Bless Net / Newsletter
The Art of Waiting
Have you ever been waiting in traffic? Waiting for the baby? Or heard, “Hey, wait a second please.” It is a common word in today’s culture. What does the Bible say about waiting? Here are a few verses about waiting and that's why I coined that phrase, “the art of waiting.”
Psalm 27:14 “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”
Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
This verse uses the word “but” which makes it a conditional promise doesn't it? It says, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Sometimes we, unfortunately, get the cart in front of the horse. We're tempted to kick down doors and push forward into situations and circumstances trying to get solutions. It would bless us to wait on God to be the prime mover to help us and to show us what to do.
Think about some of the more famous records in the Bible showing us some folks who had to wait. Noah waited 120 years. Moses waited 40 years. David waited 15 years, Joseph waited 13 years, Abraham waited 25 years.
E. W. Bullinger, who we respect and is known for his work in the Bible, says that “waiting is not passive, but it's a profound, active, and patient endurance intertwining one's life with God, with an expectation of future good. Like when you take strands of a rope and you braid them together, they are twisted together. They make an inseparable connection.”
And so, waiting is not killing time. It's looking forward with hope and expectation, with trust in God's timing. It's grabbing a hold of the promise of God and trusting that God our Father, is working behind the scenes and that the ultimate solution will be the very, very best thing possible.
He is not distant. He's not untouchable and unapproachable. My thoughts and feelings do not determine how God treats me and helps me. They are not the standard. My mistakes are not my identity. The devil may try to make it like that, but it is a lie!
What is waiting? It's a restful trust in the goodness of God. It is a restful trust in God's wisdom, in God's love and a restful trust in God's care. God is working behind the scenes with the ultimate solution.
We must slow down, step back and make a conscious decision and say, “I'm not moving forward on this decision or on this particular aspect of my life until God is really showing me exactly the best thing for me to do.”
We can have confidence in God's love, God's care, God's faithfulness, God's goodness.
That’s the “art of waiting.”
Living God's Word: Love One Another
God’s word living in us is the most astonishing reality we could ever experience. God’s Word is not just words on a page, but a living Word unlike any other designed to be believed and incorporated into our lives.
What is the most important act of living God’s Word? I believe the answer is quite obvious: To love the Lord Thy God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
As we look at this profound truth of loving God, we need to take the next step in what was commanded us by our Lord and Savior:
Mat 22:39: And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [Your neighbor is any and everyone else].
Living the Word of God and our Christian lifestyle not only includes loving God fully and completely but loving others as well. Loving others is not just a suggestion in the Bible, but Jesus called it a commandment:
Loving others is the right choice. When you make that choice, when you plant seeds of love, encouragement, and blessing, you are going to see a harvest of peace and joy that will make a difference in your life. Remember, loving others isn’t something you may normally feel like doing. It requires a decision. But making a choice to love blesses them and it blesses you.
HOW DO WE LOVE ONE ANOTHER?
1 Peter 4:8-10: And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
In conclusion, Christianity is a doing ministry. It is loving with the love that Christ loved us. We have the love of God in us. So, we have the capacity to love others. That is what we should be doing. Make a decision to love on others.
Agape, Bob
Living God’s Word: Our Ultimate Response
We who appreciate the magnitude of the living Word of God realize its uniqueness over any other written document. Being a “living word” makes the Bible stand out above and beyond any other text.
Hebrews 4:12 ESV: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
God’s Word is designed to be lived and fully incorporated into the believer’s life. Discovering God’s desire to love us and bring us into His dynamic family arrests a response that should be easily entreated.
What is Our ultimate response to this incredible Word of God that is loaded with His love for us?
To love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength!
Why? Because He created you and I and all of life. He first loved us and gave us an eternal relationship with Him as our Father and we as His love child. We owe Him everything and we are nothing without Him!
The lonely Heavenly Father needed more than angels to connect with. He needed you and I to love Him and be loved by Him.
You are truly His love child; His dream of dreams. You are the praise of His glory!
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: Eph 1:11.
With the purpose…
That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. Eph 1:12.
Truly our ultimate response to this is to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. See Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:37; Mk 12:30 and Luke 10:27.
Agape, Bob
AI and God’s Word
How exciting to have information in every form imaginable at our fingertips via AI (Artificial Intelligence). Or is it?
Can we really trust what AI provides? Is it really healthy for humans to rely on a bunch of information that comes electronically without checking the source. In a recent article on AI, the author said, “AI will dissolve the capacity to think, simply because we are not required to do so.” Further he says, “A student or a worker who relies on AI to generate all answers will not ever develop intuition, judgement, or even intelligence.”
The challenge to find the answer, to seek the truth through study, comparison, diligence in research produces genuine learning. The finding of truth causes us to thrive. God’s Word declares that we are to be workman of the Scriptures.
2 Timothy 2:15 (ASV): Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth.
Think about it? Are we going to depend on some programmer to provide the truth in an AI source? We are talking about the Words of Life. God wants us to put a diligent effort into working His Word to get to the truth.
What an exhilarating joy it is to research the Bible, reading the Scriptures, comparing translations, looking at the Greek and Aramaic to discover the truth.
What does “artificial” mean anyway? Webster’s Dictionary says, “Made by human skill; produced by humans, not natural.” As believers our source of truth does not come from humans, but God Almighty (The God breathed Word in 2 Timothy 3:16). There is nothing artificial about the Word of God.
Hebrew 4:12 (ESV): For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The experience of discovering the gems of God Word will come through a diligent effort in working His Word, not just pushing a button and getting a programmer’s opinion.
Agape, Bob