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Volume 8 ... #26
God Had a Better Plan
The women came to Jesus' tomb, carrying spices to anoint HIS dead body so decay of HIS flesh would not stink. We can see they were trying to help Jesus, who being dead, so they thought at the time, could not help Himself. So they brought anointing oils to cover the odor of the flesh in death.
As they approached the tomb, they did have a concern. There was a great stone over the entrance to the tomb. Who could they get to roll that stone away so they could anoint the dead body of Jesus?
Mk. 16 ... 1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint HIM. 2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. 3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. 5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. 6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: HE is risen; HE is not here: behold the place where they laid HIM.
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Mt. 28 ... 1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. 5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6 HE is not here: for HE is risen, as HE said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly, and tell HIS disciples that HE is risen from the dead; and, behold, HE goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see HIM: lo, I have told you. 8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring HIS disciples word.
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The women had a plan ... God had an even greater plan ...
God would just raise Jesus from the dead. So there was no problem with the dead flesh.
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A man in our little church group was thinking about adding another storage building whereby he could store his stuff.
As he considered this, he had the following thought from the Holy Spirit.
"Why don't you just get rid of the stuff?"
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Here is another wonderful deliverance of God shared by Pam Padgett in our little church group.
Pam says:
My older sister had been at college two years when I started attending the same school. She dated a man who was a member of a fraternity, and she had become a member of the fraternity's "women's auxiliary", assisting with fraternity social functions. She was very excited for me to join the social circles she was in, and especially wanted me to meet members of the fraternity.
The first week of school my sister invited me to go to a student bar where many of the fraternity guys gathered on Thursday nights. I went, but found what was going on there to be so bad (lewdness, drunkenness) that I was unable to stay and I walked back to the dormitory.
A week or so later my sister asked if I'd go to an outdoor luau with one of the freshmen "pledges" at the fraternity. The luau site was about 20 miles away near a river, and there would be a campfire. The setting was very appealing to me, plus I was excited about having a date, and I agreed to go.
Then, a few days before the luau, my sister told me that arrangements had been made for one of the other fraternity guys to take me to the luau because "my date" would be spending the day at the luau site building a hut for us ... a young man I had never even met was building a hut "for us"!
Suddenly the reality of this luau became very clear to me. This was not going to be people sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows. The lewdness and drunkenness I had seen at the student bar was probably mild compared to what would be going on at this luau ... and I wouldn't be able to walk home.
I told my sister that I couldn't go along with this and did not want to go, but she kept insisting that it was too late for me to back out, that it was too late for this guy to find another date.
I turned very strongly to God, asking Him to somehow get me out of this situation. There seemed no way out.
(At one point I asked God to let me have appendicitis, preferring to be in a hospital having surgery than to go to this luau.)
The morning of the luau I woke up and checked to see if I might have any pain that would indicate appendicitis, and was disappointed that I felt fine. I kept praying for God to somehow work this out. Time was really running out! When I looked outside, it was raining a little, but not much. However, the rain became heavier and heavier as the day went on.
Around 2 pm I received a call from the fraternity guy who planned to take me to the luau site. He told me how sorry he was to have to tell me this, but the luau had to be cancelled.
The luau site had been totally flooded, washing away all the huts that had been built, which would include the hut my date had built for us.
He told me how long the luau had been held at this same site (many years) and, although there had been rain at times in the past, nothing like this had ever happened before, flooding and causing the luau to be cancelled.
I rejoiced, knowing that God had delivered me.
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