CHAPTER 23: ASK GOD FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO CONTINUE 2024
There’s a lot of reasons why you or I could not go to work today. Our country is at war around the world, our businesses are in trouble for this reason or that reason, our health could be at risk, accidents happen, political regimes could in fact ruin everything. And yet here we are preparing for whatever is next on the list, in our own little bubble, provided for by God. We are given an opportunity to continue today. If we realize that Chapter 23 becomes a prayer Key of Gratitude in the highest order. How grateful to have what I have this very day? “Please, Lord, let me continue..”
Romans 13:11-14
New King James Version
11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
A single prayer “the opportunity to continue.” In His grace and mercy we have this day, even the wretched sinners that we are.
Daniel 9:4-19 New King James Version
4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.
The world is coming apart. America is coming apart. Ezekiel 38-39 tells me a godless world is going to bring us into Armageddon by a just and righteous God. The World has quit asking God for help and yet here we are, blessed.
Psalm 71:7-8
I have become as a wonder to. Many, But Your are my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled with Your praise And with Your glory all the day.
Let me be clear about the Bible. It is a very unique book, it tells me the future, only God could know prophesy. Why does He tell me in scripture the world ends? Because He wants me to be happy with this very moment, knowing I am not promised tomorrow, I am still safe with Him, safe to do what needs to be done today, for my business, in my business, my family, my life, giving all the glory to God, whether the world ends or not it is of no matter to me.
Ezra 9:8
New International Version
8 “But now, for a brief moment, the Lord our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place[a] in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage.
I finally realize what I have and know how easily all of it could change.
“Jesus, in the midst of the storm, allow me to continue in Your Holy Grace to bring honor and glory to the King.”
Can I, in the short time left, be used by the Lord to bring hope to the hopeless? An example of Jesus? An honorable goal.
In 1915, Albert Einstein apologetically offered “a note” to a messenger boy in lieu of a tip, saying that it could be worth far more one day than a tip. He was right. Some years later, 95 years to be exact “The note” bearing Einstein’s “Theory of Happiness” sold at auction for $1.56 million. It said, and I quote.
“A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.”
James 3:13-18 New International Version
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Frank T. McAndrew, a Professor of Psychology at Knox College, wrote. “That’s why people who have supposedly reached the apex of happiness – lottery winners, successful entrepreneurs, and celebrities – often don’t seem much happier, sometimes even worse off.” Good information..
5 THINGS THAT INTERRUPT YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO CONTINUE
- Out of control schedule will foil your whole life
- Misplaced priorities (anything or anybody more important than our Lord)
- Discouragement – you decide your a victim and you want out
- Abundance of the Flesh, too much party time, complacency
- Parasite sins: I feel so guilty that I disconnect from God.
Deuteronomy 30:9,
God will prosper the works of our hands if our hearts are fully turned towards him and we are walking in obedience.
James 4:13-14 New King James Version
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow [a]we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
I’m only here for a moment and so are you. It is important to praise and honor God for what He does while I’ve got the chance. How many seconds do you have left? What would you do with yours if you knew it was a sixty second count down.
Acts 20:24
New King James Version
24 .. that I may finish my [b]race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
In a few seconds, I’ll get off this phone and God willing help somebody just like you, only because of the mercy, grace and wisdom of our Helper, the Holy Spirit that resides in each and every one of us. Do you get this? Are you hearing me? We are not promised yet another moment, so in each moment, we are allowed to grasp the opportunity to ignite God’s will in our lives and the lives of others. Are you hearing me?
Psalm 66:20.
Blessed be God Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His mercy from me…
In the Bible, Moses begs God for mercy and not to destroy the Israelites in Exodus 32:11-14: Moses asks God to not destroy the Israelites because he brought them out of Egypt with great power and strength. He also reminds God of the promise he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to make their descendants as many as the stars in the sky and give them the land as their inheritance. Moses appealed to God’s love for Abraham and his work protecting Israel. He also suggested that other nations might misunderstand God’s actions. God relents from his wrath and does not destroy the Israelites. Prayer answered, the opportunity to continue for all of Israel.
We are sinners, not capable of entering Heaven. Christ bore the cross on our behalf, paying the price for sin. Isaiah 53:5-6 says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” He was raised from the grave, we are now free from the power of sin and death. Anyone who believes in Christ has new life just as he was raised from death to life. The Opportunity to continue for all eternity.
There are many examples in the old testament of God allowing his sinful people to continue, one more time. The prayer is answered time and time again throughout a 1500 year period and then the Lord Jesus arrived on the scene and settled it once and for all, we all have a chance to continue, use it wisely. You could be anywhere today, or not here at all, we could all be in the midst of a civil war, or a world war, instead, for the moment we are here preparing for this days work. Thank you, Jesus. Chapter 23, Ask God for the “Opportunity to Continue His work for you, 2024.” Amen.
BOOK I Psalms 1–41
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers..but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
