by Pastor Cecil | Jan 3, 2018 | James
James 5:7-8
“You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
Have you noticed how impatient people are these days? Drivers become speed demons trying to get in front of other drivers. They accelerate at traffic lights to get through the amber light that has strangely turned red … “I’m sorry, Officer, it was green when I started into the intersection” … you get the point.
We are living in an instant-everything age. We have instant cash machines, instant check-out counters in grocery stores, instant income tax refunds, even instant foods and coffee. So many things in our modern world are designed to give instant results and yet we still do not have time for God.
The answer lies in the Word of God. Many Bible heroes such as Job, Joseph, David, just to mention a few, did not have instant answers. In many cases it was years before God’s plan was revealed.
We need to learn the discipline of patience. With our hectic, fast-paced schedule we are so busy making things happen that we leave no room for that all important “quiet time” of waiting to see what God wants to teach us or how He wants to use us. Patience is relaxing in the Lord and letting Him direct our paths! It is time to get rid of instant spirituality and operate on God’s timing. Try it!
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 2, 2018 | Isaiah
Isaiah 40:31
“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
This past week we had torrential rains here in Washington. (So what else is new?) This heavy rain takes me back to a time over 70 years ago when I was a young boy sitting in the back seat of our family car.
We were returning home from church and my dad noticed a car stopped ahead of us. The driver was gesturing out his window so he would not have to get out and be drenched with the rain.
Dad eased up to his bumper and began to push him so his engine would start. Back when we had stick shift drives you could do that. Almost immediately the man began to wave more frantically. He got out into the rain and came up to explain that he was out of gas and was trying to roll back into town so he could get to a filling station. Ooops! Dad had good intentions, but wrong assistance.
Isaiah 40:31 is one of the first verses I ever memorized. It has always been a reminder to me that it is necessary to wait on the Lord. I often like to run ahead of the Lord and that leads to frustration and exhaustion. When the Lord calls me He also gives me the strength for the task.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil
by Pastor Cecil | Jan 1, 2018 | Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 3:11
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”
Years ago I heard a minister tell of an incident in a hospital elevator where he had just come from visiting a very ill patient. A young man overheard him speak about eternity and, perhaps wanting to mock his view, asked the minister where eternity was. The minister told the boy to place his hand on his chest to feel the beat of his heart. “Young man, eternity is one heartbeat away!” That may answer where eternity is or at least how close we are to it, but just how long is eternity?
Our daughter was in the hospital near death. One afternoon as the two of us spoke quietly, she said she felt she was cheated out of half of her life. She went on to say that Grandpa was 74 when he died and here she was just 35.
That evening as I drove into the garage I noticed that the car had been bringing in sand. I took out a sheet of typing paper and swept up some of the sand. I then sat at the kitchen table and counted out 74 grains. Some were larger than others, but all of them were quite small. I placed the 74 grains of sand in a tiny sample perfume bottle.
The next day as I entered her room I placed the bottle on her bed. When she asked what it was I told her it was Grandpa. I asked her to imagine the earth being nothing but fine sand. Each grain represented one year of eternity. The 74 grains in the bottle represented Grandpa’s life. Compared to the entire globe of sand it was nothing. Whether a person’s life lasted long or short, compared to eternity it was nothing.
It is what we do with the years we are given that matters. We can choose to confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior or we can continue our own willful way and suffer the dreadful consequences prepared for the lost.
I pray that the video that accompanies today’s Daily-E-Votional will assist you in making the right choice. Please feel free to share it with others while there is still time.
To view the video The Sands of Eternity, go to PastorCecil.com.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
—Pastor Cecil
