It
is very easy to get discouraged when we work our heart out for the
Lord
and yet we do not seem to get rewarded. I have heard of and seen
many
people who quit their service unto the Lord because they seem to
feel that
all their work is in vain and there were no results of the work
they did.
God never promised that trumpets would sound because we would
preach His
word but He did promise that His word would not return void.
(Isaiah 55:11)
The Bible says in 1 John 4:4 "We are in the world but not of
the world",
so don't feel discouraged when people come against you. If the
world came
against Jesus, then who are we not to be persecuted just as Jesus
was.
(Read John 15:20-21)
This is a good story that encouraged me to know that my reward
will not
come in this earth and life but in the new life to come in Heaven.
God is
watching each one of us to see what we are doing with the gifts He
has
given each one of us. (Read Malachi 3:16-17)
I hope this story ministers to your heart as it did for me.
NOT HOME YET
An old missionary couple had been working in Africa for years and
were
returning to New York to retire. They had no pension; their health
was
broken; they were defeated, discouraged, and afraid. They
discovered they
were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who
was
returning from one of his big-game hunting expeditions.
No one paid any attention to them. They watched the fanfare
that
accompanied the President's entourage, with passengers trying to
catch a
glimpse of the great man. As the ship moved across the ocean, the
old
missionary said to his wife, "Something is wrong."
"Why should we have
given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these
many years
and have no one care a thing about us? Here this man comes back
from a
hunting trip and everybody makes much over him, but nobody gives
two hoots
about us."
"Dear, you shouldn't feel that way", his wife said. He
replied "I can't
help it; it doesn't seem right."
When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet
the
President. The mayor and other dignitaries were there. The papers
were
full of the President's arrival. No one noticed this missionary
couple.
They slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat on the East Side,
hoping
the next day to see what they could do to make a living in the
city.
That night the man's spirit broke. He said to his wife, "I
can't take
this; God is not treating us fairly". His wife replied,
"Why don't you go
in the bedroom and tell that to the Lord?"
A short time later he came out from the bedroom, but now his face
was
completely different. His wife asked, "Dear, what
happened?" "The Lord
settled it with me", he said. "I told Him how bitter I
was that the
President should receive this tremendous homecoming, when no one
met us
as we returned home. And when I finished, it seemed as though the
Lord put
His hand on my shoulder and simply said;
"But you're not home yet."
Author Unknown
Sometimes when we do something for the Lord, we want to be
rewarded and
praised now for it, but that's not the way God works. God does
reward
obedience but our full reward will not be known or given until we
see the
Lord face to face. Be encouraged and never give up the dreams and
vision
the Lord has given you. The enemy never wants you to be successful
and
believe me satan is cheering you on to quit, but never give that
defeated
foe the satisfaction. God will be with you and help you in every
area
that you need.
Read and meditate on these scriptures:
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence
of things not seen."
1 John 4:4-6 "Ye are of God, little children, and have
overcome them:
because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the
world. They
are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world
heareth
them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is
not of God
heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit
of
error."
John 15:18-20 Jesus says
"If the world hate you, ye know that
it hated me
before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love
his
own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you
out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I
said unto
you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have
persecuted me,
they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they
will keep
yours also."
Psalm 34:17-19 "The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and
delivereth
them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that
are of a
broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are
the
afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of
them all."
All scriptures can be found in the King James Version.
In Christ Service,
Dwayne Savaya
Gods Work Ministry
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