Tag Archives: Patience

Instant Messaging

Posted on by under Christian Living

Texting     Have you ever prayed for God to take care of some problem that you had, and then wondered what the answer to that prayer would be? It is especially difficult for us as Americans to be patient in waiting for a response. We are so accustomed to fast food, microwave ovens, and instant messaging that we expect immediate results. Additionally, it may be that the answer to our prayer is “not now,” and so we have to wait awhile for the result. This is a normal situation, but during the time of Hezekiah, he received an instant response to one of his prayers.

     As 2 Kings 20 opens Hezekiah is sick to the point of death. Isaiah the prophet comes to him to instruct him to put his house in order, for he will soon die. This leads to Hezekiah’s prayer, and the text tells us that he prayed with such fervor that he wept bitterly (2 Kings 20:2). His prayer was heard and his tears were seen by the Lord. Before Isaiah could even exit Hezekiah’s house, he was told to return to Hezekiah with an updated message (2 Kings 20:4-5). Hezekiah was not going to die yet. Instead the Lord granted him another 15 years on this earth. God was prepared for Hezekiah’s prayer, because God knows all things even before they occur.

     Likewise when we pray to the Lord, He already knows what it is that we will say and what it is that we need (Matthew 6:8). Still, He wants for us to come to Him in prayer. We are no different than Hezekiah in that respect. God knew that He would heal Hezekiah, but yet He waited for Hezekiah’s prayer. God has the power to answer all our prayers in an instant. Whether the answer comes instantly or over the course of time, our part is to pray with the earnest expectation that God will hear and answer our prayers (James 1:6-8).

God’s Path to Salvation – Step Four – Repent

Posted on by under Doctrine

14130441997_a4c5a31a2d_o     The next step in God’s path to salvation is to repent of the things that we have done, or are doing, which are not in accordance with God’s word.  Jesus Himself taught that repentance was necessary when He taught His disciples about those Galileans who were killed by Pilate, or about those upon whom the tower of Siloam had fallen upon.  He told them that unless they repented they would all likewise perish (Luke 13:3, 5).

     Similarly, Paul stood upon Mars’ Hill in Athens and preached to those who were listening about the “unknown” God.  In that address, Paul stated that repentance was necessary for salvation.  Regarding their past ignorance of God’s will he told them, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).  Notice that God calls upon all men, all of mankind to repent.  Notice also that He calls upon all men everywhere.  That means that no one is exempt from the command to repent.

     Later, Paul would tell young Timothy that God wants all men to come to a knowledge of the truth and to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4)  Additionally, Peter explains that God is not willing for anyone to perish spiritually.  He wishes for all men, again that is all of mankind, to repent of what they have done wrong.  Peter writes, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).  Because it has been almost 2,000 years since the sacrificial death of Jesus upon the cross, men are likely to wonder about the second coming.  It is God who is holding off on the end of the world, because He does not want anyone to perish.  He wants all men everywhere to come to repentance and be obedient to His will.

     Therefore, we need to repent of our sins in order to lay hold of eternal life, but just what is involved in that repentance?  Is it just saying that I am sorry for what I have done?  Is it just saying that I am sorry that I got caught doing something wrong, or is there more to it than that?  We must not be misled into thinking that repentance is just a feeling of momentary sorrow with no change in our actions.  There is much more to repentance than just that feeling of sorrow.  Repentance means that we make a change in our life.  We do not just feel sorry for what we have done, but if we are sinning against God then we change our lifestyle to reflect His wishes, His commands, His will.  Paul explains this difference in writing to the church at Corinth:

Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.  For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.  For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter (2 Corinthians 7:9-11)

Notice that Paul is not rejoicing in their sorrow, but in the fact that their godly sorrow produced repentance, a change of direction.

     It is our godly sorrow that will lead us to repentance.  Our repentance, our change of mind, our change of direction will then lead us to God and His salvation.  It is not like the sorrow of the world whereby we might just be sorry that we were caught in wrongdoing.  Let us all put our sins behind us, and throw off that weight so that we may run our race unencumbered by sin (Hebrews 12:1).  Let us learn to repent of what we do that does not match God’s will, so that we can have that hope of eternal salvation when our life here is done!

God Gets “Historical”

Posted on by under Article

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A man was talking to his friend and he said that every time he and his wife have a disagreement, she gets historical.  His friend tried to correct him by asking if he meant to say that she gets hysterical.  The man said that he did not misspeak, but that his wife gets ‘historical’ by bringing up everything that he ever did!

In 2 Kings 21 beginning in verse 10, it appears that God is getting ‘historical’ with the kingdom of Judah.  Manasseh, who committed a great deal of evil in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings 21:1-9), has caused the nation to commit the sin of idolatry.  Indeed, Manasseh is said to be worse than the Amorites that God removed from the land prior to the Israelites inheriting it (2 Kings 21:10).  Because of the sins of Manasseh and the kingdom of Judah, God is going to cause them to go off into Babylonian captivity for a 70 year period of correction.  God had a tremendous amount of patience with Israel, but now that patience is up. Israel’s winepress is just about full, and there will be no way to avert what is to come.  God says, “they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies, because they have done evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day” (2 Kings 21:14b-15).  God gets ‘historical’ in that He reminds them of how long their transgressions against Him have been building.

Our God is a God of patience (Romans 15:5) and of longsuffering (1 Peter 3:20).  God waits upon man to turn his life around and to come to Him (2 Peter 3:9).  However, there is a limit to God’s patience.  We only have this life in which to come to God and have our sins washed away and removed from our record through the act of baptism (Acts 2:38; 22:16).  If we want to make sure that God is not historical with us on Judgment Day, then we need to make sure that we do what He said to do.  If we will simply obey Him, God will blot out our sins and will remember them no more (Heb. 8:12; 10:17).