Light Me Up!

Matthew 25:3. During my Zoom small group time with wonderfully wise women this past Thursday morning, I was smacked in the face with a vision of standing with oil in my lamp. We were discussing our homework and the question focused on Matthew 16:27-28.

I particularly like the ESV Version, "27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

The parable of the Ten Virgins is basically that 10 virgins went out to meet the Bridegroom (Jesus Christ) and half had not only their lamps but had extra oil and the other half - well not so prepared.

And then my mind goes to living in South Florida during Hurricane season. After many years of making sure we are prepared - just in case, we have a cabinet in our garage with lots and lots of batteries, led candles, Spare water like crazy and in our backyard shed - extra gas for our generator. Not only that, but we take our generator to get tuned up just in case. Not to mention we have shelf stable foods in our pantry for the entire hurricane season as well as extra food for our pets.

Back to the story.... ALL of the virgins fell asleep while they waited for the Bridegroom. At midnight He arrived. All of the virgins woke up and "trimmed their lamps." A lamp is trimmed when the wick is turned either up or down to regulate the amount of flame. If a lamp is empty of oil, it does not matter how much one trims it—the lamp will go out when the oil is consumed.

Okay so - - - I immediately ask myself at this moment in reading the parable, Will I be the wise virgin and my light will shine brightly? And question two, Will I share my oil with the foolish virgin beside me? Because the virgins (not sure how many out of the 5 with an oil shortage) did insist (rather pushily I might add) that the wise virgin(s) donate some of their oil. They did not ask basically.

The answer was, "No." The 5 virgins were more focused on the Bridegroom and not having their light burn brightly before their God. So the foolish virgins ran out to Home Depot to buy more. And as they were having their oil scanned at the Self Serve Checkout - Jesus arrived!

And boy did they miss a banquet worthy of a King! The door was shut. Ouch! Bunny trail - we also covered Isaiah 22:22 in my small group time this past Thursday which was truly a bow on this gift of the Parable of The Ten Virgins.

Isaiah 22:22  22And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. - ESV Version.

The door shutting is actually even more painful as I read that after the foolish virgins hoofed it back to the waiting place (and they must have knocked or yelled loudly - not sure which). The called out, "Lord, Lord" and asked Him to open the door to them. Jesus's response, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you." is quite surprising, no?

So the end of the story in this parable is the exhortation basically to keep watch because you do not know the time - the hour when Jesus Christ will return. So keep your lamp full, have extra in your Hurricane Cabinet and get ready to grab it! 

When I ponder my own life and ask myself if I am ready. I feel I am halfway ready. I have oil in my lamp, but not the extra jar. What I mean is, I am so focused on other earthly endeavors that often I am not 100% truly prepared for Jesus's return. I SO relate to those 5 who had to make the road trip to stock up. I mean, I would remember to bring my lamp and it would be full of oil but I would most likely not bring extra unless I had it on a sticky note on the stearing wheel of the car.

Is that sad? Yes. I make To Do Lists, Costco Lists, Fresh Market Lists, and on and on daily but neglect the One True List - my What Are You Doing For God Today List.

I should not need a list at all to remember God. To be prepared with my light burning as long as need be so that I am ready and waiting for whenever that Wedding Banquet may be. I don't want to have the door shut in my face and be told No by my Creator. I mean, It is a wedding after all and I cannot imagine being late to my own wedding so how much more does God deserve my preparations being a priority?

How about you? Are you ready? Are you now inspired to become ready? Or even questioning why a lamp and extra oil are mentioned in this parable when Jesus could have just shot straight with a mandate of Be ready for My return! 

God loves us so much He wants us to GET IT so he spoke in Parables in the Bible. I want Him to light me up and stay lit on into eternity..........

Don't Just Wait!

I remember during college, I attended a play called Waiting For Godot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot . It was so boring!!! I was waiting for it to end. I spent my time thinking of other things and and my mind wandered to many other things. As I looked around, I was kind of surprised I was the only one not intrigued by the two characters throughout the play. I never understood what that play was even about as it took soooo long to get to the point!

Today I thought about the disciples waiting in the Upper Room as Jesus instructed them to not leave Jerusalem (Acts 1:4). I wondered how they felt sitting there together waiting. Did it feel like the time spent waiting seemed like forever? Were they excited? Clearly, they understood that Jesus did not tell them to wait and do nothing. They prayed (Acts 1:14) as well as got busy picking a new disciple as the Word tells us in Acts 1:26.

No doubt it was a highlight of their entire lives when the Holy Spirit descended upon them (Acts 2-1-4)! Can you even imagine it? No doubt they paced, but they were praying too. They were preparing. They were purposeful - and productive.

During our August Springs For Life https://springsoflife7.wixsite.com/john414 Tuesday evening time of prayer, my sister in Christ Fay me of Ecclesiastes 3. It is so good I have to share it here and now!

A Time for Everything

1For everything there is a season,

a time for every activity under heaven.

2A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to harvest.

3A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

4A time to cry and a time to laugh.

A time to grieve and a time to dance.

5A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

6A time to search and a time to quit searching.

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

7A time to tear and a time to mend.

A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

8A time to love and a time to hate.

A time for war and a time for peace.

9What do people really get for all their hard work? 10I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. 12So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. 13And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

14And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. 15What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.

The Injustices of Life

16I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt! 17I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.”

18I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals. 19For people and animals share the same fate—both breathea and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless! 20Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust. 21For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth?22So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is our lot in life. And no one can bring us back to see what happens after we die.

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Footnotes:
a3:19 Or both have the same spirit.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 

by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 

Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Bible Hub

In this recent past season of my life, God had been allowing me to have a struggle with hot flashes. I know, I know, this is part of Perimenopause! However, I had been managing it with supplements quite well but unfortunately had tried a different supplement which did not work so well for my thyroid. And so, my hair started to fall out and worse than that, I was restless every night with hot and cold and just sleepless nights. The second week into this "season", I just surrendered to trying to sleep at all. With my 8 animals snoring around me and my hubby deep in sleep, I determined instead of being upset that I was awake and alone, I prayed. 

I prayed for so many needs and when I ran out of people to pray for, I asked God to bring needs to mind. I actually fell asleep about 4:30 every morning after being woken just about the same time every night at 2:00 am. The funny part is that when I initially went to bed, I slept soundly for about 4 hours. Looking back, I see God was giving me enough rest to wake me up so that I could lift others up. I also realized I was not praying for myself. Yes, I prayed for everyone but myself. In the wee morning hours one day, God taught me that I must pray for myself as well as others.

Now having good sleep, looking back - I know that this was a blessing. For I had been waiting to go back to sleep every night for two weeks without thinking of anyone but myself. And how I would be tired in the morning. Instead I learned to actually pray for myself and others. And I was never tired in the morning after that but fully refreshed and with a pep in my step!

I encourage you if you are in a season of waiting on God for no matter what - - that you get busy praying. Talk to God out loud even if you can. Like a friend. But He is so much more. And He will share with you in the waiting How Wonderful, How Magnificent He is! Yeah, counting sheep sounds like the solution, but really - - so much more can come out of spending time in prayer - - - while you wait.

Dear God,

Thank you for teaching us while we wait that we can be focused on others in prayer. Thank you for allowing us to be excited about seasons of waiting - whether it is waiting to fall asleep, waiting for a bus or waiting for something which is not fun to end. So many of us struggle while we wait when You have given us waiting as a time to reveal  Your handiwork in each of our lives. That we would not waste time but redeem the time - no matter in the early am hours, in college or in the days of old in Pentecost as in Acts. We love you Lord and are so grateful You love us right back! In Jesus Name, Amen. And Amen.

Please consider joining Springs Of Life (S.O.L) for monthly prayer. We meet via Zoom.us monthly on the second Tuesday of each week for 30 minutes beginning promptly at 7:00 pm est. For more information please visit www.bluewaterbro.com and see the Springs Of Life link on the homepage or visit us directly at https://springsoflife7.wixsite.com/john414