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If you are reading
this, you know about “clicks” to open windows to
the web. Usually they open instantly when you
click on the button or link, though the window
contents might be slower to load. These windows
are actually “doors” to more information and/or
sometimes lead to even another window.
We have become
accustomed to “quick-clicks” that lead us to
another room which may have many other doors
leading to yet another window. Of course
this is not a bad thing in itself, but our
technological world has made us expect the same
thing from God Himself. We want instant
answers to prayers and petitions to Him, based on
our understanding and desires. We want to
“click” on God’s button and get just what we are
asking for and we want it instantly.
By now you, like I, have learned that we don’t
“push God’s buttons” for a quick-fix or place our
order ‘online’ and expect Him to rush it right
out.
"The Faith of Christ offers no button to push
for quick service...and that is too much for the
man in a hurry. He just gives up and becomes
interested in something else." --A.W. Tozer
“But if we hope for that we see not, then do we
with patience wait for it” (Romans
8:25).
Patience? In this
“hurry-up” world that makes so many demands and
expects instant action from us, how can we
possible ask it to be patient with us? Especially
when we, ourselves, don’t possess the patience
with those we have expectations of instant
response from.
You’ve heard, ‘What
the world needs now is love,’ and that has great
merit; but what it needs is a love that contains
other attributes. One of the uppermost
characteristics seems to be “peace.” Where can we
go to find peace? Where is the button to click to
enter the door of peace? We are in a period of
“wars and rumors of wars.” War between nations,
war between families and family members, war
between neighbors, political wars, moral wars;
war, war everywhere we turn. We even war within
ourselves.
“From whence come wars and fightings among
you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that
war in your members” (James 4:1).
Oh, that we had a
button to click to end all wars and find the door
to peace! Alas, I am a bearer of bad news!
Until Jesus comes, war will continue as He said;
and it will just get worse. The only real peace
we will have on this earth is what we find in
Jesus; and the peace we have in Him is not
dependent upon a
peaceful environment here on earth. No, in fact,
it will be in spite of un-peaceful conditions
around us.
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto
you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid” (John 14:27).
The question is,
“How can we have this “peace that passes all
understanding” (Philippians 4:7) in the midst of
war all around us? Is there a quick-click button
that opens a window that leads to peace? Peter
said we needed to avoid evil and ‘seek' peace and
pursue it (1 Peter 3:11). Pursue in this verse
means to “press toward.” Press, you know--put
pressure on ourselves to seek it until we have
found it. There is no quick-click; it requires
diligence on our part.
Peace requires
personal adjustment of our will conformed to the
will of God. We will never have peace until we
are situated in the will of God. We will always
be at war with ourselves until we have made that
adjustment.
(click on button below)
Without the patience
that we must allow to be worked in us,
we will give up and give in to the devil’s
attempts to discourage us. The devil has an
agenda, but time is on God’s side; and the devil
is always in a hurry because he knows his time is
short. When we feel pressured to hurry, rush
into a decision or respond without thinking about
it, it is from the devil. When
God speaks, it is with gentleness and a loving and
wooing spirit. Satan doesn’t want you to consider
the consequence of your actions; just do it and do
it NOW! He knows if you delay, it will give you a
chance to allow the Holy Spirit to “let patience
have her perfect work”; and God will receive the
glory of the favorable ensuing results.
Our quick-click is
to instantly reflect toward God at every turn. As
soon as Satan urges us to find a quick-fix, we are
to enter the door of patience and allow God to
speak peace.
Impatience wants
instant success. That is what cultivates thieves
and robbers. They want what you have, but they
don’t want to wait until they can work it out;
they want it now. That’s also the ingredient for
dishonest politicians and other leaders who are
supposed to be our servants and moral guides.
They don’t have the patience to earn the right to
be revered, promoted and respected; their greed
pushes them toward self-made success by any means.
Thank God for those who hear and heed God's gentle
voice to guide them to success in their endeavors
to be godly leaders!
Satan is a master deceiver and pushes whomever he
can to destroy their lives as well as those
involved with them in a wide ripple effect.
He is a “pusher.”
If Hannah had not
had patience and waited for the promised son, the
world would never have known Samuel. If Abraham
had not believed God and waited for the promise even in his old
age, we would not know Isaac from whom came Jacob,
the father of Israel.
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Jesus told His
disciples to “watch and wait.” He knew that
temptation would come their way and they would be
weary, but He also knew if they pursued the peace
that
He was leaving them, their hope would not fade.
Their hope was not mere wishful thinking, but was
filled with expectation. They would persevere
through many trials and tests, even death itself.
Their hope was in the everlasting peace that Jesus
had promised was prepared for them. They worshipped and
praised God even when they were persecuted.
When our hope is in the Lord, we have contentment.
I don't say that lightly. How many people do
you know who are content with their lives?
There is an unsettling discontent when we don't
have the peace of God. We aren't even sure
why we are not content, and keep looking for some
else to satisfy the longing for contentment, which
often leads to excess as we try one thing after
another.
"But godliness with contentment is great gain" (1
Timothy 6:6)
Hope with joyful anticipation is the underlying
support of contentment. The only place we
can have this kind of contented hope is in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
"Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from
the heavens, praise him in the heights" (Psalm
148:1).
The disciples kept the
hinges on the door to peace well lubricated with
worship. They praised God when things were
going well and the gospel received; they praised
Him when they were beaten for preaching about Jesus.
They had contentment based on hope.
"Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord,
Praise ye the Lord" (Psalm 150:6).
"Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your
heart, all ye that hope in the Lord" (Psalm
31:24).
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Is the door of
peace hard for you to open? Are the hinges squeaky?
Peace can’t be found in a bottle, a joint, a
promiscuous lifestyle or even a good moral life
(without Christ), or anything else outside the
will of God. The most miserable place in the
world to live is knowing God’s will and not
walking in it. Obedience is the most peaceful
city you can live in. It doesn’t matter what your
neighbors are doing; you don’t know what God
wants of them; He just wants you to follow His
plan. He will take care of your neighbors’
responsibilities. The plan He has is to bless
you! Just follow the Plan. Praise and worship will enable the door to
be opened with ease and you can enter into that
aura of His presence where peace and contentment can
be found.
Peace, Love, Joy,
and other fruit of the Spirit await those who
aren’t looking for a button for a quick-fix; but
these will be available to everyone who will enter
into the life God has planned for them and who
patiently wait for God to lead them on to maturity
in peace that will last throughout eternity. The peace
that God gives is everlasting, because we will be
in His presence forever.
That is the "blessed hope" of the Christian:
Contentment here in the midst of a troubled world
with our eyes on the peace that comes from knowing
the "Prince of Peace" who has left us with the
assurance that our hope is valid and not in vain.
We rest in the knowledge that He is coming back
for those who have found that peaceful place of
obedience.
"That being justified by his grace, we should be
made heirs according to the hope of eternal life"
(Titus 3:7).
"Looking for that
blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the
great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus
2:13).
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Elizabeth Elliott
knows about peace. Her missionary husband, Jim,
was killed by Ecuadorian Indians; yet she writes:
“Our heavenly Father wants nothing but the best
for any of us, and only He knows what that is, for
He is all-wise, the Omniscient.”
He knows! He
knows how to give us peace in a world of chaos.
He knows how to help us develop the patience we
need to live in peace. Let Him
push your buttons to patience, peace and
contentment, to perform His will and fulfill
His good plans for your life!
~~Delores~~
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