Showing posts with label #179. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #179. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Sometimes I Feel Like Jonah - Now Think On This by Steve Martin


Sometimes I Feel Like Jonah
- Now Think On This
by Steve Martin


"When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it. But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry." Jonah 3:10-4:1.”  NASU


Yes, sometimes I feel like Jonah. I can get tired (angry?) of the continual lack of repentance in our land, and the seemingly non-judgment or inaction of the Lord regarding it. When will enough be enough, and it just end.

I certainly can also understand the disciples reaction about a village’s response, when they asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven. As recorded in Luke 9:51-56, “When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. 

When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." And they went on to another village.” (NASU)

In the first Scripture above written about Jonah and Nineveh, when the Lord called Jonah to travel to that city, to warn the people of impending judgement, he ran the other way, believing why bother, for the Lord would be merciful anyway. He did not want to do what it was going to take, to tell it like it was, as the word from the Lord was to be delivered. The prophet would have rather let them perish for the evil that they had committed. After all, they deserved it.

And the disciples, after seeing that the Samaritans were not receiving Jesus into their midst, because He was a Jew travelling to Jerusalem, they wanted to have them burned alive. This was even after Jesus had been with His team for three years, and had already resurrected. Surely they must have known the Lord’s heart of compassion, and were to be as He had taught them of His love, “…for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.” Luke 9:56

How often I find myself just wanting the Lord to quickly now put an end to all the sin, all the evil, all the wicked actions that keep going on and on. When Lord, will you finally put a stop to that which is so opposed to You and Your commands, and bring Your Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven? Will it be soon?

But once again I must realize that the Lord saved me as a sinner, waiting for that time when I came to repentance and acceptance of His substitutional, sacrificial death on the cross. He called to me, as He put people in my life who were willing not to judge me with fire and brimstone, but loved me enough to share the Good News of the Gospel with me. I am eternally grateful they did.

As we are now the Lord’s hands and feet on earth, we have been called to share His love to a dying world of sinners, that they too might receive Him, Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus Christ, into their lives. He has been patiently waiting for those who will yet hear, repent, and receive eternal salvation. He has commissioned us to be the ones to tell them.

Judgment is coming. These last days are revealing the time is drawing to an end. Prophetic words from centuries gone by are coming to pass in our lifetime, before the final preparation and ingathering takes place.

My prayer is that you and I will not allow our hearts to grow cold, and let the dying die, while we wait for His plans to be fulfilled.

“And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:4-14 NKJV

May the Holy Spirit give us the love of God for the nations. May we pray, seek His face, and do as we have been instructed – to be bold in proclaiming His Word of salvation.

May His Kingdom come. Maranatha Lord Jesus.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People. Inc.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.


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Now Think On This #179 “Sometimes I Feel Like Jonah” by Steve Martin 
Date: In the year of our Lord 2015 (09.15.15) Tuesday at 6:00 pm in Charlotte, NC

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This


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