One more night with frogs.
This week I went back to work. I felt a little rusty, but getting the hang of it again. For two weeks I didn't have to think and speak in 2 languages but just one, my own. Your mind gets a little lazy, but as soon as I received the first few calls, I was back on track again. This week I received a call in which a Reverend from a hospice was calling a husband whose wife had recently died. The Reverend was calling to offer any kind of help or comfort they could give the husband. My heart went out to him. It is difficult to loose a loved one, even when you are a Christian and you know that your loved one is going to heaven, but loosing someone and not having that assurance of heaven, must be almost unbearable. Of course people think that their relatives are going to heaven or somewhere good, but they are not sure; if you are a Christian you know better. I don't know if these people where Christians or not, but my heart went out to him anyways.
Well, now to my title. Last night at my church we had a preacher from Argentina. He is very well known through all Latin America for preaching and working with young people. He had preached at my church once before, like 4 or 5 years ago, so I was expecting to have a lot of fun with his preaching and his message and I wasn't disappointed. He preached like for 1 hour and 45 minutes, but God kept my attention the whole time. I've listened to preachers that are hard to listen to and is difficult to concentrate on what they are telling you, my mind drifts, it usually happens to me with invited pastors, not all of the pastors of course, but a few. But this pastor, I just wanted to hear more and more. And he has a special grace that when he preaches, he says a lot of funny things, very funny things (not like other pastors, that they think they are telling you something funny, and they are the only ones laughing). So at the same time you are receiving the word of God, and learning, and being rebuked, you are laughing like every 4 minutes. He has a thing with mothers-in-laws, I pity his (no....just kidding, he loves his, but makes a lot of jokes at her expense).
The title of my blog today, was also the title of the message last night. When I heard it, I thought...what is God (through his servant) going to come up with? This is the first message I've heard preached about this passage. It was very interesting. I am going to be very brief, I'm not going into as many details as the previous messages that I have posted, but I thought it was worth mentioning. The passage was Exodus 8:9-10.... Moses said to Pharaoh, "I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile."
"Tomorrow," Pharaoh said.
Moses replied, "It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the LORD our God."
Let us look at the situation. God was sending plagues to the Egyptians, so that they would let His people go. When we are talking about a plague we are not talking about a few frogs, but frogs everywhere. If you opened a drawer, frogs where there; if you cooked something, frogs where there; if you went to sleep, frogs where there; if you went to the bathroom or to take a shower, frogs where there. The Bible says on verse 6 that the frogs "covered the land". Then on verse 9 Moses asks Pharaoh to set a time, so that he can pray for the frogs to go away. And what does Pharaoh answers? You would think he would answer: "Now!", if I was him, that is what I would have said. I don't want frogs around me anymore, so please pray now. But no. He said tomorrow. What is it that makes us say tomorrow, instead of right now, like Pharaoh. When are you going to reach for your dreams? Tomorrow. When are you going to start serving God? Tomorrow, I still have a few things that I have to work on, before doing that. When are you going to ask that girl out? Tomorrow, just want to make sure that she'll say yes. When are you going to start your own business? Tomorrow, let me just save a little more money. When are you going to try to stop seeing pornography? Tomorrow. The examples can go on and on, but I think you understand. Why is it that we want to spend one more night with frogs? God can remove the frogs, but you are telling Him, no...tomorrow, just one more night.
There are some things that stop you from removing the frogs and spending one more night with them.
1) Indecision - James 1:18...he is a doubleminded man, unstable in all he does. You never can make up your mind. You'll end up never doing anything at all.
2) Perfectionism - Ecclesiastes 11:4...Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. If you wait until everything is as you think it should be, maybe you'll end up waiting a very long time. You just want everything to be "perfect". This can be a double-edged weapon (for you or against you).
3) Fear - Proverbs 29:25...Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. Fear can paralyze you, it freezes you from going forward. You are afraid of taking any risks or chances.
4) Anger - Ecclesiastes 7:9...Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. Same as fear it stops you from going forward. I keep on serving God and looking for His presence, but I will never forget what that brother(or sister) did to me. I can forgive him, but I will not forget what he did to me. If you are not able to forget, then you haven't forgiven at all. Let go of that anger.
5) Laziness - Proverbs 19:15... Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless man goes hungry. Instead of doing things today, no...I'll do them tomorrow. Tomorrow might never come. Laziness brings on deep sleep, when you are sleeping you are not accomplishing anything. Proverbs 13:4...The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. Proverbs 19:24...The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth. Be aware of laziness.
God wants to work on you and transform you to His image today. Change you today. Give you gifts today. Bless you today. Not your plans but His. Don't stay one more night with frogs.
Well, now to my title. Last night at my church we had a preacher from Argentina. He is very well known through all Latin America for preaching and working with young people. He had preached at my church once before, like 4 or 5 years ago, so I was expecting to have a lot of fun with his preaching and his message and I wasn't disappointed. He preached like for 1 hour and 45 minutes, but God kept my attention the whole time. I've listened to preachers that are hard to listen to and is difficult to concentrate on what they are telling you, my mind drifts, it usually happens to me with invited pastors, not all of the pastors of course, but a few. But this pastor, I just wanted to hear more and more. And he has a special grace that when he preaches, he says a lot of funny things, very funny things (not like other pastors, that they think they are telling you something funny, and they are the only ones laughing). So at the same time you are receiving the word of God, and learning, and being rebuked, you are laughing like every 4 minutes. He has a thing with mothers-in-laws, I pity his (no....just kidding, he loves his, but makes a lot of jokes at her expense).
The title of my blog today, was also the title of the message last night. When I heard it, I thought...what is God (through his servant) going to come up with? This is the first message I've heard preached about this passage. It was very interesting. I am going to be very brief, I'm not going into as many details as the previous messages that I have posted, but I thought it was worth mentioning. The passage was Exodus 8:9-10.... Moses said to Pharaoh, "I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile."
"Tomorrow," Pharaoh said.
Moses replied, "It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the LORD our God."
Let us look at the situation. God was sending plagues to the Egyptians, so that they would let His people go. When we are talking about a plague we are not talking about a few frogs, but frogs everywhere. If you opened a drawer, frogs where there; if you cooked something, frogs where there; if you went to sleep, frogs where there; if you went to the bathroom or to take a shower, frogs where there. The Bible says on verse 6 that the frogs "covered the land". Then on verse 9 Moses asks Pharaoh to set a time, so that he can pray for the frogs to go away. And what does Pharaoh answers? You would think he would answer: "Now!", if I was him, that is what I would have said. I don't want frogs around me anymore, so please pray now. But no. He said tomorrow. What is it that makes us say tomorrow, instead of right now, like Pharaoh. When are you going to reach for your dreams? Tomorrow. When are you going to start serving God? Tomorrow, I still have a few things that I have to work on, before doing that. When are you going to ask that girl out? Tomorrow, just want to make sure that she'll say yes. When are you going to start your own business? Tomorrow, let me just save a little more money. When are you going to try to stop seeing pornography? Tomorrow. The examples can go on and on, but I think you understand. Why is it that we want to spend one more night with frogs? God can remove the frogs, but you are telling Him, no...tomorrow, just one more night.
There are some things that stop you from removing the frogs and spending one more night with them.
1) Indecision - James 1:18...he is a doubleminded man, unstable in all he does. You never can make up your mind. You'll end up never doing anything at all.
2) Perfectionism - Ecclesiastes 11:4...Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. If you wait until everything is as you think it should be, maybe you'll end up waiting a very long time. You just want everything to be "perfect". This can be a double-edged weapon (for you or against you).
3) Fear - Proverbs 29:25...Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. Fear can paralyze you, it freezes you from going forward. You are afraid of taking any risks or chances.
4) Anger - Ecclesiastes 7:9...Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. Same as fear it stops you from going forward. I keep on serving God and looking for His presence, but I will never forget what that brother(or sister) did to me. I can forgive him, but I will not forget what he did to me. If you are not able to forget, then you haven't forgiven at all. Let go of that anger.
5) Laziness - Proverbs 19:15... Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless man goes hungry. Instead of doing things today, no...I'll do them tomorrow. Tomorrow might never come. Laziness brings on deep sleep, when you are sleeping you are not accomplishing anything. Proverbs 13:4...The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. Proverbs 19:24...The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth. Be aware of laziness.
God wants to work on you and transform you to His image today. Change you today. Give you gifts today. Bless you today. Not your plans but His. Don't stay one more night with frogs.
posted by Mary Gaby at
6:13 AM
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