Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.

Ask yourself another question: "Am I using my money wisely? Am I using my money to bless people? Am I using my money to help find the lost sheep? Am I using my money to help feed the hungry children?" Here is yet anogther question: "Do I gossip about people? Have I been a troublemaker?" Some people are disease carriers who are not sick themselves. They carry some disease, but they are not ill--just carriers. There are some Christians who are carriers. They can say "amen" with the best can can sing "Nearer My God to Thee" with the loudest, but they are not around very long until suspicions begin to enter the minds of Christians. They are troublemakers and trouble carriers. Then, "Have I judged other Christians? Your present frozen condition may be a judgment of God, for as you judge others so you will be judged by God. Your present frozen condition may be that you have judged somebody else to be frozen, and the Lord allowed the thing to turn around on you." Am I heavenly minded or earthy minded? Where do my thoughts tend to stray when they are free to stray where they will? What do I brood over? Are my thoughts pure and charitable?" If you can find out what you brood over, you will know what kind of a Christian you are and what kind of a heart you have. We always brood over things that we love, or that we hate if we are holding a grudge against somebody.

Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. --Romans 12:12 

Think of the kernels of grain, the seed, that the farmer plants in the ground in the fall of the year. How patient the farmer must be! Throughout the long, cold winter the seed is dormant. There is no evidence at all that it is there--covered by the cold earth itself. The snows come and go. The ground freezes and thaws. Does the farmer lie awake at night worrying that those seeds he placed in the ground may be ineffective? He does not. He knows that spring will come! 

And in due course, the sunshine of March or April warms the air. Spring rains water the ground. The farmer knows then that it will not be long until green shoots suddenly break out from their covering of earth. And in their own time, great waving fields of grain are ready for the harvest. The farmer's faith in the seed he planted is fully justified. 

Likewise, God wants us to be patient with every prayer and petition we sincerely send up to that heavenly altar. Our praying done in the Spirit cannot be ineffective. It is as though God is saying to us: "You have planted the seed. You have prayed for My will to be done and for My kingdom to come on earth.... The effective prayers of my son, Jesus, will join with the effective prayers of righteous men and women. Be patient and put your trust in Me, day by day!" Jesus Is Victor!, 122. 

"Lord, I'm tempted to jot down, 'Give me that patience, and give it to me now!' That's so typical of our hurried mind-set. Change that mind-set for me today, Lord, and give me a patient, steadfast faith, with a willingness to wait for the harvest. Amen