AMEN! Bro. Mike, I can most assuredly identify with the "welcome place of
release from this body of sin and death", for once the battle becomes a
losing effort what does it profit to continue fighting knowing the war has
been won!! Lay your sword down and rejoice in the promise of "VICTORY"!
DEM
From: forthepoor-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:forthepoor-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of mike mcinnis
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2021 9:31 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: [forthepoor] Re: MARCH 31ST THE POOR MAN'S MORNING PORTION
Greetings sis Reis, et al;
As long as this we live in this body of corruption there is a natural
fear of death and the flesh struggles against it. It is only "natural"
that men will gasp for their last breath and seek to sustain it. Yet there
is at the same time a consolation which can only be wrought in the soul by
the SPIRIT of CHRIST which ministers peace and comfort even causing death to
appear as a welcome place of release from this body of sin and death.
Knowing that while we are alive in this body we are absent from the LORD.
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we
have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be
found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened:
not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might
be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing
is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we
are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we
are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are
confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be
present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent,
we may be accepted of him." (2Cor 5:1-9)
Blessings, mike
On 3/30/2021 5:16 PM, Soraya Reis wrote:
"Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ."Philippians 1:23
My soul, thou hast not, I hope, dismissed the solemn thoughts opened to thy
view by the scripture of yesterday. Surely, since that last morning, thou
hast had but too many renewed occasions to feel the truth of it. Sin is not
only present with thee at all times, but in thee, and as inseparable from
thy unrenewed part, as the shadow from the substance. Thou knowest this,
thou feelest it, thou groanest under it; and the consciousness of it is, in
itself, enough to make thee go humbly all thy days. All other afflictions
are nothing to this affliction: this, like the ocean compared to rivers,
surpasseth and swalloweth up all. It is indeed a soul supporting thought,
(and, blessed be God, thou feelest the sweetness of it,) that under all, and
in all, Jesus is thy hope.
And while sin is always present with thee, Jesus, thy Advocate and
Propitiation, is present for thee with the Father. But though in Him, and
his righteousness accepted and secure, yet the consideration how much thy
daily short-comings and transgressions dishonour God, and deprive thee of
comfort here, is matter sufficient to make thine eyes run down with water,
and thine heart continually to mourn before the-mercy-seat. And will these
things always be the same, whilst thou carriest about with thee this body of
sin? Shall this perishing part of thine be always so unfavourable to the
sweet and gracious desires of the soul? Shall I never, never truly and
uninterruptedly enjoy Jesus until the body is dissolved, and the dust
returns to the earth out of which that part of my nature was taken? Pause,
my soul, and say - Hast thou not then a desire to depart, and to be with
Christ! Is not the grave, in this view, not only made bearable, but even
desirable-nay, even pleasant? What, shall I never be wholly free from sin,
until that I am wholy freed from the body! Shall I never be secure of sweet
enjoyment with Jesus in ordinances, in retirement, in prayer, in praise,
until that I drop this body of sin? And wouldest thou not, my soul, gladly
part with such a partner, near and dear as it is, if this partner, in its
present state, so dreadfully robs thee of thy most precious enjoyments?
It is true, death in itself is not desirable: but if only by dying thou
canst enjoy Jesus; and if only by dying this body will lose its corruptions;
if the grave hath a commission from thy Jesus to destroy that part only of
thy body which is corrupt, and at the same time to act as a preserver of
that part which Jesus at the last day will raise up to glory; if Jesus hath
assured thee that, though worms destroy thy corrupt part, yet thine eyes,
even thy bodily eyes, when raised up by Jesus a glorifled body, shall see
God; and if thy body, thus raised up and re-animated, shall then be not only
wholly freed from all corruption, but equally disposed as the soul to praise
thy God and Saviour for ever and for ever, and both soul and body unite as
dear friends in this blessed service. Oh then, from henceforth never, my
soul, look at death any more but as thy kind friend. It is to die to sin;
but it is to live to Jesus. It is to be dead to all things but Jesus, that
Jesus may be all things in life for ever. Oh then, for this desire to depart
and to be with Christ!
Robert Hawker (1753-1827)
