Galatians 1:11-16
11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
13 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.
14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace,
16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood.
I love how the apostle Paul gives us this account of how God worked in his life. Paul says, “But when it pleased God.” Not that is interesting to me. God is in total control. He allowed Paul to persecute the church, he allowed Him to be zealous against those who called themselves Christians, yet when the time came for Paul to become a Christian, God grabbed him.
It was in God’s timing not the Christians who were being persecuted. God allowed Paul to be used to hold the coats of those that stoned Stephen to death, God allowed Paul to throw Christians into prison, but when God was ready for Paul to come to Him, He revealed His Son and the rest is, as they say, history.
What I want to remind you of today is that nothing happens that is outside of God’s timing. Many times we pray for things to happen and when they don’t follow our time frame we get bent out of shape. We need to remember that God is working in all or our lives to fulfill His plan in His time. He will work His way, in His time, for His purpose.
How many Christians do you think were praying for God to remove Paul from the scene or to change his mind? I’m certain that this man who had been terrorizing anyone calling themselves Christians was considered an enemy of the kingdom and was constantly in the crosshairs of their prayers for God’s judgment to fall upon him.
Yet that wasn’t what pleased God. Instead God would take this enemy of the kingdom and use him in a mighty way to give us the majority of the New Testament. When it pleased God, in God’s time, to fulfill God’s plan, in God’s way, God worked His purpose.
Keep that in mind today as you wonder why God hasn’t answered your prayer the way you want it answered. Much of the time we are asking God to give us a microwave oven solution to a crock pot problem. Things are always worked out better when what works out pleases God.
Buphounctunty Anrielelin Hiembetle http://napechke.com - Senanamaso Benwremerorak http://napechke.com
Posted by: ordikeKideMek | 02/03/2012 at 02:18 AM