Preparing for Eternity

"Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”  -Ecc 3:11

Have you ever noticed how much time we spend planning for our education, planning for weddings, or planning for retirement?  And yet, we rarely think about planning or preparing for our eternal lives - and those will last forever! 

We have such a small amount of time on this earth compared with eternity.  We will spend eternity somewhere, but the question is, where, and also, how? 

If we’ve accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior the first question has been answered. However, there is a difference in how each of us will spend our lives in heaven.

The Bible says we will receive rewards in heaven based upon our works and faith during our time here on earth.  (1 Peter 1:17, Matt 24:46 ) This has a lot to do with fulfilling the calling God gave to us, (Luke 12:43, Luke 19:17) taking care of the people around us, taking care of the poor and orphans, (Mark 9:41) (and whether we do this for the applause of men, Matt 6:1), loving our enemies, (Luke 6:35) the persecution we have undergone because of our faith, (Matt 5:12) and living out His word.  (2 John 1:8)

“God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.” -Matthew 5:11-13

Some people think we are physical beings headed for a spiritual place.  But, the reality is, we are spiritual beings living temporarily in a physical place. Are you busy preparing for your reward in heaven? 

A God-Sized Assignment

"When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, 'The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.'" -Judges 6:12

Has God given you a dream or vision that is bigger than you?  All of the major characters in the Bible had a vision that was bigger than them;  such is the case with God-sized assignments, and such was the case with the story of Gideon.

Gideon was far from being a mighty warrior when the angel of the Lord appeared to him, even though the angel said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior".  According to Gideon, he was from the weakest in Manasseh, and the least in his family.  When the angel of the Lord approaching Gideon, he was threshing wheat!

But still, God spoke to Gideon and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?"  (v. 14)

God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.  As such, He requires of us more than we could possibly accomplish in our own strength, putting us in a position that requires our complete faith and trust in Him.  Many times we may fill unqualified, weak, and completely unprepared.  But, the good thing is, God always sees our future potential, not the failures of our past.  He desires to work through us to accomplish His dreams on the earth.

Is God birthing a dream within you that is bigger than you?  Pray for His grace to accomplish that dream, and be open to the steps He might led you to to let that vision or dream come to pass.

Pulling Away from the Crowd

"After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone..."  Matthew 14:23
 
Life really does get crazy sometimes.  TV, radio, text messaging, phone calls, Twitter, Facebook, the Internet - there is so much to keep up with in our post-modern society!

But, every now and again, we need to have time to be "away from the crowd."

Jesus had just finished feeding the crowd of five thousand with just five loaves and two fish. After everybody was fed, Jesus insisted that His disciples get into the boat they were using for travel and head home as He sent away the multitude of five thousand.  It was then that He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray.

It is interesting to note, that, after Jesus' solitary time on the mountain praying, He performed a miracle in which the disciples really recognized that He was the Son of God.  Then the disciples worshiped him. "You really are the Son of God!" they exclaimed. (v. 33)

It is so essential that we take time aside to spend quiet time to pray and be with our God.   This "inner court" time fuels us for the "outer court" ministry where people can discover that Jesus really is the author of our faith, and He can be the Lord and Savior of their lives.

Have you pulled away from the crowd lately? Set some time aside to be with Him.  Our time with God is the biggest weapon we have against the kingdom of darkness in this day and age.

A Lesson in Chores

Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. -2 Corinthians 12:9

"I'd like for you to load the dishes in this way. This is how the instruction manual says to do it!"

"Oh my gosh, do I seriously have to put the dishes in the dishwasher that way?" I thought. My 19 year old self was fighting what appeared to be pointless detail for something that really was not all that important, in my opinion: dishwasher loading. 

"If you put them in this way, you can fit more in!" said my stepmom. "Ok," I said, keeping a cheerful attitude. After all, they were letting me stay with them until I got back on my feet: I needed to be agreeable! 

A few weeks later I was asked if I could clean the house. "Ok," I said. However, upon careful inspection of my work, it was revealed that I missed a few spots. "Could you go back over this and this?" said my stepmom "Argh," I thought. "This is ridiculous. This attention to detail is really starting to get under my skin!"
 
Looking back I realize that God had a lesson for me in "the details." I am naturally not a very detailed person. But, during that time, God was putting a finger on my lack of detailedness, something He wanted to strengthen in me. I cannot tell you how much this has helped me in life! 

Has God allowed situations in your life to help you with your weaknesses? Let Him work through your weaknesses, so that His purposes can be fulfilled in your life.

Crazy for God

"Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful." -1 Corinthians 1:27

Have you ever felt God tell you to do something unusual? Have you ever heard God speak on something that would happen, but what was spoken has not yet materialized? This somewhat uncomfortable situation happened to many leaders in the Bible; such as Joseph, Abraham, Noah, Joshua, Gideon, and Jesus.

Abraham and Sarah were promised a son- but were very old. Sarah was so old, she even laughed at the idea! (Genesis 18:12) Joseph was thrown into a pit after his dream, long before his dream would ever come to fruition. Joshua walked around Jerico 7 times...I'm sure the sixth time his men wondered what in the world was wrong with him, and Jesus couldn't do miracles in His hometown because there wasn't any faith. (Mark 6:1-6) Gideon had an identity crisis. "How can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest, and I am the least!" (Judges 6:15) And when Noah was instructed to build an ark because "a storm was coming that would wipe out the entire earth" (Gen 6:13) we can only imagine what his neighbors must've thought.

Often times there is a big chasm between our reality and the things we are believing God for, but it doesn't mean we should waiver in our belief that it can and will happen. The reality is, if we cling to God, the dreams and the purpose He's given us will materialize, just as they did for Abraham, Joseph, Joshua, Noah, Gideon and Jesus.

Is there a big chasm between your reality and what you're believing God for? Keep believing for His promises to come true. God can work when we work out of obedience and believe.

A Balance of Grace vs. Works

"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it." -Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT 

We live in a very performance-based world. Performance can equate to more success, which equates to more money. And although we should be diligent and hard working, is our success or lack thereof all because of us? 

Sometimes we think we can earn our salvation because of our efforts. But the reality is, we received grace - and that's it! We do things Christ would want us to do out of our love for Him - out of our revelation of Him - so that others might experience the same abundant life. We receive our inheritance in heaven this way. "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." John 10:10 But we've already received His grace. 

It is so easy to come from a place of performance, instead of coming from a place of grace (what we have already received.) Did you know all you received when you chose to believe that Jesus died for your sins? We can so easily think that our success is our doing. Yes we did the "working hard" part - but without God, our efforts would have been fruitless! 

Do you have a good balance in your life between fruit and grace? If we don't, we can become religious or workaholics on the one hand, or if we lean upon grace, we can become lazy, lacking excellence. Do you carry a careful balance between effort and surrender?

The Gold Seam

But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. "Go, stand in the temple courts," He said, "and tell the people all about this new life." (Acts 5:19, 20 NIV)

There are places where we walk that we know are God-ordained. For me, whenever I see a rainbow I know God is highlighting my path, and I am walking in the right direction. You might call this "the gold seam."

Though life takes us on many journeys and along many different roads- there should be one commonality for the life of the Christian: the gold seam. Divine appointments, favor, whatever you want to call it, we need to be able to wake up and invite Gods purposes into our day. We need to ask Him, "God, where do you want me to go today?" or "God, who could I encourage today?" This simple act brings so much purpose into our lives.

We don't find the gold seam just by living our lives or by choosing Christ and then becoming dormant - we intentionally choose to be open to it every single day.

Are you looking for God's gold seam in your life today?