By His Grace

 but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

2 Co 12:9

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition (Washington, DC: National Council of Churches of Christ, 1993)

God’s way of answering His people’s prayers is not by removing the pressure, but by increasing their strength to bear it. The pressure is often the fence between the narrow way of life and the broad road to ruin; and if our Heavenly Father were to remove it, it might be at the sacrifice of Heaven. Oh, if God had removed that thorny fence in answer, often to earnest prayers, how many of us would now be castaways! How the song of many a saint now in glory would be hushed! How many a harp would be unstrung! How many a place in the mansions of the redeemed would be unfilled! If God answered all the prayers we put up to Heaven, we should need no other scourge. Blessed it is that we have One who is too loving to grant what we too often so rashly ask.

F. Whitfield

Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).

The Saints knew this lesson intimately. How often have you endured something painful, praying for an end to the suffering? How often have you endured to the end of the experience? It is for our own good that the Lord allows us the benefit of suffering through the trials of life to strengthen us for what is yet to come. Not all prayer is answered as we want but as we need to have it by His grace and will. By His grace we survive, not by our will. It is the building of strength and endurance by which we grow.

May the good Lord bless and Keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Silent conflict

 

  After ye were illuminated ye endured a great fight of afflictions

                                                      Heb. 10:32

Our boldness for God before the world must always be the result of individual dealing with God in secret. Our victories over self, and sin, and the world, are always first fought where no eye sees but God’s.… If we have not these secret conflicts, well may we not have any open ones. The outward absence of conflict betrays the inward sleep of the soul.

                                                    F. Whitfield

Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).

Private wars in private places can be those times we struggle and place the problems and sins of our lives before the throne of God. In those times and places we are brought to a place of knowing the ways of God. It is akin to praying and exalting our Lord behind closed doors.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

2 Corinthians 12:10

 

  When I am weak, then am I strong

        2 Cor. 12:10

This is God’s way. We advance by going backwards, we become strong by becoming weak, we become wise by being fools.

F. Whitfield

Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).

In the course of our travels on this earth we encounter many different individuals. Those encounters range from pleasant to regretful, both in-person and unseen. The scripture quote is especially relevant for me. I have spent many hours, even longer, being weak and a fool (Not that there was a choice in most cases). It felt like going in reverse at times. That is when you realize you are alone with no-one to share the loneliness, to show the way back, to hold hands. It is also the time we find strength to move forward and press on in the apparent lack of direction. The reality of life is that only at these times are we truly strong. Strength and wisdom are co-existent in being weak and, at times, a fool. I am no superman. I am not invincible, nor can I fly or walk on water. We can learn from our passage through life. It is well to remember that as we pass through this life everything anyone does affects everyone else in this life. The good, the bad and the ugly all affect everyone. There is more to learn from the bible and the wisdom within its pages than most bother to seek from it.           

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe. Remember to "Alway Love Details."