Don’t pick the fruit, it’s still green


A man holding a flute, smiling warmly in a formal setting.

Have you prayed and prayed for something, yet there was no manifestation?  How often did you not wait for the fruit to ripen, often insisting on picking it while it was still green? Of course, you have. The demand for instant results has permeated our society.

As an example, you have a meltdown while waiting on the phone listening to an automated message. In your frustration, you scream at your phone and proceed to hit the “0†button repeatedly until a live person answers.  In 2003, the Journal of the American Medical Association linked impatience to increased risk of hypertension among adults.

Or perhaps you have grown impatient while waiting in lines. Recently, while I was standing in a long checkout line at the grocery store, the checkout process seemed to take too long, so I switched to another line. Ironically, I picked the wrong line. The person who took my place in the line that I had just left, checked out before me.

Surely, these are harmless examples, but what if you hastened the end-result, and adversely changed the intended outcome? One such example in the Bible was of Abraham and Sarah; they did not wait for God to give them the son that He had promised (Genesis 16:1-2).

“God moves in His timing, not yours. He is never late, but He is usually not early either. He is often the God of the midnight hour. He sometimes waits until the last second before He gives you what you need. Before He intervenes on your behalf, He has to be sure you are not going to take matters into your own hands and do something out of His perfect timing. You must learn to trust God’s timing. But first, your self-will and your spirit of independence must be broken so that God is free to work His will in your life and circumstances. If you are waiting for something, set aside your own timetable tonight. Trust God and believe that while you are waiting for your breakthrough, He is doing a good work in you for His purpose.“[1]

Charles Henry Parkhurst enumerates below the many benefits of waiting patiently.
“Patience eliminates worry. The Lord said He would come, and His promise is equal to his presence.
Patience eliminates weeping. Why feel sad and discouraged?  He knows your needs better than you do, and His purpose in waiting is to receive more glory through it.
Patience eliminates self-works. “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent†(John 6:29) and once you believe, you may know all is well.
Patience eliminates want. Perhaps your desire to get what you want is stronger than your desire for the will of God to be fulfilled.
Patience eliminates weakness. Instead of thinking of waiting being wasted time, realize that God is preparing His resources and strengthening you.
Patience eliminates wobbling. “He touched me and raised me to my feet†(Daniel 8:18). God’s foundations are steady, and when we have His patience within, we are steady while we wait. Patience yields worship. Sometimes the best part of waiting is ‘experiencing great endurance and patience…JOYFULLY.’ (Colossians 1:11).

In Jeremiah 29:11-14 it says that God knows the plans he has for you, plans for well-being and not calamity, plans to give you a future filled with hope.  And when you call upon Him, it says that he will listen to you. And if you seek Him with all of your heart, it says that you will find him.

Wait patiently, therefore, for it surely will take place.  Wait patiently for God’s promises because he will not disappoint those who seek him with all their heart.  “It won’t be a lie. If it’s delayed, wait for it. It will certainly happen. It won’t be late.†(Habakkuk 2:3, GOD’S WORD Translation).

Copyright 2016 by Bill Hutzel

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FOOTNOTE

[1] http://www.centralbaptistsaltpoint.org/2013/06/todays-scripture.html

Due to a lack of patience, tomorrow is cancelled


A man holding a flute, smiling warmly in a formal setting.

When has your tomorrow become today because you just couldn’t wait?  Stress can do that to you. Stress makes you believe that everything has to happen right now.

As an example, there is nothing wrong with companies selling more and faster, but often mistakes are made when they do not weigh the risks of a faster turnaround against releasing a product on schedule.  I recall a time when my company couldn’t wait for tomorrow and nearly cost our customer hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost sales due to a reckless and hasty decision. It was as the cliché goes – “egg on your face”.

I was the Quality Assurance Manager of that small software company.  I was always thorough in testing a product for release, but sometimes there was the pressure to make a product release sooner than the planned release date. Best case scenario was that we would just have to work longer hours and weekends to get the job done, but it would be at least tested. The worst case scenario case was that we would release a product that was not thoroughly tested, and that could bring the customer’s systems to a crashing halt, as in the following case.

Worst case scenario – I received an urgent call from our customer when I came into work one morning. Unbeknownst to me, a software enhancement request had been fast-tracked “out the door†for a minor bug fix, sooner than the next planned release date. I was not kept in the loop, and as it was prematurely released without my knowledge of or testing of it, I was in a quandary as to why their computer systems were down.

Stress levels, as you can imagine, were very high, so I logged on remotely to the customer’s database to diagnose the reason for the system crash.  My mind was whirling. Was it my fault that their systems were down?  It had also crossed my mind that it may not have been my fault, which perhaps the customer had not provided me with a complete set of test data for running successful tests in-house. In either case, we would have to work overtime until the problem was fixed.

After testing remotely, I could not reproduce the reported problem.  “What release are you running?†I asked.  They replied, “product release 51”.  “No, that cannot be correct. Please check again”.  The customer checked again, and repeated, “Release 51â€.  Again I thought, that could not be correct.  “Your last product release was 50â€.

Because of the dire emergency of their systems being down, I now had to escalate the problem and involve our Vice President.  Seemingly embarrassed, he said, “Oh, I released the product to them last night. I didn’t think that a simple bug fix would be a problem. ”

Fortunately, we were able to back out the bad release and restore the last good release so that the customer’s system was back up and running.

Whatever the negatives of not having a new product release over having an emergency release, a risk assessment should have been made to decide if the risk of releasing it sooner outweighed the risk of having it later.

“What good has impatience ever brought? It has only served as the mother of mistakes and the father of irritation.” ― Steve Maraboli

Similarly, when we are tossed and perplexed with doubts about what God is doing in our lives, we must watch against the temptation to be impatient.  When we have poured out our requests to God over and over, stop to listen to his word and spirit about what he should say to us, for much trouble in life is because we don’t wait upon God to answer our hurry up prayers. In turn, we fail to receive God’s blessing because we are not moving forward with Him.  

Don’t try to control destiny by making tomorrow happen today. “If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place.” (Habakkuk 2:3, NLT).

 

Copyright 2016 by Bill Hutzel

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Only in the darkness can you see the stars


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“Only in the darkness can you see the starsâ€. – Martin Luther King Jr.

From experience, I know that we all experience struggles and challenges in life, and at times we may feel like giving up, that all hope is lost.  Yet, all we have to do is look up and see the stars through the darkness.

“Jesus Christ is the light that keeps shining in the darkness. True light and life comes only through faith in Him. Expect to receive from God more than you ask or imagine as the Holy Spirit gives you understanding and brings light into your life.â€[1]

Lord, the Light of Your Love is shining,
In the midst of the darkness shining,
Jesus, Light of the World, shine upon us,
Set us free by the truth You now bring us,
Shine on me. Shine on me.

Shine, Jesus shine,
Fill this land with the Father’s glory.
Blaze, Spirit blaze,
Set our hearts on fire.
Flow, river flow,
Flood the nations with grace and mercy.
Send forth Your word,
Lord and let there be light.

Lord I come to Your awesome presence,
From the shadows into Your radiance.
By the blood I may enter Your brightness,
Search me, try me, consume all my darkness.
Shine on me. Shine on me.

As we gaze on Your kindly brightness.
So our faces display Your likeness.
Ever changing from glory to glory,
Mirrored here may our lives tell Your story.
Shine on me. Shine on me.

– Song lyrics “Shine Jesus Shineâ€,   Cliff Richard

Copyright 2016 by Bill Hutzel

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FOOTNOTE

[1] BSF Lesson 1 Notes on Book of John

 

To Be, We Must, We Will — WE ARE!


A man holding a flute, smiling warmly in a formal setting.

We are the wheat[1]; we are the wheat-harvest[2]. There will never be an unripe time for us to serve God and all of our humanity, and there was never a more ripe time such as now.

If we survey the troubled waters that have engulfed our world, it is all too apparent that we have lost who we are. Our humanity lies in shambles before us, but we can give it life again.

To do this, we must simply come back to God and return to who we were originally created to be: the mirror image of God Himself. It is only in Him and through Him that we will find everything we need, everything we seek, and everything we were meant to be.

May God bless you abundantly.

Inspiration by Dahlia Grgic, 2018
email: fromeverlasting823@gmail.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dahlia Grgic is an emerging public speaker who simply enjoys interacting with humans more than computers. Although she has a degree in Computer Science and currently works in Information Technology, her vision and true passion are to restore our humanity by serving, teaching, and healing.

The drive behind her motives?  God, and a compassion, love, and charity for all people.

FOOTNOTE

Excerpt from www.biblemeanings.info/Words/Plant/Wheat.htm

[1] Biblical meaning of wheat = love and charity

[2] Biblical meaning of wheat-harvest = is an advancing state of love and charity. The reason why a wheat-harvest signifies an advancing state of love and charity, is that a field signifies the church, and thus the things of the church; and the seeds sown in the field signify the things of good and truth; and the plants born from them, such as wheat, barley, and other grains, signify the things of love and charity, and also of faith. The states of the church in regard to these things are therefore compared to seedtime and harvest. 

Going to the Mat


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Do you know what it means to go to the mat? It means to struggle or fight until either victorious or defeated. Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14,“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize …â€.

Many of you are watching on TV the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. These athletes trained hard to get there. In fact, these athletes have trained for years, persevering and enduring both physical and mental hardship in order to be able to win a medal.

Marlene Moncho, Pastor of Spiritual Development & Family at Zarephath Christian Church, drew a parallel between athletes in training and the Christian’s spiritual fight. “Spiritual growth comes through going to the mat, resistance training, foot work and punching the bag, beating against the flesh, exercising our faith, as most of our growth does not come from Easy-Street or Broad Street, but it comes from the Narrow-Street as we walk with the Lord.â€

Whether you are trying to hold a marriage together, or you are facing financial struggles, or you are facing insurmountable problems at work, or you are suffering physically in your body, this is the training ground where you go to the mat and learn to be strong.

So when you are tempted to give up and succumb to your deepest worries and afflictions, press on toward the goal of winning your challenges by fervently (serious in intention, purpose, or effort; sincerely zealous) praying, reading the Word, praising God, and putting on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:11).

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize†(I Corinthians 9:24). In this verse, the believer’s life is defined in terms of athletic metaphors. Paul  compares himself to runners who competed in the Isthmian games. These games were held every two years in Greece near Corinth. Unlike today’s Olympic Games where the winner is awarded gold, silver and bronze for first, second and third place, respectively, in the Isthmian games there was only one winner. Vince Lombardi, legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, impressed this winning attitude in his football players when he said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”. Lombardi, however, was misquoted according to James A. Michener.  What he intended to say was “Winning isn’t everything. The will to win is the only thing.”  In other words, make every effort to win, “straining toward what is ahead” (Philippians 3:4, NIV).  GOD’s Word translation says “Brothers and sisters, I can’t consider myself a winner yet. This is what I do: I don’t look back, I lengthen my stride, and I run straight toward the goal to win the prize that God’s heavenly call offers in Christ Jesus”.

In the Isthmian games, those who won the race were awarded a crown of dried celery as their prize, a prize that Paul described as “one that will not last” (verse 25). But for the believer, he focuses their attention towards heaven with the goal of receiving an imperishable crown”.  There is the greatest encouragement, therefore —

Train hard,

Persevere with all your strength, and

Never give up.

I recently read a post by Marlene Moncho that inspires and encourages us to grow stronger regardless of our circumstances by keeping our eyes heavenward. Were it not for her struggles, she said, her deeper growth in Christ would not have been possible.  “Recently, I had gone through a window of not feeling well, and went through a series of hospital scans. Having a history of cancer, of course that concerns ….”  (CONTINUE READING GETTING STRONG NOW) by Marlene Moncho.

 

Copyright 2016 by Bill Hutzel

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