Some Timely Thoughts
G.T. Haywood
Written July 1925
“Sweeter and sweeter to me,
Dearer and dearer each day,
O wonderful love of my Savior,
Growing dearer each step of my way.”
We thank God for His many blessings which He continues to pour on us in granting strength and life, and giving us helping spirit, soul, and body.
There are many people who do not stop to give God thanks for all things, even though the Bible says, In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you. Many times while some people are being blessed, they are grumbling and wishing they had something else. Then, some who are afflicted out to be thanking God for the fact that they are saved. I have found out that the more of this world you have the less of God you have. That man, or that woman, who worries, grumbles and frets, ought to look around and see how many there are far worse off than they have ever been. It is a good thing to know the Lord and to know that you know Him. We should thank God for all things.
There are people who are well in every other respect, but possibly a little hard in hearing, yet they are always worrying because they cannot hear good, while here is another poor soul who cannot hear at all. And I believe when we begin to thank God for things around us, which are perfect, then God will begin to make up for that which is not perfect. Sometimes a man, because he has to walk in a crippled or halting position, forgets there are many who cannot walk at all. Some people have the things others which they did have and yet these people are dissatisfied today. Paul said he had learned in whatsoever state he was there with, to be content.
We ought to come together for real business with God and get something that will help us on the morrow. WE should come to obtain faith, help, blessings, and encouragement. I believe that every time we come into services, we out to get more of the knowledge of God. WE can be perfected as far as the light we have, but much more light is just ahead to be appropriated. When you come into the Spirit, filled with the life of God, you have just reached the place where you can really go on into perfection. Paul said that he forgot the things behind and pressed forward to the mark for the prize of the high calling. It requires nothing less than God Almighty to help us to perfect our life before Him.
Our foremost thought should be the way of salvation. You can talk about how you please, but if you fail to show men the way to life, you have missed the mark. And when you can have all the Spirit of God you please, and shout and prays as much as you will, but if your life does not shine, it will be all in vain. On the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, we find God is very merciful (Isa. 40:12). After God has heavily burdened you because of disobedience, then He lifts the burden. David once numbered Israel, and his heart immediately smote him, and then he cried out to God and God gave him three choices. David studied God’s proposal but he did not know which way to go. Then he turned to God and said, O, Lord, we will deliver ourselves into thy hands, for we know Thou wilt be merciful. If men do not accept God’s mercy, then He withdraws it and then he must receive judgment without mercy.
The preaching of the Gospel is to prepare the way of the Lord. This thing or making straight means something! You have to have your mind really set and let go of everything, if you want God to help you. That man who wants God will have to forsake home, farm, and friends, and even his own life. But the joy that God puts into your soul is worth more than all the wealth that can be heaped together, or all the land your foot could tread upon. The joy of salvation is something more than gold. All manner of precious stones are not to be compared with it. But you must forsake everything, even all your thoughts.
One man has well said that God must have loved the poor people because He made so many of them. Isaiah 55:1 is meant for the poor man. Oftentimes some rich man would buy the whole bag of the water seller and give it away to the poor saying, Ho everyone that thirsteth come ye to the waters. And truly he that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord. This thing of not charging men to hear the Word of God is not of God. God wants a ready mind and a willing service and heart that service Him because one loves to do so. Then the sure mercies of David are yours! And among other things, David is that one whom God heard in the day when he cried and had mercy on him. I believe in mercy for it is a great high priest. It saved Adam from immediate death and devised a plan and lengthened his days. Mercy is a wonderful thing. Truly all of you who are saved ought to thank God you are saved. God has made us what we are and we may well say with the Apostle to the Gentiles, I am by the grace of God, what I am. We must live above the world of sin if we expect to let our lights shine. And if we do find and acknowledge God’s mercy unto us, we will be willing to help bring others out of trouble and out of the miry clay.
The preparing of the way of the Lord means a man must forsake his ways. We must take time to seek the Lord’s ways. God knows if He can get your heart, He can get the whole man. Our business is to obey the Word of God, and not to stop until it is fully done. And when we do this, He will confirm it.
The sermon Some Timely Thoughts by G.T. Haywood was taken from the book The Lost Works of Bishop G.T. Haywood: Unpublished Anthologies from Bishop Haywood’s Early Years, written by J. Laverne Tyson, Volume 1, 1914-1926.
