Knives and Axes

By Rachel Coltharp

My child is frustrated. He wants soooooooo desperately to read, but is chafing over the fact that he is being forced to first learn letters. He does NOT want to learn letters, they are such small things, his heart yearns for BIG things - like sentences, chapters, volumes. 

He is itching to dive into the adventures encased within the tomes his older siblings are consuming. He is hungry for WORDS - and I am wasting his time on letters. His vision is BIG - and he thinks mine is too small.

Have you ever been there? Ever felt frustrated because you wanted, needed, were called to something, but instead of being launched out into your dream, you find yourself doing something that feels lesser.

Take heart my friend. You are not alone. You are instead in the throes of the painful place of training. Yes, I know you FEEL ready. But when the door has not opened, it is because God is preparing you for what you NEED. 

Feeling ready rarely has anything to do with BEING ready.  

So take a lesson from the pocket knife and the ax. Both are blades, wielded by a hand. Both will cut wood. 

God may call you to cut timber while you still have only a pocket knife.

You FEEL the call and answer it with a resounding "Yes." But hacking away at an oak with a pocket knife is wearing out your arms, exhausting your strength, may not be God's plan... 

  

Many times we are sent first to spend time splitting firewood. Our heart is in the forest, but it is in the smaller task of splitting logs that we build our strength and get the feel of the blade.

We are sent to practice on logs, in preparation for the forest.  

It can keep us from burning out our physical strength, hurting ourselves and others with wild swinging, or giving up in frustration, because our tools were inadequate.  

It is okay to feel frustrated splitting logs. Split them anyway.

It is okay to yearn for the forest. Yearn, but split with diligence.

David spent time protecting/feeding sheep and leading/rescuing rag-tag outlaws

before he became king.

Joseph spent time learning to run a household for Potiphar and work with fellow prisoners before he ran Egypt as Prime Minister.

So before you charge off into the forest with the pocket knife skills you were born with, remember this, time spent sharpening your skills with an ax is not time wasted.

"Do not despise these small beginnings,

for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin..."

(Zechariah 4:10)

_____________________

Editor's Note: Rachel is the wife of Brent Coltharp, Co-pastor of First Apostolic Church of Aurora, Illinois, and District Superintendent  for the state of Illinois. They are the parents of four children, three sons and one daughter who are home-schooled by Sis. Rachel.

Don't Let "Nothing" Stop You!

By Pastor Ken Foreman

Text: I Kings 18:41-46
Key Verse: "And said to his servant, Go up now, and look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times." (I Kings 18:43)

What really stops most people isn't something - it's nothing. When something is going on, we can usually see, hear, and/or feel it; think about Goliath, Jericho, the Red Sea, etc. However, these "somethings" are not the biggest hindrances. The biggest hindrance is, 1.)  not being able to see the conclusion of the matter, 2.) not understanding what God is doing, 3.) knowing we don't have the resources, 4.) seeing that what we can do isn't enough, and, 5.) a lack of faith.

Don't let "nothing" stop you!

1. Remember the God you serve
1. Don't take your eyes off Him
2. Lift up your eyes unto the hills - "my help cometh from the Lord!"
3. Elijah didn't have the power to stop (or start) the rain.
2. Look for the answer to your prayers
1. Expect it
2. Pray wisely - God's will (not "blab it and grab it")
3. Believe/Trust what God says (Titus 1:2)
4. Abraham was told the child was coming
1. Sarah laughed (it seemed impossible to her)
2. The angel said, "Is anything too hard for God?"
3. Just because you can't "see" it doesn't mean it's not happening
3. Obedience and Patience are required
1. Just because things are going against you - don't flag!
2. God always wants to bless you
3. The problem comes when we become displaced
1. If we're not where we are supposed to be when the blessing is poured out, we'll miss it!
4. Our obedience needs to be nailed down - fixed!
1. Willing and Obedient (Isaiah 1:18-19)

Our God makes things (speaks them) out of nothing! We do not walk by sight - but by faith. "In your patience possess ye your souls." (Luke 21:19) The perfecting of our faith takes time. "The trying of your faith worketh patience. Let patience have her perfect work..." (James 1:2-3) - so you can be entire (whole). Bear in mind: waiting on the Lord brings renewal. (Isaiah 40:31)

The "prophecy" (three and a-half years of drought,) did not mean to stop praying. God provided for His prophet for the entire time, making them "light afflictions." (II Corinthians 4:17) 

"But my God shall supply all your need,

 according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

(Philippians 4:19)

Just a Touch...

By Don Warfield

Did you ever have someone touch you when you were so down you thought no one knew you existed? Do you remember what that touch meant to you? Let me tell you a true story...

I knew a young man who was walking with God and God was with him in his life. But the young man sinned. he went to his pastor and confessed his sin: the pastor told him he must sit down in all church services and take no part. Eager to be forgiven and to obey his pastor, the young man complied.

As time went on the young man continued to come to church every time the doors opened. His pastor withdrew from him to help him understand how sin had made a separation line between him and God.

He still kept coming, feeling very low. It seemed nobody cared or even knew he was there, and that even God had withdrawn from him: for he felt nothing when he came. But the young man thought, "If God is ever going to return to me, I will have to be in church where He can."

After a long time of going, he began thinking, "What is the use?" But then, on a Sunday night as he left his office to go to the platform.to start the service, the pastor walked down the aisle where the young man was sitting. As he passed, he laid his hand on the young man's shoulder.

To the young man, that touch said all the things the pastor could not yet say. Through the touch, the young man heard the words, "I know you are here. I see you come every service. I do care, I still love you. God still loves you. Keep coming. Stay faithful. God is restoring you."

The next time you feel at a loss as to how to comfort someone and can't think of any words to say, think of all the words the young man heard that night with just a touch!

Editor's Note: Bro. Don Warfield leads our Home Bible Study Ministry and teaches in the Adult Sunday School Class each month in rotation. He is a student of the Word and a blessing to the Body of Christ.

On Waiting...

Compiled by Charlotte Wholters

Isaiah 30:18 - "...blessed are all they that wait for Him."


Job 14:14 - "...all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come."


Psalm 25:21 - "Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on Thee."


Psalm 25:3 - "Yea, let none that wait on Thee be ashamed..."


Psalm 37:7 - "Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him..."


Psalm 37:9 - "...those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth."


Psalm 37:34 -" Wait on the LORD, and keep His way..."


Psalm 40:1-4 - "I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry."


Psalm 52:9 - "...I will wait on Thy Name; for it is good before Thy saints."


Psalm 69:6 - "Let not them that wait on Thee, O LORD God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake..."


Psalm 130:5-7 - I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in His Word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the LORD more than they that watch for the morning..."


Psalm 145:15-19 - "The eyes of all wait upon Thee; and Thou givest them their meat in due season..."


Proverbs 20:22 - "...wait on the LORD, and He shall save thee."


Proverbs 27:18 - "...he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured."


Isaiah 8:17 - "And I will wait upon the LORD..."


Isaiah 25:9 - "...Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."


Isaiah 30:18 - "And therefore will the LORD wait, that He may be gracious unto you, ...blessed are all they that wait for Him."


Isaiah 33:2 - "O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for Thee..."


Isaiah 40:31 - "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength..."


Isaiah 49:23 - "...they shall not be ashamed that wait for Me."


Isaiah 64:4 - "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him."


Jeremiah 14:22 - "...therefore we will wait upon Thee: for Thou hast made all these things."


Lamentations 3:25-36 - "The LORD is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord..."

Daniel 12:12 - "Blessed is he that waiteth..."


Hosea 12:6 - "Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually."


Micah 7:7-8 - "...I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me..."


Habakkuk 2:3-4 - ...though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come..."


Luke 12:36-40 - "And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately..."


Acts 1:4 - "...wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me."


Romans 8:19-25 - For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God... even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption... if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

James 5:7 - "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain, be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."

Editor's Note: Charlotte and James Wholters are living in Reston, Virginia, after his retirement from the U.S. Air Force. The Wholters Family currently attends The Original Pentecostals Church (Pastor Raymond E. Woodward,) in Leesburg, Virginia.