Happy Thanksgiving

Wow; time really flies fast. Here we are in November and it is almost Thanksgiving and then Christmas right after that. My life is disappearing right before my eyes; and yours is too; right before your eyes.

Psa 90:10-12 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

This Psalm was written by Moses, the Man of God, it says in the title; it is actually a prayer; a prayer for mercy, for rest. I pray like that many times; and this year I have prayed like that more than I can remember; and God has not ever left me or forsaken me, or you.

Teach me to number my days Lord; I should be counting....Moses says that the number of our years is seventy or perhaps eighty years; it had been decreed by God that the number of man's years should be one hundred and twenty years, no more, Gen 6:3 Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years."

But now Moses's experience says that it is seventy, and if by reason of being healthy and strong comes to eighty; then it is just pain and labor; total decay and decrepitude. Oh the second law of thermodynamics; the inescapable reality of the curse of sin.

I have learned; I have been taught, I should say; to number my days. Just like Moses prayed, I prayed and God showed me; I have numbered my days and they are not very many; at this point I am closer to departing to be with the King than I was yesterday, we all are.

I guess the question should be: have I gotten a heart of wisdom? Or like the KJV says; have I applied my heart unto wisdom? And, have you?

If I am only going to live 70 years; that means 25,550 days, and if you are 40 years old, like I wished I was; that means that 12,775 of your days are already gone by, and you only have that many days left. But if it so happens that you are one of those people that live for the weekend, well, you only have 1,875 weekends left to live.

What happens if you are 50 years old, like me? Your days are reduced dramatically: you only, I should say, I only have 7,300 days left; or in simpler terms, 1,042 weekends left, or about 260 months.

One thousand weekends left does not sound like a lot of time. In fact, it is not. When you get used to thinking about your life in weeks, instead of days; it gives you a really different perspective about what you should be thinking about in life.

I have no more time to complain about anything in life; and I have no time to waste in things or people who are more concerned about this world than the next; I just don't. I don't want to sound mean, but I am, in fact, tired of wasting time in the same old things that people waste their lives pursuing; money, success, houses, the corporate ladder, cars, and pleasure and everything else this world has to offer. I'm done with it.

Don't get me wrong; I still want to have fun; I still want to spend time with my kids, and my grand kids; and I want to ride my motorcycle; and shoot guns, and play guitar and sing worship songs and do bible studies, and all that; but my outlook in life changed completely since I broke my back at work. I am not saying, either, that I don't enjoy the things God has provided for me; on the contrary, I enjoy everything more than before.

My great pleasure in life is now to hear God speak to me; to see His hand move in my life everyday; from the moment I wake up to the last minute awake, I know I am exactly where God wants me to be, it is very simple. I don't have houses, and cars and motorcycles and money and toys; what is the point in having those things if I'm only going to be able to use them one thousand times more and then I'm gone? Besides, God has blessed me with more than I deserve and I have learned to be content; all I need is in Jesus; anything else is vanity.

I am not leaving anything behind but words; words, I pray, of wisdom to my children; words of love that shall be remembered for another twenty five thousand days or so. That's it. That is my legacy.

One day coming, I will wake up in the likeness of the King; one day my eyes shall see Him face to face; and on that day I will be completely satisfied; no more toil, no more pain, no more tears, no more struggle with my mind and my desires, no more need of anything, the day is coming, faster than I think.

Our day is coming, that is for sure; of that we can be confident; one day we will die and get rid of this flesh; that day we will not have this body of death to contend with; there is not going to be more internal warfare; no more strife between the Spirit and the flesh. No more slaughter of illegal aliens driving on the freeway, and constantly asking for forgiveness for my heart's deceitfulness. Eternity is coming.

I told the story about how God answered my prayers with shooting stars; seven different times in three nights; some people just mocked it, "some people spiritualize everything", I heard someone say; another brother said: "I guess if you just look at the sky long enough you'll see something"; what a disappointment. Instead of rejoicing with me and praising God that He was merciful to me and moved the stars with His finger to communicate His will to me; these brothers just doubted, or maybe they were envious; I don't know but I'm sad for them, they are my brothers and I love them the best I can but I don't feel like hanging around them, they're a drag.

If you are in need, and you pray to your Father in heaven, and right after you ask a question to your Almighty God, He sends a hummingbird to fly right in front of your face, and this little bird is just looking at you three feet from your eyes; do you think that was a coincidence? Or do you "spiritualize everything" and just think that was the finger of God showing you how He cares for the birds of the air, and He cares more for you than them, and He knows your need and is going to meet it? Whatever man.

I don't have time for that; I am done with that kind of empty perception and I am not willing to spend my valuable time with people like that. I agree, I need to love the brethren; and I need to be patient; and encourage those who are weak (not that I am strong, not at all); and weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice; and strengthen the feeble minded and the discouraged ones; but there is a limit.

To me this Christian thing is a very serious matter; this is not a game; it is in fact a matter of life and death. If you don't see it like that; I don't know what to say, I don't think it's up to you to get the same perspective; I think that is the work of God; Jesus Himself even said it: John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

You can't believe on your own; God has to do a supernatural work in your heart for you to believe; it is an undeniable reality, you must be born again, and then you can believe. How can a death in trespasses and sins person believe in Jesus Christ? It is impossible. You must be born again first. God must give you birth; and then He must increase your faith through the heavenly gift of His word.

Did you choose to be born in this world? I don't think so. In the same way you cannot choose to be born of the Spirit, Jesus was clear about that; just read John chapter 3 if you don't believe me. You can't make a decision when you're dead in sin and you are a child of wrath even as others; your natural mind is opposed to God Almighty and you are at enmity with Him; that means you are an enemy of God and He hates His enemies with perfect hatred; (Psa. 11:5; Eph. 2:1-3).

Your eternal perspective, as well as your eternal destiny is in the hands of God; He is the one who decides where you go after you die, not you, not me. People have a hard time with this, but I didn't make it up; God did; that is what His word teaches.

Anyway; life is disappearing right before my eyes, I am painfully aware of this fact, but I am joyfully aware of my destiny. A human being without a sense of destiny is like a desperate animal; like a squirrel in a cage, always running, never getting anywhere; some others are always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth; it's pathetic.

At any rate; my recommendation to you is: count your days and apply your heart to wisdom, eternity is coming, and for some of us it will be here sooner than we think. And by the way, happy thanksgiving.