TrentArwine.com

If I learn my ABC’s, can read 600 words per minute, and can write with perfect penmanship, but have not been shown how to communicate with the Designer of all language…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I have read Shakespeare and John Locke and can discuss their writings with keen insight, but have not read the greatest of all books–The Bible–and have no knowledge of its personal importance…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I have memorized addition facts, multiplication tables, and chemical formulas, but have never been disciplined to keep God’s Word in my heart…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can explain the law of gravity and Einstein’s theory of relativity, but have never been instructed in the unchangeable laws of the One Who orders our universe…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can classify animals by their family, genus, and species, and can write a lengthy scientific paper that wins an award, but have not been introduced to the Maker’s purpose for all creation…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can recite the Gettysburg Address and the Preamble to the Constitution, but have not been informed of the Hand of God in the history of our country…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can play the piano, the violin, six other instruments, and can write music that moves men to tears, but have not been taught to listen to the Director of the Universe and worship Him…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I run cross-country races, star in basketball and do 100 push-ups without stopping, but have never been shown how to bend my spirit to do God’s will…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can identify a Picasso, describe the style of da Vinci, and even paint a portrait that earns an A+, but have not learned that all harmony and beauty comes from a relationship with God…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I graduate with a perfect 4.0 and am accepted at the best university with a full scholarship, but have not been guided into a career of God’s choosing for me…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I become a good citizen, voting at each election and fighting for what is moral and right, but have not been told of the sinfulness of man and his hopelessness without Christ…

I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

However, if one day I see the world as God sees it, and come to know Him, Whom to know is Life Eternal;  And glorify God by fulfilling His purpose for me…

THEN, I HAVE BEEN EDUCATED

It is interesting to me that the Author of Time is never punctual… at least, not by my clock.  The problem is not with God’s timing, the problem is that I insist that He act on my schedule.  God commands us not to be anxious about anything and to pray about everything with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6).  To what end?  That He might answer when I please?  No.  The promise is that He will grant us peace that passes all understanding that will guard our hearts and minds, whether the answer is quick or delayed.

We should not confuse His delay with lack of concern or, a “no.”

The salvation of a friend is the best personal example that I have for this.  More than I have ever prayed for anyone, I prayed for his salvation.  I prayed and pleaded with God to save him… to give sight to his blinded eyes… to give freedom to his sin dominated and hell bound heart… to grant that he could become a worshiper of the Lamb of God.  Yet day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year… nothing happened.

I did not understand.  The Lord put this friend in my life.  I had prayed for him.  Many others were praying consistently for him.  Yet nothing.  God would tell me “not to grow weary in doing good…”  Yet I was growing weary.  More than one time during these years I would lift my agonized heart to God and declare my friend reprobate… utterly hopeless.  The Lord would never agree with me… He said again: “do not grow weary in doing good for in due season you will reap, if you do not faint.”  Again, repentant, I would pray and remind the Lord that His blood could make my friend new, but even if He chose not to, I would continue to worship Him.

Nearly 7 years after the first prayer, God moved.  Long story short… our friend was born again.  Wow, I had not offered any different prayers.  I had not changed my petition.  Others had continued to pray just as they had begun 7 years prior… and finally, the Lord shows up.

Time is the measure of change.  God does not change.  The Lord is not bound by time.  What is 7 years compared with eternity?  Nothing.  One of the fruits of God’s Spirit is patience.  I am so unlike Him in this regard.  I am thankful that He is patiently at work in me, making me more like Himself.

Are you praying about something or someone specific?

Don’t be discouraged by His delay.  He is not subject to time and He does not operate on your schedule.  He has commanded us to pray and instructed us to be patient.  He knew Lazarus was going to die, yet He delayed his coming for purposes that are beyond us.

The Lord always has purpose in His delays.  He seldom works on our schedule, and if He does, it’s only because our schedule happend to be in sync with His schedule.

When He finally and suddenly shows up though, hold on.  He is glorious and He does exceedingly above all that we ask or think!!  I’m reminded of a song…

The King of Glory Standeth by Charitie Bancroft

The King of Glory standeth beside the heart of sin;
His mighty voice commandeth the raging waves within;
The floods of deepest anguish roll backward at His will,
As o’er the storm ariseth His mandate, “Peace, be still.”

At times, with sudden glory, He speaks, and all is done;
Without one stroke of battle the victory is won,
While we, with joy beholding, can scarce believe it true
That e’en our kingly Jesus can form such hearts anew.

O Christ, Thy love is mighty; long suffering is Thy grace;
And glorious is the splendor that beameth from Thy face.
Our hearts upleap in gladness when we behold that love,
As we go singing onward, to dwell with Thee above.

One thing is for sure… “as for God, His way is perfect.”  He is never late.

Source: FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH, by Myron S. Augsburger

On June 10, 1535, a special proclamation was made, giving the decree that anyone who had baptized others and refused to recant would be put to death by fire. And any who aided the Anabaptists with hospitality would beheaded, or in the case of women, drowned… all of this to the end desire that the Anabaptists might be exterminated. And so, hundreds were being burned, beheaded and/or drowned.

One day a 14 year old lad joined a crowd who were watching an Anabaptist being executed at the stake. The man was chained, but he had an obvious expression of peace, if not actual joy, on his face. With a clear voice he affirmed his faith in Christ; and as the tormentors were about to light the fire, the man prayed:

"O Father and LORD, endue me with thy Spirit for this trial. Do not punish these who mistreat me today, but bring them also to the faith of Christ. Accept me now in thy grace." — And so, he died a martyr for Christ.

As the 14 year old lad left that scene, he was awed by the man’s faith.  Not long afterwards, this lad, Cornelis Aertsz de Man, found a gathering of the Anabaptists and he joined them for evening Bible Study. "Their witness of faith, their serious study of the Word of God, their joy in life, and their concern for love and moral integrity, all excited him."   Soon, Cornelis was converted to Christ. His family was alarmed; but soon they could only admire his gracious disposition, the love and purity of his life, His diligence in studying the Scriptures and the joy with which he shared his new relationship with Christ.

By age 17, Cornelis’s faith was so strong that the religious authorities of the Roman Catholic institution felt they had to stop him. So, he was arrested. And they sought diligently to get him to recant and return to Catholicism. On a particular day, the Roman Catholic leaders lined the courtroom and promised Cornelis future position and honor if he would renounce the simple Bible-based faith of the Anabaptists.  Calmly, Cornelis replied:

"There is no higher position than to be a child of God and no greater honor than to be a voice for Him."

Ultimately, they tortured young Cornelis to the extreme and finally at age 21, he was burned.

Now see, here’s what modern day evangelism doesn’t understand: “you can only take a man so far.”  Don’t you see that?  And you can’t substitute the work of the Spirit of God with some little method of taking a verse out of context, getting them to pray a prayer, and then  popeishly declaring them to be safe.  Don’t you see that?