The message today comes from a conversation I had with my friend Rich A. awhile back. I believe that this will really bless someone else reading it. Prepare yourself to receive from the word of God.
Today’s Prayer
Father, there are times in our lives when we seem to be getting no where, when we are forced to mark time. Help us to learn the hard lesson of patience and to put our trust in You. Help us to use these times wisely, to sort out our relationship with You, and to gain a new perspective, that we may set more realistic goals, which will be pleasing to You. Give us patience to wait on Your timing. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
Fruitful Suffering
…”It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” – Genesis 41:52
The bible tells us that Joseph named his second son Ephraim. Ephraim was given to him after he had been delivered from his suffering of 13 years. Joseph said that he named him this because God had made him fruitful in the land of his suffering. Ephraim means “twice fruitful.”
Joseph was fruitful in two instances. He was fruitful during his time of adversity and in his prosperity. When God brings us into a time of suffering, it can be a fruitful time. It’s rare for us to see the fruit during the suffering period. But know that the roots are going deep into the spiritual soil of our soul because of our pressing into God during our time of suffering. This is producing a work in our character that can’t be seen until it finishes the process. Such was the case for Joseph.
It wasn’t until several years after such a time of suffering that I began to see the fruit of the trials that the Lord allowed me to experience. How grateful I am to understand some of the “why” that has led to a new life in Him that I would never have had without that particular period.
Quote of the Day
Pessimism is not in being tired of evil but in being tired of good. Despair does not lie in being weary of suffering but in being weary of joy.
Gilbert Keith G. K. Chesterton
WITH HOPE AND FAITH
REV. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
GCKRS HELPING HAND FOUNDATION – THE RELATIONSHIP FACTORY
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