Gods Wheelbarrow

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 2:5-6 NKJV).

The crowd watched as the man walked a tight rope stretched across Niagara Falls. Then the second time he adorned a blindfold and walked the line across and back. On his third trip across he pushed a wheelbarrow over and back. Once again he accomplished his feat with the wheel barrow blindfolded. The crowd cheered each time he preformed his acts. The guy then asked one of the people watching, “Do you believe I can push that wheelbarrow over and back again without the blindfold?” Based on his previous feats the person answers yes. The man then says to the person, “Then get in the wheelbarrow.”

            That is what God asks us to do; get in His wheelbarrow. It is easy to say we have trust in the Lord but when tested we sometimes doubt. We doubt that He will take care of the situation. We doubt that He will heal us. We doubt that He really cares about the little things. This Proverb reminds us that we can put our complete trust in Him even though it may not seem logical to us. When all is going well in our lives it is easy to trust Him so we must learn to trust Him the same way in times of trial. Next time you are faced with a decision or find yourself in a circumstance that you cannot fix; take a deep breath, look to heaven, and get in the wheelbarrow and hold on.

When Is Conviction Encouragement?

(John 16:8 NKJV)
And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

When does conviction become encouragement? The word convict brings to mind being charged with a crime and found guilty. When we use it in a spiritual sense we refer to it as being charged with sin. Conviction can be encouraging though. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit with the mission of convicting us. Think about it as being diagnosed with a disease. You feel poorly, maybe have a temperature, your joints ache. You know something is wrong just by the way you feel. You visit the doc and find out that you have a virus of some sort, get some meds, and end up feeling better. If left undiagnosed and untreated you could end up with a more serious health problem. Spiritual conviction works the same way in regards to our soul. The Holy Spirit diagnosis’s our condition and offers treatment. Sin is the disease, forgiveness is the cure, and Jesus is the Doctor.

There are people who live their lives in bitterness and anger every day. They never seem to have any joy in their life. Their outlooks are negative, they are pessimistic and cynical. If they would simply ask God what’s wrong He would have His Holy Spirit diagnose them. Other folk are generally spiritually healthy but when the Holy Spirit diagnosis’s them they either feel guilty or angry. They accept the diagnosis and feel guilt or they reject it and get angry because He pointed out the problem to them!

Conviction is encouragement from God to get healed spiritually. Allow the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to have free reign in your life; every minute of every day. Listen to Him when He points out something that if not taken care of will lead to more serious spiritual problems. Take the medicine of repentance and accept treatment from the Great Physician in the form of forgiveness. You will feel much better.

Its About Time

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law (Galatians 4:4 NKJV).

Time was created by God for us. Time is an unseen creation that the world is subject to. Sometimes it is referred to as “father time.” Men have said that time waits for no man. We cannot actually save it. We may utilize a segment of it more efficiently but we cannot bank it and draw it out later. We sometimes think that eternity is just unending time but that is not the case. There is no limit to eternity. Time is a segment carved out of eternity for the purpose God intended before the earth and all that is in it was ever created.

Time pulled us from the womb of our mom. Time pulled us from infancy into adolescence. Time pulled us out of high school and pushed us into adulthood. Then one day it took us by the hand and led us into retirement. Eventually it will push us off the face of the earth and we will be engulfed into eternity. There to be, where ever we end up, eternally existent. Time is Gods servant. He has ordered its every move. Christ came, in due time. Christ was crucified, in due time. Christ was resurrected, in due time. Christ will return; in due time. God calls it the “fullness” of time. In my Ivanhoe vernacular that means the time has come.

We are somewhere between the Creation of the world and the end of it. Time is marching straight ahead to the edge of the cliff God has prepared for it. It will finish its mission one day falling back into eternity from which it was taken out of. You and I are at its mercy. You and I are living in a window of it. Time has pushed millions out this life quickly and some others it has pulled along for years. God has another event planned and in the “fullness of time” it will happen just as His birth, death and resurrection did. The event is referred to as the “Rapture.” The word is a term taken from Latin meaning “to snatch away.” Jesus will come and take all His people out of the world. Those bodies that time has left behind in the grave will be joined up once again with the spirit that once inhabited it. Those of us who are alive when He comes will experience a change of our bodies. It will happen so quick the blink of an eye will miss it.

Friend, are you one of His people? Have you asked Jesus to save you? If not, please, please do it soon; very soon. Time is pulling us toward it at this very minute. Don’t wait, you don’t have “time”, it has you.

He Lives To Deliver and Rescue!

For He is the living God, and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. (Daniel 6: 26b -27 NKJV)

Hear that roar in your mind? That thought that causes you to tremble and stress out every time you think of it. The thought planted there by the enemy of your soul, Satan. The one God called the accuser of the brethren. You are not the first person to ever have to battle such a thought. The enemy devised a trap that he may find a way to put Daniel to death. The first attempt under Nebuchadnezzar had failed. King Darius liked Daniel because God had given Daniel favor with him. When the king found out what his decree had set in order for Daniel he was grieved in his heart. Like Pilate did for Jesus, he labored to get Daniel pardoned. Unlike Pilate, King Darius told Daniel that his God whom he served continually would deliver him. Then he experienced that roar. That thought the enemy planted in his mind that said; there is no God. There is no one to save Daniel. All night the king fasted and prayed for Daniel’s safety. He had heard about the men being delivered from the fire no doubt and he was now depending upon God to save Daniel from the lions. He did and that prompted King Darius to send out another decree commanding all to fear the God of Daniel because of the words in our text above. He delivers and rescues he wrote. This is not just a historical record, this is a prophetic promise to you. What He did for Daniel He will do for you.

You may be battling the roar of the enemy in your soul today. Worried about how things will work out or be resolved. Fearing the worst while hoping for the best. Mustering up as much faith as you possibly can while the lions of the enemy, those thoughts, keep telling you there is no God. There is no help. Luck is all you have to depend on. Read the words of King Darius again and listen to what God is saying to you right now: He saved Daniel, He will save you. While Jesus hang on the cross unbelieving men said, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself.” You and I are the “others” that He has saved by dying for our sins. As for Himself, He is always alive. The body of Jesus died on the cross; not God. God did not come back to life, He always lives to make intercession for you and I (Hebrews 7:25). When the “lions” roar in your mind remind them of that fact. That will close their mouths.