The Glory of His Presence

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Eliece Rybak

The Glory of His Presence

by Oswald J. Smith

I have walked alone with Jesus
in a fellowship divine.
Never more can earth allure me,
I am His and He is mine.

On the mountain I have seen Him,
Christ my Comforter and Friend
And the glory of His presence
Will be with me to the end.

I have seen Him, I have known Him,
And He deigns to walk with me;
And the glory of His presence will
be mine eternally.

Oh, the glory of His presence,
Oh, the beauty of His face,
I am His and His forever,
He has saved me by His grace.

Use what God has given you.

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Eliece Rybak

Each of us are God’s creation and are fearfully and wonderfully made. But the Lord did not create all of us equal in this life. To each He has given a spiritual gift to be used for His glory. Also He has given talents to each individual to be used and developed for His glory.

The principle in scripture is: Use what God has given you for Him.

In Genesis 3, God said to Moses, “What is that in thine hand?”. He was showing Moses that He could take whatever it is that we have to bring glory to Himself.

What is the spiritual gift God has given you? (Romans 12:6-15)

Is it the gift of mercy, then be merciful to all.

Is it the gift of helps? Then be a help to those around you that God might be glorified.

Is it teaching? Then who are your students? Teach as the Lord leads, and seek to glorify Him with all those you mentor.

Is it the gift of giving? Give liberally as the Lord leads, and as He has prospered you.

Is your gift ministering? Minister with all your heart.

Is your gift ‘ruling’? Then humbly with all mercy and diligence organize and direct His ministry, that He has put in your care, with cheerfulness.

Is your gift the gift of a prophet? Then very wisely and carefully handle the giving of God’s word to those God has brought to you. (This is the gift given to pastor/evangelists.)

But understand the Lord will never require of you something He has not given, and something that He is not willing and able to do through you.

Comparing ourselves with others and their gifts is not wise (II Cor. 10:12). It is nothing to us what gifts others have been given and how they use them. We are only accountable how we use our own gifts. As we use those gifts to the best ability in His power and strength, we will have the same reward in Heaven as those ‘with whom it seems’ have greater gifts than we do. He is the “rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Hebr. 11:6).

Bitterness: What do I do with it?

Posted on September 5, 2019 by Eliece Rybak

Have you ever been hurt , attacked, misused, offended, abused or falsely accused by another person? Many of us have. Maybe the other person has wronged us greatly, sometimes unknowingly, but many times knowingly and viciously.

What do we do?

We do not forget, do we? It is always there. We can train our minds not to think about it or dwell on it. That is very much like suppressing it, pushing it down. But does it go away? No. It keeps surfacing. Why? If we had truly forgiven that person, it would not keep surfacing and coming to mind with that “hurt” feeling.

That is bitterness. It has a deep root; and, just when we think we have it all under control and suppressed out of our mind, it ‘pops up’ its ugly head. In the Hebrews 12, it talks about this root of bitterness: “Looking diligently…lest a root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and by it many be defiled.” We have to watch for this and recognize it as bitterness against another person. Bitterness that first defiles the one holding the bitterness, and then defiles many around that person.

How does it defile? It makes us so we cannot forgive. It does not allow us to forgive the offense, and let it go. We get to thinking that we are justified in the feelings of hurt. It keeps us in bondage. Forgiveness never means that what the other person did or said was right or acceptable. But we have no right not to forgive. We have been forgiven by God for all our sins and trespasses. Forgiveness means that we are willing to give up our right to hold the other person accountable, and we relinquish our right to revenge. God says, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” It is our work of faith to offer this offense up to the Lord, give it up, give it away. It is no longer ours to own. Then we have no right to revenge, and best of all, it cannot hurt us or keep us in bondage any longer. The Lord takes it all.

This is surrender. It is surrendering our will to Him, allowing Him to take care of it. Sometimes we like to feel the ‘victim complex’. That make us feel justified that they wronged us. Maybe they did, but forgiveness surrenders all of that.

Elisabeth Elliot said, “Anything offered up to God is a Gateway to Joy.” Can the Lord take the “sacrifice of praise” offered up to Him, and turn it to good for us? (Hebrews 13:15 says…”By Him (by Christ, by His forgiveness extended to us for our sin, by His grace), therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.”

Do I believe the sovereignty of God? Do all things work together for good? Is it not true that the Lord allows these things in our lives to purify us, to draw us to Himself, and to make us more Christ-like?

Would I go so far to say that the Lord purposely had that person to offend us, so that we could learn what it means to forgive, to offer the offense to God? So He can deal with that person (if it was a purposefully vicious attack)? Is his ultimate goal for us to be more like Christ? God is never the author of evil, but sometimes He allows the evil of man’s heart to do what it is bent on doing, to bring us to Himself.

What did Christ do when He was treated unjustly?

He said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

People ask, “Where was God when this was happening?”

He was in the same place as He was when they were nailing His Son to the cross unjustly, for your sins, and for the sins of the whole world.

Remember the Lord knows and hears ALL. Go to Him, and release all of it on Him. Guard your heart against bitterness. Bitterness blinds us. It blinds our minds and our thinking.
Revenge holds us captive to internal torture, and keeps us in bondage.
It will affect how we think, how we act, what we do and say, and it will affect our health.
Literally, it will destroy us.

Surrender to the Lord all bitterness. The sovereign God knows all things, and He will deal with that person. Forgiveness releases us from bondage. If we do not forgive, that person has a vicious hold over us, and we are in bondage. Bitterness keeps us in bondage to the person who has already hurt us.

Many times that person does not even know that we have bitterness toward them, or maybe subconsciously we want revenge (want them to hurt like we hurt), when in reality, it is only hurting us. If we do not release the bitterness to the Lord, we are saying that we want to deal with that person, and the Lord cannot/will not deal with them “the way they need to be dealt with”. This is a lack of faith, and in reality rebellion. We must offer that hurt up to the Lord, and He can repay to that person their due better than we ever could. He will chose His time and place to deal with them. Our path is to surrender to Him, and be free from bondage.

Remember also…no man lives to himself. Our bitterness will affect others around us. Moms …our children will be affected. It will cloud their minds and hearts to the sweetness and grace of God in their lives. Sometimes they will take on our bitterness, but if not it will cause anxiety and emotional distress for them. This is evident in divorce situations that are “nasty”.

Can we ever think that our suffering is for our good and for His glory? II Corinthians 4:17, says “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”.

What is this “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”? Becoming more Christ-like in our responses to the “light afflictions” in our life. It is reflection the glory of the Lord to a greater degree through our suffering. This is worth any hurt that He allows/brings into our life. He is our “vision”.

The hymn says,

“Be Thou my Vision O Lord of my heart;

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;

Thou my best thought, by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, Thy Presence my light.”

Then later lines say…

“Thou and Thou only, first in my heart;

High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.”

We sing this hymn, but do we truly mean “whatever befall”? “Whatever befall” until someone says something that hurts my feelings? This is not the response of a mature Christian. Sometimes pride is the underlying sin….. ‘I think I have a right not to be treated that way’. Christ had a right not to be crucified because He was righteous, but He surrendered it to the Father…”Nevertheless, not My will but Thine”.

Hebrews 12:2 says…. “Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” We can endure anything if we keep our eyes on “the Joy that is set before us”. Endure does not mean grudgingly, or “white knuckling” it. Endure is recognizing that He is with us, always present, carrying the “easy yoke” (Matt. 11:28-29), and walking in the fiery furnace and lions den with us always. Endure has our gaze on the face of our Savior. Endure with faith in his sovereignty, that He has His perfect will working in us, to work His will and reflect His glory.

Elisabeth Elliot put it this way… (referring to Jan 8^th 1956):

“When I sat by my short wave radio and learned that my husband was missing, the Lord brought to mind what the prophet Isaiah said …

‘when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee’ “. This thrust me, forced me, hurried me to God, my only Refuge.”

“Suffering is the irreplaceable medium

through which I learned the indispensable truth that

He is LORD.” (E. Elliot)

Elisabeth Elliot says…”Think of your pain, trial, troubles as a challis, to be held up and offered up to the Lord, even in the midst of your suffering…stop what you are doing and offer it up as an act of worship……..anything offered up to God becomes a gateway to joy.”

The results of all this will be:

(1) When you think of the person that hurt you, you will pity them and pray for them (Matt. 5:44), because you have truly forgiven them. Hopefully you will come to love them.

(2) You will become numb to the “hurt” of the offense, because the bondage is gone. You released it to the Lord. (Hebr. 13:15)

(3) You can begin to ask the Lord to bring “blessing” into that person’s life (I Peter 3:9b) every time it comes to mind.

(4) Ultimately, you will thank the Lord for the person, the hurt, and the result of that offense, bringing you closer to the Lord in your walk with Him, and the more Christ-like you have become. You now reflect Him and His glory more than you ever could have without what the LORD brought into your life. (II Cor. 3:18)

Congratulations, the Lord has just prepared you for your next trial and your next step of faith. Praise Him.

Plow Deep In Me, Great Lord

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Eliece Rybak

“That I May Know Him….”

“Plow deep in me, Great Lord,

Heavenly Husbandman…

That my being may be a tilled field,

the roots of grace spreading far and wide,

until Thou alone are seen in me,

thy beauty golden like summer harvest,

thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.

I have no Master but Thee,

No law but Thy will,

No delight but Thyself,

No wealth but that Thou givest,

No good but that Thou blessest,

No peace but that Thou bestowest.

I am nothing but that Thou makest me,

I have nothing but that I receive from Thee

I can do nothing but that grace adorns me.

Quarry me deep, Dear Lord,

and then fill me to overflowing

with Your Living Water.

AMEN.”

Phil. 3:10a “That I may know Him…”.

Acts 20:24b …”that I might finish my course with joy,

and the ministry

which I have received of the Lord Jesus,

to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.”

Psalm 23 : Our Jehovah

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Eliece Rybak

Psalm 23

Seven of the times the name Jehovah is combined with another word

in scripture, they are either used directly or exemplified in the

23^rd Psalm to further display Who Jehovah is.

(Psalm 23:1-6)

“The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Jehovah (Exod. 6:3 “Yahovah”) means: the self-existent One; the Eternal One.

Meditate on that fact for a moment:

This Jehovah, not only has always existed and will always exist in the future, but He is dependent on nothing else (no one else) for His existence.

He has always been self-sustaining, and always will.

He does not need anything…air, food, the right environment …nothing.

He does not need us.

We, on the other hand, need Him. Job 12:10 reminds us,

“in Whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.”

1. “Jehovah-Rohi – The LORD our Shepherd

2. Jehovah-Jireh (Gen. 22:14) The LORD provides;

“I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.” Trusting /resting in the Jehovah that provides for us, for our soul and spirit means that “I want nothing else. He is all I need and provides all I want”, as a shepherd does for his sheep. We have the Good shepherd who knows all that we need in our soul and spirit, as well as physically. The still waters signify peace/rest. A sheep will not drink out of rushing waters. It always looks for a calm pool from which to drink. The shepherd provides that. Do you have the calm, quiet “pools” in your life provided by the Good Shepherd?

This also signifies a satisfaction, a satisfied soul. Are you always longing for something that you do not have? Is there some kind of “unrest” or “a searching for something that you cannot find or grasp” in your life? If we come to the Good Shepherd, yielded to Him completely, we shall not want. It is He who satisfies our soul. Not just in what He gives, but it is He who fulfills.

He says that He “will satiate (fill to the full) the soul…, and my people shall be satisfied with my Goodness. For I have satiated (filled full) the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.” (Jeremiah 31:13, 25) Are we only looking for the physical to be satisfied? This Shepherd is the Shepherd of our soul. Don’t be satisfied to only have your physical needs met. Go to the Shepherd for the satisfying of the soul. We are complete in Him.(Colossians 2:10a) Look no farther. He is the “completer of your soul” emotionally and spiritually, as well as physically.

3. Jehovah-Rapha (Exod. 15:26) The LORD who healeth.

“He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Jehovah is the healer. He is the One who restores our soul. Restores our soul to what? He restores our soul to Himself. He restores it from the ravages of sin through the redemption on the cross. But He restores it for Himself through sanctification (a present setting apart to holiness, and a future sanctification/perfection in Heaven). The Lord is the healer. He does not always promise to heal us physically in this life. At times He chooses to do that, but only promises total physical healing in Heaven. In the path of righteousness here in this life, we are restored to Him so that we can reflect the righteousness of Christ in our life now. For His name sake we bring glory to God.

4. Jehovah-Shalom (Judges 6:24) The LORD our peace.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies;” We are walking in a world that is the domain of Satan. He is the prince of the power of the air. Death and evil are all about us. But our Jehovah God is our peace, because He is present with us; His perfect love casts out fear. He is our comfort. He literally prepares for us what we need in the presence of all that could hurt us and the evil that is around us. Peace in the midst of the enemies of our soul.

5. Jehovah-Tsidkenu (Jere.23:6) The LORD our righteousness.

“Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” The picture of anointing in scripture is a picture of God’s acceptance and blessing. It is a picture of the Lord setting apart someone to Himself. This picture is of Jehovah the self-existent God blessing us so much that we are satisfied to overflowing with His abundant blessings (John 10:10b). He gives us His righteousness (11Cor. 5:21), which is all we need, totally sufficient for eternal life in Heaven, but also the fullness of His righteousness is extended to us now.

6. El-Shammah (Ezek.48:35) The LORD is present;

“Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;”

Ever-present, the LORD is there; the Presence of the LORD is always there, an abiding presence with His own. His Goodness is beyond measure and His mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:23-25) to His own. David knew the abiding presence of the Jehovah God. We too can know and sense through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit the Lord’s abiding presence in our lives. He never takes His eyes off us. (Job 36:7)

7. Jehovah-Nissi (Exod. 17:8-15) The LORD my banner;

“and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

The Lord my banner: literally our standard, where we stand; “an altar in the wilderness”….an altar showing ownership and protection. David knew he would one day be with the One who had set His banner over him. The self-existing Jehovah was his, and he was the Lord’s. The promise of eternal life through the Savior to come was extended to Old Testament believers, and many expressed their knowledge of that fact.

Born-again Believers Security

Posted on August 4, 2018 by Eliece Rybak

As Secure as God Is Faithful

Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)

Between eternity past in God’s predestination, and eternity future in God’s glorification, none is lost.

No one who is predestined in the foreknowledge of God for sonship fails to be called. And no one who is called fails to be justified. And no one who is justified fails to be glorified. This is an unbreakable steel chain of divine covenant faithfulness.

And so Paul says,

Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

“…Our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:8–9)

These are the promises of our God who cannot lie. Those who are born again believers in Jesus Christ are as secure as God is faithful.

(copied)

John Hyde (“Praying Hyde”)

Posted on December 14, 2017 by Eliece Rybak

John Hyde was a missionary to India from 1892 to 1911.

Thousands of souls were won to Christ in that time.

His friends that knew him well

knew that his one great characteristic was holiness.

Prayer was his life work, and he was a great soul winner, but his soul-winning was due to his Christ-like character. Scripture says, “Without holiness not man shall see the Lord.” We may scripturally say without holiness no man shall be a great soul winner. Mr. Hyde himself said in substance, “Self must not only be dead but buried out of sight, for the stench of the unburied self-life will frighten souls away from Jesus”. He lived the sanctified life.

His life’s desires were:

a closer walk with the Lord through prayer
live a life of holiness
reach the lost at any cost

Hyde discovered the power of intercessory prayer, and the results were staggering. He proved that prayer was an evangelical force in India: by faith he claimed one soul a day, then two, then four. Through his intercessory prayer, God was able to work in remarkable ways in conventions, churches, and personal lives. It is no surprise that he was often called “The Apostle of Prayer”.

Some Thoughts on Grieving….

Posted on December 10, 2017 by Eliece Rybak

Sometimes grieving, for whatever it is in our lives, can come to the point that the grieving itself has become a sin. You say….”That is a strange assessment.” If we know the Lord as our Savior, and He is the All-Powerful One, the All-Knowing One in Whom we are complete (Colos. 2:10), and if He is sufficient (II Cor. 12:9) to meet all our needs, then is years of grieving with a self focus not a sin? If our focus is on ourselves, we have not paid attention to the living, we have missed opportunities for the Lord to use us in the lives of others, then this is called “bad grief”. I am not saying that grieving can “be accomplished” in a few weeks, or even a few months. (Remember, grieving over a lost spouse, child, or tragedy is not like getting over a bad cold; it doesn’t just go away.) Some losses/tragedies are deep and life changing so that it takes a great deal of time to even adjust our lives. The real truth is that our lives are never really the same, ever again. But there needs to be beginnings in finding a new “normal”. Prolonged grief reflects a lack of faith and trust in the sovereignty of our Good God. He has a plan. Sometimes this side of Heaven we will never understand that plan, but that does not make Him any less a good God. If we could always understand His will and His way, He would not be God; and, would not be a God worthy of our faith and praise. He says in Isaiah 55:6-9, that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. Thank you Lord, because He see all things and knows all that is going to happen in the future , and He knows us.

So the next step is to get our focus off our selves and onto Him, who is the sustainer of His children. I am His and He loves me more that I can ever imagine. He gave His Son’s life for me, while I was yet in my sin. Christ died the death payment for my sin, offering me salvation, while I was yet not even knowing or caring that He loved me. Can I trust One like that? If I give Him my “gaze”, and my heart…as broken and suffering as it is… I can trust Him with it.

If we confess to Him our sin of lack of faith and trust in Him, and offer our broken selves to Him, He can begin to make some sense out of our life. As we ask Him to show us His plan for our life, and give ourselves to Him for His keeping, it is the delight of His heart to care for and comfort His child.

Someone wrote this reflecting on Isaiah 61:1-3….we would then “accept the forgiveness by the blood (of Christ),…and ask for the spirit of praise, as for any other gift of God. So then He would exchange my ashes for Christ’s garland, my mourning for Christ’s oil of joy, my spirit of heaviness for Christ’s garment of praise”.

That is a wonderful passage. The doing of it is by the grace of God only, as with all that the believer does. We get to thinking when we are grieving that we need to pull ourselves out of this pit of despondency. But as with every other “care” in our life, the Lord wants to gently and carefully guide us in this, and then out of this to the other side as He walks with us. Remember He weeps with us as He did with Lazarus’s sisters at the death of their brother (John 11:1-44).

Praise can come for His Goodness (Jere. 33:13-14) even when all else is not making sense. Praise that the Lord allowed us the privilege of having this one for so long a time; praise for the good of sharing a life with them; praise for the way our life was blessed through that person. Seek to praise for the good things. Then as He gives grace, accept his “garland” for the ashes. That may mean that we allow Him to take a life that looks like it is ashes, plans that are in ashes, dreams that will never be (ashes), and commit them to His plan and will, for Him to give us a new life in Him.

Christ has an oil…a healing balm, that can begin to give joy where there was only grieving. He will be the Master Healer in our lives, if we let Him. As we accept His grace for all this, He will lift the heaviness in our lives. His grace is sufficient (II Cor. 12:9) for the healing process, if we yield all of this to Him.

Sometimes those who are grieving think that if they “just stop grieving”, and go on with life, it means that they have forgotten the loved one, or did not really love them. We do not want to forget them or want others to forget them. It can feel like a betrayal to this loved one. This can be very profound in the life of the survivor. Yes, we do not want to forget them, but it does not honor them to go on not living a productive life. The lost loved one would want us to be comforted (Matt. 5:4), and so we must honor them by finding our Way, coping in the grace and healing of Christ. Surrender the ashes, the mourning, and the heaviness to the One who can heal, and let us be comforted. Christ must fill that void. Anything else that we try to “use” to fill that void will never satisfy.

That loved one will always hold a special place in our hearts, because no one could ever fill that place. But it is OK to go on. At some point we must choose life, and go on. If we could allow Christ to take that special place in our hearts and fill it with peace from Himself, we can go on. Peace with a past loss, tragedy or care, surrendered to Christ to make of it some sense, is the only way to go on to a life used by Him. He weeps with us, and walks with us….as we Choose Him.

May He be gracious to all of us who suffer loss, and show His presence real to us. May He give to us the balm of healing in our lives (which is really Himself), that we may glorify Him.

God Bless you in your journey to a surrendered life to Him.

A Prayer Written by Elisabeth Elliot:

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Eliece Rybak

“Lord, I offer up today…

all that I am, all that I have,

all that I do and all that I suffer,

for it to be yours today, and yours forever.

Give me grace Lord, to do all that I know of your Holy will,

purify my heart,

sanctify my thinking,

correct my desires.

Teach me in all of today’s work … trouble ….and Joy,

to respond with honest praise,

simple trust and

instant obedience.

That my life may be in truth a living sacrifice

…by the power of your Holy Spirit,

and in the Name of your Son Jesus Christ,

my Master and my All.” AMEN

(Elisabeth Elliot loved the dedication of Bette Stam, a martyred American missionary in China. Bette was an inspiration to Elisabeth.)

Suffering….can it be our finest hour?

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Eliece Rybak

Suffering will come to all the saints. Consider the verses in Philippians 3:8-10…

Paul said that he would gladly suffer the loss of all things to win Christ. This is in no way trying to earn acceptance with Christ. Paul is saying that he would gladly give all he had, all the accomplishments, and all that he was as a Hebrew (verse 5) to be unencumbered to know Christ (verse 10). He makes it clear that he stands in the righteousness of Christ by faith (verse 9). But verse 10 is telling us that those of us who know Him (Christ), and the power of His resurrection, will suffer. It says …”the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death”. We will be identified with Him in His sufferings. The suffering and death of Jesus Christ, He was completely surrendered to His Father at all times. He was doing the Father’s will, and did that with no thought to His own will, or the pain He would go through. In this …was His strength, courage, peace…and JOY. In Hebrews 12:1-2, it tells us…”looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the JOY that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” I Peter 5:10 says…”But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after ye have suffered a while, make you perfect (mature), establish (stabilizing grace), strengthen (strengthening grace), and settle you (settling grace).” Because He is the God of all grace….His grace is sufficient (II Corinthians 12:9)…so He is sufficient. It is Him who fills…the scriptures say…. “He satiates the soul”….of the weary and suffering soul with His Goodness (Jere.31:13b,14,25).

For those of you who are suffering, may He satiate your soul with His Goodness…He is always Good. He cannot be anything apart from Good. (The sovereignty of God does not always “feel” good, but He is always Good.) Rest in Him.

Here are some thoughts:

Suffering will come as we seek to identify with Christ.
Amy Carmichael said…referring to suffering and not knowing the answer as to why….”We are trusted by God with the unexplained.” Amy suffered much the last 20 years of her life.
Seek the Lord now spiritually, so as to be able to have an attitude of gratitude when the time comes to suffer for Him. It will take time and discipline now…. to develop a life of praise and thanksgiving to Him in all things.
When suffering comes, we will have to dig deeper….for deeper joy in Him. Remember…gold doesn’t lay on top of the ground; diamonds form from extreme pressure; a pearl starts as a grain of sand irritating…!!!!
The Lord’s perspective is different from ours. He will not withhold from His child anything that will bring that child into greater sweet fellowship with Him…even if it causes pain at times in the life of the child He loves deeply.
As we suffer, the pain we experience here becomes part of the process of “letting loose” of the things of this life…”the things of earth become strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
As we respond to others stories of grief, suffering, pain, or loss, be careful to be sensitive to their need at that time. Let them talk, listen carefully…but do not make it “your story” by telling about your time of suffering. Remember “it is not about you…” It is their time to grieve, weep, and need support. They need a friend to listen and support them.
Just think ….this season of suffering may be your finest hour.

Ladies For His Glory

Category Archives: Daily Treasures for the Soul and Spirit