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Don’t Let Opportunities Pass You By!
As you reflect on things of life and the lessons learned from 2017, and you make the effort to refocus on things you desire and expect to happen in 2018, consider reviewing and rehearsing this powerful wisdom nugget from Ecclesiastes…
“I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, neither is bread to the wise nor riches to men of intelligence and understanding nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.” – Ecclesiastes 9:11, AMPC
Ever thought about your life? Where you are, where you could be, should be? The “what ifs” on certain decisions you made or didn’t make? Ever felt like you were taking the long way to God’s will for your life? I am sure we’ve all had thoughts along these lines at one time or another.
What makes one person’s life look like a blessed and well-greased machine that operates like supernatural clockwork and another person’s life looks like a one-day-late-and-dollar-short, failure after failure? Is it smarts? Speed? Strength? Wisdom? Understanding? Skill? According to Ecclesiastes — it’s none of these things…rather, it’s the difference between opportunities taken and opportunities missed.
The Bible is true: time and a chance happen to everyone! In other words, everyone gets their time and everyone gets their chance. Whether we accept, embrace or maximize these chances or opportunities is up to us. We all get our time, our chance regarding: to be saved, to enter our destiny, to be used by God, to grow spiritually, to prosper, to excel or to walk by faith.
Dear friends, precious people of God, I encourage you, don’t let your opportunity pass you by! When God brings your time, chance and opportunity, it may look a lot like “sacrifice,” “hard work,” “a demotion,” “stay,” “pay cut,” “serving,” “study”…but really, it’s your time and chance! By faith, embrace your opportunities! God brings us these opportunities for the purpose of making our lives large with His reality, His blessings, His fulfillment, His joy, His goodness and His fruit!
So…what can you do if you think you may have already let an important opportunity pass you by? Is it too late to obey? Maybe and maybe not. If you missed the boat and an opportunity has passed you by — here are three things you can do today:
First: Run to God’s throne with a genuine humility, broken and contrite spirit and repent! Ask the Lord if there is any way to access that missed opportunity or to salvage it in any way.
Second: Humble yourself even further and talk to whatever parties necessary to present yourself as one who is available and willing to maximize your time, chance and opportunity.
Third: Pray and see what happens.
Say This and Pray This Out Loud: “Father, help me to recognize and walk by faith in every time, chance and opportunity that comes my way from You. I don’t want to miss out on anything You have for me in this life! I humble myself under Your mighty hand to help me stay in my God-given race, learn the unforced rhythms of Your grace, keep track and in step with the Holy Spirit’s pace, and stand firm in my Lord-assigned place. I thank You Dear Father for Your grace and Your help. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”