[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Saturday, November 10 2012

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all, and good evening to my fellow North American saints of the Most High God.  As this is being written, depending on where you live in Australia, you're either in your local house of worship or about to leave for the same, whereas if you live in New Zealand you hopefully are enjoying a pleasant Sunday afternoon.  As to our European and UK friends, well, you're dead to the world.  Wherever in this world you live, I pray that everything's going as well as can be expected.  Let's not forget any military veteran either today or tomorrow on Remembrance Day or, in the U.S., Veteran's Day.  If you meet any, thank them for their service to your country.  It may not seem much to you, but your military acquaintances will appreciate your words far more than you could ever know and, if they are Christians, your prayers especially.  Thanks for doing this, on behalf of them.

John Strong returns to the "literary podium," so to speak, with his article simply entitled "Continuing," rendered as follows:

One of our greatest goals as Christians should be to finish well. It is easy to start well, but finishing well takes ongoing effort over a lengthy period. Living the life of a believer in a way that pleases God is a marathon, not a sprint.

God calls us to continue living for Him no matter what happens or who goes with us. He states that He will do His part in continuing to perform His good work in us (Phil. 1:6).

God also points out that faithfulness is required of those who have been given a trust (1 Cor. 4:2). Whatever our situation in life, our family, friends, job and neighborhood, are all part of our trust. We are to use all these to serve God faithfully throughout our entire lives.

As we consider continuing faithfully to the end of our lives, let us be aware of certain temptations the enemy will throw at us to get us off track. One is to get us to try to look at the whole journey and get us discouraged at its seemingly immense distance. Do not give up! Be faithful this day and the next.

Yes, we need to plan, but my point is not to become worried and overwhelmed at the immensity of the task. This great journey will consist of our daily steps, and if we are faithful on a daily basis, at the end we will have continued faithful throughout our lives.

The other tack the enemy may take is to entice us to fall into some situation where we are unfaithful. Then he will fill our minds with overwhelming thoughts of failure. At that point, we must choose to get back up and begin walking as God wants, faithfully following Him. If we remain fallen, we will serve Satan instead of God and we may end up not finishing our journey well.

Despite challenges, discouragement, negative people who say it cannot be done and our own weakness, keep going! Do not stop being faithful to God.

Many who have preceded us were faithful to God. They are "witnesses" who attest that it can be done. It is as if they say, "Faithfully serving God is worth it, and I would do it all over again!" (cf. Heb. 12:1-2).

Whatever your status, you can be a faithful follower of God. The question is, will you follow Him? I hope your answer is a resounding YES!

Thanks to Brother John for his insightful article.  It's something to think about.  I can vividly recall that, when I came to really know the Lord, that I was gung ho about witnessing to others, but after a while the zeal and/or possibly desire faded, something like a fire going out.  However God wasn't finished with me, as He led me to start Bartimaeus Ministries International, which primarily was involved in sending Gospel tracts in Esperanto to blind folks in eastern Europe.  Nowadays with the opening of those countries, plus the fact that ministries of a local nature have sprung up, this ministry opportunity takes a backseat to locals who can more effectively minister to the needs of the local blind communities, and do it in the local Slavic languages.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live. Your Christian friend and brother, Paul