Ragged Bibles and calloused Knees

Charles H. Spurgeon once said, “A Bible that is falling apart, usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” He is on to something. I remember when I was young, about to move out of my parent’s house, I found an old bible. The pages were torn on the edges, creased, and filled with notations in the margins.

 The Bible belonged to one of my great aunts. I remember my dad talking about his aunts and grandfather, telling me and my younger brother that his grandfather first introduced him to Jesus. The Bible and my father are proof of Charles Spurgeon’s quote. My dad, great-grandfather, and great-aunts are people of great faith and ragged Bibles.

I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us

Philippian 3:14

Paul tells us that life on this earth is a “race” (Philippians 3:14) and two things needed to run a race are consistency and endurance. In my sophomore year of high school, I decided to try track. This only lasted one season (If it had my way it wouldn’t have lasted that long, but my parents made me finish my commitment). At that time, I learned these two lessons well, and learned, at the time at least, I was not particularly good at either of these two things.

After a short while, I would become exhausted and everything in my body wanted to quit, but I found that it was frowned upon to quit in the middle of a race so I would force myself to keep moving. By forcing myself past my limit I grew a bit stronger and the next time I ran I could run a little further than last time before having to push myself again. Before long I found that I could run a considerable distance and even grew to love running.

I would never have found this passion if I and my parents had pushed me past what I thought was possible. God uses waiting like this often. He will delay a response to our prayers to teach us endurance, patience, and faith.

Waiting is the water for our mustard seeds of faith. It is the thing that helps the growth of the seed into something much bigger. I have seen this firsthand in my own life.

About a year ago I received a job offer to write for a company. I was thrilled, it was my dream job. The company claimed to be creating Christian entertainment. At the time I was far from God, but I was still excited to be writing for real.

Fast forward three months at my new job and things were not so great anymore. The “Job” I thought I had turned out to be a scam that stole my identity. I was devastated to say the least. I had given up writing on my personal blog to give all my attention to my new job. I lost my followers and my inspiration.

I spent the next ten to eleven months crying out to God “Why?”

It was a good “Christian” job. Through writing Christian content, I started to turn my heart back to God. I did not understand why God gave me such a good thing to take it away again. I felt purposeless and aimless. I prayed and prayed and prayed, but God seemed to be silent. He may have chosen to remain silent, but he was far from not caring. Behind the scenes, He was working.

Through the next couple of months, God connected me to a great church. Through fellowship and study with others, and a whole lot of prayer I began to heal. Heal from things I didn’t even know I needed healing from. Slowly but surely my inspiration and motivation came back and eventually, I began writing again, until I finally started this blog.

By delaying His response God created a fire, in my heart, that could not be quenched. In Romans, Paul tells us “Rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that it helps us develop endurance and endurance develops strength of character and strength of character develops our confident hope in salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment.” (Romans 5:3-5)

This verse tells us that when we have problems, we should rejoice. How can we do that? We can remember that when we go through challenging times God is using the trial to transform us to be more like him. He is helping us work through our issues so that we can truly be changed. That is good news. When we come out of a trial, if we let God do his work, we will be better for it. Seeing a change in ourselves helps us trust that God has changed us. That He is working in our lives and that He has saved us from our own sinful selves.

Terrible things happen because our world is broken by sin. The good news is that through Jesus we have been saved from our sins. That doesn’t, however, mean that we will never feel the effect of sin in this life. But the effects of sin no longer affect us negatively. They can have a positive effect, making us more Christ-like, instead. All this came from God delaying His response to my prayers.

Next time you are praying, and the answers don’t come quick enough, remember God is using this time to teach you or grow you in some way. Try asking God to show you what things in your life He is trying to change to be more like Him.

While in prison in Ephesus Paul wrote to the Philippians a told them “. . .I have learned to be content with whatever I have.” (Philippians 4:11). Even in a season of waiting we can be content, as Paul proves.

Here are a few ways to cultivate contentment in a season of waiting:

• Focus on what God has done for you and what you do have.
• List things you are grateful for
• Pray for others, I find that my issues become small when I focus on others.
• Confide in God your fears hopes and struggles. Try writing a letter to God expressing your feelings.
• Ask for prayer. If I am struggling with anything one of the first things I do after taking it to God, is turn to my woman’s Bible study for support and prayer. If you need prayer for anything don’t hesitate to reach out either to friends you trust or you can always reach out to me at emilyb@moreofjesuspleas.com I would be honored to pray with you and for you.

Conclusion

• Building a thriving Prayer and devotional life requires persistence.

• God uses delayed answers to build strength of character, such as patience and endurance.

• There are several things that we can do to combat becoming discouraged and giving up when prayers are not readily answered, such as reaching out to others and being honest about our struggles with God and others.

• Who are people in your life that you can reach out to?

• Are there people in your life you could reach out and encourage in their life and faith?

I encourage my readers to reach out with their own stories, tips, and tricks, I would love to hear what your experience with God has been. Comment in the section below or reach out through email at Emilyb@moreofjesusplease.com or on social media.

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