Let's Make a Promise

After hearing the Wednesday message last week, I was so excited. One might even say I was giddy. I was giddy like a child who just won a $500 shopping spree to nearest toy store. I was so excited to receive revelation that I even prayed before I slept, "Why wait until tomorrow? I'm ready to receive revelation now!" I went to bed without any inspiration, but I was no less determined to receive it.

I woke up the next morning at my normal time and prayed  earnestly for a little over an hour still hoping to receive revelation, but I got nothing. Before I finished praying I said, "I haven't lost hope because you promised. I'll live today with joy waiting for that one word you might have to say to me." So I went through my day earnestly pleading to God, trying to tug on his heart strings. My goal was to look a lot like a puppy begging for food. You just can't resist that.

I watched the day go by looking for anything. I stared at the sky. I listened to people talk. I just sat and prayed. I went out to evangelize. I read the Bible. I read the Wednesday message again. Nothing hit me. It was like I had gone deaf or something. It was getting late and I was about to start praying before I went to bed and I thought to myself, "God. You promised." Then the inspiration came: "Don't break your promises."

It hit me like lightning and my heart was moved so I prayed an earnest prayer. "God you are always faithful to your promises. That's why I always get so much joy from what you say, receive grace, and live my life with hope. If you only followed through as earnestly as I did I don't think I would ever believe what you say. I really did not know that you wait for human beings to fulfill their promises with such earnestness like that." Remembering all the promises I made, I made up my mind to absolutely fulfill them.

If I could have I would have pinky-swore with God right there. Regardless, I felt God was relieved to hear what I had to say. I continued to pray about promises over the next few days and I realized how many times God must have heard promises from people that never got fulfilled. I thought, "Promises are not just things you say with your lips, but things you purpose in your heart. I'm sure everyone wants to follow God with all their heart if they really believe in Him, but how many actually do that?" Then the verse came to mind:

John 14:15  “If you love me, keep my commands."

What was at first guilt had at this point turned into love. God gives so many commands in the Bible and it might seem like he's so authoritarian and oppressive, but even when I received inspiration like this that initially sounds somewhat angry, it's an anger expressed out of love. If I never kept my promises, then I would never realize how valuable it is that God promises things and absolutely follows through with it. Thus I would never really know just how much he loved me. It would just remain a vague idea in my head rather than a palpable feeling in my heart. So I realized that God when God gives a command, it's not for the sake of controlling you. It's actually a promise to give you blessings if you fulfill your promise to follow it. So I prayed to God, "Let's make a promise."

Tying the Knot

Today is a big day for me. This morning I finally, successfully got a gamification system working on our bible study interactive website, www.BibleStudyInteractive.com. It's something I've been trying to figure out for 2 years now. And tomorrow we have our first meeting with the online lecturers to begin American Providence's first round of online bible studies.

After many hours on the computer I went for a walk to take in the beautiful weather. I ventured off to a part of the neighborhood I've never been to more than 4 times in my whole life. There I found a broken swing. The rope was tied really well on one end of the plank, but the other end wasn't tied properly so no one could sit on the plank and swing.

I untied and unraveled the second rope. I undid all the knots and kinks. Then I experimented with some different knots and got it working. I didn't think I would be able to figure out the last part just before the end. The knot was working, but the plank wasn't sitting evenly and it was too late to undo the first knot. But then I stumbled upon an easy fix for the last knot.

The swing now works perfectly. The tree isn't very tall, and the swing is a little high above the ground, but it works securely.

On the way home I thought about it. I asked the Lord to help me realize something deep through the swing. I began to think about what is the role of a person sent by God? Thinking about the broken swing I realized that the original plan for the swing was good, all the materials are perfect, but because that one important part had become unraveled and couldn't be done properly, the swing was not able to fulfill even 1% of it's purpose. I came by and fixed it, and probably no one will know who fixed it. But they'll be thankful. And who knows, maybe later on, after swinging, someone will be inspired to make an even better swing.

Like this, humanity is too often unable to fulfill God's original purpose. The materials are all there. The original purpose and design isn't flawed. But there is just that one thing that needs to be fixed. In this way the person sent by the Lord visits, fixes that one essential part in secret, and all of humanity is able to function as long as they follow that new path of God's history.

Then I watched the movie, "We bought a zoo." The zookeepers worked so hard and sacrificed so much to prepare the zoo on opening day. All their hopes rested on whether people would come or not on opening day.

Seeing this I thought about American Providence. So I asked the Lord, "Lord, will they come [the large crowds of people]?"

I felt the Lord smiling down on me, "Are you kidding? Of course they will. Didn't you believe when your were told they would?"

The Lord's kindness was so hopeful, but then I asked very sincerely, "But Lord, why haven't they come already?"

*special note - "tying the knot," has double meaning. It refers to the broken swing, and it is also a colloquial way to saying to get married

"They did actually. They came, but they left. It was because no one knew how to tie the knot [properly]."