Wonderful Opportunities

Life is full of opportunities, but they say opportunity knocks once. As I am reading a lesson on Pre-encounter to an Encounter with God, opportunities are in abundance. It changes my outlook on opportunities. As long as we live, we could have these opportunities, the four wonderful opportunities that would change us ...

1) The Encounter Opportunity

This struck me the most..no matter how far we have strayed from God, we can STOP right now and TURN BACK to Him. Remember the story of the prodigal son? The son made the decision to return to his father's house looking for a second chance. (Luke 15:11-20), we can do the same thing by deciding to have an encounter with our Father God. Anyone ...ANYONE .. who desires to have an encounter with God CAN do so. God is always close to us, as close as the air we breathe."We are His offspring"(Acts 17:27-28).

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:13

2) The Reconciliation Opportunity

We can have true reconciliation with anyone if we recognize our sins, and our faults and ask for forgiveness. The same thing with our God, ACKNOWLEDGING our sins, REPENTANCE and ASKING for His forgiveness, and RENOUNCING all the evil we have committed. When we do this, God stretches forth His merciful hand toward us. 1 John 1:9 assures us: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness. Just like the prodigal son, seeing his fallen condition he decided to come back so as not to stay in that condition and take the risk to find a new opportunity. An opportunity to be in his father's place once again.

"I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against You. I am no longer worthy to be called Your son; make me like one of your servant men." - Luke 15:18-19

3) The Restoration Opportunity

As to how an old painting is being restored by its painter, a new set of coloring kits is being dabbed in and a time spent to bring back its natural and original beauty, God does it to His sons. All of our sins deserve punishment, but God allowed His Son Jesus Christ to take our place and pay for our sins. Just like the father in the prodigal son, he decided to restore his lost son's dignity when he came back and ask for his forgiveness. He ordered a fattened calf to be a sacrifice in honor of his son's return. 

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8

4) The Provision Opportunity

As children of God, we have all the privileges that we could enjoy. God considers us His dear children, making us participants of the same riches and glory as Jesus Christ. Once, we had lost these privileges because of sin. Coming back to Him, He dresses us in the best garments, puts the best shoes on us, and gives us the ring that represents the authority we now enjoy as His children and heirs. God treats us as His beloved children.

"Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." - John 1:12

In general, when there is an opportunity, there will be an encounter a new task, a new life. Opportunities would open a new door to a new beginning. Specifically, these opportunities are always available to us, life-changing opportunities, to begin with.

When You Are Hopeless..

image credits to thegoodbook.com/blog/ministry-blogs

I've chanced upon to watch this video...what I could say is.."Oh my God!"..these are people who seem hopeless but managed to survive despite their disabilities. I thought of my 5-year-old daughter who wouldn't be able to walk, because of a congenital defect. I am hoping for her...Hoping to see the day she could walk or excel in everything she does despite her disabilities, despite what she went through and what she will encounter as she grows up..and for all the people out there, watch this video, with courage and determination and God's help, nothing is impossible...

Hoping is believing...Believe even when others don't. Believe even against the darkness all around. Believe even when it is impossible. Believing is having faith...And we have a BIG GOD to have a BIG FAITH..(",)

#faith #hope #hopeless #believe #nothingisimpossible

The New Year And New Hope

 

Image credits to commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:
Gate_into_Forest_Reserve._Rancho_Naturalista_-_Flickr_-_gailhampshire.jpg

"The Gate of the Year"

GOD KNOWS

- Minnie Louise Haskins (1908)

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart bestill: 

What needs our little life  

Our human life to know,  

If God hath comprehension? 

In all the dizzy strife  

Of things both high and low,  

God hideth His intention.

God knows. 

His will Is best. 

The stretch of years  

Which wind ahead, so dim  

To our imperfect vision,  

Are clear to God. 

Our fears  

Are premature; 

In Him, All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until God moves to lift the veil  

From our impatient eyes,  

When, as the sweeter features  

Of Life’s stern face we hail,  

Fair beyond all surmise  

God’s thoughts around His creatures  

Our minds shall fill. 
---------

This poem became popular and caught the attention of many people when Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) handed a copy of it to her husband, King George VI, and used it as one inspirational quote in his Christmas Broadcast in 1939. God Knows is the original title given by the author but it is popularly known as Gate of the Year.

It has also caught my attention as it was a part of our family devotion before the turns of the year.  (Using some of my devotional pieces from my subscription in  crosswalk is really a blessing, authored by different remarkable Christians who stood by their faith.) This poem is a think tank on what lights can do to move in the darkness, to see what is known, to see what lies ahead this new year..and yet the most that we can do is to sink our hands deeply to God so He would light and lead us into the path of the unknown. 
"He who trusts in the Lord will be exalted," (Proverbs 29:25) Nothing is better if we could light our path by following His words yet there is more than reading it...if we could hold on to Him knowing He wouldn't lead us astray... so whatever the struggles that we have left behind, a new hope for this new year is to keep holding on to His promises, trusting God, and let Him lead us.

And as we make the turn to a new year, a face that needs and sink our hand more deeply into God's hand. Pray for one another that as we embark upon a new year, God will grant us and our family His favor.