Waiting, Why Is It Taking so Long

                                     When The Door Slams

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint Isaiah.             40:29-31 NKJV.   

            Waiting certainly plays an enormous role in the unfolding story of God's relationship to man. It is God's often repeated way of teaching us that His power is real and that He can answer our prayers without interference and manipulation from us. 

            But we have such trouble getting our will, our time schedules out of the way. Much of the time we act like a child who brings a broken toy to his father to be mended. The father gladly takes the toy and begins to work. Then after a while, childlike impatience takes over. Why is it taking so long? 

            The child stands by, getting his hands in the father's way, offering a lot of meaningless advice and some rather silly criticism. Finally in desperation, he snatches the toy from the father's hands and walks off with it, saying rather bitterly that he hadn't really thought that  his father could fix it anyway. Perhaps it isn't even "his will" to mend my toys.

            Think about this: On the other hand, whenever we trust the LORD enough to leave our "broken toy" with the Father, not only do we eventually get it back gloriously restored, but we are also handed something else, a spiritual plus. We find for ourselves what the saints and mystics affirm, that during the dark waiting period when self-effort had ceased, an astonishing spiritual growth take place in us. Afterwards we have qualities like more patience, more love for the LORD and those around us, more ability to hear the Lord God voice and greater willingness to obey.

Renewal: I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps (Psalm 40:1-2 NKJV).  

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the LORD and thank Him for His forgiveness.

                                            Never Rest Ministries                

Who Is A Christian

                                     When The Door Slams

Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? Luke 6:46 NIV. "If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them." John 14:15-21 NIV.    

            Who is a Christian? He can be described from many angles, but...we can cover everything by saying: a man or woman who acknowledges and lives under the word of God. One submits without reserve to the word of God written in "the Book of Truth" (Daniel 10:21 NIV), believing the teaching, trusting the promises, following the commands. His eyes are to the God of the Bible as his Father, and the Christ of the Bible as his Savior. 

            He will tell you that the word of God has both convinced him of sin and assured him of forgiveness. His conscience, like Martin Luther is captive to the word of God, and he aspires, like the Psalmist, to have his whole life brought into line with it. "I wish I were more loyal in obeying your commands." "With all my heart I try to obey You. Don't let me break your commands" (Psalm 119:5-10 NIV).          

            The Promises are before him as he prays, and the precepts are before him as he moves among men. He knows that in addition to the word of God spoken directly to him in the Scriptures, God's word has also gone forth to create, and control, and order things around him; but since the Scriptures tell him that all things work together for his good, the thought of God ordering his circumstances brings him only joy. He is an independent fellow, for he uses the word of God as a touchstone by which to test the various views that are put to him, and he will not touch anything which he is not sure that Scripture sanctions. 

            Think about this: The Lord does not say that hell-fire was prepared for human beings.  Although we all are sinners and guilty of eternal death, God nevertheless wanted to prevent this misery by giving His Son into death for us. And thereafter He revealed His good Word to us, so that we know what we are to do if we want to serve God and live to please Him. So our heavenly Father would very much like for us to be saved and, therefore, has ordained for us, not eternal fire but heaven and eternal life. But we go despising the forgiveness of sins through Christ as a insignificant treasure....

            We also take no delight in doing what God tells us to do in order to serve Him. Since, then, we degenerate to the very level of the devil and observe his will more than the Word of our Lord God, it must follow that we are obliged to share this judgment. We prepare this doom for ourselves. 

Renewal: Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him (Deuteronomy 8:6; 13:4 NIV).  

Related Bible Texts: 1 Samuel 15:22; Matthew 25:31-46; Mark 9:42-50; Luke 16:19-30;          1 John 2:5; Revelation 1:8-18 

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the LORD and thank Him for His forgiveness.

                                        Never Rest Ministries   

                               

A Second Death, Eternal Separation From God

                                     When The Door Slams

He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 NIV). Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him (Hebrews 9:27-28 NIV).   

            We do not know what lies ahead, just over the hill. Terrible things are happening in our world...and we are afraid. But deep beneath our fear of life lies, carefully hidden the real reason for our fear these days. It is something we try to ignore. In the sunshine of life and before the face of God. The truth is we are afraid of death. 

            It is easy to think of others having to keep this appointment with death, but it can be difficult to remember that we, too, must keep this same appointment. When we visit a dying family or friend, we are conscious of a certain spirit that gathers about such persons. Death is appointed for all, and the questions of its appearance is a matter of time. Other appointments in life we can neglect or break, but here is an appointment that no one can ignore, no one can break.

            We lack the freedom and release which comes from taking Jesus at His word, and fearing not "them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul..." (Matthew 10:28). If physical death were the only consequence of a life lived apart from God, we would not have so much to fear, but the Bible warns that there is the second death, which is the eternal separation from God. 

            The Christian should have no fear of death...But, on the contrary, faith should give him a touch of anticipation and a tingle of adventure as he looks forward to that experience that shall surely reward his hope and exceed his most glorious expectations.

            However, there is a bright side. As the Bible pronounces hell for the sinner, it also promises heaven for the saint. A saint has been described as a sinner who has been forgiven by Christ Jesus our Lord and Savor. The subject of heaven is much easier to accept than the subject of hell. And yet the Bible teaches both. 

            Think about this: It is only when we do know [Jesus] that we are not afraid, for there is nothing to fear. Only when one is no longer afraid to die is one no longer afraid at all. If you are afraid of death, then you are afraid of life. Only when you have something to die for, you have something to live for. And death when it comes, it will come to you as a welcome friend, sent to usher you into the glorious new life that awaits you just around the bend at the end of this old life.

Related Bible Texts: Psalm 89:48; Matthew 10:26-33;13:41-42; John 14:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:42-55; 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 21:1-4 

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the LORD and thank Him for His forgiveness.

                                        Never Rest Ministries