The Word For Today

Patience, from the biblical perspective, embodies these four things: (1) Confidence in God's unfailing love and faithfulness to us: 'His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness' (Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV). (2) Confidence that he will keep his promises to us: 'There has not failed one word...which he promised' (1 Kings 8:56 NKJV). (3) Confidence that he has everything that concerns us under control: 'The Lord will vindicate me' (Psalm 138:8 NIV). (4) Confidence that even in the most difficult of circumstances, he is working for our good. 'We know that all things work together for good to those who love God' (Romans 8:28 NKJV). Confidence in God enables us to live by the word: 'Whoever believes will not act hastily' (Isaiah 28:16 NKJV).

Impatience is at the root of many of our failures. The apostle James wrote: 'Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord' (James 5:7 NKJV). Look at Simon Peter: he came close to committing murder in the garden of Gethsemane in a vain attempt to protect Jesus (see John 18:10). Look at Moses: his impatience caused him to strike the rock instead of speaking to it as God commanded; hence he forfeited the Promised Land (see Numbers 20:1-13). Look at Abraham: his impatience while waiting for God's promise of a son to be fulfilled led to the birth of Ishmael and complications in his family (see Genesis 16:1-16).

Hence Paul wrote: 'Whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope' (Romans 15:4 NKJV). So, the word for today is - exercise patience!

Here are three things you should be clear about before you commit to a lifetime relationship in marriage (if you're not in this situation yourself, perhaps you could use these points to guide your prayers for others):

(1) Does your partner have a strong relationship with Jesus? 'Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction' (Amos 3:3 NLT)? To stay together, you must walk in step and in the same direction. (2) Is your partner growing spiritually? 'But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ' (2 Peter 3:18 NIV). If you are not growing together, you will eventually grow apart. Shared faith and values will keep you together for the long haul. (3) What kind of family background does your partner have? God can help us overcome obstacles caused by family dysfunction. But you need to know what you're dealing with before you vow to love one another 'for better or for worse'. Paul wrote: 'Carry each other's burdens...this way you will fulfil the law of Christ' (Galatians 6:2 NIV). But you need to know upfront what those burdens are before committing to a lifetime of helping to share them.

The Bible tells us: 'If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone' (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)! This doesn't mean keeping your past secret or lying about it. Mutual transparency is the name of the game! When you know the whole truth about one another, the past loses its power to sabotage your present and your future. No spouse is perfect, but don't settle for less than God's best.

Some of the world's greatest achievers went through life with physical disabilities and overcame incredible adversities. Sir Walter Scott was disabled. John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim's Progress, was imprisoned. George Washington, America's first president, almost died in the snows of Valley Forge. Abraham Lincoln played a critical part in ending slavery in America, yet he was raised in abject poverty and died prematurely from an assassin's bullet. British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was subject to bitter religious prejudice. Franklin D. Roosevelt was struck down with infantile paralysis. Ludwig van Beethoven became deaf. Glen Cunningham, an Olympic runner, had his legs badly burned in a school fire. Booker T. Washington, Harriet Tubman, Marian Anderson and George Washington Carver were born into racial discrimination. Enrico Caruso was from a poor Italian family where only a few children survived past infancy. Itzhak Perlman, concert violinist, lost the function of his legs at age four.

In his family's eyes, David wasn't considered worthy to be Israel's next king. Moralists and legalists would have disqualified him because of his affair with Bathsheba. Yet God referred to him as 'a man after my own heart' (Acts 13:22 NIV). And David said: 'My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion...I have put my trust in the Lord God' (Psalm 73:26, 28 NKJV).

The word for today is: with God's help, you will succeed.

The contemplative pathway. If you relate to God best through the contemplative pathway, you love large blocks of quietness and uninterrupted time alone. Maybe when you were a child, your parents would tell you to go outside and play with other kids more. Reflection comes naturally to you. You often feel like an observer in life. Here are some Scriptures you easily identify with: 'Meditate within your heart on your bed and be still. Selah' (Psalm 4:4 NKJV). 'Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret' (Psalm 37:7 NKJV). 'Be still, and know that I am God' (Psalm 46:10 NKJV). 'Truly my soul silently waits for God; from him comes my salvation' (Psalm 62:1 NKJV).

God is most present to you when distractions and noises are removed. Images, metaphors and pictures may help you as you pray. If you get too busy or spend too much time with too many people hanging around, you begin to feel drained and stretched thin. You do not require much external stimulation. Making time to listen to God in silence and solitude is vital to the health of your soul, and it's necessary for you to experience a deepening sense of his presence. You need regular, protected, intense, undistracted time alone.

But here's the word of caution: the Bible says, 'If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another' (1 John 4:11 NKJV). And love takes time and effort. Sometimes it requires sacrifice. One of the best ways to show your love for God is by interacting with the people around you.

The activist pathway. When you're on this spiritual pathway, you have a high level of energy. This may be one of your favourite Scriptures: 'Work hard at whatever you do' (Ecclesiastes 9:10 CEV).

If you're an activist, you love a fast-paced, problem-filled, complex, strenuous way of life. At the end of the day, you want to be able to say, 'I ran really hard. I used every ounce of effort and zeal at my disposal, and it's all for you, God.' One biblical example of an activist is Nehemiah. When he heard that the walls of his beloved Jerusalem were in ruins, he wept, he prayed, he petitioned the king for the resources to rebuild them, and then he rolled up his sleeves and went to work. If you are an activist, you need a cause. Without it, your spiritual life will stagnate.

One of the dangers of relating to God best through the activist pathway is that a big chunk of your motivation can be self-fulfilment and self-satisfaction. Hence Paul wrote: 'Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church' (1 Corinthians 14:12 NLT). And another word of caution: don't get so excited about your cause that you run over people or exploit them. And be aware of this: if you're an activist, you may have a hard time discerning God's true calling from your own strong impulses to action. If that's the case, take added time to pray and hear from God and have a qualified friend in your life whose counsel you trust.

The worship pathway. When you're on the worship pathway, you resonate with the psalmist: 'I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the Lord"' (Psalm 122:1 NKJV). Something deep inside you feels released when praise is given. Your heart opens up and you come alive. You find yourself in tears, sometimes in moments of deep joy, because God seems so close.

But here are two cautions if you're on this pathway: (1) Don't judge people who are not as outwardly expressive as you. Some people grew up in churches where no one raised a finger, let alone a hand in worship. (2) Guard against an experience-based spirituality that has you always looking for the next 'worship high'. C.S. Lewis wrote about the fatal sin of saying, 'Encore!' by demanding that God reproduce an experience or an emotion. He said that of all prayers, this may be the one God is least likely to grant because it can lead us to worship an experience rather than the God to whom our experience points. Music, for instance, can be a great gift to worship. But because music affects our feelings so powerfully, we can grow dependent on it to produce a certain emotional response. In this case, you may need to spend some time worshipping God without music, so that your worship is based on who God is and not a matter of getting swept up in certain sounds. Also, you may need to engage more in Bible study so that your heart is deeply rooted in the knowledge of God.