Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 GOD’S WORD Translation
Everything in God’s Own Time
3 Everything has its own time, and there is a specific time for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and
a time to die,
a time to plant and
a time to pull out what was planted,
3 a time to kill and
a time to heal,
a time to tear down and
a time to build up,
4 a time to cry and
a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and
a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and
a time to gather them,
a time to hug and
a time to stop hugging,
6 a time to start looking and
a time to stop looking,
a time to keep and
a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear apart and
a time to sew together,
a time to keep quiet and
a time to speak out,
8 a time to love and
a time to hate,
a time for war and
a time for peace.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
As this new year of 2024 begins to unfold before us, it’s vital we take time to both reflect on what God has done, allow him to prepare us for what’s to come.
A new year marks a fresh opportunity to center life around the goodness of God.
I pray that as we all begin looking toward what is to come we will allow God to unfold before us will, make space to gain God’s perspective, ground your hopes and pursuits on his grace, and celebrate all God has done and is, will be doing.
Begin to renew your mindsets from 2023 to 2024, May your time with God this week and beyond will be filled with the loving presence of your heavenly Father.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 GOD’S WORD Translation
Everything in God’s Own Time
3 Everything has its own time, and there is a specific time for every activity under heaven:
The seasons of the year which have just passed by were created by the powerful hands of our heavenly Father speak of the need to slow down, stop, and reflect.
With the Word of God for His Children in hand, times of reflection create space for God’s Spirit to speak, helping us remember what he has done, making us aware of what he is doing, and stirring our hearts for what he wants to do next.
God is the Author of Creation, God is the Author of all life, God loves to use a change in season to remind us to center our lives around his pervasive works.
Whether it be a change in jobs, weather, moving, our health, our wealth, or the day to day unfolding of a new year 2024, it’s crucial that we make space for God to live in us, ro speak to us, prepare us for the wonderful things He has planned.
Quite Literally, Everything Begins and Ends With God.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 The Message
There’s a Right Time for Everything
3 There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:
2-8 A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.
The best place to begin reflection is in remembering.
I don’t know whether this past year was one filled with heartache or laughter for you, I do not know whether you experienced loss or brand new beginnings.
I don’t know whether in the year 2024 you will cry more tears of joy or sadness.
But please take heart right now that the #1 truth is your heavenly Father does.
And whether 2024 becomes a year to remember or to forget. recall it’s in quiet remembrance He wants to comfort you, rejoice with you, wrap you in His arms.
It’s in sacred and most holy remembrance that He wants to bring about healing, He wants to impart His grace, love, perspective – take time today to remember.
Next, resolve to take time to ask the Holy Spirit for revelation on the present.
Just as our seasons help us to remember the past, they beg us not to stay there, they beg of us to ask of God for the grace of God to move up, live in the present.
The indelible truth is God is doing a mighty work in and around you right now.
This is a time for faith and deep encounters with the transforming love of God.
This is a time to savor the beauty of the current and to rest in the goodness of the immediate.
Creator God is always going to be present to meet with you, love you, fill you.
He has more than sufficient strength, grace, comfort, and joy for you if we will renew our mindset, make space to receive the fullness of what He wants to give.
Resolve then, in the name of God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, to take time today to savor.
Lastly, God longs to fill you with hope and expectancy for his future plans.
The new year of 2024, filled with its infinite possibilities and also infinite new beginnings, is moment by moment, quickly unfolding right before your eyes.
Your heavenly Father, Author of your very life, who weaved you together in your mother, who dwells in all of eternity, longs to prepare us all for what is to come.
Moment by precious moment, He longs to lay a foundation for our days our year with a fresh anointing, fresh revelation of His love, faithfulness, and presence.
He longs to fill you with hope and desires that he will see through to fruition.
Resolved: Take time today to allow Him to prepare you for all next year holds.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
May your time in guided prayer be marked by clarity and revelation in the Holy Spirit as you engage in these three practices.
Guided Prayer:
1. Reflect on this past year.
What were your triumphs? What were your failures? How did God meet you in both? Allow Him to comfort you in any pain and rejoice with you in any victory.
“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.” Deuteronomy 7:9
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
2. What is God doing right now?
What is He teaching and instilling in you? What is He calling you to savor?
“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:31-34
3. Ask God to plant hopes and dreams for next year in your heart.
What do you want to see happen personally next year? What do you hope God does in and the now through you? What good works has He prepared for you?
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
May Galatians 6:7-10 stir within us a covenant commitment to fully engage in the season in which God has you and me:
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Psalm 100 The Message
100 1-2 On your feet now—applaud God!
Bring a gift of laughter,
sing yourselves into his presence.
3 Know this: God is God, and God, God.
He made us; we didn’t make him.
We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.
4 Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
Thank him. Worship him.
5 For God is sheer beauty,
all-generous in love,
loyal always and ever.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 