Hebrews 4:16
~Hers To Treasure
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Friday's Faith
Our Sufferings… His Love...
Faith in Christ makes short work of all our sins. Then the devil has launched forth another host of serpents in the form of worldly trials, temptations, unbelief; but faith in Jesus is more than a match for them, and overcomes them all. The same absorbing principle shines in the faithful service of God!
With an enthusiastic love for Jesus difficulties are surmounted, sacrifices become pleasures, sufferings are honours.
~Charles Spurgeon in his June 28 evening devotional...
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2 Corinthians 4:4-18 (NIV):
4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
13It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
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2 Corinthians 4:8 (Good News Translation)
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
As I bottomed out, I pretty much felt the opposite of this verse. Not only was I afflicted in every way, but I felt crushed. Not only was I terribly perplexed but I felt a great deal of despair. It was again a seeming perfect storm as my weakness and my being worn down crashed into my vulnerabilities, which revealed all my worst fears which felt like they actively, here-and-now, were coming to pass…
Post-Traumatic Stress was loudly barking out its destructive message of "Terror, Loss, Hurt, Pain, Betrayal, Fear, Weakness, Impotence, Helplessness ARE ALL HERE, NOW, and you have NOWHERE to run!"
But, after talking some of this out with Tommy, and crying out many times to my Lord, I was not left holding only this crushing despair, as I did feel the amazing supernatural peace of my Lord come over me as He comforted my heart and brought light into my soul. Only my Lord could overcome such darkness…
I literally felt the following verse play out in my life at that point:
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
~Sweet to the Soul
Thankfully, the Scripture goes on to say:
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
~2 Corinthians 4:17
God does not deny the severity of our situation; His Word confirms that pain, but He also provides His prescription to soothe and overcome our bouts of that pain, even while assuring us that our labors and sufferings here are not in vain; He sees them and uses them for an eternal glory that far outweighs our temporal, here-and-now distress. And then He reminds us we cannot allow ourselves to get stuck in all the darkness of our fears, but must turn our hearts to Him, allowing Him to penetrate the force-field of our despair, allowing Him to engulf us in His arms, hold us in His abiding love, and supersede our fears with reminders of His constant care, which then enables us to begin to entrust ourselves to Him again…
Our suffering is duly noted by Him, and comforted. Our sufferings are held up in the light of His higher viewpoint which gives us Hope, and then our eyes are drawn to Himself who is, by His Own words, characterized as "Love," for Him to nurture our wounds, hold us in His comfort as a mother soothes her wounded child, and give us the Hope from His eternal perspective, so that we may rest, and find sustenance for another day…
May God bless all of us grieving mothers and daddies who find ourselves oft overwhelmed in the darkness of this grief and the life-altering desolations that so often come after the death of our precious child…
~Hers To Treasure
~Hebrews 4:16 NLT
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But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
~2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (New International Version)
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2 Corinthians 5:7
I will walk by Faith even when I cannot see.
~Daily Scripture Promises
For we live by faith, not by sight.
For we live by believing and not by seeing.
~2 Corinthians 5:7
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New International Version (©2011)
I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.
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The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
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