Devotional Guide
For the week of January 15, 2006
CHRISTIAN DUTY
Understanding a change of plans
To Read: Zechariah 1-3
To Know:
³ I want you to know, brethren, that I have often intended to come to you
(but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest
among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.² (Rm. 1:13)
Being forced to change plans is rarely ever fun. Being forced to do anything
feels like a deathblow. My original discharge from active duty was scheduled
for October 18, 1961. Because I joined the army on October 18, 1958, I was
due for discharge on the same day in 1961. In peacetime the army was liberal
in granting early discharges. An ³early out² was allowed me in order to
enroll at Texas Western University. The month before my new discharge date
the Soviets walled in the East Berliners. The Pentagon feared that the
U.S.S.R. was preparing to invade Western Europe. Whenever Nikita Khrushchev
wanted to make America scream, he squeezed Berlin; but a wall across the
city was more than a nuisance.
President Kennedy went into action. The leader of the free world decided not
to discharge any serviceman with world war threatening the West. Within
eighteen hours of hearing from the president that I was to serve another
year in the army, I heard from Jesus Christ that my sin was forgiven. Hidden
inside the worst news I had heard in my life was the greatest good news
anyone on earth can ever hear. Today I praise God for changing my plans.
God changed Paulıs plan to visit Rome so he wrote them a letter instead. A
visit would have blessed the Romans but his letter has blessed the whole
world. A study of history shows that Paulıs letter to the Romans has been
the age long instrument of the Holy Spirit to call people out of darkness
into light. This letter has demonstrated remarkable power to reach into
Satanıs domain to rescue sinners and make them citizens of heaven.
To Do:
Should we not submit all our plans to the Lord?
01186$-01186
.
|
