Friday 10 May 2013

Life and Times



“My times are in your hands.” Psalm 31:15.

Life and Times are very unique gifts from our God .when Adam violated God’s word he activated death and we lost our fullness of life, power & glory and become slave to sin and the limitations of time, death and space. As we all know, sooner or later, every single one of us is going to die and cross over to the other side. The death of the body, some day, is strangely linked, in a way that we do not fully comprehend, with the death which is at work in our inner lives, right now. That is, inner death is what we experience in a thousand ways - sometimes as loneliness, bitterness, emptiness, despair, depression of spirit, and sometimes it is malice, frustration, stress and resentment and violence. 

Whatever it may be, it is not what God intended for man. It is an enemy which has seized man and lives with him and haunts him in everything he does. God send His son to restore us back to everlasting life. Therefore the greatest gift God ever given to mankind is eternal life in Jesus. C. S. Lewis said it well: "The Son of God became a man that men might become sons of God." When our hopes crush, & dreams collapse, the Grace and Love of Jesus is designed to relieve and to bring hope to us. Jesus defeated the death and demons by his risen power. And the result is everlasting life and peace instead of condemnation and restlessness, acceptance rather than guilt, love in place of lust or hate, power to replace weakness, joy for mourning, beauty for ashes, hope for despair, courage in place of cowardice, and cleansing from all dirt and filth of spirit. Bible says “blessed are the dead...who die in the Lord.” Jesus is our life and will be our life forever. He is indispensable and He is all-sufficing. He is our joy unspeakable and full of glory. Without every other we may live, but without Him we cannot.

According to the Bible, Jesus, The Lord Himself ( 1 Thess. 4:16 ) will descend to the earth remaining in the air and call up all believers both alive and dead. Believers will suddenly, without warning, disappear from Earth in the "twinkling of an eye." The term describing this event is "the Rapture." means “transported from one place to another." God will resurrect all believers who have died, give them glorified bodies, and take them from the earth, along with those believers who are still alive and who will at that time also be given glorified bodies. “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever”

The rapture will be instantaneous in nature, and we will receive glorified bodies at that time. “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” Bible says (1 Corinthians 15:51–52)

The rapture is the glorious event we should all be longing for. We will finally be free from sin. We will be in God's presence forever. There is far too much debate over the meaning and scope of the rapture. This is not God’s intent. Rather, in regard to the rapture, God wants us to “encourage each other with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18)

 Look up, the day of glory is soon to break upon us with its gladness and rapture, “Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:17). Then shall the last tear have dimmed our eyes, and we shall see each other clothed in the unfading, incorruptible beauty of the Lord.”Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2) “Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones...” (Ps. 116:15)”God himself will be with them and be their God and He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more Death” (Rev.21:4)

Another wonderful gift from God is Time. Time is past, present and history. All sorrows in the world are compensated with time, as they rightly say time is the best healer. Time waits for no man and time once lost cannot be re-created so it is pretty much important for everyone to make the best use of time to get the best of time in the present as well as in the future.

What we do today, determines where we will stand tomorrow and the person who makes the best use of time today gets the best of life in the future. Time has created kings as well as beggars. Riches turn into rags and rags to riches over a matter of time. Every work that we do requires time and time cannot be negotiated or replaced. The best use of time will most likely give you the best in life. Some things in life are beyond our control and we need to make up for things before things run out of time.

Time management involves carefully analyzing how we currently spend every minute of our day and then determining ways we can make better use of those minutes. This often includes eliminating many or all of the time wasters that each of us must contend with on a daily basis. It also involves learning to set priorities.

Most people in the world are driven by wrong priorities that occupy and control their entire lives. Psychologist Abraham Maslow, who after studying the motivations of human behavior, concluded that all human behavior is driven by the same basic “hierarchy of needs”: water, food, clothes, housing, protection, security, preservation, self-actualization, and significance. However, Jesus affirmed God’s number-one priority for all human on the planet He said “…Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes...But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt 6:25,33).If our priorities are correct, we preserve and protect our life. When we establish our priority according to God’s purpose then our success is guaranteed. Correct priority simplifies our life. Failure to establish correct priority causes us to waste our time & energy.
Every second we have in life is a gift from God. Has it ever occurred to you that for you to cease living, God would not have to take your life? All God would have to do is stop giving you time. “Your time is in His hands.” You are a steward of the time He has given you. We have 86,400 seconds in a day no more, no less. Our responsibility today is evaluate the day. How do we redeem our 86,400 seconds each day to the glory of God? Are you lagging behind God or running ahead of Him?

Let it be our prayer “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom”. Let it be our resolution that, I will seek God rather than possessions, Godliness rather than selfishness. I will seek to please God more than respectable before men; I will meditate God’s word daily, think quietly, talk gently, and act honestly. I will listen to Godly advice, Nature and birds, babes and saints, with an open heart. I will bear all things cheerfully, do all things bravely await occasions and hurry never.
God bless