"Patience. Just Wait A Minute." - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Patience. Just Wait A Minute (or longer).

by Steve Martin

“Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ (Messiah).” (2 Thess. 3:5 NKJV)

Patience doesn’t develop overnight. Awesome reality, right? It takes a few minutes to develop.

Those of you who remember the Polaroid cameras, with the “instant” photos (back in the 1960’s) knew you had to wait a while for the white paper to turn color. If we wanted the best picture possible, having that technology then, we had to wait about three minutes. For this generation, the digital photo is right there on your smartphone the second you take it. No wonder our grandkids don’t know how to wait!

When I read in Scripture the verse I shared above, I was amazed at just the thought of how much patience the Lord Yeshua (Jesus) really does have. Think of it for a moment. Paul prays that the Lord would direct our hearts into the patience of Christ, our Messiah. For that patience to be continually ongoing and be manifested towards us and through us.

The Lord has waited until now for you to do that which He instructed you to do last week. He is still waiting for you to complete the job He gave you last month. And that assignment you are still working on from 10 years ago? Yes, He is still waiting. His patience is beyond our human understanding.

I have an old photo of the Grand Canyon, mounted on the front of a piece of wood so it can hang on the wall. It has thus been on my wall for a few decades now. The caption reads, “God’s work takes time.” What an image! It certainly does! (I should put it next to the old generational photos of our ancestral families Laurie has hanging in our home’s main entrance hallway. His creation of them took some time too!)

Community in the last days will consist of people who are walking in patience. We will have learned that God’s work takes time, but that He is always on time. Never early. Never late.

Our maturity in this fruit of the Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodeh, will have reached a point that we are not anxious about when God will do something, but knowing that He certainly will do it, as He said He would. (Gal 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control.” CJB)

Just look at Israel and the Jews. The entire land was first promised to Abraham centuries ago. Time and again the Jews were driven out, but always brought back to their Promised Land by His Mighty Hand of Providence. Again, just in the last century, after being scattered throughout all the nations, He has brought them back again. What a patient God we serve!

Even now the Lord is growing patience in your heart. If you think of a coin with its two sides, not only has He shown you how long He has waited for your obedience in situations, but on the other side of the coin, He has also been causing you to wait on others, giving them time to grow in their faith walk. He is allowing us to realize that we each need time to hear, respond and obey as He speaks. When we do, our understanding of His everlasting patience grows. We then tend to allow others the needed time to get where He knows they should be.

What our God did in Abraham’s life, David’s life, and those women who waited for the promise of a child to come forth are further examples for us to follow. We need to learn from them in our understanding of patience, as we wait upon the Lord to fulfill personal promises in our lives. The Lord’s molding of our Jewish patriarch Abraham, the father of faith, allows us to see the years he had to have patience grow, for the promised son Isaiah to come. And even though he wavered in that, resulting in the birth of Ishmael, the Lord God didn’t withdraw His Word. The Lord’s patience with him allowed Abraham’s faith to see the promise.

We all know the story of Joseph – how patience had to be worked out in his own heart - with time in prison and then during the role of being second only to Pharaoh in government. This was part of the Lord’s plan in Joseph’s life. The Lord was allowing the years to go by, while also waiting for Joseph’s brothers to come to the point of seeing him again, and repenting of their deed.

Whether Joseph actually thought he would see his brothers again or not wasn’t the main point, but I believe the Lord taught Joseph a valuable lesson in having patience through this long ordeal. When the fruit was ripe, he was allowed to eat.

In considering the ongoing evil that takes place in the hearts of men, I have often asked the Lord why He waits so long before He does something about it, before His righteous judgment comes forth. (Oh, He will act. History has proven that.) It is because of His long suffering patience, wanting to give man every opportunity to repent and turn to Him, that His timing operates on a different clock than ours.

Patience first comes from the Lord for our lives. Then it grows in us as a fruit of the Holy Spirit - in our attitude and action toward others. We are then understanding why He waits so long, and allows things in our lives to seemingly go on past our expected done date. He is unfolding His perfect plan and purposes for us, and the peoples of the nations.

He is not quick to act, but He is sure to act for His plans and purposes. When the appointed time has come, the patience we have been allowed to grow will have been all worth it. And it will not be a minute too late.

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.

If these letters minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless known families in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH  OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

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Now Think On This #128  “Patience  - Just Wait A Minute”  Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (03.11.14) Tuesday at 4:30 am in Charlotte, NC).

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

Chinese Bamboo Tree - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Chinese Bamboo Tree

Steve Martin

“However, we want each one of you to keep showing the same diligence right up to the end, when your hope will be realized; so that you will not become sluggish, but will be imitators of those who by their trust and patience are receiving what has been promised.”

Hebrews 6:11-12 CJB

I first heard the story of the Chinese bamboo tree in the late 1990’s. As the administrator of All Nations Church in Charlotte, NC, pastored by Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda, others and myself were anticipating the growth in the church membership. All involved with the new church plant in this Carolina region, begun in 1994, were working hard, giving what each had been gifted to do, in leadership, service, and care for the people.

Mahesh spoke one Sunday morning, and again at the all-night prayer time that Friday night following, called the Watch of the Lord, about the Chinese bamboo tree. It was an encouraging word, both to the church as a group, and to individuals specifically. Myself included.

In helping us visualize what can happen in the spiritual, by looking at natural examples the Lord gives us, Mahesh explained the amazing characteristics of this particular plant species. He spoke of how it is most often the way the Lord starts and grows a work that He has initiated. If He birthed it, He will see that it thrives, as we hear and obey along the way. But the way isn’t what we always think it will be. Or at least hope it will be.

Briefly, this particular bamboo, after being planted as a sprout, is watered, fertilized, watered, fertilized, watered, fertilized, again and again and again. Year after year. But there is no visible evidence that anything is happening. During that time, it certainly can be very challenging to one’s faith, especially if you are the one hauling the water and the fertilizer!

Year one passes. Nothing seen. Year two comes and goes. Nothing. But yet you remain faithful, believing the unseen will become the seen.

Year three. “Nada” (as is “nothing” in Spanish.) Year four - “Niet” (“no” in Russian.) Year five – “klum” (nothing) in Hebrew. But year five!

In a 23 day period, the Chinese bamboo explodes upward 22 feet into the sky. And in the short period of six weeks total, it can reach 80 feet! Remarkable! World Book Encyclopedia records that one bamboo plant can grow three feet in a simple twenty-four-hour period.

The question is then asked – did it grow 80 feet in six weeks or 80 feet in five years? I’m saying the later.

During that five year period, the root system, unseen, was being developed. Once the time had come to shoot upwards, the foundation had already been laid. This would then sustain the height and weight of the full grown tree. In addition to the upward growth, shoots had been sent out, also below ground level. This multiplication can come up through the soil up to ten feet away. 

What a natural visual for us in the spiritual. Builds your faith, right? You who have been laboring, faithfully, in the natural, all the time hoping, believing to see the increase come in the spiritual. Prayer, reading the Lo

You have been waiting. You have been doing. You have been crying out to the Lord for more results.

The time is coming. For you, it may be the 5^th year now.

God the Father has given us examples of those who have gone before us – Joseph, David, even Yeshua (Jesus) Himself. Each had to spend the time needed to first develop the character, before the time of the release. They then had the capacity for strength, wisdom and love to hold the weight of the assignment He had for them. As for them, so for you - that eternal purpose He has for you.

My prayer is that you will not quit in the third year. That you will keep believing through the fourth year. And that you will get the reward in that fifth year.

Our God is a faithful God. His promises are true to you.

Ahava,

Steve Martin

Love For His People

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.

If these letters minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless known families in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH  OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share this Now Think On This with your friends.

Pink Hair by Kathie Walters

Pink Hair by Kathie Walters

Identity Network

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I had a "stunning" experience one time. God really used it to point out something to me. I had been away for a couple of days, visiting and praying with a close friend of mine who lives in Gainesville, My friends there had a great ministry raising up churches on the campuses of the U.S. and in many other nations. They had discipled and raised up thousands of young people, trained to take the Gospel to the nations. 

My teenage daughter, Faith, had stayed home with a girlfriend to take care of our house and pets. Like any other parent, I had given many instructions about the care of the house, yard, animals, and pool. Faith is very sensible and capable, so I didn't worry about anything. I had called a few times and everything was fine.  (Note Faith is a parent herself now). 

Faith's Hair 

Returning home, I was not prepared for the shock that was awaiting me.  As I turned the car into our driveway, the dogs came running to meet me as they usually did. I got out of the car and petted them, taking a second look at Faith's Chow, Koa. He was usually a pretty, beige color, but his coat had turned to a shade of pink, at least down his back and tail. I wondered if he had fallen into a strawberry patch! 

I entered the house, looking forward to seeing Faith, who being a home-schooler, was sure to be in the house. I went inside and began to ascend the stairs. At the top of the stairs was Faith. She greeted me, smiling demurely. I returned her smile, but my smile faded very quickly. Suddenly, I saw it! A bright pink, wide streak down one side of her pretty blond hair! Not a pale hint of color, but a peppermint pink! 

"Faith, what has happened to you?" I cried. I thought there must have been some terrible mishap. She was joined by Haley, my then secretary's daughter. Haley was grinning from ear to ear. Her dark hair was now deep green on one side and blue on the other! I freaked out! Faith laughed at my reaction - big mistake. 

I ranted and raved a while and she agreed to wash the pink out (dog too). A short while later, as I looked at her, I thought it didn't really look so bad. I let her keep it for a few days. I began to think about all this later and about my visit with Rose. 

While I had been with my friends in Gainesville, another friend had called to tell her about a book he had recently read. It was offering the reader reasons as to why we are not in full scale revival. Leaders who had made mistakes and had gotten off track here and there by over-emphasizing various truths were named as being a major part of the cause for our lack. 

My friends had been mentioned in this book, along with other people that I knew well. I understand that the writer was concerned about the Body of Christ, but still I couldn't stop weeping whenever I thought about the "policeman" trying to get us all straight. 

I couldn't stop thinking about Faith's hair, and my reaction to it. Her hair had gotten my attention and so my mind had to deal with what I saw.  It took my attention away from all the things she had done over that weekend. It had been a hard job to look after the pool, because our area had been badly affected by floods and it was full of muddy water. 

God's Grace and Patience 

Our house is a big house to clean, but it was neat and tidy. We have three phone lines with people calling all of the time. She had taken care of everyone. Our dog had been hit by a car a few days previously and needed a lot of attention. He was fine. 

Not only had my things been well taken care of, but a family in her church had lost everything they owned in the flood. What was left of their house was under two inches of mud, and she had been over to help them clean. She had brought home three large bags of washing to do for them. She took care of the office. I had missed it all because of the pink hair. We can be so blind. Thank God for His endless grace and patience. 

I then thought of the various books that had been written about the mistakes my friends and many other ministries had made at one time or another. They were obvious. Like the pink hair, most people could have seen them right away. But I thought, "What about all the thousands of young people who were saved and filled with the Spirit through their ministry on the campuses of America and many other nations? What about the thousands of kids who were dedicated to the call of God on their lives?" 

Thousands of young people received a very real sense of destiny in their lives because of the ministry and revelation of my friends who had given their lives for the Gospel. I wondered how it was that none of this was mentioned in these books. Maybe my daughter's hair is over-simplifying it, but it's the same principle to me. 

Jesus, the Great Shepherd 

When my friend, Rose told me about a very generous gift that had been given them for their China outreach, I felt so blessed myself. I wanted to write to the often maligned faith teacher that had given it and tell him, "You blessed me because you blessed my friends." When I heard about the negative things that were said in the book, I had a great desire to write to the author and say, "You hurt me because you hurt my friends." 

I don't know of a ministry that has been around for any length of time that hasn't goofed at some point, said some dumb things from time to time, or headed off in a wrong direction occasionally. But, Jesus is the Great Shepherd; He will shepherd His sheep. He knows what He is doing. 

It is the Holy Spirit who moves on God's people to convict and change.  There is one thing more miserable than people trying to change themselves, and that is when we try to change each other. I can point out what is wrong with you, but I don't have the power to change it.  When the Holy Spirit convicts, He does have the power to change it. Big difference! 

Next time you are tempted to see only the obvious mistake in someone, say to yourself, "Pink hair."   Maybe it will remind you that there are many wonderful things you have forgotten regarding that person or ministry. Jesus hasn't forgotten. He loves them so very much! 

We would put our hands over our mouths like Job, when God asked us, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" (Job.38:4), or, "Were you there when I brought forth My Son from the grave? Were you there when I brought forth the first fruits of THE CHURCH?" 

Kathie Walters

www.kathiewaltersministry.com

kathiewalters@mindspring.com 

From Kathie's book The Spirit of False Judgment available from Identity Network.

The Spirit of False Judgment

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By Kathie Walters
Price: $6.99

Click HERE to order. 

Ahava Love Letter - "Don't Stop"

“Don’t Stop” “…yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'" (Luke 18:5 NKJV)

Dear family of friends,

Day in and day out. Same old same old. Been there, done that. Cliches’ we have heard, or said, often. They can become tiring sayings, and yet may represent our present situation in life.

Our daily prayers may end up being the same ones we have petitioned for the last several months, or longer. We can grow weary of coming to the Lord and repeating what we presented yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. Do our prayers we give by rote have little effect? Is it time being wasted, to share our heart each day with the One Who said we would have the abundant life? Read on.

“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' 

And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'" 

Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:1-8 NKJV)

The ungodly judge said he was getting weary of the widow continually coming to him, and so just to stop it, he avenged her (definition: to exact satisfaction for (a wrong) by punishing the wrongdoer.) In the above parable, Jesus goes on to say, in comparison, that God hears His own elect, who pray to Him day and night, and tells us to keep in faith, for He will speedily respond. That encourages me.

Though we often grow weary from pressing on, as we seek Him for His chosen path and planned purposes, He Himself encourages us to keep going. It doesn’t seem like He gets tired of hearing from us. Rather, the Word says that He Himself is bearing long with us, and promises that He will answer quickly. (Even if His “quickly” seems like eternity to us!) By pressing on, we are expressing faith in Him as we await His answer. He expects nothing short of us – to maintain ongoing faith in Him.

Don’t stop going forward. Your faith will be rewarded. That we can be sure of.

Ahava to my family of friends,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc. truly appreciates your generous support. Please consider sending a monthly charitable gift of $5-$25 each month to help us bless Messianic Jews in Israel. You can send checks to the address below. Todah rabah! (Hebrew - Thank you very much.)

©2012 Steve  Martin      Love For His People, Inc.  P.O.Box 414  Pineville, NC 28134      

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Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA organization. Fed. ID#27-1633858.  Tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation.

Ahava Love Letter #42   Date: Feb. 24 in the year of our Lord 2012