God's Patience

God’s Patience “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and have eternal life.” 1st Timothy 1:16 As I have written in previous devotionals, I have always had a problem dealing with patience. In my business career and also in my personal life, patience has been one of my fiercest enemies that I still deal with today, although I have made significant progress through the years in conquering this demon. I believe that many people are like me, and are not very patient, and we see examples all around us. Bosses do not allow employees to make many mistakes before they begin to take corrective action. Horns begin to blow if someone does not begin moving when a red light changes. We become impatient when a checkout line at the grocery store is extremely slow. But just think how patient Jesus must be, as the scripture above tells us of His unlimited patience? Just imagine what we would do if someone that we love keeps on doing the same thing day after day, year after year after we have told them not to do something. Jesus tells us not to sin but we continue to sin each day; we tell lies, we say hateful things to hurt people, we steal, we think evil thoughts and do evil things every day of our lives, but Jesus is still patient with us. I cannot imagine the patience it must take for Him to witness the sins that we commit every day, and still be able to open His heart to take us back and forgive us. But to experience the love that Jesus shows for us we need to follow in His footsteps, and teach ourselves to love others and be patient with them. I would encourage each of you to think about your love for others, and to develop and show them the same unlimited patience that Jesus shows to us. My Daily Devotional Volume III June 13 Robert William Brock, Jr.

Open Your Heart To God

Open Your Heart To God “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparable great power for those who believe.” Ephesians 1:18-19 The catch phrase in the scripture above that aroused my attention was “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened”, as so often I believe that we only react to what we see, when sometimes there is something deep inside us that we do not know about that needs our attention. God speaks to us in a variety of ways; sometimes in dreams, visions or thoughts, but it is our hearts that must be reached and enlightened to really make a change in us. In order for us to really understand what the riches of God’s great inheritance and power is for each of us we must get our hearts enlightened and willing to accept God’s riches. King Solomon, who was given the wisdom of God, gives us so many scriptures in the book of Proverbs that help us deal with issues we face in life. The first part of Proverbs talks about the importance of what wisdom, knowledge and understanding really means to each of us, and how we can obtain this wisdom. Acquiring this wisdom will open the eyes of our hearts to be enlightened, and will allow us to understand the true riches and power that God has in store for us as believers in Him. So often our hearts become hardened because of sinful habits that become part of our daily lives, but when we open the eyes of our hearts to God and His power, our lives can change. I would encourage each of you to open the eyes of your hearts today, and begin to let God speak to you. God wants to come into your heart and let you know about the inheritance He has for you. He offers you peace and hope but most of all He offers you an eternal life simply by opening your heart to Him. My Daily Devotional Volume III June 12 Robert William Brock, Jr.

The Bond Of Love

The Bond Of Love “Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of Spirit through the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:2-3 In our society today it is so easy to lose the love we need to have for each other. God gives us one of His greatest commandments telling us to love others as we love ourselves, but everywhere we turn, we see examples where people are turning against one another. I just returned from a funeral service where a brother and sister had turned against each other several years ago about a small trivial issue and had not spoken with each other since. It took their mother’s death to bring them together again. These kinds of trivial issues are so prevalent throughout our society, and are destroying friendships, personal relationships and families. The scripture above gives us so much good advice about dealing with these issues, in that it tells us to be humble, gentle, and patient and to be understanding with each other in love. So many times I have witnessed people who get upset when the smallest thing goes wrong and immediately will look around to find someone to blame. So many problems start with these kinds of issues, but if we could just think before we react to things that do not go our way, and think about the scripture above, I believe our world would be different. Normally people do not do things to upset us, but if they inadvertently do something, we need to teach ourselves to be understanding, compassionate and to think before we react. Jesus is teaching us that through the bond of peace and love that we can heal our friendships, our relationships and our families. I would encourage each of you to think about others, and not react to every little thing that does not go your way, but live the scripture above and show others the bond of peace and love. My Daily Devotional Volume III June 11 Robert William Brock, Jr.

Our Eternal Home

Our Eternal Home “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” 2nd Corinthians 5:1 Yesterday my wife and I attended a funeral service for my daughter in law’s grandmother who passed away at the age of 93 years old. She had been blessed with a long life and had been a faithful and wonderful mother and grandmother and her memory will remain with them forever. This service reminded me that even though she had lived a life much longer than most people live, it is such a short period of time when we compare a life that will live for all eternity. It is hard to fathom just how long eternity really is. I have been doing family research for over 30 years, and have traced our family history from generation to generation and have gotten just a little perspective about the importance of time. In my research I am excited to find just a glimpse of one generation which may last only 50-100 years, but to think about a life that will last for all eternity is hard to comprehend. This eternal life is what we can all look forward to when we know Jesus as our personal Savior. Just think about what an eternal life in Heaven will be like; funerals will not exist anymore; sickness and pain will be nonexistent; there will be no doubt and worry, and all our days will be happy times walking on streets of gold. I know that it is difficult to give up someone we love as we will miss them, but to know that our family members have just left a world filled with pain, suffering, troubles and trials, and have entered into a new world filled with so much beauty, and which contains so many wonders and good things that our imaginations simply cannot describe, gives us peace and the assurance that they are now with God and living in their new eternal home. My Daily Devotional Volume III June 10 Robert William Brock, Jr.

Plan For Tomorrow

Plan For Tomorrow “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2nd Corinthians 4:18 So often, we as Christian’s, cannot get ourselves focused on anything except our day to day problems and situations. We live in the “here and now”, thinking only about the things that will get us through today. Life today is so hectic that just taking care of what we see in our immediate future is so exhausting that there is little time left to worry about tomorrow. This kind of thinking and attitude about our life will lead to a disastrous future if it is not changed. We have to think about and plan for our tomorrows and what they will hold for us. For example if we don’t plan for our retirements, who is going to take care of us when we are not able to work anymore? The same is true for our souls. We can live each day at a time, having fun, indulging in sin and enjoying ourselves, but this time will quickly pass away, and then what will happen if we have not thought about our tomorrow. As the scripture above states it is easy to fix our sights on what is seen, but what is really important is what is unseen. Living only for today and enjoying what we see is only temporary and will pass away, but planning for tomorrow which is unseen and eternal, and which will last forever must be our top priority. Our earthly bodies are wasting away each day, but our souls can be destined to live forever, if we have planned properly. All the planning that is necessary for us to have an eternal life is to believe that Jesus died for our sins, and to ask Him to come live within our hearts, and then commit ourselves to obeying His commands. When we do this simple thing we are looking past today which is temporal, and planning for the future which is an eternal life with God. My Daily Devotional Volume III June 9 Robert William Brock, Jr.

Let God Light Your Day

Let God Light Your Day “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Romans 13:12 I have a good friend who discovered that she had cancer about five years ago, and during this time has endured much pain and suffering, and many times has stated that it is by her faith and trust in God that she is able to continue. She is such a devout Christian and demonstrates her faith wherever she goes. She has touched many lives during these five years, as people see how her faith in God has sustained her during these difficult times. It is easy to become discouraged when this kind of trouble confronts us, and feel that our life is over, and simply give up. However God tells us that this is the time that we really need to trust in Him even more. I believe God will give us burdens to bear during our lives to test us and see just how strong our faith is in Him. It is easy to have faith in the good times, when there are not any problems confronting us, but when the storm clouds begin to roll in, who do we turn to? When David got into trouble, he turned to God, and prayed constantly to Him to deliver him from whatever difficulties he faced. This is what we all need to do when we face our trials and troubles in life; simply turn to God and ask Him to help us carry our burdens. We do not have to face our difficulties all by ourselves, as we have God to depend on who will help us climb our mountains and help us carry our loads. The scripture above so beautiful describes what can happen when we depend on God to help us through difficult times as our nights can turn into day, and our darkness can turn into light. I would encourage each of you that when you face trials and troubles in your life, to turn your eyes toward heaven and put on God’s armor of light, and your night will turn to day as you put your trust in Him. My Daily Devotional Volume III June 8 Robert William Brock, Jr.

Do Not Judge

Do Not Judge “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” Romans 2:1 I have found over the years that it is so easy for us to judge others, by what we hear about them or from what we observe about them. So many times, however, I have discovered that sometimes what we see and what we hear is not what it seems to be. Just this week there was a young man that had been killed in Iraq that was awarded one of the highest medals that the army had bestowed on someone. Through his heroic actions he had saved several of his fellow soldiers from sure death, and had sacrificed his own life to save them. When some of his former schoolmates were interviewed they said about him “that he never stood out” and that “he usually thought about himself first”. This young soldier had been judged so wrong by the people who supposedly knew him, as they had only seen his outwardly appearance and had not witnessed his true inner being. It is so easy to want to judge others by what we see and hear, but only God knows the heart of every person. So often we do not take the time to get to know the true character of people around us, but judge them on the first impression. Outwardly appearances are deceiving, and we should never judge others based on them, but rather get to know what they stand for and believe in. There are so many examples in the Bible where Jesus chose people who did not stand out in the crowd, but He knew their hearts, and what they stood for. I would encourage each of you to not judge others based on what you see, but get to know them, understand them and then also realize that it is God that is the only one that can judge. My Daily Devotional Volume III June 7 Robert William Brock, Jr.