"Consider the Ravens..."

Good morning from my favorite little coffee shop! My reading and pondering this week showed me a pattern in Scripture that I knew about but just hadn't seen so clearly.  And then, "by chance" I saw this post from a friend online: When God gives you a word, there is always a season of preparation before release. Be patient. Be prepared!!!! Prophetess Yolanda Holmes The pattern is this: God declares some kind of promise , He allows a season of preparation , and then in due time, He yields proof of His faithfulness. Where do we see this pattern in Scripture?  Many places -- but just to name a few... Noah was told to build a boat to save his household from an impending flood that God was bringing because humanity had been so corrupted that God was basically using Noah to hit "Edit, Undo" and start over.  The promise is given in Genesis 6 along with His reasoning: 13  And God said to Noah,  “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, [ c ] ...

Last night in Bible study, we read through the first chapter of the book of Acts.  This entire book is filled with incredible and nearly impossible-to-believe stories of the early Church right after Jesus was raised from the dead.  Chapter one starts with Jesus' final words and then describes a change in personnel within the twelve disciples.  It reads in part: 15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) 16 and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. 17 He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.” 18 (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field ...