If
“The Way” stretches before us for ten thousand miles like a
timeline, God will show us the next two inches and expect our faith
and trust as we inch our way along. This is hard on our flesh… hard
on our faith; He knows it and we need it. Faith only becomes a
personal possession through trials and tests, the
works which challenge, stretch,
and purify dead faith
into living faith.
Remember, “Faith without
works is dead.”
Entering
the rest of God is apprehending and accessing His peace, the peace
that passes our understanding – the peace that is better than
knowing why. To apprehend is to know and understand that God has made
provisions for our peace through His commands to be content, rejoice,
and give thanks in all things, “For this is the will of God for
you.” To access... enter, His peace is to put these precepts into
practice by the setting of our mind on things above. This
“putting into practice” is, of course, an act of living faith.
There will be a battle, for our carnal
fleshly
nature, Self, wants to know
“why”, wants to maintain control, wants to make all the
decisions, and will keep us bogged down in the mire of life in the
thorn bushes if we let him.
Patience, which we all need, is endurance under pressure, and is the
product of God’s peace, not vice versa: We have patience because we
are at peace. Hearts willfully content, rejoicing hearts that offer
up a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving – disregarding the
circumstances of life – obedient trusting hearts… these hearts
find the peace of God. So my prayer is that we will enter God’s
rest finding His peace and thereby profiting from a patient heart
that lives in the now and leaves the future to God. Amen, So Be It!
We
all have need of patience and peace as we live out God’s unique
plan for each of us. Joseph spent 22 years in holes, chains, and
prisons before stepping into God’s plan. But since the 22 years no
doubt prepared him for how God would use him, it was in reality all
God’s plan – God doesn’t waste time, He owns time. We will, at
times find ourselves in a different place than we expected, but our
ever-present Lord is not the least bit surprised or worried. Saints,
we should not look at adversity and
affliction, the unexpected chunk-holes of life, as a waste, for it is
God who works in us, willing and doing of His good pleasure, turning
our bad into His purposeful good. As we rejoice and give thanks in
all things – bad is a thing – we will enter the rest and peace of
God and find the patience to patiently trust God to turn our bad into
His good. Our trials and tests are, ultimately, valuable preparation
for the “righteous works” God has prepared for each of us, and
prepare us for our adoption into the royal family.
“FOR
YOU HAVE NEED OF ENDURANCE
(IE.,
PATIENCE UNDER PRESSURE),
SO
THAT AFTER YOU HAVE DONE THE WILL OF GOD,
YOU
MAY RECEIVE THE PROMISE.”
(Heb.
4:1-10; 1 Thess. 5:18; Phil. 4:11; 1 Tim. 6:8; Heb. 13:5; Col.3:2;
Heb. 10:36; Rom. 8:28; Phil. 2:13; James
2:20)
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