Greetings sis Reis, et al;
The natural man will avoid affliction if he possibly can and most
certainly could not take any delight therein. Yet we read of Peter and
John,/"And they departed from the presence of the council, //_rejoicing
_//that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." (Acts
5:41/) Only by the grace of GOD can a man be given such an
understanding and desire. The SPIRIT teaches us that "all things work
together for our good.", even the afflictions of our fleshly body that
we might learn to trust HIM and to walk in obedience to HIS commands.
What greater blessing could we ask for that to be reconciled to HIS will
in all things, even as our SAVIOR gave us example.
Blessings, mike
On 12/23/2020 3:42 PM, Soraya Reis wrote:
*"It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes." **Psalm 119:71*
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*We may have everything naturally that the carnal heart desires, and only be hardened thereby into worldliness and ungodliness. But to be brought down in body and soul, to be weaned and separated from an ungodly world by affliction sanctified and made spiritually profitable, to be brought to feel our need of Christ, and that without an interest in his precious blood our soul must be for ever lost—how much better it is really and truly, to be laid on a bed of affliction, with a hope in God's mercy, than to be left to our own carnality and thoughtlessness. *
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*Affliction of any kind is very hard to bear, and especially so when we begin to murmur and fret under the weight of the cross; but when the Lord afflicts it is in good earnest; he means to make us feel. Strong measures are required to bring us down; and affliction would not be affliction, unless it were full of grief and sorrow. But when affliction makes us seek the Lord with a deep feeling in the soul that none but himself can save or bless, and we are enabled to look up unto him, with sincerity and earnestness, that he would manifest his love and mercy to our heart, he will appear sooner or later. *
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*The Lord, who searcheth the heart, knoweth all the real desire of the soul, and can and does listen to a sigh, a desire, a breath of supplication within. He knows our state, both of body and soul, and is not a hard taskmaster to require what we cannot give, or lay upon us more than we can bear, but can and does give all that he desires from us. But very often he delays to appear, that he may teach us thereby we have no claim upon him, and that anything granted is of his pure compassion and grace.*
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*J.C. Philpot (1802-1869)*
