Time and timing.
You and I understand time… but struggle with timing.
The wisdom writer Solomon wrote “He (God) has made everything appropriate in its time” Ecclesiastes 3:11a.
 The truth expressed here is everything is appropriate (suitable, fitting, compatible) with our Maker’s timing.

• Clearly this scripture declares that our Creator created everything (including you and me) according to HIS TIME AND TIMETABLE.

Think with me for a moment.  As far as I know, there is no time as we know it in eternity. No clocks that the Almighty sets back or moves forward in heaven.  We earthlings are consumed with and worry about time. God is not. Time does not worry Him. Our Creator is eternal all the time. He has always been and will always be.

• God’s chief concern is timing. His timing is always perfect!

Many years ago Miller Brewery advertised their product with the phrase “Miller time is the right time.” Nice thought. But this guy begs to differ. If beer is the right time, humanity is in bigtime trouble!
Let’s be honest. You and I are often guilty of questioning God’s timing.
The times in my life when my deepest disappointments came have been when I expected God to keep His promises and answer my prayers according to Steve’s timetable. Hey Lord, what is with the delay regarding the prayer request I sent You?? What’s up with my requests not being filled when I think they should?  
 Heavenly Father, did it get lost in heaven’s post office?  Isn’t it about time for it to be answered? Have You checked Your celestial watch lately? Oh, that’s right, no time in heaven.
JUST A THOUGHT. You and I might think something is the right thing and the time is right. But if God’s timing is not in it, what we thought was right will not work out right. Chew on that for a moment!

• The Lord has always been gracious in teaching me about His timing.

The greatest joys in my life have occurred when God comes through on His time for me!
 I see His hand in the timing. Then I say to myself “Steve, see, God’s timing was absolutely perfect once again. When are you going to get it through your thick head that God’s timing is always on time? His blessings in your life always arrive on His time schedule, not yours.” 
Let me ask you. Have you ever wondered why God’s only Son, Jesus Christ came to the earth when He did? I have. God could have sent Jesus a thousand years before His birth 2, 000 years ago. He could have sent Him in 1650 or 1820 or you pick a date. How about your birthday!
The answer to the time question is in Galatians 4:4-5. “But when the fulness of time came, God sent forth His Son born of a woman, born under the Law in order that He might redeem those under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
Fulness of time can also be translated due time, proper time, predetermined time, right time. Sounds like God’s timing to me!

• God the Father’s plan of salvation. Biblical prophecy. Historical setting. All the above figured into the time and timing of Christ’s birth.

My little brain has decided God’s Son, Jesus, my personal Savior, was born in Bethlehem, raised in Judea, was crucified and raised from the dead in Jerusalem and descended to heaven promising to return for His sons and daughters according to God’s perfect time and timing. Amen and amen for that!
 Attitudes and Actions that interfere with God’s timing.

• An impatient, anxious, worrisome spirit.  
• Lack of understanding of timing of biblical events.
• Comparing our experiences with other people’s timing experiences.
• Listening to people who gripe about God’s timing.
• Insisting that “I have to have it now” complicates the timing process.
• Thinking that I know better than God. Lightning bolt on the way!!!!

My friends, you and I can experience relief, peace, joy, power and confidence when we trust God’s timing for our lives. Trusting God’s timing is a matter of faith. I do not have to know everything about everything. I do get to trust my Maker and Redeemer to provide everything I will ever need in His time and timing. AMEN.
How about you my fellow Christian? Do you trust God for His timing in your life? Really trust Him?  If not, why? Do you think you can manage time and life events better than the Almighty Creator of everything? If so, you need to think again and line up time and timing with God’s Word.
Time. Timing. Manage both well this week with God’s help.
A Word For Your Week: God’s timing is always on time!

​Rain. Rain. And more rain.
Our neck of the woods recently experienced a week of thunderstorm, tornado and flash flood warnings as copious amounts of rain fell from heavenly places. I caught myself humming the little jingle “Rain, rain, go away, come back another day!”
It did rain a number of another days!
It rained so much I wondered if we needed to build an Ark!
Thunderstorms, tornadoes  and rain did considerable damage in Oklahoma. But nothing like the massive destruction from tornadic winds and flood waters that devastated the Midwest, Southern and Eastern sections of the United States.  
My heart breaks and goes out to so many whose lives have been turned inside out and upside down by storm after storm that ravaged their families, homes, businesses, towns and cities.

• Please join with me daily in prayer for the recovery, restoration and rebuilding of storm ravaged areas. Pray especially for precious people who lost loved ones. In an instant, family members were suddenly gone. Homes were destroyed. In a terrifying moment, life changed forever.  
• Ask the Lord to comfort and heal hurting, grieving hearts. Ask God to provide wisdom, direction and what do we do now steps as tens of thousands in our nation are in a recovery and rebuilding mode.

On the last day of the storms here in Tulsa, I drove to a park a few miles from our house to wait on the Lord and pray. For fifty years, getting away regularly each week to meet with the Lord at secluded lakes or parks is one of my favorite things in life.
The rain had ceased. Clouds were breaking up and moving out.  Rays of golden sunlight broke through the dark, foreboding clouds that had blanketed the skies for days.  When I stepped out of my car, I was blown away! (Not from storms).

• What captured and captivated my attention was the melodic symphony, a concert of scores and scores of birds SINGING AFTER THE RAIN!   

Cardinals. Blue Jays. Robins.  Gold Finch. Wrens.  Blue Birds. Sparrows. Ravens. Blackbirds. Hawks soaring overhead were singing their little bird hearts out. Creations’ chorus was singing Hallelujah to our Creator! The storms are gone. All clear. Safe to come out from hiding. Find food. Fly around. Do what birds do.

• My heart soared! I am not a bird. (Sometimes my precious wife thinks I am a bird brain!). Nevertheless,  Steve Roll, from the bottom of his lungs, shouted praise to the Lord for stilling the storms. Simply amazing! God’s creation was singing after the rain…and I joined them!!!

Rain can be good and not so good. I get it. So do you. But I learned something from the birds…singing after the rain is a good thing!!!
Just a thought for you and me as Christians.  As God’s people we should sing during and after the rain. Sing God’s praises for the rain that the earth needs. Sing His praises for shielding us from tornadoes and flooding. Look to Him and praise Him for protecting us and directing us how to recover from any storm damage.
The two verses below exhort and encourage us to rejoice in the Lord always and always give thanks in everything. I love Paul’s emphasis on “always “ in both verses.
“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.” Philippians 4:4
“In everything give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I Thessalonians 5:18

• No matter what the immediate outcome of thunderstorms and rain, I believe it is a powerful thing for God’s creation (including you and me) to praise and give thanks to the Creator. Everybody should say Amen!

 

• So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, the next time it rains, after it ceases, sing the praises of God! It will make you feel good like the birds.

A Word For Your Week:  Sing praise to God after the rain.

Eternity is man’s destiny.
 
You and I should remember that all of us have a date with eternity.
 
Solomon says so in our word for your week. “God has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart….” Ecclesiastes 3:11a
 
·      God has set eternity in our hearts. Our Creator created us to be eternal. Because everything is appropriate in its time (God’s time and timing), we have an appointment with eternity that is scheduled on God’s cosmic calendar.  
 
I serve and minister to people who often have lost sight of the big picture of life. Struggling with their current situation their perspective is short-sighted. They are overwhelmed and consumed with here and not concerned about the hereafter.
 
Isn’t it interesting that we human beings who are eternal get so hung up on the temporal? Honestly, sometimes you and I are so earthly minded that we are not much heavenly good!
 

• Life is not all about here….it is all about the hereafter.

 
For believers in Christ, this earthly life is not our destiny or final destination. Paul reminds us in Philippians 3:20 that a Christian’s home is in heaven. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
 
If you think about it, a Christian, living in a fallen, hostile, anti-Christ world, is in reality, homeless. Our real residence, our spiritual home, is heavenly, not earthly. Jesus is preparing our home for us right now (John 14:1-6). I imagine that our residences in heaven will be awesome to say the least!
 

• Christians should consider life here and now in light of the hereafter.

 
According to S cripture, each of us chooses our eternal destiny. Resurrection to eternal death in hell or eternal life in heaven are the options (John 5:25-29, Romans 6:23, John 14:6, John 3:16). Eternity is never ending. Earthly life has an end line. How we live here and cross that line determines how we live hereafter.
 

• Life is too short and eternity is too long to not live right.

 
When I meet with precious people who are hurting, I direct them to look to the Lord for the healing, restoration and renewal they need. Our earthly lives are important. God put us here for a purpose. Living our lives in a holy, wholesome, healthy, righteous manner, for our Creator’s glory, is God’s will for each of us. Jesus came to give “abundant life” (John 10:10).
 
 In addition to abundant life on earth, Jesus sacrificed His life so we could live with Him in heaven for eternity.  Abundant, eternal life in Christ should cause us to pause and look at our here and now lives in light of the hereafter.    
 
Life Is Too Short And Eternity Is Too Long….
 

• To reject Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.
• To not allow the Lord to heal your broken heart and bind up your wounds.
• To live a selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed,” it’s all about me” lifestyle.
• To suck your thumb, drag around your woe is me blankie, throw temper tantrums, and wallow in the pit of self pity.
• To keep beating yourself up over past mistakes and failings.
• To hold a grudge, to nurse a hurt, to curse someone.
• To not release anger, resentment, bitterness and other ugly stuff from your heart.
• To not ask forgiveness of people you have wronged.
• To withhold forgiveness from people who have hurt you.
• To not reconcile an estranged relationship that matters to you.
• To withhold blessing when it is in your power to bless others.
• To not give thanks and praise to God for giving you life and all the blessings you experience everyday.  

 
Important question to answer: Do you have an eternal perspective while you live your earthly life? Do you desire to live right here and now? Right living (righteousness in Christ) is laid out in God’s Word, the Bible. If you want to live life right for time and eternity, pattern your life after the truth, principles, promises and the person of Jesus Christ revealed in the Word of God.
 

• My friend, eternity is just around the bend. Around the bend is not the end. It is the beginning of all that matters. Eternal life in glory with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I just shouted HALLELUJAH!!!!!!

 

• Get your life in order. Then keep it in order while you have opportunity.

 
“According to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall not be put to shame in anything but that with all boldness, Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or death.”                                           Philippians 1:20
 
A Word For Your Week: Live your life in the light of eternity

​Change is inevitable.
 
Welcome, or unwelcome, change knocks often on life’s door. When change comes a knocking, what should we do?
 
CHANGE FORWARD!
 
It is thoroughly human to resist change. You and I tend to view change as a threatening, negative experience. Why? Because change overturns the proverbial apple cart. Change disrupts the status quo. What’s familiar becomes unfamiliar when change invades our space. Things thought certain become uncertain when change rattles our cage. We become very uncomfortable when change upends our comfort zones..
 
Erroneously, we think change is sent to sabotage our desires and derail our dreams. Nothing could be further from the truth.
 
Remember Joseph the dreamer? (Genesis 37-50). Joseph is an inspiring biblical example of changing forward. Every time his God-given dream appeared to turn into a devilish nightmare, Joseph stood firm in faith, trusted God, and changed forward.
 
From a pit, to Potiphar’s house, to prison, to prime minister of Egypt…the Lord was with Joseph” (Genesis 39:2). Joseph’s circumstances changed. His God didn’t. Neither did Joseph’s trust in his God. When change challenged Joseph, he kept dreaming and doing God’s will. Faith kept him moving forward.
           

• Faithful Joseph leaves us a spiritual epitaph of trust in God. He conquered change with his change forward attitude. 

  
Christians can change forward because God is changeless. His perfect will is ageless and timeless. His plan is always going forward. Malachi 3:6 reads “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”
 

• GOD DOES NOT CHANGE.

 
Change does not change God. He is changeless. Those who trust in an unchanging God will not be changed by change either. Life’s inevitable changes will not consume those whose faith is rooted and grounded in a changeless God.
           
 Hebrews 13:8  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.” is the New Testament mirror image of Malachi 3:6.

• Being the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, Jesus Christ does not change.

 
Those who trust in Jesus need not fear change. I love what verses 6-7 have to say about our security in an unchanging Savior. “So that we may confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me? Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and consider the result of their conduct, imitate their faith”.
 
What a wonderful word of encouragement! Jesus hasn’t, doesn’t and never will change in His person, regarding His promises or His personal relationship with His believing children. Jesus Christ can be counted on in a time of change because He doesn’t change.  
           
Your life and mine will indeed change. Life does shift from time to time. When it does, imitate the faith of those who have gone before you and trusted God to GO, GROW, and CHANGE FORWARD!  
 
Here are some thoughts that will help you and me change forward when change shows up.
 

• Embrace change as a gift that can move you forward.
• Receive change as a friend. Don’t reject it as a foe. 
• See the possibilities and potential embedded in change.
• Look for God’s hand and plan in change.
• Make change work for, not against you.
• View change as a GO, not a WOE or NO!
• Trust God to cause change to propel you forward in life.

 
Change is good when God is in it!
 

• If you are going through some changes right now, like a lot of people are, choose to change forward. Welcome change! Charge forward with faith into the wonderful future the Lord has planned for you.

 
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”                          Romans 8:28
 
“For I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.”                                            Jeremiah 29:11
 
A Word For Your Week: When life changes, CHANGE FORWARD!         

​Upon graduating from seminary, my dear Grandmother Eplin sent me an incredibly special gift. She and her women’s Bible study group lovingly and painstakingly quilted me a comforter that became my all-time favorite adult blankie. When we lived in Michigan where the winters are long and bone-chilling cold, my down-filled comforter was one of my best friends!
 
I cannot count the times when my wife Jo Ann lovingly tucked the comforter around my body when it was cold or I was not feeling well. When covered by the comforter, I was toasty warm and did not have a care in the world. Often I nodded off to sleep because I felt so comfortable, warm and secure.
 

• The comforter brought comfort when I was uncomfortable. Where is that blanket anyway?

 
Many people today need comfort. Life has beaten them up, scared them or left them feeling vulnerable and insecure. In the New Testament, the Greek root of the word comfort means “to come alongside, beside for the purpose of rendering aid or help.”
           

• During difficult and discomforting times, you and I needed someone to come alongside and help us in life. There are precious people all around us who need a comforter in their lives too.  

           
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.’ II Corinthians 1:3-4
 
The Apostle Paul, who had experienced comfort from God and His people, wrote about three important truths regarding comfort and comforting others. 
 
1. GOD IS THE SOURCE OF COMFORT. Straight up the Word tells us that our God is a merciful Father and “God of all comfort.”  Comfort flows from mercy. Comfort is about being compassionate and caring. Almighty God is a comforting God.
 
Our comfort comes from the Lord.
 
 Real comfort, help that really helps, comes from a merciful God. This spiritually cold, emotionally impersonal, self-centered world knows little or nothing of comfort and comforting. God does. He is the God of all comfort. He knows how to tuck hurting people in with His love and comfort.
 
 
2. GOD COMFORTS THE UNCOMFORTABLE. Note God comforts us “in all our affliction.” Affliction (trouble, injury, distress or anguish) is no fun! Everyone who has been afflicted said AMEN! God knows affliction makes us uncomfortable. He comes alongside to comfort and render the aid we need.
 
II Corinthians 7:6 states “But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus.” In a downtime, God comforted Paul by His presence and by the presence of Titus.
 
God spread a blanket of love and comfort over Paul.
 
Foundational to our faith and vital to victory in times of affliction is to remember that the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter in John 14:16-26 and John 16:7-15. While Jesus was here on earth, He comforted the disciples. When He left, the Father sent another Comforter (Helper) (John 14:16) to comfort them.
 
The Holy Spirit is our Comforter today. What a wonderful gift the Holy Spirit is from our Father in heaven!
 
When we need comfort, we need to call upon the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who is our Helper. He knows where to place the specific spiritual/emotional blanket we need in time of trouble or discomfort.
 
3. GOD COMFORTS US SO WE CAN COMFORT OTHERS.  The God of all comfort comforts us “so that” we can comfort others. The purpose of His comfort in our lives is twofold. * To comfort us. * And to comfort others through us. Note Titus was part of the comforting process in Paul’s life.
 
My comfy blanket is not just for me. I am to share my comforter with those in discomfort. Titus could comfort Paul and others experiencing a tough time because God had comforted Titus.  
 

• Christians are called to share their blankets of God’s comfort. God comforts us so we can comfort others.

 
We are conduits or channels of His comfort. We should be running around in Jesus’ name wrapping warm blankets of God’ s love and His comforting Word around hurting brothers and sisters in Christ and lost souls.
 
There would be a lot less discomfort and more comfort in this heart-broken, weary world if Christians would comfort others with the comfort which they have received from the Lord Jesus Christ.   
 
How do we start this comforting business?
 
·      Ask God how to comfort others. Seek His wisdom in reaching out to hurting people. Receive the Holy Spirit’s comfort so you can comfort others. Minister with the Helper’s help!
 
·      Love hurting people. Hug them up if they are huggers! Be sensitive to their needs. Listen to them. Take time to care.
 
·      Pray for hurting people. Share a scripture of encouragement with them. Serve them in ways that will show that you and God love them.
 
Personal note: I am very thankful for Christians who at various times in my life comforted me when I needed comforted. They may have no idea how much the comfort they gave me in Christ’s name met the need of the hour. 
 
DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS HURTING, UNCOMFORTABLE IN LIFE? SOMEOME GOD CAN SEND YOU TO COMFORT THEIR HEARTS IN THE NAME OF JESUS?
 

• Comfort hurting people with the comfort you have received from the Lord.

 
A Word For Your Week: Christians are comforters sent by the Comforter to comfort uncomfortable people.