Have a Little Patience

By Carol Martines

This evil world we live in is a hard place to grow up without God’s love and forgiveness. Too many teens have never even heard about God’s promises and His plans for their lives, and many struggle, growing up too fast. As we draw closer to the end times, society is imploding around them, just as the Bible foretold thousands of years ago. Hopefully, this book will help them find God in the ruins of this lost world and let them know they are special to Him. Chapter 1 could be read and understood by most ten-year-old children, but the maturity level increases with each chapter. It is intended to grow with them. It has many Bible passages to encourage them to read God’s Word. That is the ultimate goal of this book. Put it in the hands of those you love and encourage them to read it. Bribe them if necessary!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664240100

Carol Martines

Carol Martines is a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and her love of God and family are at the heart of this book. Everyone wants to leave something of value behind to those they love, and Carol has a great desire to leave her descendants a legacy of faith. She prays this book will be one tool used by the Holy Spirit to turn that desire into a reality.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Carol Martines.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by

any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author

except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Interior Image Credit: The author Carol Martines

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English

Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry

of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International

Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc.

TM. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version® Copyright © 1982

by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4009-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4011-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-4010-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021914082

WestBow Press rev. date: 09/08/2021

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1    In the Beginning

Chapter 2    Faith and Glory

Chapter 3    The Image of God

Chapter 4    The Supernatural

Chapter 5    Satan and His Demons

Chapter 6    One True Church

Chapter 7    Science and Evolution

Chapter 8    The Last Days

Afterthoughts

Recommended Media

Names of God

Names of Satan

Glossary

Notes

Other References

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So even to old age and gray hairs,

O God,

do not forsake me,

until I proclaim your might

to another generation,

your power to all those to come.

Psalm 71:18 ESV

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For my loves:

Michelle and Lisa,

Wayne, Amanda, and Jessica,

Aiden and Patience,

J and Sophie,

Parker and MaeLee,

Ella and Christopher,

and all those to come.

Introduction

One day, when I was looking back on my life, the one certainty I could embrace was an unshakable faith in the Lord, but it was a long-fought battle for me to reach this point. From my earliest memories, God seemed to be a future hope for my life, though I struggled to find Him in the present, especially in my teen years.

Growing up, my family was like too many other families: we did not talk about Christ much. Bible study was a job for the church, but sporadic attendance at Christmas and Easter was not enough. It was not what God commanded parents to do either. God said that parents are to raise their children in His ways and in His Word.

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children …

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 ESV

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6 ESV

But my parents were not the only ones who failed to teach their children where to find the love of the Lord. I am guilty, too. I followed in my parents’ footsteps and only exposed my kids to God’s Word on holidays but not much more. I did not immerse them in the Bible like I wish I had when I think back on all those lost opportunities. It was that regret that brought on a great desire and urgency to leave my descendants a legacy of faith—an impossible task for me, but for God, all things are possible. God knows how to work things out.

As I thought about this desire one night, I picked up the Bible to read. Within minutes, He led me to Psalm 71:18. That started me on the journey of putting this book together for the loves in my life. I hope it will help shorten their search for God’s answers. In today’s evil world, there is no time to waste. I offer this book with prayers that the Holy Spirit will bless all those who read it—young or old—with an ever-increasing love of the Lord and with a great desire to seek Him.

Chapter 1

In the Beginning

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In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it because He loves you so much, He wanted a place to put you so you could love Him back. Amen!

We love him because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19 KJV

God chose you before the beginning of time, and your name was written in His book of life.

"Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Psalm 139:16 NIV

God planned for you, just like He did for Adam and Eve, to be in His presence, in His garden of Eden, forever. If only Adam and Eve had not sinned. God placed two trees in the middle of the garden: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He told Adam and Eve they could eat from any tree in the garden, except He commanded them not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He warned that if they ate its fruit, they would surely die.

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,

‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,

but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

you shall not eat,

for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’"

Genesis 2:16–17 ESV

But the coming fall into sin was not about the fruit; it was about honoring God’s authority for the sake of righteousness.

Adam and Eve’s failure to honor God was not the first time His creation had rebelled against Him. Before God created man, He created the angels in heaven to be ministering spirits to Him and to all those who would love Him throughout the ages.

"Are not all angels ministering spirits

sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?"

Hebrews 1:14 NIV

God gave the angels great power and authority. Lucifer was especially powerful and beautiful, and he was frequently in God’s presence, in heaven and on Earth.

"You were the signet of perfection,

full of wisdom and perfect in beauty …

You were in Eden, the garden of God;

You were blameless in your ways

from the day you were created,

till unrighteousness was found in you."

Ezekiel 28:12c, 13a, 15 ESV

Lucifer became proud and arrogant, and he wanted to be worshipped in place of God. He deceived a third of all the angels, and they followed him into a war in heaven. Michael—one of the archangels—and his army of angels warred against the rebellious ones and cast them out of heaven. Lucifer, the beautiful angel, fell to Earth, and Satan, the devil, the archenemy of good, emerged. He is the great deceiver and the father of lies, and to this day, he roams the earth continually looking for someone to devour.

"Be sober-minded; be watchful.

Your adversary the devil

prowls around like a roaring lion,

seeking someone to devour."

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

Satan, the serpent, was and is more cunning than all of God’s creatures, and he had his own plans for God’s precious creation. Satan knew he was powerless over Adam and Eve unless he could convince them to believe his lies, and he did just that. He knew how to make sin look tempting by mingling his lies with a little truth to hide his fiery arrows. Satan told them the fruit was perfectly good to eat. He said God was trying to keep the knowledge of good and evil to Himself. All they had to do was eat the fruit. They would not die; they would be like God, knowing good and evil. They fell for Satan’s lies. Eve ate the fruit first and then gave it to Adam, and he ate, bringing the curse of sin and death on all the earth.

Satan had used Adam and Eve to unlock the knowledge of good and evil for himself. He wanted more of what belonged only to God. Since Satan was bound by time and space,