BE A LITTLE PATIENT!

A Street called Patience

Time with Jesus - Sunday, 07 April 2013  

Hi all,

Today’s meditation focuses on, among other things, patience. In modern life, there is no time to be patient. Things have to happen immediately, if not sooner! The train and the bus mustn’t be late. The plane must take off on schedule. Meetings must begin on time. 

“Punctuality” is not optional. For you and everybody else this must be true. But I’ve got all the good reasons why I’m behind schedule. So I’m excused, but you’re not! It’s as though I’m the centre of the universe and everything must rotate around me. The sun, moon and stars should follow me. After all ……

Busy; Busy; Busy

All of us go through phases of this kind of impatience. Here’s the rub. As shown above, impatience is an expression of selfishness and pride. So do yourself a favour. The next time you begin to get irritated because you are being kept waiting, remember, the Lord can easily arrange for you to learn patience in much the same way as described in the introduction. It’s not recommended!

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland 

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Sunday, 07 April 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
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INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	Be a Little Patient!
Patience is a virtue. That’s what we are told. The problem is endemic in today’s culture. “I want it and I want it now!” Alternatively, “Lord, please give me patience; quickly!” Of course, the Lord has us at a great disadvantage. He has all the time in the world. We don’t! The fact is, God has everything under control and timed down to the smallest part of a nanosecond. But that seldom helps us. For example, in Genesis we learn: 13 Then the LORD said to Abram, "You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. Gen 15:13 NLT Now I don’t want to be “picky”; but I’m not sure how I would feel if I was a slave. Then I found that there was a couple of hundred years still to go for me and my family. My comment would be something like this: “Lord, I know you have lots of time, but what do I tell my kids? It wouldn’t help, but it might make me feel a bit better. In spite of all this, you and I have to get on with life. We either do so with enthusiasm and a passion for living, or we allow ourselves to sink into the slough of despond. The choice is ours. We can side with Solomon in his old age and say, 2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." Eccl 1:2 TNIV or we can side with Jesus who said, 10 the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 TNIV I’m reminded of the man who prayed and asked the Lord for patience. The next day was one of the most stressful and upsetting days in his life. His alarm clock didn’t go off; he cut his face while shaving; scratched the car reversing out; hit the gate post; couldn’t find parking; arrived late for the office and got ticked off by the boss; his wristwatch stopped so he was late for the business appointment. He’d left his lunch at home; got away from the office late; then his wife was out and his supper was cold. That night in prayer he complained to the Lord about his day. “What’s your problem?” the Lord asked. “I answered your prayer. You’ve had all day to practise being patient!” Our meditation looks at “meaningless”. We begin with a man asking “pointless ” questions; questions to which we have no answers. Then the tone changes and we meet the One Who is able to answer all questions; the One who wants us to have “abundant” life. The questions cannot be answered directly on this side of the grave. But the Lord has all the answers. The meditation concludes with Him giving us His assurance that all is well in Him and asking us to be a little patient. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			3 The LORD will support him on his sickbed. You will restore this person to health when he is ill. Psalm 41:3 GW 9 In all their troubles, he was troubled, too. He didn't send someone else to help them. He did it himself, in person. Out of his own love and pity he redeemed them. He rescued them and carried them along for a long, long time. Isaiah 63:9 MSG 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Master, the one you love so very much is sick." John 11:3 MSG 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Cor. 12:9 ESV 13 I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me. Philip 4:13 GW 16 That is why we are not discouraged. Though outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are renewed day by day. 2 Cor. 4:16 GW 28 “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.' Act 17:28 ESV 29 He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. 30 Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. 31 But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31 NLT 27 The eternal God is your refuge, and His everlasting arms are under you. He drives out the enemy before you; He cries out, 'Destroy them!' Deut. 33:27 NLT	Life is an enigma! No one seems to know, The reason why somebody’s born: and why they have to go! It seems so contradictory; we’re only born to die. And no one I have known has ever said the reason why. Are we just like the animals, who how have to find a mate, To keep the species going and so they copulate? Is this the only purpose? Then why be born at all? Surely man’s extinction is better than his fall? Why is it we continue? Why didn’t God see fit, To finish with His creation and simply stop and quit? I know these are big questions; but who can indicate, His purpose in continuing with all our sin and hate? How long has it been happening? About ten thousand years? And man has still learned nothing; is how it now appears. It’s like an endless treadmill that we can’t start or stop. We’re born and keep on moving till finally we drop! Where will we find the answer? Without theology, Such questions can’t be answered; that’s how it seems to me. God must have had a purpose; but where did it go wrong? The fact is that the Father had known it all along. It didn’t come and shock Him, or take Him by surprise. He knew what Lucifer would say to spread his evil lies. In fact He’d always known it. When Lucifer was made, The Lord knew there would come a time when He was disobeyed. That pride would be the reason for this archangel’s fall. In spite of this, He knew that it was somehow worth it all. The whole thing’s still in process. But Jesus knows the end. It won‘t be interrupted; on this we can depend. Someday the Lord will say to us, “My child can you now see, It had to be all finalised to wind up history? Look now at what has happened! See, It was all worthwhile! Think back on your questioning. It’s sure to make you smile. For sin and Satan’s empire, I had to bring to naught. And that is why I came to earth. To fight the war I fought. If I had quit the way you said, no one would ever see; The awesomeness of Jesus and His Great Majesty! While you were in the grip of time, I couldn’t then reveal, The fullness of My purpose. You wouldn’t think it real! How could it ever happen? But now it is so clear! And in this new dimension, I am forever near! So be a little patient and wait till time is done; And you will have the answers directly from My Son. Jim Strickland Written 7th April 2012