TODAY’S SIGNATURE VERSE ••• …but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began…” (2 Timothy 1:8b-9 ESV)
PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• It is 7 AM and I just got up. This is really late for me as I’m normally up by 5:15. And it also means that I’ve been hitting snooze on the 14 iPhone alarms that have been going off since 4:45 this morning. I’m surprised my husband hasn’t been shoving my shoulder and telling me to get up.
Getting up has never been easy for me as my mother can very readily attest. I remember her standing in my bedroom doorway putting her on her foundation with a makeup sponge and yelling at me to “Get up for Pete’s sake! We’re going to be late!” I would groggily blink at her while I tried to rub both hair and sleep from my eyes and plead for five more minutes.
My alarm clock would succeed in waking everyone else up in the house and our neighbors once commented that they could hear the music from their driveway… but I could sleep through it. I can also sleep through my husband’s band practice but that’s another story… and I assume it’s clear to you why I need 14 alarms set in order to get up.
I started to mildly stress about getting up so late since I need to write this, have my study time, get ready, pick up our friend Gail, and get to church early enough for me to set up our Sunday School lesson. Yikes! My delay is going to put a lot of pressure on my morning.
I could take this in one of two directions this morning… 1) God’s delay in answering your prayers isn’t a delay. But God is always on time so there’s that (Habakkuk 2:3). Or 2) our tendency to delay responding to His calling.
And I’m not just talking about accepting Him as our Savior though that’s an obvious concern. I’m talking about our delay in responding to His promptings and direction.
Jonah is, of course, the Bible’s King of Dragging His Feet when it came to following God’s instructions (Jonah 1-4). His reluctance to do as God told him to do resulted in a fierce storm and three days in a whale’s stomach before Jonah obeyed. But unlike the Sunday School felt board edition we may remember from childhood, Jonah didn’t happily skip his was to Nineveh after learning his lesson. He complained through the whole assignment, whining about God giving grace to these people who, in Jonah’s opinion, didn’t deserve it.
Here’s the truth: when God wants us to do something, it’s going to get done. All our attempts to delay and subterfuge His assignments are only hurting ourselves. If we delay or outright say no, we will always wonder what God would have done in our lives. We will miss so many blessings!
In 2 Timothy 1:8b-9, Paul wrote, “…but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began…”
The plan and assignments God has for you aren’t arbitrary. They are purposeful and have been planned for you before the world was even created! So don’t delay! God’s been waiting a long time to use you to His great purpose!
Today, as you pray, thank God for the plans He has for your life. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you answer His calling readily and willingly.
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