winding down or winding up

"to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven" eccl 3:1

i feel a change coming in my spirit; a change of some things winding down as perhaps others are winding up.  i think even the heathen world is sensing something happening, though they find it indistinguishable. 

it is almost three years now since the Lord began having me write these "dailies" as i call them.  i was sent home in hospice with a DNR order placed on my wall because i refused a feeding tube.  BUT GOD!  but God had other plans.

the Lord brought purpose into my life just when i thought it was ending.  that's what our God does.  He picks up the wounded and dying and breathes life into them again.  i know i haven't always been listening attentively enough or expressed it all as eloquently as the Lord does but i have tried to be obedient in this last phase of my life.  i know i have drawn closer to Jesus and wondered wonders i never have before.

could i have done it all much better?  without a doubt, in my own eyes anyway.  but He uses our imperfections if we let Him.  "therefore most gladly i will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 cor 12:9  as a dear friend used to say, "let go and let God."  He will take that sinful, broken vessel and turn it to something useful and beautiful.

i have so often wondered why  the insignificant "I" was chosen to live in these end times.  why were any of us?  i believe this is the most significant time in history since our Lord Jesus walked the earth.  i just stand amazed that i was chosen to live in these times.  we all were chosen.  scripture tells us so.  "and He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings" acts 17:26

mock me (as others do) if you wish, but scripture says, "wisdom is justified by all her children." luke 7:35  the wrath of God is about to be pored out on all flesh and Jesus will receive us to Himself before that time; a time which could possibly (even likely) be this year.  i can already hear everyone saying, "no one knows the day or the hour."  we are also told, "but you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief." 1 thes 5:4

even as the world frolics in it's gaiety and exuberance without restraint, their sin is openly displayed and being met and measured by God.  they are "weighed in the balances, and found wanting." dan 5:27  their sin has not been concealed by the blood and now it is too late.  "He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever." psa 103:9

no, He will not keep His anger forever.  seven years is enough to confine His displeasure and wrath.  in their ignorance and spite they claim they were made this way or that God made a mistake.  in truth it was their own lust for sin that shaped them.  "let no one say when he is tempted, 'i am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.  but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." james 1:13-14

we all steer our own boat. free will allows that.  each boat has many passengers in it.  these are those the Lord has put into our paths for a purpose.  we must seek to fill each with enough faith and fear to keep them from jumping out of the boat before the shore has been reached; faith in the promises of God and fear of the awesomeness of His power.

imminency - it tells us we live on the edge of eternity.  the rapture might happen at any moment.  however, as the moments become days and then weeks, months, and years, we struggle to maintain our eager anticipation of Jesus’s appearing.  we see so many biblical signs of the end times and yet we wait and wait.  i know it’s not easy, not at all.  the silence in most churches regarding our “blessed hope” makes our expectation all the more difficult to maintain.
 
we know His timing, like everything else about, Him will be perfect.  so are we winding down or winding up?  perhaps both i think.  Father, "let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight." psa 19:14  guide my boat and others to a safe harbor and a full deliverance.  i am but a passenger as well.  You steer for You see a way through the fog surrounding us.