Do not delay

Matthew 8: 14-15

"14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.

15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them."

     Verse 15 spoke to me and I would like to share what the Lord put on my heart while reading this. In Matthew chapter 8 we find Christ working many miracles throughout Capernaum. The application for verse 15, or one of the many I should say, is not to wait to serve the Lord. Immediately after Christ healed Peter's mother in law, she began to serve the Lord. She did not delay, or make excuses, she got busy. She was physically healed, and in the same night was perhaps spiritually healed as well. 

     When we come to know Christ as our savior, many of us, including myself once, sit around and wait to begin serving God. We come up with excuses like I haven't grown enough or I just don't know enough about the Bible, as to why we are waiting to serve the Lord. There are plenty of things to do in service of God. After being spiritually healed, revived, and quickened we should not sit and wait to serve. We should by the grace of God do as Peter's mother in law had done, find some way to serve the Lord and begin to do so immediately. Ask your Pastor what you can do to help, there is plenty of work to be done.

     I was one that was guilty of throwing every excuse I could as to why I was "waiting on the Lord" as if I was expecting some divine sign from God as to what he wanted me to do. His will for every Christian is plainly written for us to know and will not be found in some miraculous sign from God. We simply need to get into his word daily, pray, seek the face of God and strive to know him more closely every day. By the grace of God we will walk with the Lord and continue to grow each day. If I go through a day and have not walked with God or grown in some way in my spiritual life I count that day as wasted. We should walk closer with God each and every day. Pray for your fellow christian that the Lord would pour out his grace and strength on us every day to help us to walk with him so that we may do his will.

Some Wisdom in Proverbs

     Proverbs 1: 17
"17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird."

     In this chapter, God through Solomon is telling us about the ways of the lost world and the foolishness that abounds in it. He warns the believer and advises them to stay clear of the path and wisdom of the lost world. While reading this chapter, verse 17 really popped out to me. So many times we read through scripture, I include myself in this, and we just read it. When we truly seek after God, and meditate on his word, God opens our understanding to a verse we've read a dozen times. We then see some new truth or application about it that we hadn't before, and might I say that is such a blessing when that happens.

     Birds tend to flock around areas where schools of fish are under the water. One of the methods fishermen used to determine where to cast their net back in that time was to watch for where the birds would circle. They would fish in that area due to the likelihood that the birds were circling their next meal - the fishermen took advantage of this. Sometimes that would work, other times it was the birds circling around the ship waiting for easy pickings. 

     That being said, the lost world has a different worldview. They have no hope, no faith and no comfort in God. They look everywhere and at anything for a chance to gain prosperity or even to just meet basic needs. They see a bird, that bird is a chance or sign at gaining something, and go after it without thought. They pursue it in vain, thinking that they will find what they need, or that they can earn merit with God through that pursuit. They do not rely in or trust God for direction in life, they act on their own strength, on their own knowledge and come up short. When they see the next bird, they cast out their net in vain only again to return void. They will continue that process over and over again, only to always come back empty handed. They need Christ, as no pursuit of him will ever be in vain, or return void.

Adding Patience: A Commandment to Follow, Not a Suggestion to Ponder.

II Peter 1: 4-6

"4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

     We have all heard more than a few sermons or Sunday School lessons on the fruits of the spirit. They elaborate on what the fruits are, and how we are to work diligently to add them to our lives. When patience would come up, we always hear the same thing "don't pray for patience, because tribulation worketh patience." For a while, I listened to that and didn't really think anything of it other than "the logic makes sense."

     Do not pray for patience because trials and struggles in life is what teaches it. We can't stop there. I would like to suggest that we should not pray for patience only if we have not first added virtue, knowledge and temperance. The fruits of the spirit were given in a specific order, and that order is extremely important. Without the first 3 fruits, praying for patience is indeed a mistake. If we do not have virtue, knowledge and temperance then the trials that the Lord would send our way to teach patience will only bring bitterness. 

     Having virtue, good moral character, combined with knowledge of the word of God and the self control that temperance brings will give us the strength of character and the resolve we need to gain patience from trials. Without them, without virtue a christian would not have the moral character to remain positive, treating others with respect, kindness and staying strong in doing right even when in the midst of suffering. They would not have knowledge of the word of God to recall verses to help strengthen and encourage them when times are the darkest and the need the greatest. Without temperance they would lack the self control to keep their minds in check, from dwelling on thoughts of blame, anger, bitterness and despair. The trials would be used by Satan as he takes advantage of the vulnerabilities a christian would have without the first 3 fruits of the spirit, to foster bitterness in your heart.

     God does not suggest to us to add the fruits of the spirit to our lives. He tells us to. ". . .give all diligence, add to your faith. . ." there is not a suggestion there. As you grow in the Lord and grace, when you have come to a point in your walk with Christ in which you have added (and will always be strengthening) the first 3 fruits it is time to add patience. We cannot just refuse to pray for the Lord to teach us patience because we do not like what he uses to teach it. That is telling the Lord "Sorry God, but I don't like how you teach us patience, so can we just skip to the next one?" By choosing to neglect adding patience, you are choosing to stop your growth as a Christian. It may be a hard thing to do, but we must add patience.

     If we can trust the Lord with our souls, with our eternal fate, we can trust him to give us the strength and grace necessary to face the trials he would bring our way to teach us patience. Christian, if you find you are lacking patience in your life, and you have been working diligently to add the first 3 fruits, trust the Lord. Pray that he would teach you patience, but that he would also give you the peace, strength, wisdom and grace to help you through the trials that he will bring your way in order to teach patience. A year after coming to know the Lord as my savior, I found that I was lacking patience. I prayed for patience, and I can say that over 2 years the Lord definitely answered that prayer. I have not arrived, Lord knows I have not! I will continue to do my best to walk with God. By his grace and power alone I will continue to seek after adding the fruits of the spirit to my life. Pray for me christian, that I would continue to walk the path God has for me, and for his strength to face the trials of life ahead of me.

     Hi, my name is Joshua and I am 24 years old. I was encouraged by my brother to share my thoughts and applications for verses from the Bible to be a blessing to others. I only hope to encourage and to be a blessing to my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

     I am reading through the 4 gospels and will try to share with you what the Lord has shown me out of his word as I study Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. While reading I came across a portion of scripture most of us have been familiar with since our early days in Sunday School. Our candle, and not hiding it under a bushel. The teaching in particular is found in Matthew 5:15-16, "15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

     Most of the time when we hear a lesson or sermon about these verses they are almost always about letting our light shine in the dark world in which we live. To be a bright testimony, lifting up Christ to lead others to salvation. That is all true, and a very important lesson to understand, though there is so much more one can apply this verse to than just being a good witness.

     Every word in the Bible is used for a reason and all were used very carefully by God. The source of light he chose in verse 15 is that of a candle. He did not say lamp, light, or torch, he very specifically chose to use the word candle. An important application for this is just think of how quickly a candle will burn up. It is a temporary light source which represents the limited amount of time we have here on Earth to let our light shine out into the world. Another message conveyed often to Christians in the New Testament is how short life is. James 4:14 "14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."

     The second application out of verse 15 regards the bushel. A bushel, simply, is a basket woven from twigs which is quite flammable. If you cover your light and run from the will of God, he will chastise you and convict you greatly. It will burn away at you and if you refuse long enough, that bushel (in this case your life and testimony) will be destroyed and left to ruin. What will remain is the candle, still shining and ready again to be used for the Lord if you would come back to him. Still others hide their light under an even thicker, larger bushel to repeat the process over again only to end in an even greater disaster than before. The most miserable Christian is one living outside of the will of God.  

      I shared these thoughts with my Pastor and he had a great bit of wisdom and insight into the bushel as well. He said, "A bushel is woven from twigs, and so it has many small gaps that the light can shine through. Even if you try to turn your back on God and live like the world, some of that light will still shine through. The lost are watching and you cannot hide your light from them completely. You will only hurt your testimony and the testimony of Christ." What a great truth! God help me, and us all, to be a proper testimony for Christ.

     Our time here on Earth is limited thus we only have so long to be a light in the darkness today. I encourage everyone that has kindly taken the time to read my thoughts to work for the Lord! Let your light shine before men, lift up Christ in the preaching of the gospel. Bring lost souls to Christ, for that is the only thing that will matter in eternity. Live for him, do his will, if you do those 2 things faithfully God will give you a peace and joy in life that is beyond understanding.