And He Shall Be Like A Tree

"And he shall be like a tree…”

"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
Psalms 1:3 KJV

I was using my phone screen to give off a soft light in the early morning hours, needing to be dressed for my morning run without waking my husband. My screen kept timing out. I thought to open my Bible app to keep the light shining longer. My finger must have touched verses I had highlighted in my moments of devotion. One in particular popped up on my screen- Psalms 1:3. This scripture has a special meaning to me because I had prayed for God to give one word at the beginning of the year that would be my focus of change for the new year. Tree was the word He had spoken to my heart. I searched scriptures that would back up my word and this one jumped out at me. I admit time has taken control of my mind and I haven't thought about this scripture in a couple months. However, I would like to think that in the hustle of my morning, He wanted to remind me of my special word and what it means to me. To be a tree that is planted by the waters means to be rooted, growing, by a continuous source of life. A tree may go through rough seasons that could be deadly, but it stands firm and plugged into that source that gives it constant nourishment. Our focus through the messages delivered by Pastor Tibbs has been on prayer and staying connected to God so that we can bring forth fruits of the spirit. Love, peace, joy, longsuffering....some of these may come easier than others, but through Him we'll flourish to our full potential as long as we continue to stay planted by rivers of living water.

-Submitted By Darla Dean

God Has a Waiting Room

God Has a Waiting Room 

What is a waiting room? Most of us would probably think of a doctor’s office or maybe even a hospital… A place with chairs to sit in and wait until our name is called. Sometimes, there is not too much of a wait. Sometimes the time goes by quickly and our name is called almost instantly. But then there are those other times when it seems as if we’ve been in that room forever. We’ve seen others come in, and the ones before us leave… maybe some who have come in after us get called before us.

We have waiting rooms in the physical sense here in our world, but there’s also a waiting room in the spiritual sense; God’s waiting room. So many people get placed in His waiting room and are chosen to take a seat. Being there usually is not fun. While you’re waiting, you’re being delayed, in all honesty. In some cases, your whole life may be on hold. It seems endless. Maybe you have received a promise from God that seems like it will never happen. Maybe you are struggling with family issues, or financial trouble, or illness, and it seems like it will never end. It feels like you are stuck in that same place and that nothing will be done to fix it. We lose our sense of control when we are alone and waiting and don’t know what will happen. We’re human, and we desire a sense of control because we don’t feel stable when we can’t foresee what may happen.

When our needs or prayers aren’t being answered right when we think we need them to be, we begin to feel like God doesn’t care about us. We feel abandoned and isolated, and if we’re not careful, we can even feel betrayed. It’s absolutely natural to have these feelings, but we need to be careful to not live in those emotions. There is actually something special about being in God’s waiting room. It’s not just some place that He decides to stick you because He’s sick of hearing you pray the same prayer over and over. It isn’t just somewhere He puts you because He’s too busy and doesn’t feel like responding to you. The time of your waiting is actually your golden opportunity to get even closer to Jesus, more than you’ve ever been before, because it’s that time when you’re feeling lost and have exhausted every option, that He and He alone is there. It’s a time where He wants you to draw closer and rely on Him completely, so He can show us His power and ability. It’s when we are weak that He is made strong.

While you are waiting, you also need to be careful of the enemy’s lies. The enemy will try to use the time you have there to try to make you believe that you are isolated, and that God doesn’t really care. He will try to get into your mind, and make you believe that you aren’t important enough for God to pay attention to. That is simply a big lie. Jesus may allow storms to come into your life, but that doesn’t mean He wants to tear you down or weaken you. Rather, the storms He sends you are one of the greatest ways for you to strengthen and deepen your relationship with Him; because it is in these times that His strength and power are revealed to us, so we can know Him in an even more miraculous way. Before I end this lesson, I’m going to give two examples of how two men of God have waited and received their wonderful promise at His perfect time.

Hebrews 6:13-15 says “For when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying I will bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.”

The New Living Translation puts it this way… “Then Abraham waited patiently and received what God had promised.” Key word here… patiently. Abraham probably thought that he would receive that promise within the next year or so. He probably couldn’t have imagined that it would take 25 years to come to pass. The next example of someone who waited, is someone we all know… our Pastor. My dad felt the call to preach the gospel and pastor a church about 30 years ago. 30… years. Now, that’s a long time to wait. 30 years is a long time to wait for anything! I can barely wait 30 minutes, let alone 30 years! But the amazing thing is that he never lost sight of that calling and that vision for his life. He had faith and relied on God to lead him to the right place. The even more amazing thing is that 30 years ago, the same time my dad felt the call to pastor, our church, FACD, first began. God knew exactly what he was doing, and orchestrated the situation perfectly, from the beginning, to where we are now.

While we wait, there will more than likely be times where there is no physical evidence of your prayers. You may pray, and pray, and pray… yet for that season of time it seems like nothing happens. Does God hear or care? Of course He does. Even if it looks as if He hasn’t heard you, it is all a part of receiving the “evidence of things not seen,” as in Hebrews 11:1. There is a necessary time where you must wait without seeing any evidence or response to your prayers. Of course it’s difficult to go through. We’re human. We were created to respond to our senses… so when we are in this situation, we can’t rely on these things.

What we need to do is “hold fast to the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)”. God does everything in response to faith and at his perfect time. All He is waiting for from you is your response while you are waiting.

                                               -Submitted By Holly Tibbs