THE OX GOAD!--A Lesson of Love for FFers!        DFO1468
Tenerife,        21/7/76

         1. I WAS THINKING, MY LORD, AFTER ALL MARIA HAS DONE FOR JUAN MANUEL, & Lord, after all You've done for him, it looks to me like he just really isn't worth it! Last night Juan Manuel was kicking back at Maria, making slighting & insulting insinuations & remarks.
         2. HE'S TRYING TO RESIST THE CONVICTION BECAUSE HE DOESN'T WANT TO GET INVOLVED, since he knows it's getting involved with the Lord. He was hardening his heart, like they said about Paul, "kicking against the pricks", like the ox kicking against the ox goad. (Ac.9:5)
         3. THE PICTURE COMES TO ME NOW ABOUT THE OX KICKING AGAINST THE GOAD, the sharp stick that the farmer uses to prod the ox with if it won't move. There's a lot in that picture! The plow symbolises God's service, it symbolises farming, in fact. You're plowing, so you can plant seeds.
         4. WHO REALLY HAS THE MOST POWER?--Not the same kind of power, not just the power of the flesh, the power of the muscles & the weight of the ox. Where does the farmer have his power?--In his brains, sort of like by the Spirit, & the ox goad.
         5. THE GOAD IS A SYMBOL OF THE WORD. IT PRICKS THEIR CONSCIENCES! It pricks their hearts! It cuts them to the heart!--The Word! The farmer's really God & you're His hand, in a sense, that He's using. You're a member of His body. And the Word in your hand really pricks them.
         6. IF THEY REFUSE TO MOVE AND DON'T WANT TO MOVE, THEY GET REAL REBELLIOUS & they kick back! So if you keep on poking that stubborn ox enough with that goad & he's real stubborn & refuses to go the way you want him to go, he's apt to kick back at you!
         7. BUT "LOVE", REAL LOVE, "BELIEVETH ALL THINGS, beareth all things, hopeth all things & taketh no account of evil. Love suffereth long & is kind." 1Cor.13!
         8. YOUR LABOUR OF LOVE, BELOVED, IS NOT WASTED.--Not one tear that you have shed or one smile you've given or one kiss or one fuck or whatever it was, it's not wasted. God is going to give you credit for every bit of it! Your labour of love is not wasted! The Scripture that comes to me on that is, of course, "love never fails"! This has helped Maria several times when she felt like it was hopeless.
         9. BELOVED, EVEN IF THEY RESIST IT & REJECT IT & GO TO HELL, IT STILL DIDN'T FAIL! It accomplished its purpose to show how bad they were, how unworthy they were, how totally ungrateful they were. We're "unto some the ministers of salvation, unto others the ministers of damnation." (2Cor.2:15,16) Your love is going to accomplish its purpose whether they receive it or reject it, just like God's Word.
         10. (MARIA: "THEREFORE MY BELOVED BRETHREN, BE YE STEADFAST, UNMOVEABLE, ALWAYS ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.") (1Cor.15:58) Hallelujah! TYL! Well, it is a labour of love, isn't it? Amen!
         11. WE'RE NOT VERY PERSISTENT SOMETIMES. We're easily moved away from our catch & our fish & go off to something else & forget all about it instead of finishing the job. "Steadfast, unmoveable"--stick to a job until it's done, stay with a job until it's finished, praise God?--At least as far as you can go!
         12. (SALLY: HEBREWS 6:10 SAYS, "FOR GOD IS NOT UNRIGHTEOUS TO FORGET YOUR WORK & LABOUR OF LOVE which ye have showed toward His Name, in that ye have ministered to the saints & do minister.") The Lord won't forget it. When you feel like it's all just a lot of work & no fruit, remember the Lord will still give you the credit!--Amen? PTL! GBY! Happy Hookin'!

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