Ecclesiastes 3

my take on Ecclesiastes 3:2-8

a time to be born and a time to die, both are in the hands of God

a time to plant and a time to uproot, some things have their season and then lose their productivity, so it is wise to know when to uproot and when to plant for harvest again

a time to kill and a time to heal

a time to build, a time to restart and at time to keep going, keep pressing in

a time to weep and a time to laugh, life will bring both

a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to have pain and sorrow and a time to work through that to find joy and peace, surrender and new hope

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time when things have their usefullness and a time when they can be put aside

a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to be free to express emotion and a time to be restrained

a time to search and a time to give up, a time to press in and a time to stop looking and rest in the security that God has my life in His hands

a time to tear and a time to mend, a time for complete change and a time to restore

a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to stand up for ourselves and what we believe and at time to let God make the way

a time to love, a time to hate

a time for war, a time for peace

Ecclesiastes 3:11-14

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. Ecclesiastes 3:14

I Long For God

As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?

Psalm 42:1-2

i long for You God.  i want to know You and Your ways.  My soul thirsts with need to walk with You.  Like a basic need, i need Your presence. Only You satisfy.

Downcast

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Psalm 42:5

Remember

My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you

Psalm 42:6

when we’re struggling with doubts and fear and  sorrows, remember God.  remind yourself of his good works and great ways.  stir your heart towards him.  its an action thing – not just a mental note, but active remembering and reminding yourself of who God is….

Measuring the City

I asked, “Where are you going?”
He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.” Zechariah 2:2

wouldnt God, being God, know how wide and long Jerusalem is?  why does he want it measured?  what is the significance and what is it to show Zechariah and indeed what is it to show me.  the next angel he meets then promises holy expansion for Jerusalem – with God dwelling in their and being their God…  when God speaks we should take notice.  we should watch the signs and be listening…

¹⁰ “Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the LORD. ¹¹ “Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. ¹² The LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. ¹³ Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”  Zechariah 2:10-13

Compelled by God

“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ²⁴However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. Acts 20:22-24

Paul says the Holy Spirit was warning him of things to come and that Paul found strength in the inner warnings and was resolved to obedience, to run the race before him, despite the hardship.

Light Shines Best in The Darkness

Never underestimate what God is doing in and through your life: Even in the most darkest place there are people listening and watching – sometimes you are in the darkest place to shine to those people the light would not reach by any other way…

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, an…d the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25

Distinguish

How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”   exodus 33:16

how will people distinguish me from everyone else?

the presence of God!

what should be the most distinquishing mark of a christian?

God’s presence

- as Nehemiah and Ezra had descried about them – the gracious hand of God

the Holy Spirit

we are representives of God – we should look “like Him” and act like Him and be like Him to thsoe around us – demonstrating His love and grace

FLASHED!

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  Acts 9:3

i have never read the word flashed in this verse before – this is the first time reading through Acts in the NIV.  i love it – i love what it implies and what it visually paints in my imagination.  it wasnt just a soft glowy light that appeared or a few light beams but it was a flash – a powerful flashing, a supernatural flashing – forceful.  it was an encounter with the glorious Jesus Christ!