I received this by e-mail today!:)Westi
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." |
