[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Sunday, October 21 2012

[Paul]

Hello and good morning, afternoon or evening, wherever in the world you may happen to reside.  I hope that your day went well or is going well, by God's matchless grace and His providential care.

Before I give you the sermonette article for today, I'd like to inform those of you who are still praying for Carol Taylor of East Pittsburgh PA.  She is now home and, should any of you wish to talk with her, encourage her and, in the process, make a new friend, please send me a private message at oilofgladness47 at gmail.com. She told me that I could post her phone number on this list, but, knowing her situation, I thought it would be better this way rather than putting out the phone number on these multiple lists.  In that way anyone really interested in her welfare could call whenever the Spirit moves and both you and she have time to chat.  Will be posting this on the quotes page for tomorrow morning.

Ruth O'Neil is back again, this time with an article simply entitled "Patience," rendered as follows:

"Patience" is not definitely one of my favorite words! I often hear people say, "Don't pray for patience!" Well, I learned that lesson the hard way.

One day I prayed for patience with my children.  God certainly taught me patience.  Before my "patience class" was over, there were a lot of tears.

Now, I baby-sit on a fairly regular basis, and one of the mothers said, "You have patience to care for twenty children." I took it as a compliment, but it was a hard road to travel to get to the level of patience where I am today.  I still need a lot of help!

We often use the cliche that someone has "the patience of Job." Job truly presents an excellent example of patience in the Bible.  Who else could lose everything he owned and his family, and still be faithful to God?

After doing a little research, I found that there are a lot of instructions about patience in the Bible.  God knew that people like me would need a lot of teaching in that regard.  Thank goodness we serve a patient God!

Solomon had a lot to say about patience in the book of Proverbs.  He was a very wise man, and he knew the value of patience.

In Proverbs 14:29, Solomon wrote that men and women who are patient show that they have a wealth of understanding.  Just blurting out the first thing that comes to your mind shows little understanding and, consequently, little patience.  With patience we can wisely solve almost any problem that comes our way.  I would like to think I have great understanding, but too often I am more the quick-tempered one Solomon spoke of in this verse.

Proverbs 16:32 tells us that a warrior is not as good as a patient man.  Soldiers in the throes of battle do not necessarily keep their tempers under control.  Joshua was a wise and, I believe, patient man.  I am sure when he gave God's directions to his army that there was more than a little complaining.  But because Joshua listened to God, the Israelites saw the walls of a city fall down without their lifting a finger.

It is hard to understand God's ways and be patient.  He knows what is on our hearts (1 Sam. 16:7).

Are our hearts full of patience, or do we foolishly plunge ahead without waiting for God's instructions?

And there you have it for today.  In her best-selling 1995 book "Battlefield of the Mind," Joyce Meier defined in Chapter 22 patience as "cultivating an attitude of waiting." There's a lot to learn about patience from that book, especially Chapter 22.

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