Just Wait

Psalm 27

Wait on the Lord;

Be of good courage,

And He shall strengthen your heart;

Wait, I say, on the Lord.

     This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.  I may have told this story before, but here I go again.

     I was in a hospital in 1987.  I had some neurological symptoms and they did an MRI on me and several other tests.  They came to the conclusion that I had a mass in my head that was inoperable and they gave me days to live.  My life just then turned upside down.  My family's lives turned upside down.  I was 25 years old, married, with a baby.  What would happen next?

     After the crying, and going on, a nurse, who happened to be a Christian, came in and recited this verse to me and prayed for me.  I felt uneasy and afraid, but yet I felt peace coming from this precious nurse.  The next day came with results again from the MRI.  It might have been a miracle, who knows?  It might have been a doctor's mistake, who knows?  Only God knows.  The mass in my head was scar tissue.  I was going to live!  What we have to know is we have to wait on God, with courage.  He will give us the strength we need.  A miracle did happen by the way.  God showed me that waiting on Him, in His timing meant I would see blessings.  And I did!

     Fast forward 28 years later...

     Worried God wasn't listening.  Worried God wasn't answering.  Wondering where He was when I messed up.  With tears in my eyes, He held me close, and said, "Wait".  So the next day comes around, very early, and I'm thinking of the verse, "...Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning".  And I thought again, still struggling, "Where is my joy"?  All of a sudden I felt peace and joy with the arms of Jesus holding me.

     The next thing I know, I get a text from a family member with some good news we were praying about, and I cried for joy this time.  I failed the day before to trust and have faith...and to wait.  The next day, God showed up.  Another verse that comes to mind as I conclude this is, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding".  Proverbs 3:5.

     God always shows up when you least expect it.  Are you waiting on Him?

Waiting on Him

Sabrina

What is Our Character?

     I want to take three or four blogs to go through what our character should be as Christians in ministry.  I will start with three today.

1.  Attentive to Christ's voice; 1 John 1:3,4

"What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ".

     Our character must be willing to listen to the voice of Christ and the Father's Will for us.  Our selfishness must banish.  We need to be willing to serve others first, so they may fellowship with Jesus.  Listening and being attentive to Christ's voice is essential in ministry.  Doing ministry in our own way will lead to failure.

2.  Blameless and Harmless; Philippians 2:15 "So that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among you who appear as lights in the world".

     Our character must remain blameless and harmless.  Live out our lives the way we minister to others and do not harm one another.  Be doers of the Word and not just hearers.  We are God's children, and must not warp our ministry with our sinful nature.  If we do sin, confess and repent, and always forgive those who sin also.

3.  Bold; Proverbs 28:1 "The wicked will flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion".

     This is the last character for this blog.  Being bold in our witness and not backing down in the face of opposition is very important in our ministry.  Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy, and we must stand against him with boldness for our testimony for Jesus to stand strong.  God says many times in the Bible to "be strong and courageous".  It is crucial that we stand boldly when facing our enemy.

I hope all of you are blessed by God this week and remember that our character and integrity count for our eternity and others' eternity.

Blessings

Sabrina