Any Day Now

I try my best to not watch, listen or read anything before I write my blog entry. I want to hear clearly from the Lord without any influences. This is much easier when I write in the morning! Well, today, I wasn’t feeling well so I stayed home in the bed. When I got up, I was dragging. This was primarily because of the medicine I am taking but partially from a little pity party I was having. So I went against my normal routine and turned on Bishop Noel Jones. I felt like if I could make an exception for anyone it would be him and there was good cause! I listened to the whole sermon and he was inspiring as always but in the last 5 minutes he said a phrase that woke me up. ANY DAY NOW!  Now to some that might not mean anything but if you have been facing any type of trial or struggle in your life that should have made your spirit jump! I know it did for me. So today, we find ourselves in Galatians 6.

Bishop Jones was dealing primarily with verse 9. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”(NKJV) True, that’s enough to make you shout, isn’t it? If we can just maintain ourselves through the storms that we face, we will reap a reward. It’s certainly not easy to do. Our flesh often wants to convince us to give up or act ugly. But the first part of verse 8 reminds us that “those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature.” We cannot afford to base our future on what our flesh wants us to do. We are waiting on our due season, our “any day now”, so we have to live according to the Spirit, for “those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.”

I could have stopped right there! The reassurance that any day now, I will see the manifestation of God’s promises to me was enough to bring me out of my pity party. But then I kept reading chapter 6 and something really struck me. Paul gives us some key advice on how to continue to maintain ourselves as we wait for our new season.  He reminds us of the cross! This is particularly important as we are in the week after Easter. Often times, we quickly forget what we have just celebrated but Paul gives us a road map of keeping the cross in the forefront of our minds. He says in verses 14 – 16, “As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.  It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.  May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.” (NLT)

My “any day now” is here because of the cross! Because of what Christ has done, I am a new person, transformed by His grace and His forgiveness and renewed by His sacrifice. Every day that I wake up, it is my due season because God has shown me grace and mercy to see another day. That’s why we cannot get tired of doing the right thing or worry about what the world thinks about us! We have to just keep our eyes on the Spirit and wait for our next harvest.  So when you start to get weary, and it looks like your storm will never end, think of verse 17. Paul says, “from now on, don’t let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus.” (NLT)

God did not promise that our lives would be easy but He did promise to never leave or forsake us.  “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” (NLT)

Be blessed and encouraged! AMEN