His vision, His way, in His timing

"Then God said, 'Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about'" (Gen 22:2).

Have you ever wanted something so bad that you would do almost anything to get it? Have you ever gotten so close to fulfilling a dream only to have it disappear right before your eyes? Such was the case for Abraham.

God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. He would have a son. However, Abraham panicked when Sarah aged beyond child bearing years and tried to help God by birthing Ishmael through Sarah's servant, who was not the promised son. Eventually, Isaac was born, who was the promised son.

However, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son on an altar to demonstrate his obedience to God. Truly, this is one of the hardest instructions given to one of God's people in all of scripture. It compares only to the Heavenly Father sacrificing His own Son. God intervenes and allows a ram to get caught in the bushes nearby, symbolizing the Lamb of God as a prophetic sign of what is to take place in the future.

God often births a vision in our lives only to allow it to die first before the purest version of the vision is manifested. This has happened several times in my own journey. Oswald Chambers observes, "God's method always seems to be vision first, and then reality, but in between the vision and the reality there is often a deep valley of humiliation. How often has a faithful soul been plunged into a like darkness when after the vision comes the test. When God gives a vision and darkness follows, waiting on God will bring you into accordance with the vision He has given if you await His timing. Otherwise, you try to do away with the supernatural in God's undertakings. Never try to help God fulfill His word."*

When God's vision is finally birthed, nothing will stop it. Our job is to allow God to birth His vision through us His way and in His timing.

wow... thats really fast.. we are at the end of this week's relationship principle again!! :) its amazing how fast time flies.. and soon its the dreaded EXAMS!!! haha kk i dunno why i wrote dat. i think cos my brain has been fried by the first aid workshop yesterday..

anyway, even as i was reading today's chapter, i was wondering what i could share.. cos its so straight forward. its so true, its easy to follow.. all it takes is that little bit of time and effor that you place to get all the pondering and seeking done..

anyhow, BEFORE u guys look at the picture below, i want u guys to read this first.. the first person to decipher it and put on d tagboard.. gets... ... ... [ok. who am i kidding? all of you looked at it straight away b4 even reading the rest.] anyhow, i created dis lil picture below..


what is the first thing that stood out to you when you saw the picture? i'm quite sure all ur answers will be "I" the super mega huge "I"... *if it differed for anyone of u pls let me know. may needa book u in for a session wif our psychologist aletheia.* jkinjkin..

ok.. serious stuff.. revealing the answer.. its.. "I have sinned, I am forgiven"

one thing that striked me the most is that while trying to understand "I have sinned, I am forgiven" and trying to show mercy, its most difficult to not judge the "should have known better" person.. i must say i have first hand experience with this.. its often too easy to expect much more from the person. to raise the standard higher for certain people. and when people don't meet the expectation, when people fail you, when people don't do what is required, its so easy to get upset with them. to judge them and say he "should have known better" than to do this or that..

but as i look back on that picture.. and see the big "I" that was right at the top.. and it struck me.. everything is about me. it is MY standard, it is when people fail ME.. when people don't meet MY requirement.. oh my... sound like such a selfish paragragh. urgh.. but as a matter of fact, yes.. it is very selfish..

and then i realise i need to replace all the I, MY and ME with God! we need to see things with God's standard. when we try to reach an expectation, it should be God's expectation for us.. you fail no one else besdies God when you don't accomplish what HE has in plan for u.. and it goes the same for other people..

all these brings me back to the same point.. that We all have sinned, and We all have been forgiven by God's grace, by God's perfect plan for us.. How about adding on to yesterday's chapter about letting God be the final judge, and really start learning how to understand the "I" test at the top and let God's grace and mercy flow out through us to others!