God wants persistent plodders! Part One—
In the book of Ezekiel, God presents the four faces of the man of God. These are the four characteristics of those who serve the Lord. The first is the face of a lion. The righteous are as bold as a lion, the Bible says Proverbs 28:1. If you’re not bold, then you’re not righteous. The second face is that of an eagle. Those who wait upon the Lord “shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles” Isaiah 40:31 and sail into the very presence of the living God. The third face is the face of a man, because you will always be a human being, no matter how spiritual you think you are.
The fourth face is that of an ox, which brings me to the point. An ox is a persistent plodder. When you feed an ox, it does not bray like a donkey. It just gets out and plows. Give it some oats and it will plow, plow, plow. More oats; more plow. No bellyaching, it just plods and plows. Let me tell you something, friend. God is not looking for flash and dash. He’s looking for persistent plodders. Those with flash and dash will fall in the ditch. God is looking for the oxen who will put their shoulders to the wheel and pull, who are committed to discipline, determined to finish the race. God is looking for men and women who will be divine, persistent plodders to pursue the purposes of God.
Perseverance is the portrait of the saints. How can you tell who’s a Christian? Certainly not by what they say. You can talk the talk and not walk the walk. Certainly not by what they write. If the glowing reports on the fly pages of every religious book were true, the devil would be in the back end of hell drinking Maalox and waving a white flag, screaming, “No more!” So how can you tell who’s a Christian? The Bible gives the answer: by their fruit. Fruit cannot be produced in a day. Fruit cannot be produced in a week. Fruit takes months and years to come to maturity. The point is, you can’t tell who is a persistent Christian until you have seen their fruit, and that takes time. Only the persistent will produce fruit.
Spiritual Growth
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