timetable

December 30, 2019

“Your Motives Are All Wrong”

3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.– James 4:3 NLT

James 4:1-3 NLT

God always answers our prayers. He answers us in one of four different ways.

1. Do it now–and of course that is the answer we want so we recognize it right away.
2. Delay–It wasn’t what we wanted to hear so we assume God didn’t answer our prayer.
3. Don’t do it – I’m not hearing that so God must not have answered​.
4. Dynamically Different–He answers in such a better and highly effective way than what we anticipated that we don’t recognize it as His answer.

When our prayers are from wrong motives and for selfish reason, His answer is always no. Then, because of our pride, we get angry with God and accuse Him of all sorts of things. God understands that anger and when you get through pouting and ask Him, He will forgive you. God is not bound by our desires or our timetable. Even the “yes” answers are not always immediate. We have to wait on His timing. Do we really want our answer or would we prefer God’s answer?  Remember in​ ​1 Kings 19:3-5  when Elijah prayed “I have had enough, Lord, just take my life.”?  Then think of how God answered that prayer in 2 Kings 2:9-12 when God took him up in a chariot of fire!  If God had taken Elijah’s life when Elijah wanted him to, Elisha would not have been trained to become Elijah’s replacement and Elisha would never have seen all the great miracles. God answered Elijah’s prayer in a way far better than Elijah could have thought of or dared to ask. So when we don’t get the answer we want or it is not in the time frame we wanted relax, God is still in control.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 12-30-2019

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September 19, 2018

He’s Coming Back!

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24 God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act. — Exodus 2:24, 25

God never forgets a promise.  He had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would one day free the people from Egypt and that time had now come. He had listened to the groaning of His people long enough.  God never fails to deliver on a promise, but He has His own timetable to do so.  He used Moses to fulfill this promise.  If God has made a specific promise to us, individually, He will fulfill it but it may very well be after we have gone through a period of groaning and travail. He has made a specific promise to all of His children.  The first part of that promise was fulfilled when He came in the flesh to redeem us from sin and free us from our bondage to satan.  We and all of nature are now in a period of groaning, waiting for His return to take us out of Egypt (the world).  When He does come back, we will fly away with Him to our Promised Land. A land flowing with living waters and filled with the light of the Son.  No more groaning, no more sorrows, no more pain, a land where the lamb will lay down by the lion.


22 If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed. Our Lord, come! — 1 Cor. 16:22 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous
Post 09-19-2018
December 20, 2016

To God Be the Glory!

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21 Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. — Ephesians 1:21
Ephesians 1:18-23 NLT

As God continues to reveal His plan on His own timetable, we see the part that Jesus has played and is playing still. It was always the plan that Jesus would be the Lord of Lords with power and authority over everyone and everything. God has done this for the benefit of the Church. The Church is to carry on God’s work from the time of the Ascension until Jesus returns. The Church is the body of Christ. Christ is the Head of the Church and without Him, the Church has no power or authority. His shed blood is the lifeblood of His Church and His Holy Spirit is the one that leads us into all truth. We are nothing without Him, but because He abides in us, we have access to the same power that raised Jesus from the tomb. To God be the glory, power, and honor for now and forevermore!!


“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 12-20-2016

August 27, 2014

Wrong Motives Lead to Frustration

God is waiting to show you the Way.

God is waiting to show you the Way.

1 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.—James 4:1-3 (NLT)​
I beg​ to differ with the words Garth Brooks sings, there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer. God always answers our prayers. ​He answers us in one of four different ways.
1. Do it now–and of course that is the answer we want so we recognize it right away.
2. Delay–​It ​wasn’t what we wanted to hear so we assume God didn’t answer our prayer.
3. Don’t do it–I’m not hearing that so God must not have answered
4. Dynamically Different–​He answers in such a better and highly effective way than what we anticipated that we don’t recognize it as His answer.
​When our prayers are from wrong motives and for selfish reason, His answer is always no.​ Then, because of our pride, we get angry with God and accuse Him of all sorts of things. God understands that anger and when you get through pouting and ask Him, He will forgive you. God is not bound by our desires or our timetable. Even the “yes” answers are not always immediate. We have to wait on His timing. His ways and His thoughts are so far above ours that there is no comparison.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.—Isaiah 55:8 (NLT)
​So​ when we don’t get the answer we want or it is not in the time frame we wanted. Relax, God is still in control.
Post 08-27-14