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."

Age

The above quote is important in many ways. As we age it becomes very relevant in life. I found it interesting that change is a thing to be feared instead of embraced mainly due to the speed at which it is progressing. It would seem that the technologies being developed are advancing without regard to the consequences being considered. The results of the atomic weapons used in war are a good example. True atomic power has a myriad of peaceful uses but is also destructive on a scale that is mind boggling. Scientists are on the verge of developing atomic fusion reactors that make our current power plants look like toys. AI (artificial intelligence) is being developed at a breakneck speed. That is truly scary. Where is all of this going? There is nothing I can do about any of these things. Back in Jesus' day it was mostly the power and cruelty of the Romans, the cold power and greed of the Jewish Sanhedrin, disease, poverty and the condition of the human spirit. The time may have changed but the conditions haven't. Only the players have. Fear and age would seem to magnify one another. Why are you so afraid? (Mark 4:40) Do not fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared. (Proverbs 3:25,26) God gave us a spirit of power, love and self discipline not a spirit of fear. (2 Timothy 1:7) We are not to fear those who can kill the body but not the soul. (Matthew 10:28) We are given a promise of sonship not a spirit of slavery to fear. (Romans 8:15) We are given a spirit of peace if we but accept it. (John 14:27) We cannot control where this world is headed. We can control where we are headed and where our spirits are destined to be.

No image this week. Next week I will share another o0f the Moontear images. 

May the good Lord Bless and Keep you safe until then. Remember to "Always Love The Details"