Jesus loves me, this I know. This category is about Jesus, the Living Word, my prayers to Him, my worship of Him, His relentless pursuit of my heart and His invitation to me to come to Him in Sabbath, my Savior, my Rest.
This is a promise that reminds us to put one foot in front of the other. It tells us that our present sorrow, the distress we are smack dab in the middle of – is not the end, but is the time to sow.
Sometimes, when all seems hopeless, we do the right thing – that thing we should/must do – and we may cry right through it. Then we do the right thing again and we cry. And maybe our tears are for things we have lost, for situations that seem hopeless, for the efforts we’ve made that seem utterly futile. But there are things you do because they are the right thing. And it is the time to do them.
Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked. You will reap what you sow. Galatians 6.7
You pray and you sow and you use lots of tissue.
Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. 1 Peter 5.6
In due time.
And when the time is right (when it is “due”), you not only reap a harvest, you reap an arms-full harvest of rejoicing, of over-the-top-songs-of-joy and rejoicing! This is the promise of a God who is watchful. And He keeps His promises.
THE question for 2013, for me (probably you, too), right now: Not “what time is it?” But “What is it time for?”
“There is a time for everything and season for every activity under the heavens…” Ecclesiastes 3.1 NIV
Edwin McCain’s voice used to stream through the musak-system of a party store I managed, the volume too low to actually hear for understanding, but loud enough we’d all to try to hum-mumble along.
The song isn’t in my top 100 or one that I even even ever thought of in forever. But after I watched the video below (one I have liked for several years and just came across again again today), I found myself hearing his far-away voice and singing along:
And these are the moments,
I thank God that I’m alive.
And these are the moments,
I’ll remember all my life.
I’ve found all I’ve Waited for,
And I could not ask for more.
And weren’t Mary and I just discussing these things this very morning at Starbucks?
http://www.theyearsareshort.com/
In the ancient Greek language, there are 2 distinct words that mean “time.”
One is chronos, referring to chronological or sequential time. See a clock. See a Dayplanner. Think about making lists and hurrying to get them done “in time.” Chronos asks the question, often frantically throughout my life, I fear, “What time is it? What time is it?” Wasn’t the rabbit in Alice-in-Wonderland having a chronos meltdown? I’m late, I’m late for a very important date.
But kairos – it is different. It seems to refer to the “supreme” or most “opportune moment.” It speaks of an indeterminate amount of time in which something very special happens and is the word used in Mark 1.15:
The [appointed period of] time is fulfilled (completed), and the kingdom of God is at hand (Amp),
fully defining kairos to mean the appointed time in the purpose of God.
The appointed time!
Kairos asks this question: what is this time for? What is this time meant to capture/accomplish? What purpose does this time serve? What are the moments this timeis about?
Standing at the entry of this New Year with a whole houseful of rooms to explore and doors to open, the question, with complete disregard for the clock on the wall, is:
What is it time for?
This year, my life, my relationships, my work, my plans, my hopes, my dreams, my God-defined purpose…what is it time for?
Keep asking yourself that and you will be spot-on living the life you were meant to live every day of this year and beyond. Answer this question and you won’t be rushing willy-nilly towards the future, but living each rich day with gusto in the now.
For my sweet protege, Mary, it is her time for being an amazing wife and creative, loving mommy and leading young women to finding their worth in Christ. She is in her sweet spot doing these things.
“God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son…whoever believes may have everlasting life!” (John 3:16).
That “greatest fact” is worth receiving as a reminder that Christmas’ celebration never need be argued against because “it costs so much.” Decorating and celebrating—giving and receiving gifts at this season—are not unworthy practices (as though “spending” at Christmas was merely “commercial”).
It’s not so, loved one. Never let yourself become snared in that cynical trap! Christmas has always been costly—from the very beginning, in fact. It cost Heaven everything!
Bethlehem‘s barnyard cradle wasn’t the only sacrifice. It was simply the original packaging for the treasure that Heaven’s heart was giving us. The Cross was the real price of Christmas, for it was wrapped in the Gift from the start—a Gift that was marvelously and mysteriously provided for and pre-paid from before all time! (1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8).
So it was, the Christmas Child came to us. And in light of appropriately evaluating that costly gift, everything in me wants to answer a call I hear the Spirit whispering this season. He’s summoning me—can you hear Him too? He’s calling us to “spend big” this season—to do so in a dynamic and holy way…in the light of Heaven’s gift of the Child.
Join me in “spending” whatever needs to be “laid out or laid down” for God to find in me another “child of Christmas.” I want the willingness of His only begotten Son—a willing readiness to go, to love, to serve, to give, and to care for human need and brokenness—to be replicated in me. –Jack Hayford
Until we decide, as a nation, to value life, really place a value on all God-given life – all the rhetoric and legislation in the world will not stop the murderous rage and rampages against innocent people. What does this look like – this giving value to life? And are we willing to pay the price? Because there will be one. Do I have enough love to give that kind of value, make the right choices?
I have no answers. I have arguments. But they have obviously been futile. God, help us.
He is our life
I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them. Deuteronomy 30 NKJV
RT@RickWarrenLord, may I love you SO much it becomes impossible for me to not love everyone else. (See 1John 4:20)
“Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
But…Could she even have imagined, when the angel came to tell her she’d been chosen by God, that her heart would, could ever hurt this badly? Could she have comprehended when she obeyed and received the invitation of God Almighty that it would not exempt her from agony in raising this son to watch him die for the sins of the world? Did she realize that the honor of carrying the Light-seed of God, His very Glory, could also bring anguish and despair, could break her heart into a million pieces, too?
How can this be?
“How can this be?” she had asked the Angel, Gabriel, when he’d announced to her that she, though a virgin, would conceive and bring forth a Son. It must have been awe-inspiring, mystical, with trepidations – a decision had to be made.
Later, I wonder, as she watched Him arrested and beaten and hanging on a cross, was she asking that same question again? How can this be, my sinless Son?
Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”
Did it feel like favor when all seemed lost?
My low-church Protestant background eschewed anything that could remotely be considered “Mary worship” and we have missed the beauty of this admirable woman.
Last Christmas, I had a renewed regard of Mary and what she represents for us. She was a girl who was called by God and she struggled to understand and comprehend – and was troubled by it, perhaps sensing it could hurt her and would be beyond overwhelming. But she said yes. She said yes to the gift and blessing of God in her life, yes to whatever will be, yes to the joy of His birth and the mystery of His life and the agony of His death before her very eyes.
Image I put together last Christmas as I pondered Mary’s obedience. She said YES!
Mary, did you know? And if you had foresight, would you, for the Glory, do it all agin? Yes, I think she would.
I don’t worship her, I am not praying to her, but I am of the generations who call her blessed (Luke 1.48), and I wholeheartedly do. She was humble, she was obedient, she said yes to God.
Dave’s second novel, in proof-form (while he is diligently at work on the sequel to Altar) arrived by special messenger today:
11 days until Christmas. Dave got his first gift. :)
It is a moment we have been waiting for and a moment to rejoice and celebrate. But the school shooting in Connecticut makes it more difficult, realizing the hurt being felt by so many.
God help us. For a world living in darkness, may we BE the Light of Jesus. I hear the anguished words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow” in my heart today. He wrote them shortly after his beloved wife had died in an accidental fire and he had just received word that his firstborn son had been severely wounded during the Civil War. I believe we are all feeling what he must have as he penned the words:
“And in despair I bowed my head, ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said. For hate is strong and mocks the song of Peace on earth, goodwill to men”
But I am telling you – Peace on earth, goodwill to men – is THE central message of Christmas. It is THE declaration of the angels in the heavenlies, and it IS what God the Father wants to the people of this whole earth to KNOW
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” Luke 2
Christ IS in Christmas, right this minute like He always has been and like never before. Family of God – He is Emmanual, Christ in us and with us. May He work through us to declare the heavenly blessing to a hurting world. I am so sad that it takes a mammoth tragedy for us to understand just how much hurt and hopelessness is in the earth. But WE have the Eternal to offer. It is all around us. Let us be like Him. Let us give Him glory.
Jesus, You are the Light of the world. Your birth brought hope. Your death and resurrection gave us Life. We choose life today. We choose to act like You, talk like You, walk like You and represent You to a lost and dying world. We will declare Your words, and Your will to a broken, hurting people, in Your blessed and holy Name.
Remember that song from the 1980s Hosanna! Integrity’s music???
Oh, I loved singing it. And I just found myself singing it a few minutes ago as I am glittering up 3 sets of angel wings for a certain Nativity photo shoot this Saturday. There are sparkles everywhere!
I hear angels singing praises,
I see men from every nation
bowing down before the throne
Like the sound of many waters,
like a rushing wind around us
Multitudes join the song
And a symphony of praise arises
Tears are washed away from eyes
as men from every tongue and tribe all sing
Holy, holy, God almighty
Who Was, who IS and Is to come
All the angels are crying holy to the Lamb who sits upon the throne.
I think I love this song so much because I was 4 when I first {heard} the songs of Heaven and {saw} the multitudes in the Spirit. And sometimes I still do. Call me crazy, but as soon as my breath returns when I hear it (awe-awe-awe), I sing along.
My friend Casree looked up the 12th book of the Bible (2 Kings), the 12 chapter and 12th verse and found that it was about the repair and restoration to the temple. So she pronounced a blessing of restoration. I like that!
2 Kings 12.12. NLT
the masons, and the stonecutters. They also used the money to buy the timber and the finished stone needed for repairing the Lord’s Temple, and they paid any other expenses related to the Temple’s restoration.
Restoration means the repair of something once whole. Restoration is costly. But it is possible, too and worth the cost.
“For a woman giving birth, that moment when bebe passes, bloody and gasping, from the hiding place (where God has been knitting the child together) into air and bright light – is not that moment one of great triumph, the very glory of God revealed, somehow perhaps even symbolizing death passing to life? Glorious!” –From a blog I wrote awhile back, {see it here} about giving God the HIGHEST praise, the honor and glory that is His.
Thought about it in relation to Mary, giving birth to Glory…
