Timing

“Gods Perfect Timing” – R. Nelson

BIBLE MEDITATION: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” Jeremiah 29:11-12

ENCOURAGING WORD:

Amid hardships, we tend to feel our prayers to God are not being heard because we may not see an immediate change in our situations. This is a misconception of how our relationship with God should be. We are to put our all our trust into God’s hands, after all, “God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”1 John 3:20.And just because we do not see an immediate change does not mean God never hears us, because He assures us that He does!

I am sure that every one of us at one time or another has asked God for something in prayer and in most cases, it is something that we want now! We live in a “now world” where everything must be done right away! We have all heard the saying, “patience is a virtue” which is to say, “a good and moral quality.” The problem with most of us is that we do not have patience. I know personally that I have been tested time and time again by The Holy Spirit regarding patience, and still today, I fail miserably. I can also tell you that patience is something that you might be careful to pray for, you may get your answer right away! Because, the only way to learn patience is to be put in a situation where you must be patient. It can be a hard lesson to learn…I know this firsthand! We read in Lamentations 3:25-27; “The Lord is good to everyone who trusts in him, so it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us, and it is best to learn this patience in our youth.” If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you can rest assured that everything that happens in your life is Father filtered and working out for the good as we read in Romans 8:28; “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Then when we come to understand this, we can also be sure that what we pray for will happen at the perfect time according to Gods will for our life.

Here is an example of what I am saying and I’m sure this has happened too many of us. We need to go back in time when we were young children. Let’s say it is a cold December night with two feet of snow on the ground. Your father comes home from work with a brand-new pair of roller blades that can only be used during the outdoor months of summer. Wow, you get excited for a moment and then you realize that you cannot use them for about three to four months. The excitement of the moment will most likely wear off quickly. Now let’s say that instead of receiving this gift in the middle of the winter, your father brings this same gift home to you in June when the weather is absolutely prefect for this kind of gift. Now you can take it and go outside and use your gift right away. When does it seem to be most appropriate to receive this gift? This may be a somewhat strange way of putting it, but you should get my point. This is exactly how God works, He has every intention of giving us what we need and in many cases what we want, but it will be at the perfect moment when it means the most to us and when it will glorify Him at the same time. I could share so many times in my life when I prayed for something and did not hear from God for quite a while, and then out of nowhere, my prayer had been answered at the perfect time, any sooner or any later it would not have had the same impact.

We read in Psalm 37:7-9; “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.” This is the perfect verse where we all scratch our heads and say, why do evil people always seem to get what they want when they want it and they seem to get more out of this life than those that have given their lives over to Jesus Christ. Let me answer this with a simple message, “For those that do not believe, this is as good as it gets for them, but for those of us who are true believers, this is as bad as it is going to get for us.”Keep that thought in mind as you watch the evil prosper in this world. Do not fret, the best is yet to come for those that love Jesus Christ and have received the Holy Spirit into their hearts. I have often asked myself, do I want to be blessed in this world with worldly riches that will only last a short time or do I want my rewards in heaven where they will last for an eternity? We all wish we could have both and sometimes it may seem like some people do, but in the end it will all even out.

We read in Proverbs 3:5-6; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” This is a promise from God where He is telling us that He has everything under control. Here is another comforting Word from God that we read in Galatians 6:9; “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” There are so many verses in the scriptures that talk about patience. Patience is indeed a “virtue” as described in a couple of paragraphs above. One of the most obvious events in history that was perfect timing was the birth of Christ, we read this in Galatians 4:4; “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” From the foundation of the world, God knew the exact day that the Messiah would be born into this world. God also knew the exact day that Jesus Christ would proclaim Himself to be the Messiah which we read about in John 12:12-26 about the triumphal Entry. The book of Daniel foretells the exact day that this event would happen. Read and study Daniel 9:24-27 for one of the most incredible prophecies ever given. God has everything under control, and He knows everything about us from the day that we would be born to the day that we will die and everything in between. This does not mean that we are robots, He just knows every decision we will ever make and every thought we will ever think because of His foreknowledge of all things. God knows the perfect time that He will bless us and the perfect time that He will allow trials in our life. God also knew before the foundation of the world what our decision would be as to whether we will receive Him or reject Him. God’s goal is to mold us into the image of His Son, but it is first up to us to submit to His will.

I think one of the hardest things for a Christian to accept is that God truly is in charge of our lives. When we submit to His will, it should give us a profound sense of comfort if our conversion is true and faithful. Herein lies the problem, So many Christians say that they believe, but when it comes right down to it, what they really have is just lip service. God gives us opportunities throughout our whole life to prove whether we really trust Him. This is where we have an opportunity to put our faith into action. When we make the decision to serve Him, we will all go through trials because the trails that we go through will ultimately bring us closer to Jesus Christ, which once again is Gods purpose for each of us in our lives.

ACTION POINT:

If you are a believer, you can be sure of this, God is your heavenly Father and will allow nothing to happen to you that you cannot bear. We read this in 1 Corinthians 10:13; “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” When something happens to us that just does not seem to make sense, we need to remember, to God it makes perfect sense and He is much wiser than we are. When this happens, just turn to God and say, “God, I know by the Words spoken of in the scriptures that you are in charge, I may not understand now what is happening, but I trust that you are in charge and everything is working out for the good.” This is our way of engaging ourselves in what He is doing in our lives. Stay in communication with God, it is truly a comforting feeling when you know the Lord is present in your life! There is no better feeling that one can experience! So, trust in the Lord today and experience the comfort that only comes to those that absolutely love our Lord, Jesus Christ!

A Commentary from our Chaplin – R. Fritz

The question I would like to ask people is this, is Gods time and our time the same? Isaiah 40:31 says “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” This verse talks about those who wait on the Lord. The Lord will give you the strength to overcome anything. This is telling us that our timing needs to line up with Gods timing. Most of our lives we wait for things because we have no other choice, which is man’s timing. What I am talking about is God’s divine timing. When we ask God for help and expect an answer to come on our time and it does not happen when we expect it to, we take it back from him. We are then moving ahead of Gods timing. There can also be a time when we do nothing or do not act on Gods time and then we lose our blessing. We must be in tune with the Lord.

I have learned about Gods timing through my relationship with the Lord. The Lord has asked me to meet with people, so I just ask the Lord to make the reservations. That means, I do not need to call on anybody. I have now put it back in Gods court, who will make sure we get together at the Lords appointed time. There is nothing else that I need to do, I will not be late, and the other person will not have an excuse for not showing up. It is Gods ordained timing. I call it “Gods Reservation.” You might think that cannot be, it is just too simple. This has made life a whole lot easier for me personally. For a long time, I have tried to contact people by way of text or a phone call. Then I would turn it over to the Lord because I could not contact them. You have to “trust” in the Lord to be on Gods timing.Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” There have been many times when I was at a business and I would run into somebody that I needed to talk to that I have been thinking about. Once again, “Gods perfect timing.”

Our lives change when we have a relationship with Jesus Christ. We must understand and believe that when we pray and give an issue or problem over to the Lord that we happen to be going through, He knows what is best for us. If we choose to take it back and believe we are going to deal with it ourselves, the Lord will allow you to take it back and He will allow you to deal with your issue without him. You must remember the Lord is a “Gentleman” and will not force his will on anybody. It is our choice. If we choose the Lord and give Him our issues and then wait for an answer in His timing, we will be blessed. If we decide to do it our way and make a mess out of it and then give it over to the Lord to fix, it will take even longer to straighten out the mess. At that point, I would ask the Lord to forgive me for thinking that I could do a better job than Him and ask Him to help me. In a previous post, I have said that there is no such thing as a coincidence. There is God’s timing and there is man’s timing, you get to make that choice. I must tell you that the choice I made was easy and by making that choice my life has become much easier.

In Conclusion – R. Nelson

I look back on my life and wonder how I ever got to where I am today. God knew well before I had any idea that I would one day serve Him. But He also knew the exact time in my life where this would take place. God allowed me to go through various situations in my life, some pleasant and some not-so-pleasant. But I believe that everything that I went through was preparing me for what God had intended for me all along. If God would have called me to serve Him back when I was in my earlier years, it would have not worked out. There was just no way that I was ready to commit my life to Him or anybody else at that time. And then one day in His perfect timing He got my attention and from that day forward it has been an exciting ride. If you have given your life over to Jesus Christ and you are wondering what is next, I can assure you that God has a plan for you and whatever it is that He has for you will come to fruition in His perfect timing. Until then, stay in the Word of God and continue building your relationship with Jesus Christ and then when it is time, He will make it clear what he will have you do. It took about twenty five years for the answer that I have been waiting for, but once it finally came, I could see why it had to take that long, it was because I wasn’t ready for His calling until that time came. Patience is a virtue and a tricky thing to control, but when you finally get your answer, it will all be worth the wait. I’ll close with this comforting verse again from Jeremiah 29:11; “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  It is in our hands if we want this promise from God or if we would rather do it ourselves. So, please make the right choice today and join the millions of true Christians that have found comfort in the true Word of God.” Written To the glory of God, Inspired by the Holy Spirit!” Amen!