RAPTURE CULTURE

 In heavenly race we must be careful:

• what we think
• what we do
• who we mingle with
• how we walk
• what we touch
• what we say
• what we see
• where we go
• what we listen to
• what we see and watch
• what we laugh at
• what we eat

(Others can be added)

All these require Absolute:

• DEVOTION
• DISCIPLINE
• DILIGENCE

2nd Peter 3:14

HIS WILL

I saw something on 1 Kings chapters 20 & 21 today that has been bugging my mind since I read it. 

King Hezekiah was a man who loved the Lord and served Him during his reign. He's a man we all love to make mention of in our times of devotion especially when we desire some form of remembrance or reward from the Lord; how God gave him extra 15 years to live instead of dying by the sickness with which he was plagued after he cried to the Lord. I don't want to sound like a hater, but may I ask Hezekiah what he did with the those extra 15 years? Hmm... by now you must know that he didn't really spend it quite as great as the previous years of his life. But what most caught my attention is recorded in chapter 21. It says that after Hezekiah died, his son Manasseh ascended the throne . . . wait for it . . . He was 12 years old (gbam!). Okay I'll stop the drama and get to the point. If you're a good mathematician or your calculator works fine, do the math. Manasseh was born sometime during the 15 extra years Hezekiah got from the Lord.

Now, not only did Hezekiah seemingly taint the reputation he once had (in my exaggerated opinion), he succeeded in raising the king that sealed the fate of the nation of Judah and marked it for its eminent destruction. So really, what did Hezekiah do with the 15 years he got?

Many times we wrestle with God for what He initially didn't give, we call it our right as His children to ask and receive. I remember all the wrestling I did with God especially when it came to matters of the heart, and somehow God lets me win, it's like He was saying 'Since I can't change your mind, I'll let you have it just so you'll see the outcome. But I love you, and when you come back, I'll be here, waiting to set things right.' We demand our right from God like He's completely clueless in the first place. Then we later realize that what we thought would be gain became an amazing loss.

Oh that we would pray like Jesus did: If God, if. .. but not my will, let your will be done.

(Just one of the things bugging my mind from that scripture. But there are more!)