Making New Things Possible with Prayer

09/17/2007

Joel Akin

Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things [are] possible to him that believeth.

Lets begin in a quiet way. I usually thump on the Bible and pound on the table. But sometimes there are things we do which make the world simple. I want to talk to you about Garage Sales.

 I could point you to the rapture and I will but it is still coming. I have reiterated things and prayed over things and asked God to confirm. He has and I change some things because it repeats in a way that confuses. But that is me and not the enemy. I have a tendency to see and write and rewrite. And perhaps some may have done that in the past.

Yet why I mention Garage sales is mainly because it is such a blessing to me. I may be a poor person but I am surrounded by great riches. Some are probably of no value to others but things were given by God. I know this. I know it with all my heart. Yet we have a dream and it is that God will allow garage sales to continue.

Now I know that city after city is destined to be remade. God wants it to be beautiful. He wants life to be perfect. Yet as I write this I think of an elder neighbor my father made friends with. He was in the midst of moving and in the process put out by the curb stuff. It may have been junk but as time passes it will be of great value. I know this. I know it because that is the way of life. What is seen as this age may be the machine age but if we deal with life it will be seen as the first hundred years of automation. That might not mean much now but in a hundred years that might mean something for sure. And if the things still work their value will be even higher.

Now I say this because of my prayer. I pray this because I knew this neighbor needed help. I didn't have money but I had a truck. And he was giving away things that at a garage sale I might pass by. But in the heat of the moment I filled up my truck. I had been looking for a chair for my sister and he had one. A very nice chair. Perfect for sitting outside or under her porch. He had cushions which I had just thrown away because I had gotten mine filthy. They were free. I got two of them for sitting out when the weather is nice. He had an expensive mirror for a vanity and I grabbed that. Made of what appears to be walnut. Mirror is perfect shape. And on and on and on and on it went. He had done this the same thing the day before and there were people lining up to take it for him. Yet despite this he took three truckloads to the garbage. And there he dumped it into a hole for future archaeologists to one day find and wonder "What is it?" We laugh now but that is the fate of things. It was true a thousand years ago and it may be true a thousand years from now.

The fact is garbage today is the mystery of tomorrow. I wrote a new site I call Ooparts of Earth. It is based on design of life. God made life and made it so it would fit. So when man makes something it fits only in the sense of the materials used. And since we shape and carve and break we make things disposable. And we throw them out into the garbage.

But why I am thankful for garage sales is simple. I have life and I have it most abundantly. I may overstock on some stuff like books but I have a world filled with treasure. It is treasure beyond understanding and it is treasure I am ecstatic about. I use my bathroom and it is filled with purchases. Cupboards on the wall, my waste basket, shampoos, a beautiful shower curtain. Now some might think shampoo should be thrown out but some sell bottles that are full. And so I keep an eye open for them. And buy them for usually a buck. Sometimes you may find them that cheap in America but I've never found them that cheap here in Canada. At least not in a store.

So that then means I go out and find things at sales. And I buy them. And I enjoy them. For I try to buy things I will use.

But what about the real me? The part that isn't disposable? I guess in a way its me writing. I take pictures and want to get a new camera but the price on digital Nikons which use telephoto lenses and are 10.2 mb are selling around $1500. And so I wait knowing that is more then my finances can afford. After all I picked up a cheap digital I have yet to practice with for a buck a few weeks back. And so it is the way of life. What sold for a hundred or more goes on sale for almost nothing. And so my supply of blessings continues.

I could go on and on about my blessings. Some have real meaning to me. I look at some paintings I found and I marvel at them. I find myself carried into the world of Japan at the turn of the 1900's. And I think about the painter J. Sukki and I wonder who he was. I write stories about him and his ancestors. Not as a joke but as a way of helping. For God guides me into life and into things that are based on scripture and how Moses was able to write about his life and ancestors.

Yet those are side issues. I say that because God has said I will be blessed. He hasn't said how. He hasn't told me when. He has said that it meanders and it grows and it prospers and perhaps most of all it fills. It is this filling I have sought God for. I have asked for His will. I have sought it above all things in life. I have put off all things and thrown out much believing that was the will of God. But it wasn't. He wanted me to know that when we become believers we think "If I throw this off it will please God." But what is offensive to us today won't be tomorrow. It is the way of life.

Now you might speak of things bad for the body but I don't refer to that but to the mind and to the soul. I refer to books. I am a lover of books and writing and I collect. I collect Children's hardcovers and I love Archie and I go into things that are old. I love Tom Swift and old children's fiction. Yet if given a choice and if I had to walk away from things I would. But what if that is exactly why God is having me write this. Because if He returns we might think it is a sign to throw out all we have in anticipation. Not of what we will get but wondering 'Now is the time to throw out garbage." And of course it is books. But here is the way God views books "They are writings of history." And history is meant to be purchased and studied even if it is things that are not right.

You heard me, even if it is not right. Why? Because it was our history. We would throw it out and say "It never happened" but lets say that might be one reason the age of men didn't exist. For we were an age like the ages of those who once were. Sin entered in and they believed God told them to throw everything out. God had never said a word but the rumor spread. And we threw out our history and laughed at those who said otherwise.

But if I told you that Paul believed he was meant to keep his writings but some well meaning Christian came and burned most would that upset you? Especially if he wrote some of the most beautiful stories of his personal life? If that had become part of scripture, and it should have been, we could have wept with him. For he traveled much and wore out shoes and wore out parchment in his attempt to record his life for our study. He knew God had called him to and he went out and did it. He wrote scribes works of study and did things to help us but those were studies a man named 'righteous' threw out. He really wasn't called that but that should tell you why. Because Paul went into romance. He went into Song of Solomon. And he wrote of it in a way that it spoke embarassment to those who read it. They were so ashamed of the body that they wrote it down as filth. And it was tossed out. And so the body became vile and we threw out the filth of the body stories because they were of love.

Of course this may offend you but who am I but a friend to God? He is helping me see that even if I'm not into romance maybe women have a right to be? Maybe they have a right to imagine?

Now I could confound you with life stories of romance myself but you would turn away. I had my time before I became disabled. And fat. But I wasn't in the perfect will of God. And so I did things that were not wise. But if I wrote it and you threw it out that is your choice. But David has his story broadcast. Who of us would save it if it was a family member? We would hide it. We would shun it. We would even secretly burn it.

But God had a way of protecting. And it did work. But it wasn't always on the path of righteousness. And so that man we call 'righteous' went out and found what was scriptural. He tuned it until it fit what he said was scripture. And then he burned the rest. If you are thinking King James maybe you are right. But imagine that he had to burn all the works of Paul. And then change the nature of it so those who wrote of Paul was added together into a lump sum of his work. For the fact is Paul was so prolific he had a book the size of the present day Bible. But we didn't want to know it. We wanted to thank King James.

So what then do I as a Christian do if God returns? Save what you have. For if God protects the people in the fire he protected their clothing. And perhaps even their pen for their were like scribes. And maybe that fire is symbolic of what God wants of us. We are not meant to throw out our life. It isn't Gods desire. He gave us honor and blessing. And I have thanked him for everything I have. And if I sell things at a garage sale it is my choice but if I cry to God for a home or a place to put things He may answer. HE may say "That is what I want."

And we would be ashamed if he returns and we throw out all our treasures into the street thinking "Better get rid of this junk lest God stop by." So we throw out our work and we throw out our talent. For God will not look at us but he will say "So, show me what you have."

And then he will say to those who have tossed it away "Depart from me. You have sinned. Go and do something wise for once." And if there are those who take the word of God and burn it do you think he will honor them for saving perhaps one percent of what he had collected? And who was he to admit that he was God?

Today we know those things were part of the change of man. We had scripture but it was meant to be bound up in leather and proclaimed without measure. But we measured out Gods word and we founded it on our understanding based on men who were like us. Only in the sense they were men. Because they did one thing God will reject. He will not let those works be destroyed. He will find them in history and he will repair them and turn them over to those who will appreciate them.

For God is writing out a new song. And it is one he told me of in prayer last night.

It is one that is based on love. For I am His child and He is not ashamed of me. He knows I have thrown out originals but I have not thrown out. For I try to save every scrap of life. Admittedly I don't save all things but I do save my writing. And I wish I had more. It shows progression and that is part of life. But if I throw it all away as some believe God has said God will answer with "No, I never tell people to burn their history." It isn't write even if it is a time of their life they are ashamed of.

Now you might think of a thousand stories but I will finish with this word. God said to me last night "I heard a roar. And it was the roar of Heaven. I heard another roar and it was the roar of God."

I heard this roar and I roared but my voice was weak. I roared inside and it was the roar of a lion. And so I roar with loud noise. And the sound of song is coming soon for God said to me "This is the future." And it was the only time I knew for I had said "No one can write the future." That is no one but  God.