Posted on

If You’re Not Careful, It Will Be To Late

For those who are awake, not woke, but awake, we share a feeling of urgency. Some, because of how uncomfortable the state, ignore it while others are driven by it. Still, others feel trapped and don’t know what to do with it.

The scriptures always contain the answers. If we want wisdom, if we want to know what to do and make the fewest mistakes possible, we must be people of the Word. In what sounds like sadness, or a realization that comes late, Moses prays this prayer recorded in Psalms 90:12. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

Doesn’t everyone want to know what to do? Yet, there is a second and equally powerful need. To know when to do it. Former chairman of Chrysler, Lee Iacocca, once said, “Even the correct decision is wrong when it was taken too late.” 

We must understand that time is the only commodity that you can’t get back. It’s more powerful than money because you can’t get more. You only have what you have. The body of Christ must act now. Whatever you’re planning to do for God must be done now. Whatever witness you are going to be, be it now. Whomever you are going to reach, reach them now.

To us as a country. We must take action now. There is no more time. It isn’t enough to know what must be done. We must do it now, or it will be too late. We know what wisdom tells us, so let us not be fools. Whatever happens, will be because of what we did or did not do.

Dt. 31:7 “Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it.”

Our children will inherit what we cause them to inherit. The burden lies with us. Don’t wait any longer. Be strong. Take courage. Take action. Pursue an inheritance of great value and help them lay hold of it before time runs out.

Jaime Luce

Photo 71114394 © Goshiva | Dreamstime.com
Posted on

When God Closes A Door

After enduring the years of mocking and unbelief, the day had come when all the preparation was finished. God gave Noah the final instructions. Get your family in the boat because, in seven days, everything is going to change. So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him. 13 “That very day Noah had gone into the boat with his wife and his sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—and their wives. 14 With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal—domestic and wild, large and small—along with birds of every kind.15 Two by two they came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes. 16 A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.” Genesis 7:13-16

There are times when we have labored, worked, and obeyed. We did the work alone while standing against the mockers and the nay-sayers. We did everything the Lord asked us to do, and then God closes a door. It can feel isolated and cut off. It can seem like a tight, narrow, and limited space. It can even stink! Nothing seems solid. The ground continually moves under your feet. There is no stability for what seems like an eternity.

You may question if this is actually God’s plan for you and wonder if you heard Him correctly. But when God closes a door, it’s for your protection. When God closes a door, He’s redirecting you. He knows that the landscape of your world is changing, and you won’t survive it if you aren’t shut up with Him and shut out from your yesterday and all those who wanted to hold you there. But the flood you are experiencing is serving to carry you to a new mountain top with a whole new view and perspective.

Keep checking the dove’s (Holy Spirit) response. He will let you know when the floodwaters are no longer a danger to you. While you made the preparations not knowing what was coming, God has been making the preparations for all that is new. And when that door opens, it will be a whole new world.

Jaime Luce

Photo 184850667 / Ark © Nonneljohnvilbar | Dreamstime.com
Posted on

How To Reign

Death beds produce weighty final words. You don’t waste them when time is running out. You don’t bother with the things that don’t matter. Even in crime movies, the person dying utters the name of the perpetrator or a dying family member emits their last chance at an “I love you” or an “I’m sorry.” You say the things that need to be said. You say what matters most.

So what did King David, who reigned over God’s people, say to his young and inexperienced son? What were his final instructions for becoming a king? In 1 Chronicles 22:12, He first tells him to keep God’s law, and then he will prosper, which is always the prerequisite. But then he gives instructions in v.16. “Arise therefore, and be doing, and the Lord be with thee.” In other words, Get Busy! But busy doing what?

What did David prepare so fervently for so that no time would be wasted? For this one thing, he left nothing undone so that what mattered most would be taken care of. What was so important? To build the Lord’s house! Not how to grow your kingdom or how to defeat your enemy. No. Instead, he gave him the key to a successful reign. Do what God says and build his house. That is what a God-king teaches his kids, and we should do the same.

Don’t waste time building your kingdom where moth and rust corrupt. Build Gods! David layed up ahead of time, all the money, the furniture, all the building materials, and all the labor. He prepared and planned and gave lengthy instructions for one thing. He then told Solomon to get busy doing it. Get up and build God’s house. 

Folks, like David, time is short. Don’t waste another minute or your substance on your own kingdoms that will someday vanish away. There is one Kingdom that will never pass away. There is one Kingdom that is eternal and where the work will never be wasted or lost. Seize your final moments before Christ returns. He is coming for a glorious church. So “Arise therefore, and be doing, and the Lord be with thee!” 

Jaime Luce

Photo 161719365 / Becoming King © Artmim | Dreamstime.com
Posted on

Your time is Now!

In the early morning hours that Saturday, my phone rang. I knew it couldn’t be good. A close friend had just got word that the company we were both using to build our swimming pools was bankrupt, and we wouldn’t get our pools finished or our money back. I told my husband as I hung up the phone what she’d said. In that exact moment, a peace I can’t explain washed over me. I turned to my husband and said, “even if we are the only ones, God is going to finish our pool.” I knew it to my core.

I told my family, who agreed to come so we could pray. We all marched around that giant dirt hole and rebar, praying and claiming victory. As we finished, my mother said, “God is going to turn your water into wine!” And He did! We contacted the newly jobless foreman and workers and paid them each week. They built us a pool worthy of a Hawaiian resort. Anyone who saw it said it was so beautiful they’d never leave. And they were right! God had turned our water into wine. We paid far less than what it would have cost had it been done any other way. God used that pool for many salvations and baptisms.

When Mary asked Jesus to fix their problem of no wine in John 2, Jesus said, it’s not my hour yet. But Mary didn’t care about that. She needed an answer now. She refused to take no for an answer. Her actions backed it up. She told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them. She made it His problem and not hers.

It doesn’t matter if people tell you it’s not your time. It wasn’t time for the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 6 either, but Jesus honored both hers and Mary’s faith. It doesn’t matter if your need is for family or physical healing or whether you have a financial or situational need. The time is now!

Hebrews 11:1(KJV) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Now is the time! Not later. Now! Be bold and believe and see your water turned into wine!

Blessings to you and yours,

Jaime Luce

Photo: is the actual pool

Posted on

Raising A Child King

A boy becoming a king is the stuff great stories are made of. It isn’t just a fairytale. World history and Scripture record this many times over. Fulin, the Shunzhi Emperor was 5-years old. Elagabalus, the Roman emperor was 15-years old. Tutankhamen, better known as King Tut, was 10-years old. Josiah, King of Judah, was 8-years old and 2 Kings 11 tells the story of the child king Jehoash. After reading this account I couldn’t help but think of the weight of raising our children with kingship in mind.

Revelation 1:5-6 says, “and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” We find no discrimination of age put on these appointments. 

We are living in a world where adult life is hurled through the screens at our children at a pace we can’t seem to keep up with. It is shields up 24/7/365 if you are a parent. It is alarming to realize at the same time, so many are not grounded in a church home. I grew up in the church and I can’t imagine where I would be had that not been the case. We attended church Sunday morning, evening and Wednesday nights. These were just the regular services. Then there were all the children’s and youth activities or special services and events. My best friends were those from my youth group. Life revolved around the house of God.

The Federalist posted and article entitled “Is It Baby Boomers’ Fault Millennials Are Leaving Religion And Less Likely To Go Back?” by Joy Pullmann. Near its end she gave a statistic that said, “Americas with very high levels of religious involvement during their childhood are about 10 times more likely to pray or read with their children (87 percent), attend worship services with them (84 percent), or send them to Sunday school (80 percent).” I could not help but see the validity and power of raising our children in the house of God faithfully as it correlates to this topic.

The age of technology has encroached on all boundaries of our lives changing how we do everything. It has even resulted in changing how church is attended. Many never darken the doors of a church building. Instead we have EChurch. Bibles were books we opened to read. Now its Bible apps on our phone or tablet that never look at us beaconing us to pick it up and read it or show us the proverbial dust indicating we haven’t read it.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m glad we have them. It gives us the ability to watch online when we are unable to attend for travel or illness and have a bible no matter where we go. We can watch services from all over the globe that we could never attend. It is truly a blessed time with no shortage of bread for the hungry but it doesn’t come without a trade off. It begs the question.

How does this affect our children?

To my knowledge there aren’t any online kids services. Even if there were, kids need the interaction and participation you can’t get through a TV screen. You don’t learn what a pastor is and how he cares for his people. You don’t learn what it is to serve the Lord by serving his people. You miss out on the scripture contests and games that made learning about the Lord so fun. Let’s face it. We all need that personal touch after a week of living counter culture. There is a palpable difference in worshiping and praying in agreement with others of like faith for both adults and children.

2 Kings 11 gives us a great pattern. To paraphrase, the mother of the reigning king of Judah had been killed. His mother decided to kill all other heirs and take over herself. The half-sister of the former king took the youngest heir Jehoash and hid him with his nurse in the house of the Lord for six years. This entire time he was being taught by the priest Jehoiada who put a plan in action to protect the heir and crown him king. His plan was successful and Jehoash was crowned king at the tender age of seven.

Three things jumped off the pages to me.

One, if you want your children to rule and reign then raise them in the house of the Lord!

Our identity is found in Christ so if we want our children to know who they are and what their purpose is, then by all means get them into church where they can meet the one who formed them, called them and purposed them.

Second, do not discount or look down on the children just because they are children.

They are valuable and the enemy knows it. Why do we fail so many times to see it? Children have the capacity to be kings. Jeremiah 1:7 says, “But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.'” Then in Psalm 8:2 it says, “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, that you may silence the enemy and the avenger.” Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

If we don’t go to be trained how do will we train our children?

Thirdly, in 2 Kings 12:2 it said this. “Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.”

This child turned man reigned, pleasing God all the days he was instructed and taught by the man of God. I want my children and grandchildren to do well all their days as I am sure you do. Our children are kings in training. Some of them will rule at delicate ages with difficult life circumstances to navigate through. They will need what the church has deposited into them. If they don’t have it they will look to the culture that shifts with the wind for guidance.

Instead of ruling they will be ruled.

The sad commentary is that after the priest died king Jehoash was turned away from following the Lord. It does not matter how old we get. We still need to find ourselves in the house of the Lord learning and leaning on what we are taught. We don’t outgrow our need for the church and His Word. It isn’t just an institution. It’s the family of God. It’s a stronghold of safety.

No house is perfect and no family is without flaws. But the good news is Jesus is the sinless one. He is without blemish or error. He is the rock we build our lives on. Don’t be fooled by the propaganda. Church is not old fashioned, outdated or irrelevant. We need it more than ever. Our child kings need it more than ever.

Make no mistake. There is an enemy who wants to kill the king in them.

Hide them away in the house of the Lord.

 

Blessings to you and yours,

Jaime Luce

 

Photo by Pixabay