KEY SCRIPTURE: Revelation 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. RELEVANCE It's important to have fellowship, but most of our spiritual life is grown alone in our circumstances—just us and our faith. But when things change do we grow, or does our faith wither away? Pag is an isle off the coast of Croatia known for its barren, moonlike landscape. Its beaches are pebbles—which are just smaller rocks. Yet, some of the world's most prolific olive trees grow on that small shale outcrop of an island. One tree is over two thousand years old with a four-metre diameter trunk. It doesn't matter where we find ourselves; we can produce abundantly when we acclimatise. If we do this, we become venerable with age. Daniel, Shadrack, Mesahack, Abednego, and many more Israelite children were a stolen generation who learned to survive righteously—teenagers in a foreign country with a different language, laws, and cultural idioms. They were captives, not citizens, expected to expend their God-raised talents and wisdom on the godless—a people opposed to God who had just crushed their country, ransacked their Holy Temple, then burned it to the ground. But their faith and trust didn't reside in that Temple. It was transportable, and they took it with them. In that alien land and under impeachment and a decree of death from idolatrous laws, they showed it to the world. They only became famous because they grew in faith in that spiritually distorted setting under two consecutive evil regimes. Otherwise, we would never have heard of them. If they can do it, so can we in our incomparable situations. Similarly, where did the Apostle John write the most searched-through book in the Bible? He wrote the Book of Revelation from a lonely cave on the Isle of Patmos, exiled for speaking about Jesus. Jacob's son Joseph flourished in the unnatural temporary home of an Egyptian prison. Even Jesus Christ, when on the cross, said more in His silence and few words than most say in a lifetime. He adjusted His spirit to suit even that bloodthirsty wooden intersect. We can all acclimatise to our circumstances and produce the oil if that is our desire. PRAYER Dear Lord, please help me to acclimatise the all situations you place me in. So many believers in history were able to do so, and I want to be just as flexible, desiring to work with your Holy Spirit.
Photo by Brett Jordan
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