Patience in Waiting

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. —2 Peter 3:9

Waiting is part of our lives.

Like the ancient Israelites, we too are waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ. Though He already came as the long-awaited Messiah, we wait for Him to come as Ruler over all the earth. We wait for Christ's Second Coming.

God is also waiting. He waits for people to see His Glory; He waits for people to admit that they are lost without Him; He waits for people to say "Yes" to His love; He waits for people to receive His forgiveness; He waits for people to turn away from their sins. God is waiting for our Repentance and Faith in Him.

God is not slow in coming; He is patient in waiting. He is waiting to have a relationship with those He loves. He had made His first move when He sent Baby Jesus and the sacrificial Lamb. Now He waits for us to welcome Him into our lives as Lord and Savior.

God is waiting for us to make our move to Him. Come.

From Fear to Faith

Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you." (Isaiah 35:4)

• Fear ruins Christian's life. Fear causes us to focus on our physical needs rather than tapping into our heavenly inheritance given by God the Father. Fear cripples us from entering into all the great things that God has for us. Fear makes us uptight, thankless, uninvolved, complaining, defeated Christians. Extreme fear even brings us to the point of denying Jesus Christ!


• But God says, "Be strong, do not fear!" God wants us to trust in Him and His strength to take care of our problems; God wants us to trust in Him to save us!


• Fear is the greatest tool of the enemy. His power has been defeated and he cannot master a Christian life. So he fills our minds with fear to stop us from doing what God wants us to do.


• The greatest detriment to faith is fear. When we are consumed by fear, we are rendered ineffective in our Christian walk and our battle against the enemy.


• Let us stop agreeing with the lies of the enemy and start agreeing with the truth that God speaks. God is our protector and He will come with vengeance to defeat our enemy. This is the truth!


• When we understand and believe it, we will be set free from the entrapment of fear. So be strong! Do not fear! Trust in God and receive His overcoming power. Do this, and fear cannot reign in your life.
  

God Is In Control

Matthew 26: 1-5

Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."

Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.

But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people."

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The time had come for the Lord Jesus Christ to be crucified.

Nothing came as a surprise to Him.

He knew in advance everything that would happen and the details surrounding the event.

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The time was soon at hand.

It was not the time for the glory of the Kingdom.

It was the time for the Lord Jesus Christ to do God's will and give His sinless life as the payment for sins of His followers.

It was the only way they could enter the kingdom with Him.

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The Passover taught that sin had to be punished if death was to be avoided.

God had to see the blood of the sinless sacrifice before the sinner could be forgiven.

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The religious leaders were seeking excuses to put the Lord Jesus Christ to death long before this.

Now they were even more motivated to follow through with the act.

They began to actually planning for His death.

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To the Jewish leaders, Jesus was a threat to their place of authority and their ideas of the kingdom.

They despised His condemnation of their religious practices and the way He exposed their hypocrisy for all to see.

Now the Lord was in Jerusalem.

They saw a window of opportunity.

They plotted to take Him by trickery and kill Him.

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The Jewish leaders didn't realize that God had assembled them to fulfill His will.

What they saw as a strategic move in their favor was really God permitting them to carry out the evil of their hearts and bring the Lord Jesus to the Cross.

Even every part of their reasoning was under God’s sovereign supervision.

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The Lord Jesus Christ would die in the exact way the Father ordained and foretold in the Scriptures.

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God is in control of everything as He presides over the affairs of men.

He permits our choice, but He governs our ability to act on them.

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God sees the end from the beginning.

He takes even the evil desires and efforts of His enemies and uses them in His overall purpose and plan.

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We may not know the details of everything.

But if we follow Christ, we may be able to see the big picture.

Let us do the Father's will with complete trust.

Let us see how every detail of our lives fits precisely into His sovereign plan.

God’s Kingdom will prevail.

He will bring us into our inheritance with Christ.