Strikeouts & Home Runs

Reggie Jackson struck out 2,597 times in his baseball career, more times than any other player in baseball history.

You'd think that would make him a colossal failure.

But Reggie Jackson also hit 563 home runs, played on 5 World Series champions, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Reggie Jackson was no failure, despite the fact that he struck out more times than any other player in baseball history.

You're going to strike out - a lot - in your life and in your ministry.

But learn from your strikeouts - your mistakes and your errors - and apply what God teaches you through them.

Then confidently step back into the batter's box.

Because you're also going to hit a lot of home runs.

Philippians 1:6 (NKJV) - "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ ...."

The King

Elvis Presley died on this date in 1977.

When adoring fans would call Elvis the King, Presley would respond, "I am not the King. Jesus Christ is the King. I am just an entertainer."

Waiting

Noah had to wait about 100 years from the time God told him to build an ark until the time that it actually began to rain.

Abraham had to wait about 25 years from the time God told him that he would have a son with Sarah until the time that Isaac was born.

Joseph had to wait about 13 years in prison before he became Pharaoh's second-in-command in Egypt.

Moses had to wait and spend 40 years tending sheep in the desert for his father-in-law before God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land.

Waiting on God can be agonizing.

We know what we want, and we want it right away.

But frequently God's timing is not the same as ours.

Frequently God makes us wait, in order to measure our faith, strengthen our faith, build up our perseverance, and produce patience within us.

It is never easy to have to wait.

In fact, it can be excruciating.

But in Psalm 27:14 (NKJV), David, who had to hide in caves and wait for 10 years while Saul was trying to kill him, says, "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!"

Later, in Psalm 37:7 (NKJV), David adds, "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him ...."

Wait on the Lord. Rest in the Lord. It may not be easy to do, and in fact may be very painful at times, but let God strengthen your heart, and trust confidently in His sovereign will.

Open 24 Hours

Heaven is open 24 hours.

It never closes.

God is always available for you.

Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV) - "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know."

Potter & Clay

Isaiah 64:8 (NKJV):

"But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand."

God is the potter.

We are the clay.

God controls the clay.

Not vice versa.

Account

Romans 14:12 (NKJV):

"So then each of us shall give account of himself to God."

What will you say?

How will He respond?

Sow & Reap

Galatians 6:7-8 (NKJV):

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life."

Are you sowing to the flesh? Then expect to reap corruption. The majority of people, including many who call themselves Christians, reap corruption.

Are you sowing to the Spirit? Then expect to reap everlasting life. Few in number are those who will reap everlasting life, in comparison to those who will reap corruption instead.

What are you sowing?

What are you reaping?

Your eternity depends on what you are sowing and what you will reap.