Thoughts from the Editor
Jane S. Hancock
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6-7).
This column is about prayer. It’s also about the time of the silence of God.
Prayer is personal. It’s our way of communicating with God. For me it’s also private. I can’t pray out loud. I am overcome with emotion, my voice begins to sob. This moment is mine and mine alone.
Prayer sustains me. Often people ask how I manage to get through some of the rough times I have had in my life. “Don’t you worry?” they ask. And I have to admit I don’t worry because my father, Otis Q. Sellers, a very wise man, always said to me, “If worrying would help, I’d worry.” But it doesn’t help. What does help? Telling God about it and leaving it with him. He may be silent, but He hears and He understands and with Him, I am able to get through my own troubles. God invites us to get rid of fear, worry, and anxiety, to let our burdens rest with him.
I heard a song on the radio the other day, a country-western song, called “God Must Be Busy.” Even if you don’t know the lyrics, I’m sure you can recognize from the title what it is about. It’s about praying for world peace, praying for good health, praying for safety.
And I know in the big picture
I’m just a speck of sand
And God’s got better things to do
Than look out for one man.
I know he’s heard my prayers
‘cause he hears everything
He just ain’t answered back . . .
God must be busy.
What the writer doesn’t recognize is that this is the time of the silence of God, that at one time God did communicate with people on earth, but all that stopped at the end of the Acts Period. During the Acts Period men commissioned by God spoke God-inspired messages, these messages confirmed by signs that followed. That is not the way God deals with men today.
So when I talk to God, I don’t expect an answer. I don’t think that He is too busy to bother with me. I know better. And I know what He expects of me. He expects me to study His words, the Bible, and to show my faith by taking His words and acting upon them.
We pray but we should not use prayer as a way of “getting” things from God, but as a way of talking to God. Yes, I believe He hears my prayers but I cannot expect an answer because this is the time of the silence of God.
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Ecclesiastes 3:
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak (Eccl. 3:1-7).
A time to keep silence. This is the time of the silence of God.
Although I personally cannot pray out loud, we here at The Word of Truth Ministry definitely pray together. Each week we thank God for the opportunity to continue this little ministry, to spread the truth of the Kingdom of God. We ask God to bless those who read our publications, who find our messages on the Web site, who meet in small groups across the country. We ask God to bless our work. And we pray always for God’s Kingdom to come because when the Kingdom comes, wars will cease, food will be plentiful, the weather will not be destructive, evil people will not be a part of the Kingdom on earth.
No, God is not too busy to listen to us. Has He answered our prayers? We like to think so. We know He listens. Our prayers are prayers of thankfulness. And if we have some requests, and we do, we may get answers in unexpected ways, at unexpected times. We have no proof. We don’t know. We just happen to be living in the Dispensation of Grace, that time between the end of the Acts Period and the Kingdom of God, the time of the silence of God.
He is never too busy. ???
From the Director
David R. Hettema
Over the past several years The Word of Truth Ministry has lost valuable names from our mailing list, not by people requesting removal but by the fact that they have not notified us of their changes of address. On every mailing, we print on our envelopes a request that if the envelope cannot be delivered by the Post Office, it will be returned to us.
When there is a forwarding address, we send it there, but if not, that mail becomes a dead letter and we have lost someone from our list. They may not realize this fact for many months, but we have no way to reach them. Please keep this in mind: if you do move or are contemplating a move, let us know the new address. We value our contacts with all of our readers.
We are now in the final months of year 2007. The Executive Board of the Word of Truth Ministry is looking ahead and planning for the upcoming years. We must renew the lease agreement for the use of our present building. The members of the Board of Directors who sign the 3-year Lease are somewhat like our early United States government fathers in the Revolutionary War who signed the Declaration of Independence pledging that whatever was necessary to accomplish their goals, it would be done. We are committed to an even greater cause— the continuing proclamation of God’s coming government into this earth; God’s salvation for the world. We, like the early patriots manifest that same heartfelt attitude. Paul by inspiration told Timothy: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine (2 Tim 4:2).
At this point in our fiscal year our financial position is down from normal so we are cutting our overall plans to fit our situation. We have no paid workers here, just volunteers. We are grateful to all of you who have a continuing financial part in this ministry; you make it possible.
We as workers together have this joyful privilege of telling others about the coming Kingdom of God, which is truly God’s salvation, a world where there is no more death and sin, just the joy of eonian (everlasting) life, the abundant life from God.
Giving Thanks
By Joanne L.H. Johnson
In November, we celebrated Thanksgiving Day, a time for giving thanks for God’s many bountiful blessings throughout the year. Thanksgiving was originally a time to give thanks for a bountiful crop harvest like our forefathers, the Pilgrims, did back in the 1600s.
The Word of God uses that word “thanksgiving,” which is the Greek word eucharistia, derived from charist, which is “grace.” Philippians 4:6-7 (NASB) says it so beautifully, that I cannot elaborate nor improve on God’s Word except to update it from the Old English: “Be anxious (careful) for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension (understanding), will guard (keep) your hearts and your minds in (through) Christ Jesus.”
God is very gracious to us and the one way we can give “grace” back to God is through abundant thankfulness. Remember, we are witnesses of God’s wonderful work in creation.
Keep giving “thanks” and “grace” to God for all those things we so take for granted in everyday life: a good life (various degrees of it), a beautiful sky or flowers, something special that worked out for you today, or remembering something special you found in God’s Word.
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Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our readers from The Word of Truth Ministry . . . from our place to yours!
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BIBLE STUDY AUDIO MINISTRY
By Otis Q. Sellers, Bible Teacher
The entire Tape Library (TL) series, consisting of numbers TL-1 to TL-570, is still available on MP3 compact disks. A complete list of subjects may be obtained from our Web site, www.seedandbread.org, or the home office in Pasadena, California, or writing/e-mailing:
The Word of Truth Ministry
Mrs. Gwen Staiger, Recorder
121 Wood Oak Dr., Joshua, TX 76058
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We Get Letters
“One prominent Bible teacher admitted on radio that the Christian effort to reach and ‘save the world | 
