The Blessing of Friends

These last few months I have been encountering a challenge. Thinking that I am just growing older and aches and pains will come and go I didn't take seriously some pains until they became debilitating. Now I can hardly walk across a room without shortness of breath, exhaustion and feeling sick. So I have resolved not to do anything until my appointment on Wednesday for a heart check.

A battery of other tests were taken last week for which I have yet to learn their results. The test on Wednesday is a nuclear stress test, that should tell us more.

I am asking all my praying friends to ask the Lord for clear results as to the problem and if it be God's will, a solution. I know that all illness has a purpose if only to cause us to trust Christ more.

Today I am praising the Lord for the picnic at a brothers property where we enjoyed good fellowship. Its amazing how small problems seem when surrounded by loving kind and godly people. I cannot thank the Lord enough for this simple but lovely gathering of like minded believers.

John 15:13-15 "13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

Acts 2:44-47 "44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

Few Will Follow Christ

It is interesting to me that so many people are johnny on the spot to judge someone as good simply because they are successful at something. I read an article about a man who is a pastor, he tripled the size of his church in 6 months by going door to door. Many people were excited about him as though the size of his church was evidence that God was blessing. It is also interesting how quickly people are to judge someone as good but very reluctant to judge anyone as evil.

Below is my response to the article praising this man for growing his church by going door to door.

"I do not judge this man as good or bad. He may be using marketing techniques. He may be so friendly that everyone likes him, in which case he may be watering down the gospel to a social gospel and Jesus loves every body. I worry about those who can bring in large crowds these days. I hope those he baptized are truly born again. Since I have not been there to see any of it I reserve judgement that it is good. How many people he can bring in is not a measure of the quality of his ministry."

Luke 6:25:26 "…25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers treated the false prophets in the same way. "

In these last days of apostasy I am always worried when the focus of a ministry is numbers. We are living in the days of the remnants, those who are dedicated to Christ fully but they are few.

Matthew 7:14
"For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."