“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19)
There are certain phases in the lives of God’s people. Some are quite obvious; others less so, only clear with time. Moses’s life can be divided into three phases: first a royal life adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter ( Exodus 2:10); second, forty years of meandering in exile as a low level herdsman; thirdly, the liberator of a nation who leads it to the promised land!
The Apostles Paul’s life saw two major phases. There is the Saul - the persecutor of the Church; who in the next phase converts to spend the rest of his life winning souls for Christ!
Jesus’s life had also phases. He starts out as as a son of a carpenter, quite anxious to fulfill the calling on his life. When at 12 he stayed behind in a Synagogue talking to the leaders and his parents had to look him up, he shrugged, “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house? ( Luke 2:49). But it was not his time. Led back home, he “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” ( vv 52). This was all for a purpose as that phase prepared him for his ministry which he launched at the age of 30.
What is the phase of your life? You might be like a Moses wandering out in the wasteland, seemingly aimlessly, but it is just a phase! There is a phase of being lost as was with the once Saul before conversion to Paul. Jesus had that phase of apparent insignificance but God was preparing him for a greater task ahead.
We should embrace whatever phase we are going through with the full knowledge and comfort God is with us, teaching us something, greater, for yet another more important phase in our life!
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, as life goes through phases I pray that this phase of my life you take me through it with grace, growing in your knowledge and wisdom, for the life ahead, this I pray in Jesus’s name.
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02/05/2024 - 03/05/2024 All day“That is why for Christ’s sake I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10)
We all crave to be blessed in life. But was there a believer who was so blessed beyond any circumstances without experiencing some sort of discomfort, in one way or another! A person may apparently be blessed in every single way yet have one troubling matter that constantly drives him down to his knees.
The one mightily blessed with riches may have a family situation that leaves him ever on edge. Someone who seems to be at the height of his profession may be living with an ailment that keeps him ever on tentacles. The one blessed with abundant health might from time to time be dealing with financial woes.
Why do such troubling situations plague even believers? One explanation could be found in the Apostle Paul’s life. Called into ministry and endowed with many gifts, including amazing revelations from above, yet he had a matter that constantly drove him on his knees. “Therefore in order to keep me from being conceited, I was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan, to torment me” (2 Cor 12: 7).
Paul would often cry out to God to free him of this particularly troubling matter. But the Lord came back with, “My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in your weakness” (2 Cor 12: 9).
The comfort of this lesson is that God is completely aware of whatever might be ever troubling us. Moreover, it could be purposely there, that we constantly place our faith in Him, other than relying on our strength and resources, especially as He blesses us in other uplifting ways.
Prayer for today: Lord Father in heaven, today I pray that whatever matter is constantly troubling me, I know it is for a purpose and you are in total control, to bless me even more, this I pray in Jesus’ name.
