In it to win it - GOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL!

How many of you are soccer fans (or football as I grew up calling the game)?  I know that I was not one of those people riveted to the screens watching the world cup games.  Yet, something about this world cup has triggered my interest.  I watched a few of the games and all I could think of was none of these teams came to loose. They were all in it to win it. They had practiced for months totalling years to get to this field and no-one wanted to be eliminated.  No one wanted to go home without the prize of being champions.  I was impressed. 

It was apparent which teams were stronger and who were less than ready for such an event.  While the end of this is still unknown, there is an end that I want to tell you about. 

This world and all those in it are going to one day face Jesus.  Only those that were in it to win it will be with him in the end. Only those that have kept their eyes fixed on the goal ahead and the final prize will be able to reap the reward.  We are all athletes.  (I find great joy in thinking of myself as such).  We are in a race.  Paul said at the end of his life, I have kept the faith and I have finished the race.  Let us allow our Lord to condition us as he is the best trainer ever.  Let us renew our minds daily to be in it to win it for the Lord.  Let us exercise with the intensity of athletes, to produce the fruit of the spirit.  Let us by prayer and the word build up our stamina and endurance.  Let us keep our eyes fixed on the prize and reach towards the GOOOOOAAALLLLLL!

Microwave prayer time - DING!

In today's world we want everything quick!  We want our lines short.  We want our service fast.  We want our meals in our mouths by the time the microwave stops turning the plate around.  We have taken that same mentality into our lives as Christians.  It's true.  We are the generation of the microwave prayers; two minutes and Ding! We're done and off to the next list of things to do.
                                              

We want to hurry the Holy Spirit along and have Him fit into our schedule, our program, our agenda.  I shake my head because while I am able to point at others, I can see myself behind the point of my fingers.  I am guilty just as much as that other woman or man.  You know them, they have a plan and Holy Spirit is not welcome to change it until after this or that.  You know them!  I can show you them right now.  Go look in a mirror, because more than likely, that person is you as much as it is me.


I am discovering some things about Holy Spirit.  He is a person, did you know that?  He is there to guide and to help.  He will tell you the truth and He will tell you what to do, when to do, and where to do - what to do.  He is in the know about what is to come and He does not hide it from those who live by Him, and quenches him not.  His word is always relevant and of great value.  He is one part of the trinity - he is God in the spirit as much as the father and the son is God.


If we would make the time for him then our lives would be forever changed.  It is hard. I know.  I live in this world too - microwave junky that I am, I get how hard it is to tarry in his presence.  I know how hard it is to wait for God to speak, long after we have said Amen. I know how the passages in the bible become jumbled beyond just a few "quick verses".  My friends, I know.


God knows that we are fragile, and are but dust.  He knows that with one breath He can erase us from this existence.  He knows that and yet he is still mindful of us.  The bible says, what is man that he would be mindful of us?  Oh how he loves us.  I believe it is time to return to the days of old, where we were not in a hurry with God.  I want to go back to the days where I was excited about his word and where his presence was where I stayed.  Let us return to the days of stove top, spending the time to stoke the flames and rekindle the fire - the fire of God.