DON’T LOSE HEART
Are you fed up with all this stuff we are in right now? When I talk to people around me, I sense much discouragement and despair. Like Moses we pray…
Psalms 90:13-14 (NKJV) Return, O LORD! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
Like you, I am wondering how long this is gonna go on. And it doesn’t have to be this present situation we’re in. In can be any trial or test or fight or lack. We cry, “Lord, how long?”
Ephesians 3:13 (NKJV) Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
I want to be encourage you today. I want to give you an exhortation to strengthen you today. I want you to know that the Lord is with you today. He is your Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the Sheep. He is your Door through which you go in and out and find pasture. He is your Rock, your Fortress, your High Tower that you can run to for safety and shelter. He is your Friend who is closer that a brother. He will never leave you or forsake you. He is with you always, even into the end of the world.
Church, I want to say something to you today…
Isaiah 40:10-12 (NKJV) Behold your God! Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand, And His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, Measured heaven with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in a balance?
Hear Jesus say to us…
Luke 18:1 (NKJV) Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
Hear Paul say to us…
2 Corinthians 4:1 (NKJV) Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.
2 Corinthians 4:16 (NKJV) Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
How? That is the question. Paul gives us some answers..,
Galatians 6:7-10 (NKJV) Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
1. Sow to the Spirit.
a. Sow to the Word.
b. Sow to prayer.
c. Sow to worship.
d. Sow to spiritual disciplines.
Richard Foster, in his 1978 book Celebration of Discipline, examines the inward disciplines of prayer, fasting, meditation, and study; the outward disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service; and the corporate disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration.
2. Do good to all.
a. Don’t be narcissistic.
i. Grouchy
ii. Reactive
b. Golden rule.
c. Show love and compassion.
3. Take care of each other.
a. Pray for each other
b. Care for each other.
c. Encourage each other.
4. Keep at it.
2 Thessalonians 3:13 (NKJV) But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.
Then comes the hard part: waiting…
Hebrews 10:35-39 (NKJV) Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
The rewards of waiting are tremendous…
Isaiah 40:28-31 (NKJV) Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
Waiting on the Lord is actively ministering to Him! This is our purpose. This verse came out in my ICU group this week…
Exodus 19:5-6 (AMPC) Now therefore, if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure from among and above all peoples; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation [consecrated, set apart to the worship of God]. These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites.
So there it is: as I minister to God, He ministers to me.
Ezekiel 44:15-16 (NKJV) But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood,” says the Lord GOD. “They shall enter My sanctuary, and they shall come near My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge.
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