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In The Garden
"Preparation
Precedes Blessings"
Osella Clabaugh
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Thank
You! God Bless You!
Scripture Text:
"And he said, Thus saith the Lord, make this
valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye
shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that
valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink,
both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts."
II Kings
3:16-17
When you have to go to the dentist to have some work
done on your teeth, you often have to take an antibiotic
for a few days before you go to have a root canal or to
have a tooth extracted to make sure everything goes ok.
If you have to go have physical test done you almost
always have to fast from midnight until time for the
test, so the medical doctor can get the best results. As
your baby grows, you do not just let them sit in a
carrier or stay in their crib all the time. You have to
get them up and love them and work with them on learning
to sit up and then crawl and then walk. I know of a
very precious little boy who turns 2 years old this
month. He cannot walk and is just learning to crawl,
which the doctors said he would never do. Why, because
his mama left him in a carrier all the time and I do
mean all the time and would leave him set in a dark
room so she did not have to be bothered with him, he
was her second child and the first kept her busy. Now
the grandparents have custody of the boys and they have
been working with the little one and seeing that he gets
to therapy and someday he will walk and play his father
says. Mother and Father have been separated and
divorced since the little one was just a couple of
months old.
My
youngest daughter wants to be a nurse. Now she could
not just go to the doctor's offices or to a hospital and
watch other nurses to become one. She has had to go to
college. She has had to study and work hard and
maintain at least a B average to pass to become a
nurse. But at the end of May she will see her dream
come true. She will graduate. Before we get our drivers
license we have to practice driving and learn the rules
of driving. When my oldest daughter and her husband
wanted to buy their home. They not only had to search
for a home they had to take care of a couple of old
bills. They worked hard for over a year to get their
credit score up and to look for the perfect house. This
past year they moved into a beautiful home.
If you want
a new car you have to save to make sure you have money
for the down payment or for the whole payment and enough
to pay the taxes. Then you have to go look for that
perfect car. Those of you who have entered or plan to
enter retirement soon have had to work hard over the
years to prepare for it. To make sure your home is paid
off and to make sure you have a savings to live on along
with your Social Security, which you have worked years
to have. Even if you want to have a beautiful
Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter dinner you have to
prepare for it. I always start getting things ready the
day before and then get up at 3am to put the meat on to
cook so it will be tender and juicy. The main thing in
life is we have to make preparations to receive.
Have you been waiting for a miracle in your life? Have
you been waiting for a blessing? According to the
scriptures we have to make preparations to receive. II
Kings 3:16-17 says "And he said, Thus saith the Lord,
make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the
Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain;
yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may
drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts."
Three kings, the king of Judah, the king of Israel and
the king of Edom, were headed on a 7 day journey to
battle against King Moab. There was no water for them
to drink on this journey.
They searched through their
men for a prophet of the Lord. They found Elisha and
asked him what to do and the hand of the Lord came upon
him and he told them to dig ditches. They dug the
ditches and in the morning when the meat offering was
offered, behold the country was filled with water.
Wow! But they had to dig the ditches first.
If you read
through the scriptures many miracles and blessing were
bestowed BUT first the people or person had to make
preparation. There was no oil until the vessels were
gathered. There was no healing until the leper had
dipped seven times in the river of Jordan. There was no
harvest until the ground had been broken. There was no
resurrection of Lazarus until the stone was rolled away.
The blind man had no vision until he obeyed and went and
washed in the pool of Siloam. The woman was not healed
until she crawled through the crowd and touched the hem
of Jesus' garment.
Waiting for your miracle, have you made the preparation
for it? Do you need healing, what has God told you to
do? Has he told you to get out of bed and walk? Has he
told you to sit up every day for a few hours? Has he
told you to eat certain foods? What has God told you to
do? Do you need a financial blessing? Have you been
tithing? Has he told you to give a special offering,
more than you feel you can afford? Do you need a miracle
in your marriage or with your family? The Bible clearly
states there is no reconciliation with out repentance. Joel
2:12-13 "Therefore also now saith the Lord turn ye even
to me with all you heart, and with fasting and with
weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not
your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God for he is
gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great
kindness, and repenteth him of the evil."
God wants to
give you His blessing, your miracle but you must make
the preparation to receive it. Examine your life, what
has God told you to do? DO IT, and you will
receive your miracle. God said it and I believe it.
God bless you. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father we love you and we thank you for your
word, which shows us what we need to do, which guides us
along life's journey. Lord many of us have been waiting
for a miracle but we haven't prepared for it. Father
show us what you would have us do to receive this
miracle, then Lord pour your blessing out upon us and
give us this miracle. We love you Lord with all our
hearts and souls we long to serve you and do as you
would have us to do. Guide us and direct us and teach
us to listen and to hear what you have to say. In Jesus
name I pray AMEN.
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