a life wasted

I was browsing around IHOPs site today, specifically some of Mike Bickle's teachings and I came upon a note he had written.....

  "In Oct. 78, I had a supernatural encounter in which Jesus said, “You are saved but your life was wasted”. I protested, “You have the wrong person.” The thought came that it is impossible to manipulate the Man Christ Jesus. I cried, “Can I have another chance?” The next thought came strongly that it is appointed unto a person to die once then comes the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). I wept with a profound sense of loss and regret. What matters most about our life is what Jesus thinks when our eyes meet. I fear “regret” more than anything else in my life."

He wrote how when he came to he was kneeling on the floor weeping instead of lying in his bed.  

Can you imagine?  Coming face to face with God... His beauty, majesty, glory... and hear him say to you... "you are saved... but, you're life has been wasted"

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing

  “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 

For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

 

 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, 

‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

--Matthew 25:34-45 

Learn to do right!
Seek justice,
   encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
   plead the case of the widow. 

--Isaiah 1:17

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world

--James 1:23-24

 

This is the stuff.....

I heard this song on the radio a few days ago and it hit home......

I lost my keys in the great unknown
And call me please 'Cuz I can't find my phone

This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff that's getting to me lately
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff that gets under my skin
But I gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing
It might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

45 in a 35
Sirens and fines while I'm running behind
Whoa

This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff that's getting to me lately
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff that gets under my skin
But I gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing
It might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

So break me of impatience
Conquer my frustrations
I've got a new appreciation
It's not the end of the world
Oh Oh Oh

This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff
Someone save me
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff that gets under my skin
And I've gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing
It might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

Oh Oh Oh Oh
This is the stuff You use

-- This is the Stuff, Francesca Battistelli




An unknown author writes......

“A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.
Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily. 
But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. 
It never was able to fly.
What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.”

I get it.... we go through struggles, we're supposed to... we won't become what and who we are supposed to become unless we go through hard times, struggles, persecution...  still doesn't make it any easier, does it?  It doesn't for me.
  I still struggle with a situation; with being frustrated and the annoyances related to it so I haven no solution to it in this post.  I'm still working through it.  I just keep asking God to take away any anger that arises.  By being upset probably won't help me to learn what I am supposed to be learning or "grooming" me in the way I am supposed to be groomed.
  Sometimes it takes a little while for my mood or attitude to change, whether it is me not fully letting go, or just the sometimes "slowness" in the process.
I can't remember where I read it... but I did recently, I tried trying to re-find the verse but I've finished a couple books in the past week or so so I really have no idea where it came from.  It said something about being happy in the moment, and not allowing something to take that away.  I really wish I could remember it, or that I had written it down, it was perfect for this time.

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing" 

-- Ecclesiastes 3:1-22 

"He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding." 

--Daniel 2:21