The First and the Last

Rev. 22:13  I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.


Last time we talked about putting God first in your day and today I would like to talk about making Him the last of your day and a way that we can do that.  If you remember, I mentioned how the first fifteen minutes after you wake up and the last fifteen minutes before you go to sleep is what researchers claim is when your brain is the most receptive to what you put into it.  I use to have insomnia for years.  I hated going to bed at night because I knew that the minute my head hit the pillow, no matter how tired I was, my brain kicked into overdrive and I laid awake thinking.  So one night I decided to pray and praise God.  It wasn't easy at first. Many times I found myself thinking again and wasn't praying, so it was something I really had to work hard at.  It worked.  I don't know if God honored my prayers and put me to sleep or Satan put me to sleep because He didn't want me praying..., just kidding.  God honored me putting Him last in my day and I started getting sleep.
The other night, my wife was tossing and turning in bed not able to sleep.  This is unusual for her because she usually is almost asleep before her head hits the pillow.  As I just got into bed and was starting to pray and praise God, she said, "I hate this, I just for some reason cannot get to sleep tonight".  So we said a little prayer and I told her how I like to think of all the different ways I can praise God when I lay down and what or who I can pray for or about and how I always end up falling to sleep.  I suggested she try it which she did and I of course started praying silently that God would use her silent prayer and worship to give her rest.  It wasn't five minutes and I suddenly heard her breathing change and knew she had fallen to sleep.  I couldn't help smiling there in the dark and thanking and praising the Lord and the next thing I knew was I was waking up from having a deep sound sleep myself and getting up to start my day putting Him first again.

In our verse above, Jesus is saying I am the Alpha which is the first letter in the Greek alphabet and Omega which is the last letter in the Greek alphabet, then He goes on to say the beginning and the end and the first and the last.  Any way you look at it, God is there.  As Christians we should include Him in our minds, especially if the first and the last part of our waking moments are the most receptive to whatever we feed it.

Now you are possibly wondering, cool, got it, but what does that have to do with learning how to witness to others?  How does that help me have the tools to talk to others about Christ during the two times a day that I know I won't be seeing anyone who needs to hear about the Lord?

I would consider it the foundation that we all need in order to build a solid life of knowledge, wisdom and understanding in the principles of sharing our faith.  You wouldn't get up in the morning and take off to work without having gas in your car.  Likewise, we shouldn't get up in the morning and take off out the door to be a witness of God's power in our lives if we don't fill our tank first with the Holy Spirit's gasoline.  So lets all work on building this solid foundation and next time I will share some tools we need to mix the mortar or lay the brick, and nail the lumber, etc.

Please, as you practice praying tonight and tomorrow morning and all through your day, pray for me, and I will especially pray for all of you reading this.  I need God's wisdom, knowledge and understanding to write what will lift Him up and you need God's wisdom, knowledge and understanding to learn what He wants you to learn from what I am inspired to write and how to apply it to your daily life.

Pray for the Church.

If you can, watch these two videos I am listing.  They are full of some tools on how to share Christ to non-believers.  www.180movie.com and www.evolutionvsgod.com.

Also feel free to read my other blog www.yosemiteriverrat.blogspot.com

May God bless you in your growth.
Brother Bill