The Plumbline

Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8 AMP) In order to 'keep on', one must have begun in the first place. If you have been waiting for God to answer a 'hoped for' something in your life and you have never sat down to talk with him about it, how can you expect it? It isn't that God doesn't already know what we desire, but he may need to help us clarify what it is we need, when the right timing will be, and exactly how he will meet that desire. In asking, we set out our desire. In listening, he often brings clarity we might have missed otherwise.  Ask, seek, and knock. None of these are passive. All suggest an element of us taking some form of action. Receive, find, and open are God's actions on our beha...

We are reaching the end of 2014 - for some a grateful end to a tough year, while others will look back and not even realize the passing of time.  Some will mourn the loss of loved ones, or the devastation of properties in the wake of some natural disaster.  Others will celebrate new life coming, or the advancement into a new place in life's journey.  Regardless of mourning or celebration, it all comes to an end and it is the end which also marks a new beginning.  We don't mourn forever - this is not God's way.  We don't celebrate without something also taking us down a pathway of "lesser" enjoyment - this is the way growth occurs.  It is not uncommon for us to judge the end of something to determine if it was worth the journey - the final scene determining the value of the whole.  We forget the "middle" simply because the beginning and the end stand in such stark contrast to each other at times.  Yet, it is the middle where the rubber hit the roa...