I read that time is God's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Another person wrote, “Time is like identical suitcases that we all have, but some of us are able to pack more in them than others”….
Well, we have come to the season of time change again…. I haven’t figured out how to change the time on the clock in my car, so I just caught up with my last time change..When you’re in my car, you’re in a different time zone, where time never changes! But isn’t that the way it is with those who have become part of the kingdom of God in the earth…. We live in a different zone… (We’re in the earth but not of the earth)
Our value system is not of the earth…. The principles we live our lives by are not of this earth…. God is outside of time, so we are called to live in two dimensions… the dimension of time and the dimension of eternity or timelessness….The ruler of the kingdom we are a part of tells us to seek those things which are above which are eternal or timeless…
The Apostle Peter lived outside of time with eternity in mind….2 Peter 1:13 “I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of remembrance, 14 knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent”….So Peter lived as though at any moment, he could step from time into eternity….
The question is always there before Kingdom people…. How would I live and what would I do if I knew this would be my last week in this earth dimension..?
One fella went to his doctor because he wasn’t feeling well. His doctor told him that he had only 3 months left to live. So he thought he would beat the odds, and he called and made appointments with 4 different doctors and each one said he had 3 months to live just like the first doctor. The man was very happy because he figured that with 4 doctors giving him 3 months he could get another 12 months out of the deal!
We live in a world of temporary time, and any moment it could give way to eternity, where time is no longer an issue… God is not some ancient, elderly being, with white hair… He is young, because He never ages, since He dwells outside of time. In Christ, we too are timeless, though our bodies may age, inside, our soul and Spirit, we are forever young.
The word of God which we have been given, was before time, and actually created time…
The Gospel of John opens with the words, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." It is declared in Scripture that God always was, always will be, and is constant and unchanging--The Apostle Peter makes the statement in 2 Peter 3:8 “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day”. I wonder how this fleeting time I am part of and the events of my life will look, when I am about 10,000 years old!? It will be just the blink of an eye….
The offences, the rejection, the events that shook me to the core, the loneliness, the trials and tests, that seemed to go on forever, will all seem as nothing!
Believe me, God is more concerned with the quality of our time than He is with the length of it… as we overcome shame, guilt and condemnation…and the things which are part of the time-line of our lives….
A man decided to stop at the next city he came to, and park somewhere quiet so he could get an hour or two of sleep after he had driven all night and was still far from his destination. No sooner had he settled back to snooze when there came a knocking on *…..his window. He looked out and saw a jogger running in place. “Yes?” “Excuse me, sir,” the jogger said, “do you have the time?” The man looked at the car clock and told him the time. The jogger said thanks and left.
The man settled back again, and was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window and another jogger. Excuse me, sir, do you have the time?” Again, he told her and she said thanks and went on her way. Now the man could see that it was only a matter of time before someone else disturbed him. To avoid the problem, he got out a pen and paper and put a sign in his window saying, “I do not know the time!” Once againhe settled back to sleep. He was just dozing off when there was a knock on the window. “Sir, sir? I JUST WANTED TO TELL YOU THAT THE TIME IS 8:45!.”
Time can be very subjective ….Our perception of the passage of time can be described in the way we talk…. “Time stood still, or time really flew, or Time drags on so slowly, or Where did the time go? I just need a little more time! We had a great time! If only I had the time I would do it”….
Subjective time, is how time seems to our sense of consciousness. Subjective time cannot be measured by a stop watch. Sometimes we perceive that events around us are happening in a flash. Sometimes time seems to drag on "forever"---like when you’re waiting for a root canal at the dentist….but it has really only been just minutes.
Many of us remember how time seemed to move very slowly during childhood and we couldn’t wait to get out of school, or be allowed to go on a date, or get our driverslicense.
Later in life, some of us look back and see an event that took place 40 years ago that may seem as if it just happened yesterday. In sudden accidents many have reported that their whole life flashed before their eyes in great detail, in a what was really only a few seconds or less on the clock. When we dream at night what seems to be many hours of time is shown by REM (Rapid Eye Movement) to be just moments of actual elapsed time.
Time for the Hebrews was another word for life. It was a measurement for effort and achievement and how people lived their lives. They wrote, played, traveled, slept, dreamed, performed ceremonies, went to war, and prayed, and time consisted of the story of these events, and it had no existence beyond these. To make the most of time probably meant something like living your life so that others could mark their lives and tell their stories in reference to your actions. In the Hebrew mind, the real question was not, "What is the best use of my TIME right now?" but rather, "What is the best use of my LIFE right now?"
The average American will spend: Six months sitting at stoplights, Eight months opening junk mail, One year looking for misplaced objects, 2 years answering and returning phone calls, 4 years waiting in line 5 years doing housework, 6 years eating and 25 years sleeping.
The best measurement of your time is to live the life we were created to live. To treat the lives of others as a sacred honor. To give priority to matters of justice, faith, and compassion. To understand that gratitude and happiness are inseparable, and to empower, and inspire others to do the same….
The prayer of Habakkuk reveals the heart of a man who refuses to measure his life according to the circumstances around him….
He says in Habakkuk 3:17 “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls, v18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. v19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places”.
It’s amazing how you are able to live your life when you live it according to eternal time, as an eternal being in Christ. You become unfettered from the restraints of low living and being controlled by lesser things.
THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE, I WILL REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT!
Habakkuk was able to hope against hope, having faith in what he could not see, and receiving the substance of God’s promises because He believed in the unchanging character of God, more than he believed in the fickled face of circumstances!
Habakkuk believed that God’s promises are our possibilities, not just what we see, feel, touch and hear! And God always keeps His promises, when we take them as our mandate for living!
1 Corinthians 13:11 “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became an adult, I put away childish things. v12 For now we cannot see everything clearly, but then we shall see face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. v13 And now faith, hope, and love that is generous, have taken up residence in me, but the greatest of these is generous love”.
When you live beyond time, there is no expiration date on God’s goodness, His faithfulness, and His justice….
The Apostle Paul says 1Corinthians 15:19 “If our hope in Christ is only in this life (or time), then we are of all men most miserable”.
The Greek word for eternity is “Aeon”… itmeans “the fullness of time.” It means thatEternity is the past, present and future are all affecting our lives at every given moment. If you look at the clock here on the wall, to the upper left. The time it shows, is what is indicated at this moment. That means that 10:00 AM is in the past and 6:00 PM is in the future. But consider the dot at the center of the clock and see that, at that spot,, then 10:00, the present time, and 6 PM are all the same, they are equally present at the dot in the center. There is no past, and no futurethere, because all is in the present, at the eternal now, or the center dot on the clock. That’s the way David writes, when he composes Psalm 139:15…
Psalm 139:15 “Your eyes foresaw my actions(in the eternal now) in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before even one of them came to be (in the eternal now)”.
God lives in the fullness of time at the center of the clock. For God, past, and future are the same as the present. God is not “waiting” for things to happen.
In the eternal now, this too shall pass… In the eternal now, All things really do work together for good…. In the eternal now… Before you call He answers, before you cry out He has heard… Hallelujah!!!
In eternity, 10,000 years ago is just as present as 10,000 years from now. Eternity (Aeon)includes all the past and future in the living present (The eternal now).
God called Himself “I Am”… In this Name, there is no past, no future, just an eternal now, in the present tense. Eternity is not a length of time, it is all time wrapped up together….from Alpha to Omega, from beginning to end, (It’s the whole ball of wax)
When the great revivalist, G. Campbell Morgan was a young man he visited two elderly ladies every week to read the Bible to them. On one of his visits, he read Matthew 28:20, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” And he said, “Isn’t that a wonderful promise?” One of the ladies quickly replied, “Young man, that is not a promise. It is an iron clad guarantee!” The Always of Matthew 28:20, is the eternal present, the eternal now of God!
I believe God would remind us all today of Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saysthe LORD. v9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. v10 For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and does not return the same way, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: v11 So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing that I sent it to do. v12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. v13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting (Aeon…the eternal now)sign (or guarantee) that shall never be cut off”.
Our life can be lived on a scale that is larger than time. Our lives can be timeless through our actions and the words of life that we speak and the lives of others we touch. His word will accomplish what it is sent into your life to do!!1
People don’t determine your attitude, YOU DO! You can determine the kind of day you’ll have tomorrow by settling it today….
Faith is having the courage to let God is write your story….Fully believe that God truly is writing your story, and will do something in your life that you would never be able to make happen yourself…. For example…
A six-year old boy was sent home from school with a note from his teacher recommending that he removed from school because he was “too stupid to learn.” The boy was Thomas Edison
In 1929 a movie giant, Samuel Goldwyn was furious with his casting director for arranging a screen test with an unknown actress. He said: “What are you guys trying to do to me? You think I’m going to hire a dame with those big pop-eyes who talks funny like she does?” Several years later, Samuel Goldwyn paid top dollar for that young woman to star in some of his hit movies. Here name was Betty Davis.
When Englishman David Puttnam offered his latest screenplay to Columbia Pictures, they told him, “I’m sorry to tell you this but your story has no redeeming value at all in the American marketplace, because of the style and tone as well as the subject matter.” Later, that motion picture Chariots of Fire won the 1981 Oscar for Best Picture.
Eternity, is living fully in the moment….Yourlife time is not about what has happened to you, it’s about how you respond to it and how you harness it for God’s glory!
The bible speaks of Redeeming the time….
Colossians 4:5 “Walk in wisdom toward them that are outside the faith, redeeming the time”.
Let me suggest to you a time line so that you can redeem the time….
First, Before you go to bed, create a to-do list of the things you plan to accomplish tomorrow. List them by priorities based on your goals in the six major areas of your life. . .spiritual, family, financial, physical, mental and social. The reason most people have trouble sleeping is the unfinished or undone things on their mind. When you write it down, you can let it go from your mind….
Second, list the great things that happened to you during the day. Regardless of how your day went. . .you have something to rejoice over, if it’s not about things, it’s how you reacted to them. Get rid of the shame, the guilt and the condemnation….celebrate that you rose above that opportunity to cuss, to get angry, to blame someone, or get even….
I GUARANTEE … you’ll sleep better at night if you end your day by Praising God.
Third, create a nightly confession about tomorrow being the best day of your life. Something like this.
"Heavenly Father, I thank you that tomorrowwill be the greatest day of my life...a day filled with opportunities beyond my imagination and expectation. A day filled with insight and divine connections. My desire is for you to be glorified in everything I do tomorrow. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen."
Fourth, never go to bed mad or frustrated.Repent of allowing it to control your emotions, cleanse your spirit, write down what you need to do to resolve it, and ask God to give you opportunity to redeem it and then let Him have it. You’ll sleep better without the toxic atmosphere it creates.
Fifth, clean up. . .pick up. . .so you’ll be ready to get up to a fresh start for the next day. Do the dishes and clean up your living area before going to bed. Believe it or not, you’ll be glad you did in the morning. It may seem like a small thing. . .but it gives you a better start when you don’t have a lot of yesterday’s stuff to face as you begin a new day.
Six, Begin your day with happy hour. I’m not talking about something you drink. . .I’m talking about getting high with the Holy Spirit, during the first hour of your day. A woman was visiting her sister and woke up to the sound of the sister singing “Amazing Grace”. She lay there a while rejoicing that her sibling would begin her day's work in such a beautiful frame of mind.
At breakfast she told her how pleased he wasthat she started her day that way. "Oh," she replied, "that's the hymn I boil the eggs by…three verses for soft boiled and five for hardboiled." (if it works, work it)
My scriptural guide for the morning is found in Psalm 5:3 in the New International Version which says: “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and go forth in expectation."
Begin each day filled with supernatural expectation about the manifestation of God’s presence, peace, protection, promises, power, promotion and provision. HALLELUJAH!
Seven, “Keep the main thing. . .the main thing.” There are always time vampires, waiting to suck up your time to make sure you don’t do what it is that you should be doing….
Eight, What you sow you will REAP… What if you were constantly thinking to yourself, what kind of harvest do I want? Do I want to harvest the seed I am sowing right now. Our entire day, we are sowing the seeds of the harvest we will reap….
As citizens of an eternal kingdom, That’s where home is, that’s where our identity is, We were made for eternity!....That’s where we belong…. We choose People Over Things,because things pass away, but people are eternal… We choose Eternity Over Time,because time will pass away, but eternity includes all time bundled together…. We choose the Invisible Over Visible, because what we see will perish with time, but the invisible things such as faith, hope, love, courage, honor, trust, integrity, kindness, and these fruit of the redeemed life are forever…..
We choose eternity because we choose Christ!
