Creator God & His will...

EVIDENCE OF GOD'S PLANNING

Remember those early Star Trek episodes?

They always had a moral to the story. 

Usually one that Kirk would recite in the closing in moments of the final scene.

The moral always went something like, "There are certain areas where man is not meant to meddle." 

Then science began a great period of growth and discovery and man began to laugh at that old fashioned notion.

Man seems to be able to dive into any area of science and accomplish a greatness. 

Then the ecological issues became apparent and man discovered that he can, knowingly or unknowingly, destroy the "delicate balance" of creation.

Is that "old fashioned" notion more applicable now than ever? 

Can we believe the thinking in those old science-fiction stories that they were right in saying that there are areas where man is not meant to meddle.

Has God built a world so intricate that man daring to medle with creation is likely to destroy that balance and twist the plan out of shape? 

No one will be shocked to find out that the Bible does not address modern science as directly as we would like.

But we can ask if God had a plan and we can seek evidences of God's planning in His word.

Then, using our reason in obedience to the Scriptures we can come to some conclusions about the questions before us. 

First, we need to ask, "Did God create?"

Take a look at Genesis 1:1 and

Psalms 104. The answer is obvious;

the Bible reports that God did. 

Second, is there some divine plan behind the creation?

Study these scriptures for insight into Yahwehs plan:

Romans 8:28

Romans 9:11

Ephesians 3:11 and

Revelation 1:1.

Does there seem to be a plan?

What is the nature of that plan? 

There is a tendency to understand all of the talk in the Bible about God's plan and purpose in a spiritual sense. 

That is the higher priority, in terms of salvation and eternal life - but is it the only sense in which God has planned? 

Read Isaiah

14:24-26,

23:9,

46:8-13.

What has God planned here?

If God's plan for salvation includes the spread of the Gospel & the teaching that Jesus Christ is the messiah, what else could it include?

Psalm 104. Teaches us about God's purpose in the creation. "Study to show thyself approved" meditate on Yahwehs message of truth and you will truly know him!

God also discusses His creative work with a man. That man was Job. Job had questioned the plan of God, challenged the wisdom of it.

God loved Job and did not condemn him but He sought to teach Job the foolishness of judging what man does not understand.

Job 38-39.

God talks about His work, His secrets, and the "little things" that God had taken the care to plan. Many of these things we take for granted as

"accidents" or

"just the way things work."

In these chapters we see God's deeds and the planned elements of our world. Be aware of the facts that many of the items we are looking for we tend to view as just nature.

Job 38:29-30 speaks of the origin of frost and ice. 

We tend to think of that as a result of only temperature.

Ask yourself, why is it a result of temperature

Why 32 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius?

In the centre of all we find Yahweh, His will, His way & His design.

The knowledge that God has planned and the evidence that nothing has been excluded from His careful planning, is a source of comfort for us.

Consider again Romans 8:28 and look at how God's planning makes that promise a comfort in any type of situation.

God's plan is not that of some "overlord" looking to play us, His will is for each of us, Gods plan is not impersonal.

It includes each of us as individuals. The plan is unfolded in its most important facet in Ephesians 1:4.

That plan includes you personally, individually.

If you have any doubt that God has considered you as an individual, read Psalm 139.

YOU will find comfort there!

Now tie that comfort in with the phrase in Ephesians

"He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world."

Autumn treasure

​​The Lesson of Nuts.

Through out the forest floor were little holes dug in the carpet of pine needles.

As a student of tracking & a lover of creation I was drawn.

You never know what you'll find when plugged into creation and I always have my eyes open for signs of life, messages left by the animals we share this world with. 

These landscape dimples were like pockets, dark and contained within fairly neat edges not much larger than an egg.

This is when tracking meets common sense, sit spot is the proper name but really it's about having enough respect for creation to be quiet and wait the reward will come.  

 

Something scratching just ahead. A flash of grey in the pine carpet, then darted across the worn trail. A bushy tail exploded with excitement. Wide eyes and plump cheeks told the rest of the story.

 

It was a squirrel harvesting his stash of nuts.

 

How did he know where each nut lay? Certainly, he stored these life-sustaining treats for the long winter ahead.

 

Today many of us in the Body of Christ have been on a roller-coaster ride of a  life.

Life is always filled with ups and downs that's a guarantee but anybody out there think it's been extreme lately?

Yeah not just me, right?

There's a whole lot of testing going on and a whole lot of lessons being learned.

 

Im a visual learner, for me to really understand and take something in, I need to see it played out in front of me, that's why my love of creation has helped develop my love for the CreatorGod, I get to see His will His plan & His purpose in His creation!

I'm learning a lesson of nuts. 

 

I'm learning to stash scriptures in my heart and mind so that when the days of reckoning come

(and the days of wrecking) I'm prepared.

It's like the possoum mentality that so many outdoors men talk of, gathering as you go!

I know where they're hid and I'm disciplining myself to fetch them long before the storm hits.

 

Some of my favourite hiding places are: 

 

Psalm 91:1-2

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust."

 

Revelation 14:7

He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.’

 

Isaiah 30:21

"Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left."

 

Romans 8:38-39

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which in in Christ Jesus our Lord."

 

Romans 8:31

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

 

Psalm 138:2

I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.

 

The squirrel raced up a tree to enjoy it's treasure that it had put away for a time such as this. Safe. Secure. Well fed.

 

Look to creation, store your nuts for the times of hardship & storms!

 

The apostle Paul, the survivalist!

Did the apostle Paul have survival experience?

More than the sailors, the soldiers or did the Holy Spirit prep him?

Acts 27:27-38 NIV

"On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away. Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything.

Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. Altogether there were 276 of us on board. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea."

The apostle Paul, a prominent figure in the book of Acts, was shipwrecked three times. In his lifetime traveling by sea was primitive. It was harsh. You took your life into your own hands when you boarded one of those first-century sailing vessels. And Paul had survived three shipwrecks.

So how do we survive a shipwreck in life? We will all face storms & sooner rather than later we'll find ourselves against the rocks.

If life is a journey then we will face obstacles, storms & mountains to climb. That is just the way it is. There are times when you will have smooth sailing. There are times when the sky will be blue and the sun will be shining. There will be beautiful moments between the storms. Remember not all the winds that blow in life are necessarily devastating.

On Paul’s voyage to Rome, we read in Acts that “the south wind blew softly” (Acts 27:13).

Sometimes that is the way it is. The south wind is blowing softly. You feel the warmth of the sun on your face.

Thank God for those moments. You'll need them for when the storm comes.

Sometimes people think that when they are in the will of God, they will have an easy ride.

That was not true of the apostle Paul. He seemed to face every kind of adversity imaginable. He had many enemies that were jealous of his success and would follow him around and undermine him, intending to destroy him. He had many setbacks in life, arrests, beatings and inprisonment.

Talking about his trials, he wrote, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9).

Five years before making his journey to Rome, Paul wrote the believers there, “I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you” (Romans 1:10).

We would say, “Hey, would you guys pray for me? I am coming your way, pray the Lord gives me a prosperous journey by the will of God.” Did God answer his prayer? Yes.

We hear a lot about prosperity today & God wants a believer to prosper but the problem is with the meaning that people take from "prosperity".

For many, prosperity means

you never will be sick

you will never have problems

you will have plenty of money & 

life will be just great.

The problem with that is too much YOU not enough God.

The truth is that you can live a prosperous life in the will of God and still face conflict.

Paul went through shipwreck on his way to Rome but he had a prosperous journey, by the will of God, because of what it ultimately accomplished.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God".

Seeing God's will working in our lives will bring prosperity but not in a way that the flesh will measure, not by the worlds standard!

Paul survived a shipwreck of a life and as I have already said we are all going to face storms and difficulties, yes even shipwrecks in some way.

So it is time for us to get our sea legs and learn how to survive, we need to equip ourselves with the right gear & mindset for what lies ahead...

Get lost in the word of God, prep your mind in prayer & know God will see you through!