The Friend of God

Introduction: No greater praise could be given to any mortal man than to say he is the friend of God. Three times in the Bible Abraham called the friend of God (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23). Let’s, trace out some of the predominant characteristics that made Abraham to become God’s friend. No doubt these same traits transferred to our lives will cause us to be God's friends (John 15:14).

1. Faithfulness: Friendship is built on mutual faithfulness between two friends. God was faithful to Abraham and Abraham faithfully obeyed God all that He commanded him to do (Genesis 12 and Hebrews 11:8 -10). He was not only a man of faith but also a man of faithfulness. Are we faithful in our friendship with God and others?   
2. Promptness: Friendship is proven in promptness of obedience and help to one another. God was at his help and in response he obeyed God promptly (Genesis 21:2; Hebrew 11:8-10). If we obey to His commands promptly as true friend He will promptly rescue us from our trouble (Proverbs 1:33; Psalm 50: 14-15).   
3. Devoted: Friendship is sustained through lifelong commitment to one another. Abraham was devoted to God all through his life (Genesis 12:8). God committed to protect and to provide all that Abraham needed (Genesis 15:1-3). We too need to build more altars into various walks of our life to maintain our friendship with God.
4. Unselfishness: Unselfishness makes friendship brighter and brighter. Jesus demonstrated His unselfish love by dying for His friends selflessly (John 15:13-14).  As a friend and intercessor (Genesis 18:19) Abraham, entreated God not to destroy the righteous along with wicked of Sodom and Gomorrah. We are called to be His friends not to approach God with our selfish desires but to have compassionate hearts and a deep concern for the salvation of the lost, no matter what their sins may be. (9:1-3; 10:1).

Conclusion: Abraham and God communicated well with each other like friends (Genesis 18:17).  However, friendship with God is not only a matter of privilege but also a matter of obligations discussed above.

Yours in His service

G. Paul Raj

Spiritual Landmines

Introduction: Landmines prevents the advancement of enemy’s force. It will either kill or lame all those step in it.  Therefore, soldiers are to use the detector wisely before they walk on. There are, spiritual landmines too, used by Satan to, lame our walk with God and to destroy God’s will in our life. But, we are given His Word to diffuse devil’s landmine kept on our path. Let’s find spiritual landmines set by the enemy in the light of the Scripture.  

I. Pride: It causes damage to our spiritual life. It is the sign of one’s destruction (Proverbs 16:18), above all God hates the proud and stand against them (Psalm 6:17; 1 Peter 5:5). The powerful instrument to diffuse the landmine “pride” is humility (James 4:10). Let’s also know that “to be boastful of our humility is another form of pride.

II. Hypocrisy: It is another potential landmine to destroy our walk before God. The hypocrite has no hope when his soul departs (Job 27:8). They can do untold damage with their mouth (Proverbs 11:9). But, the triumphing of hypocrite is short ant their joy is for moment (Job 20: 4-5).

III. Unbelief: It is devil’s another sneaking landmine. Often believers are hit by it badly and departed from the living God (Hebrews 3:12). Faith in the living God is the only weapon to destroy this landmine because: "without faith it is impossible to please him (Hebrews 11:6). Except Joshua and Caleb others could not entered into the Promised Land because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:19). Let’s believe what we have heard (Hebrews 2:1).

IV. Indifference: We are often indifferent to worldliness in our churches and families without knowing its consequences (John 2:15-17). To avoid worldliness first, we are to come out of it. Second, let’s set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth.'" (Col. 3:2.). Third, we are to obey to what God says in Romans 12:2. We tend to be indifferent to the needs of the needy in our midst. Worldliness sometimes deafens our ears to God’s call for repentance.  

V. Unforgiveness: The landmine “Unforgiveness” is potential enough to separate the families, divide the church and to harm the harmony between us and God.  We often chose not to forgive others (Matthew 18:21) thus invite self-infliction upon us (Matthew 18:35). Therefore let us forgive others as Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32).  

Conclusion: Friends, today we are made aware of spiritual landmines which are potential to destroy us eternally. Let’s guard ourselves from them by the power of God the Holy Spirit.

Yours in His service

G. Paul Raj

God’s Purpose Behind our Trials (Psalms 119:71)

Pain and sufferings often prevent us from trusting God and in His sovereignty. The unanswered prayers, loss of our near ones and dear ones, terrible tragedies in life creates doubts about His existence. But, God’s faithful in the Bible and in the History of Christianity had found pleasure and divine purpose behind their pain.   Affliction enabled Psalmist to learn more of God’s Law. Or in other words it is his affliction that prevented Psalmist from going astray (Psalms 119:71). Apostle Paul learned God’s grace is greater than his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Prophet Jeremiah’s outward affliction and inward turmoil that led him toward despair caused him to praise “God’s Faithfulness (Lamentations 3: 19-24). Polycarp the bishop of Smyrna (155 A.D.) converted his martyrdom at stake as pulpit to proclaim 86 years of God’s goodness in his life. The believers in the primitive Church wanted to be more than conquerors in all their sufferings rather than being separated from Christ’s love (Romans 8:36-38).

Here is an another inspiring story from the life of Christian faithful believer and prominent hymn writer Annie Johnson Flint who wrote her famous hymn "He Giveth More Grace" and many inspiring poems dealing with faith and triumph in time of life’s trials and sufferings. Anne had lost both parents before she was six years old. The sisters were brought up by the childless Christian couple, the Flints, who adopted them. After high school, she spent one year in teacher training and had a position offered to her. Later in her second year of teaching, she begun to suffer arthritis. She was forced to give up her job due to the severity of arthritis. The death of both of her adoptive parents within a few months of each other left Annie and her sister alone again. The twice-orphaned children had come to a real “Red Sea place” in their lives. However, God had purpose behind her sufferings. God used broken-hearted Flint to comfort thousands of broken hearted for His glory.

Therefore, dear friends let’s consider suffering in our Christian life as beneficial. Gold needs fire to be purified, iron needs heat to be straightened, and clay needs to be trampled to become a usable and honorable vessel. As we read about Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, and even our Lord, we realize that God has a purpose in trials. God fulfills His purposes as we trust Him. Certainly, Satan cannot overcome the Christian who knows his Bible and understands the purposes of God. 

Yours in His service

G. Paul Raj

Count Your Blessings (Job 1:21; Ephesians 1:3)

In the book of Job chapter 1 we see Job’s wife pointed out only the bad things as the reasons to curse God but Job pointed out the Good things “The LORD gave” unto him and unto his family to praise God. Job’s words were not only the words of faith but also the words of faithful. It is one of Satan’s tactics to show you God as cruel by magnifying the calamities you are going through. But we as children of God should thank Him and count the good “The LORD gave” us. The incomparable good “The LORD gave” us is Christ who laid down His life for us. Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:3 says that “We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”

The hymn “Count your Blessings” was written by Johnson Oatman, Jr., a famous and one of the important and prolific gospel song writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Though he wrote over 5,000 hymn texts, the hymn “Count your Blessings” is considered his finest hymn. “Count your Blessings” is a song of thankfulness to God for all the blessings that He bestowed upon us. One writer said about Count Your Blessings, “It is like a beam of sunlight that has brightened up the dark places of the earth.” During the revival in Wales it was one of the hymns sung at every service.

Jeremy Taylor was a 17th-century English cleric who was severely persecuted for his faith. But though his house was plundered, his family left destitute, and his property confiscated, he continued to count the blessings he could not lose. He wrote: "They have not taken away my merry countenance, my cheerful spirit, and a good conscience; they have still left me with the providence of God, and all His promises … my hopes of Heaven, and my charity to them, too, and still I sleep and digest, I eat and drink, I read and meditate. God the ultimate source of my joy and salvation has chosen me to sit upon this little handful of thorns to count all the blessings that “He gave”.

Dear friends, let’s learn to count our blessings when life is clouded with troubles and loaded with burdens because “God is over all” and everything is under His control. When we see others with their land and gold let’s still “count our blessings and trust in the promise that Christ has promised us with His wealth untold. We have God’s promise to meet all our needs “According to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

Spiritual Mathematics: To Grow in the Lord

Introduction: The basic operations of mathematics are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Similarly, these fundamental operations can be applied to spiritual mathematics found in the Bible.  Without knowing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division one cannot go further in mathematics. Similarly, without these qualities one cannot grow and have intimacy with God. Let’s look into the Word of God to know spiritual qualities that are to be added, subtracted, multiplied and divided in our spiritual life from the Word of God.

Addition: The Word of God sternly warns us not to add anything to the Revealed Word of God (Revelation 22:18).May none of us be guilty of adding to the Bible. But, we are told in 2 Peter 1:7 of seven things that we must add to our faith. If we do not add these, we will fall; if we add them, we shall never fall. May the dear Lord help us to be good in addition.

Subtraction: Again we are warned not to subtract even a single iota from the revealed Word of God (Revelation 22:19). But, we should subtract all malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking from our lives (Ephesians 4:31). May the Lord enable us to subtract all the malicious characters that make our soul unhealthy.

Multiplication: Jude verse: 2 says that believers are to multiply in “Peace and love” “Peace” talks about our right relationship with God and “love”  deals with our right relationship with mankind. Peace and love is the sign of our inward growth. If we grow inwardly His Word will multiply outwardly as it multiplied in the primitive Church mentioned in (Acts 6:7). But the sad reality is that, often we are not good in multiplication.

Division: Divisions in the name of caste, class and divisions in any form and in any name among the believers is abominable to God (1 Corinthians 1:10). But, the Word of God encourages us to divide His Word (2 Timothy 2:15). Dividing God’s Word is nothing but handling it in a way that brings glory to God in our day to day life. God’s judgment and His shame of disapproval will come upon those who mishandle it.  

Conclusion: Friends, let’s search our hearts, Let the divine light shed upon our hearts to find the things that help us to excel in our spiritual mathematics.

Yours in His service

G. Paul Raj 

Things that Believers Are To Do Always

Introduction: The grace of God enables us to do the things that God wants us to do in our day to day walk with Jesus here on this earth. We can do all that God wants us to do because Christ is the source of our strength (Philippians 4:13). Second, we have Jesus our High Priest praying for us in heaven incessantly (Hebrews 7:25). Third, He is Faithful and knows our ability to go through (I Corinthians 10:13). Finally, we can do all things because God is able to make all grace abound toward His children that they may abound to every good work (II Corinthians 9:8). Having this faith and hope in Christ Jesus let’s spend few to minutes to learn “Things that Believers are to do always”.

1. Confident Always (II Corinthians 5:6). We shouldn’t give no room for doubt at any time. Faith increases by hearing the Word of God.
2. Triumph Always (II Corinthians 2:14): Outside of Christ there is no triumph, but in Christ we can enjoy all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). 
3. Pray Always (Luke 18:1; 21:36): We are admonished by Jesus and by His apostles to pray always Ephesians 6:18; 5:20. Christians should pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17), always. We should never forget to pray for the fellow Christians (I Corinthians 12:26).
4. Ready to Answer Always: we are to be ready always to answer to every men who asks us a reason of the hope that is in us, with meekness and fear (I Peter 3:15; Corinthians 15:58).
5. Steadfast Always: We are the partakers of the afflictions of the Gospels therefore we are to be steadfast in the Lord always (II Timothy 2:2; II Timothy 1:8; II Timothy 4:5; Philippians 2:15 16).
6. Testify Christ Always: Christians are to be ready always to testify for Christ as stated in II Corinthians 4:5-6.

Conclusion: Dear friends, God is faithful to reward for all that we do for His glory. The Word of God says, for not one sacrifice, one deed done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be in vain. Therefore, “Let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.” (Galatians 6:9).

Yours in His service

G. Paul Raj

Faith that Believers should have

Introduction: Faith is not the Good work that we can do, but rather it is a, great and precious gift from God Himself. He gives faith in the heart of a person who is rightly related to Him through Jesus Christ. We are called believers because we received the gift of faith from above. However, the situations we face, trials we go through prevents us from having absolute faith in Him. Therefore it is good for us to check time to time to know what type of faith we have in Him. Let’s spend few minutes to know what type of faith that we have in Him right now

1. No faith: The disciples had faith in Jesus when everything was normal. But in Mark 4:35-41, we read about their encounter with storm. When situation went out of control they had no faith in Jesus and asked Jesus “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (v. 38). The question revealed their lack of trust in God. Accordingly, Christ responded, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (v. 40). Like them, when we question whether or not God cares about us at all, we demonstrate our lack of faith.
2. Little faith: We see this weak trust in God demonstrated in Matthew 16:5-10. The Pharisees and Sadducees had asked Jesus for signs. Similarly, the disciples too refused to have full faith in Jesus even after seeing Jesus feed 5,000 people and then 4,000 more (vv. 9-10). Because, they were still concerned about their physical provision. Often, we too have little faith when we are focused only on signs and earthly worries instead of learning the greater spiritual principles God wants to teach us.
3. Failing faith. Jesus prophesied that Peter would experience a faith failure (Luke 22:31-32). In other words, there are forces challenging our faith, and sometimes we will fail to trust God. But even when we do, we are welcome to return to the Lord and seek His forgiveness. Our heavenly Father will even allow us to teach others about His unfailing faithfulness.
4. Great faith: When Jesus met the centurion, it became the perfect opportunity to teach the disciples about great faith (Matt. 8:5-8). The centurion didn’t need signs or evidence of Christ’s power. This is the reason why Jesus said, “I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel” (v. 10). Like him, when we take Christ at His word and trust Him so completely that we don’t require proof that He will fulfill His promises to us, we exhibit great faith.

Conclusion: Friends, what type of faith that we have in Jesus? Do we have great faith in Him? Let’s examine the obstacles that prevent us from having great faith in Him. If we have strong faith, He can entrust us with assignments that will have a greater impact for His kingdom.

Yours in His service

G. Paul Raj 

I Will Sing of My Redeemer 1 Peter 1:18-19

When A. J. Gordon was pastor of a church in Boston, he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. He decided to buy the birds as his heart was moved with compassion for the birds in the cage. He gave him 2$ and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar into the blue. The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ’s coming to seek and to save the lost—paying for them with His own precious blood. “That boy told me the birds were not songsters,” said Gordon, “but when I released them and they winged their way heavenward, it seemed to me they were singing, ‘Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed!” Similarly, we have thousands of reasons to praise God, and the chief among them is we are redeemed not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). Jesus paid the price for our release from sin and its consequences (Matthew 20:28; 1 Timothy 2:6). 

There is joy, peace and hope in “singing of our Redeemer” even in the midst of our trials.  Philip Paul Bliss the writer of the hymn “I Will Sing of My Redeemer” dedicated his entire life to sing praises to his Redeemer. Bliss and his wife Lucy traveled extensively, spreading the Gospel through singing. In December 28, 1876 evangelist D.L. Moody invited them to serve the Lord through their singing in his evangelistic meeting held at Chicago. In that meeting Bliss told that “He will not meet them again as He’s Going to his Hometown Tomorrow. His words and song proved to be prophetic. On the 29th of December, 1876, Bliss and his wife boarded a train back to Pennsylvania. As their train was crossing over a river in Ashtabula, Ohio, the bridge suddenly gave way and all the carriages fell into the freezing waters below. He escaped through the window, but enter into glory in trying to save his wife. After his death the hymn “I Will Sing of My Redeemer,” was found in a piece of baggage among Bliss’ belongings.

Friends, because we have a Redeemer, we are forgiven. We have a Redeemer, to intercede for us in our weakness and in the time of our trouble.  Since we have Redeemer we have comfort in life, that though we fall we shall not be utterly cast down. Since our Redeemer lives, this shall be our faith that we shall see Him when we reach our eternal Hometown. Therefore let’s not forget to “Sing of our Redeemer” at all time. 

Yours in His service

G. Paulraj 

"My Hope is Built on Nothing Less" Jeremiah 17:7

The Word of God encourages us to put our hope and faith completely upon Jesus’ righteousness for our eternal life. However, God is not unconcerned about the issues we face in our day to day life here on this earth. He recognizes that there are times when the doubts, cares, and darkness of this world will seem to weaken our fellowship with God and veil His face from us. Even in these times, God has not left us. Our anchor of faith can still hold in the darkness, knowing through faith that even though not seen (Hebrews 11:1), He still sustains us. Therefore we as His children can “rest on His unchanging grace.

Edward Mote's parents were hostile to religion, but while still a boy Edward became a Christian through the influence of a cabinetmaker to whom he was apprenticed.  Regardless of the claims of his business on his time, Mote always found time to worship God.  He was especially interested in Christian music, and one day felt inspired on the way to work to write down a verse that came to his mind.  Before the day was finished, he had completed four verses.  His new hymn began with the words, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." After this, Mote visited a friend whose wife was ill.  It was a Sunday, and the friend mentioned that he and his wife liked to observe Sunday by singing a hymn, reading a scripture, and having prayer together.  Mote had a copy of his hymn in his pocket, so they sang it.  The friend's wife was so taken with the hymn that she requested a copy for herself.  Encouraged by her interest, Mote had copies printed––and soon found himself the author of a beloved hymn. At age 55, Mote responded to a call to the ministry.  He served out the rest of his life––more than two decades–– as the pastor of a Baptist Church in Horsham, Sussex, England.

If you put your hope in other people, they will let you down. If you trust your stocks or bonds or bank accounts, you will find that they can disappear overnight. In any case, they are not ultimately satisfying. Health will fail. Houses can burn. Jobs can be lost. But the one who has his or her hope from God and trusts God as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ can stand firm in anything. Once a submarine was rammed by another ship and quickly sank. The entire crew was trapped in water grave. One of the divers in the rescue team his helmeted ear to the side of the vessel and listened. He heard a tapping noise. Someone, he learned, was tapping out a question in the dots and dashes of the Morse Code. The question came slowly: “Is … there … any … hope?” That is the question man asks today. Yes, it’s found in Jesus Christ!

Yours in His service

G. Paul Raj

Standing on the Promises of God (2 Corinthians 1:20)

God’s promises recorded in His Written Word from Genesis 3:15 to Revelation 22:20 are “Yes and Amen”. Psalms 119:140 says “Your promises have been THOROUGHLY TESTED, and your servant loves them”. Therefore the saints in the Old Testament used to cite God’s promises that they had received from Him (Genesis 28:15, 20-22; Nehemiah 1:4-11). God’s promises bring balm to our wounds, help to our infirmities, rest to our weariness, encouragement to our prayers. Therefore let us learn to trust and to stand on the unfailing promises of God. 

Here is a wonderful testimony from Carter (1849-1928) the composer of the hymn “Standing on the Promises of God.” His meditation on 2 Corinthians 1:20 which says “For all the promise of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” inspired him to make wrote this Gospel hymn. Carter was a star athlete of a military academy and later became successful teacher and coach where he studied. He served God several years as an ordained Methodist minister, spend last of his professional years as a doctor of medicine. Poor health and hopeless condition due to cardiac issues made Carter to turn to God for help and healing. He knelt and made a promise whether God heals or not he would consecrate rest of his life totally to God’s service. Over the course of the next several months his strength returned, and his heart was completely healed! Carter lived another healthy 49 years. The hymn Carter had written several years before his miraculous healing became more than words and music to him. Standing on the Promises became an integral part of his life.

Dear friends we must learn to stand on God's exceeding great and precious promises. Our faith in His promises will keep us from the world and its corruption and lusts. Our faith in His unfailing promises will help us to go forward in spite of all obstacles that we face in our day to day life.  Therefore let us not allow the sufferings, sin and sickness to keep us from holding fast to the precious promises of God. 

Just as I am (John 6:37)

The parable of lost son vividly portraits the unconditional love of our heavenly Father towards the repentant. The thief on Jesus’ right side at the cross unlike, the other thief stopped mocking and humbled himself before Jesus. Jesus the loving Saviour accepted him and guaranteed Kingdom of Heaven to the repentant that very moment.  The humble approach we take to come to Jesus for forgiveness and salvation was beautifully described in the story behind the hymn “Just as I am”. It is based upon the words of Jesus found in John 6:37.

It was in London when a great preacher by the name of Caesar Milan was invited one evening to a very large and prominent home where a choice musical was to be presented.  The musician was Charlotte Elliott born in Clapham, England, on March 18, 1789. As a young person she had lived a carefree life, gaining popularity as a portrait artist, musician and writer of humorous verse.  On the program Charlotte thrilled the audience with her singing and playing. When she finished, this young preacher threaded his way through the crowd which was gathered around her and asked if she was a Christian. She considered him rude and unkind, and that his question was inappropriate. After the man walked away, Charlotte could not get his question out of her mind so she went to find the man, and to ask how to become a Christian. That night she received Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Soon thereafter she wrote “Just As I Am” as a testimony to her newfound faith, and as a tribute to the man who had told her that she could come to Christ, “just as she was”.

Dear friends, Christ is our refuge we can flee to Him at any time and in any condition and He will never turn anyone away. Let us come to Him “Just as we are” without hesitation. He will never reject a broken and repentant heart (Psalm 51: 17). Rejection and despise of repentant would go against His very nature and everything that He has promised in Scripture! Therefore let us confidently come to our Saviour God “just as we are”!  

Yours in His service

G. Paul Raj

THE LEAVENS TO BE PURGED 1 CORINTHIANS 5: 6-8

Introduction: here in this text Apostle Paul compares sin with leaven and commands the congregation at Corinth to clean out the sins from their midst in the same way the Jewish community had  removed leaven from their homes during their first Passover (Exodus 12:19-20). Just as leaven permeates an entire lump of dough, sinful behavior affects the entire life of an individual and congregation. Let us take few minutes to consider the leavens that are to be purged from us.

I. The leaven of Sin: Sin can be anything that displeases God. If you know anything about sin, then you know that sin is like yeast.  Sin grows and spreads just like yeast in dough.  Cheaper dead flies are powerful enough to spoil the costliest ointment Ecclesiastes 10:1. In the same manner sin works its way into your whole life until your life is completely corrupted by it. Therefore purging out the leaven of sin shouldn’t be occasional instead it should be often.

II. Leaven of hypocrisy: The believers at Corinth were known for their Spiritual gifts. But there was no love among them and there was no holiness in them. Their superficial spiritual life blinded their eyes to see the defiling leaven in their midst. Jesus had warned His disciples to avoid this type of behavior by using leaven as the metaphor of this sinful conduct (Matthew 16:5-12).

III. Leaven of disobedience: The apostle Paul also referred to leavening when teaching the Galatians about obedience to God’s laws. There were those who distorted God’s grace into license to sin. Paul made the point that a small amount of misrepresentation of the truth can lead to large amounts of confusion and deceit. Galatians 5:7-10 contains his warning.

Conclusion: The biblically relevant question we need to ask is: “Am I leavened?” In other words, do I still live a sinful life before God’s eyes? Have I learned to worship God with the “unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” or am I living a sinful, hypocritical life?

Patience in the Midst of Trials 2 Thessalonians 1: 4

Introduction: There had been great difficulty in Thessalonica, but the Thessalonians patiently endured.  The word endure means “to hold one’s self up; to refuse to submit to the pressures of life.”  It was a time of intense persecution for the church and yet they were patient in the Lord. That simply means they were steadfast in their stand and endured the difficulties with resolve. Life was hard, but the Thessalonians had stood as individuals committed to the cause of Christ. The story is told of an artist who went to visit an old friend. When he arrived, she was weeping. He asked why. She showed him a beautiful handkerchief that had great sentimental value, but which had been ruined by a spot of indelible ink.  The artist asked her to let him have the handkerchief, which he returned to her by mail a few days later. When she opened the package she could hardly believe her eyes. The artist, using the inkblot as a base, had drawn on the handkerchief a design of great beauty. Now it was more beautiful & more valuable than ever. Sometimes the tragedies that break our hearts can become the basis for a more beautiful design in our lives. Be patient with the hurts over which you have no control. In God’s hands they may even become a source of healing, help, & beauty.

Blessings Patience Brings: We live in a society of instant gratification. We are unaccustomed to waiting for much of anything. This impatience has even found its way inside the church. Let us know that Abraham waited 25 long years for the promised son, Isaac? Moses spent 40 years on the backside of the desert, in the middle of nowhere, preparing to lead God’s people, and then spent another 40 years wandering in the desert. Surely God has great things in store for us, but we must be patient and wait for Him to work in our midst. Apostle James in chapter 5: 7-19 exhorts believers to be patient until the Lord’s coming. Hebrews 12:1 tells us to "run with endurance" the race set before us. Some of the greatest missionaries of history devotedly spread the seed of God's Word and yet had to wait long periods before seeing the fruit of their efforts. William Carey, for example, laboured 7 years before the first Hindu convert was brought to Christ in Burma, and Adoniram Judson toiled 7 years before his faithful preaching was rewarded. In western Africa, it was 14 years before one convert was received into the Christian church. In New Zealand, it took 9 years; and in Tahiti, it was 16 years before the first harvest of souls began.

Conclusion: The Lord is full of pity and tender mercy.  So, where is your patience? Are you always in a hurry—even when God isn’t? Do all the work you can, and trust God for the results. Jesus is coming back. Will you be patiently trusting in Him?