me?  Yes in some areas he is, but not in all.  My husband has been blessed with certain gifts and so have I.

We are all gifted.  We each have something inside of us that no one else has.  The Lord created each of us uniquely.  In Dr. Carolyn Leaf’s book “The Gift in You,” she states several things about our gifts that jumped off the page at me.

·      You have a divinely pre-wired gift- a gift God has placed within you- and in that gift you have everything you need to achieve your unique and marvelous purpose.

·      Many people never uncover their gifts and use them

·      You can only be you and who you are at the core will leak out, no matter how much you suppress it. 

·      The true you is meant to glorify, to love, to reach beyond yourself, but you cannot grow into the fullest expression of God’s creation if you live in doubt or unrest. 

·      Success is living out God’s purpose for your life- using the gift He has given

You are prewired with a specific gift that no one can take away from you.  God places your gift inside of you and it conjures and grows.  It may take days, months or years to develop, but your special gift will finally float to the surface.  When it is time for your gift to be uncovered you will know it.  The Lord will place you in the right environment with the correct people to bring your gift to life.   

You are smart.  You are smart in the area where you are gifted.  Ask God to unwrap your special gift, so you can live and grow in it to the greatest potential. 

Being a genius is in all of us when we use our special gifts that God has given us.   

Romans 12:6-8New International Version (NIV)

6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a] faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

The Gift in You- Dr. Caroline Leaf

CONNECTED

They were all gathered in the sanctuary all 106 students, parents, host homes and leaders.  Those that participated had on matching red shirts that on the back read a scripture from John.    You could feel the spiritual high that was in the room from the weekend.  House party convenes once a year in our small town.  This one weekend brings many kids to Jesus.  After the weekend is over we all pray that it isn’t just something that will only last a few days, but a lifetime. 

The vine, how do we stay connected to it?  The best way is to check in with God everyday.  Begin your day with His truth.  His truth is located within His word.  Within the pages of the Bible you can find any and everything you need.  When we read, this book of wisdom, we will find directions on how to live a life with Christ. 

John 15 tells us that He is the vine and we are His branches.  We are to stay connected to Him.  If we detach ourselves we will wither and do nothing.  When we are connected to Him we will be more fruitful.  When we are attached to Him we can love and with this love we can do wonders.  When love is in our hearts we will find pure joy.  Joy within the midst of any situation and circumstance we are dealing with. 

One of my friend’s mothers has Alzheimer’s.  A news station interviewed her dad and recorded a news segment on how he takes care of his wife everyday.  From putting on her lotion to her pearls he brings back the woman that he has known for many years.  Beauty remains within the walls of a dreaded disease.  This woman may not recognize or know her husband, but he still knows her.  Love at its finest is shown throughout this story.

God loves us just as this husband loves his wife.  Even though she doesn’t know him he recognizes her. 

When I look at all the students involved in the weekend I relate to them as the mother with alzheimers.  More than likely there will be a time in their life when they don’t know God or they push God away.  They may not recognize God.  But just like the husband God loves them anyway.  He is there for them.  God chooses them from the beginning whether they choose Him or not.  God just hopes that when and if these students disconnect from the vine those of us within His church will bring them back to Him. 

If you are having a difficult time with life and you are at a place where you don’t recognize God He still recognizes you.  He wants you to stay connected to the vine.  On another note if you are reading this and you know of someone that needs to be led back to the vine step out and grab them.  Bring them back to Him so that they can be fruitful.  It is our promise to God to make lifelong Christians.  Be the hands and feet of Christ, it is our job. 

John 15 New International Version (NIV)

The Vine and the Branches

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

OLD TO NEW

First5 app if you don’t have it please get it.  The everyday reading is awesome, but my favorite part is the weekend wrap-up.  The writers go back through the major moments of the scripture for the week. 

This week the weekend wrap-up revisited the building of the tabernacle in Exodus.  Below I have listed the parts of the tabernacle and what they foreshadowed.

·      Gate- Jesus

·      Brazen Altar- Cross (Sanctification)

·      Laver (Basin)- Cleansing (Jesus is the word in which washes us clean

·      Menorah (Lampstand)- Light (Jesus is the light of the world)

·      Bread- Strength (Jesus is the bread of life)

·      Altar of incense- Jesus is the great high priest, He intercedes for us

·      Veil- Barrier (when Jesus took His last breath the veil dropped

·      Ark- Covenant (we go to Christ for mercy and grace)

Each piece of the Tabernacle was of great importance.  As I listened intently the foreshadowing intrigued me, but it was when they stated that we must be in the Old Testament to understand the New Testament that I had an ahha moment. 

What was the ahha moment? 

I look at my life dissecting each piece of the old and I can now understand how they all fit together to make the new.  The old had to happen to make me the new creation that only Christ could develop.  He used every piece of my old self to make my new self-work for Him.  He filled the old with the Holy Spirit to create the new creation that shines the light He wants it to shine. 

If you are reading this today and you think that you can’t become new think again.  Just like the butterfly ventures through the miraculous stages of metamorphosis you can be miraculously created new.  If you think you are too far-gone, think again God can and does resurrect.  You may be harboring feelings of resentment or bitterness.  The devil may be working on you trying to terrorize you by distracting you, discouraging you or disabling you.  The devil may be leading you to look in the rearview mirror of your past and taunting you with past mistakes. 

DON’T GO THERE!  BECOME NEW!

Because of God, because of the tabernacle, because of Jesus salvation is given.  Grace and mercy reign over you.  You are Christ’s tabernacle.  Let His light shine through you.

Exodus 25-30 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+25-30