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or on the spiritual level, in ministry or in our personal witness, do we expect "results" at
once? Surely we should await the harvest with patience.
If we suffer affliction, or if our faith is tested in any way, should we not hold on in
faith and endure with patience?
Let us conclude with two references:
I Tim. 6: 11, 12: "Be thou, O man of God, flee these things; follow after
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith,
lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good
profession before many witnesses".
Col. 1: 10-12: "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful
in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all
might, according to His gracious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with
joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints (holiest) in light . . . . .".
Is it hard to be patient? Yes, most of us would reply. But if we are strengthened with
all might, according to His glorious power, surely we shall be enabled to be patient and
so glorify God in our lives.
No.6.
Humility.
pp. 230 - 232
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2: 5).
How often do we wish to have our own way? It is natural to have desires and
ambitions and to seek to achieve them. As Christians we need to have a balanced outlook
and to remember that even "Christ pleased not Himself" (Rom. 15: 3). The danger is that
if we are self-willed, we may become proud. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty
spirit before a fall (Prov. 16: 18). The fall of Satan was due to iniquity that was found in
him. The King of Tyrus is described in Ezek. 28: 12-15. He was in Eden (he was
the anointed cherub) and so it is reasonable to assume that the account of the King of
Tyrus relates to Satan. Verse 17 of that chapter says "Thine heart was lifted up because
of thy beauty . . . . .". If pride was the cause of Satan's fall, should this not be a warning
to us, lest we think of ourselves "more highly than we ought to think" (Rom. 12: 3).
The children of Israel were exhorted to "remember all the way which the Lord thy
God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to
know what was in thine heart . . . . ." (Deut. 8: 2. See also verse 3).
Micah 6: 8 reads: