I guess here's the major difference between the life of a Saint, and the life of an unbeliever...In spite of it all, in spite of the pain the Saint endures, the hurt, the misfortune that befalls the Saint, the trauma, the disappointment, the aches, the hardship, the losses, the humiliation, the misfortune, the abuse, the weariness, the setbacks, the pitfalls, the rejection, the suffering, the sicknesses, the fights, the battles, the wars, the tears, the tears, and more tears...
in spite of all this --
There still remains a reason to Hope...
To see beyond darkness and into the Light -- that Marvelous Light.
In the midst of all that I go through, I cannot help but see God waving, beckoning me forward, gently nudging me on. I cannot help but see His Light shining. And I hear Him saying, "You can do it, Michele; You can do it." Why, His faith in me is greater than my own faith in Him!!!
I cannot help but lift my head and keep moving because like a magnet I am drawn upwards to Heaven.
My eyes have seen the glory of His coming!
I cannot help but see something much more than what my physical eye pays its respects to, for the witness that I carry around is not based on a physical thing but on a spiritual connection -- it is unseen -- sometimes not even felt -- but it is there all the same. For I know the rock on which I stand is sustained by faith, endurance, power and might.
For that rock - oh, that glorious unmovable, unchanging, radiating, perfecting, sustaining and reigning rock is my hope.
And IN SPITE of my tears...
Ask Job -- they will fall...
in spite of my fatigue...
Ask Elijah-- for I do tire...
in spite of all my issues and circumstances...
I still press toward THE MARK, for...
My hope does not rest in man -- for what can he do for or even TO me?
Ha, my hope rest in Christ Jesus.
In Him, my battle is already won!
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you. 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
2 comments:
Mstardseed thank you for this powerful acknowledgement of the Greatness of the Almighty God in the lives of His children. The following scriptures capture your sentiments corectly:
Romans 8: 15-38
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thank you both for this powerful reminder....
The depth of God's love for us is well beyond the capacity of the human mind to grasp or comprehend. The God who......while we were yet lost in sin....turned His back on His ONLY begotten SON, and left HIM to die a painful and shameful death on the cross, so that you and I can be restored back to HIM...
Post a Comment