(Frances Ridley Havergal)
It is commonly thought that a protected and easy life is the best way to live. Yet the lives of all the noblest and strongest people prove exactly the opposite and that the endurance of hardship is the making of the person. It is the factor that distinguishes between merely existing and living a vigorous life. Hardship builds character.
(selected)
God never uses anyone to a great degree until He breaks the person completely. Joseph experienced more sorrow than the other sons of Jacob, and it led him into a ministry of food for all the nations.
(The Heavenly Life)
Tribulation is the door to triumph. We will wrestle our crowns from the giants we conquer. It is no secret that grief has always fallen to people of greatness. Tribulation has always marked the trail of the true reformer. God's army came through great tribulation to their point of power.
God allows trouble to pursue us, as though He were indifferent to its overwhelming pressure, so we may be brought to the end of ourselves. We may be sure that He who allows the suffering is with us throughout it. It may be that we will only see Him once the ordeal is nearly passed, we we must dare to believe that He never leaves our trial. Our eyes are blinded so we cannot see the One our soul loves. Let us not rely on our feelings but trust in His unswerving faithfulness. And though we cannot see Him, let us talk to Him. Although His presence is veiled, once we begin to speak to Jesus as if He were literally present, an answering voice comes to show us He is in the shadow, keeping watch over His own. Your father is as close to you when you journey through the darkest tunnel as He is when you are under the open heaven!
(Daily Devotional Commentary)
My child, I have a message for you today. Let me whisper it in your ear so any storm clouds that may arise will shine with glory, and the rough places you may have to walk will be made smooth. It is only four words, but let them sink into your inner being, and use them as a pillow to rest your weary head. "This is my doing."
(Laura A. Barter Snow)
Whenever your enemies are closing in on you, claim victory! Whenever your heart and your flesh fail you, look up and claim VICTORY!
(Streams in the Desert)
God does not want us to be fragile vases of glass or porcelain. He wants us to be like toughened pieces of steel, able to endure twisting and crushing pressure to the utmost without collapse. God must take us into His testing room of suffering & faith. It is better to weather the storm with Christ than to sail smooth waters without Him.
(J.R. Macduff)
We all need the iron in life to enlarge our character. The gold is simply a passing vision, whereas the iron is the true experience of life.
(George Matheson)
Stand up in the place where the dear Lord has put you, and there do your best. God gives us trial tests. He puts life before us as an antagonist face to face. Out of the buffeting of a serious conflict we are expected to grow strong. The tree that grows where tempests toss its boughs and bend its trunk often almost to breaking, is often more firmly rooted than the tree which grows in the sequestered valley where no storm ever brings stress or strain.
The same is true of life. The grandest character is grown in hardship.
(Selected)
God takes the most eminent and choicest of His servants for the choicest and most eminent afflictions. They who have received most grace from God are able to bear most afflictions from God. Affliction does not hit the saint by chance, but by direction. God does not draw His bow at a venture. Every one of His arrows goes upon a special errand and touches no breast but his against whom it is sent. It is not only the grace, but the glory of a believer when we can stand and take affliction quietly.
~ Joseph Caryl ~
God’s seasons are not at your beck. If the first stroke of the flint doth not bring forth the fire, you must strike again. God will hear prayer, but He may not answer it at the time which we in our minds have appointed; He will reveal Himself to our seeking hearts, but not just when and where we have settled in our own expectations. Hence the need of perseverance and importunity in supplication.
In the days of flint and steel and brimstone matches we had to strike and strike again, dozens of times, before we could get a spark to live in the tinder; and we were thankful enough if we succeeded at last. Shall we not be as persevering and hopeful as to heavenly things? We have more certainty of success in this business than we had with our flint and steel, for we have God’s promises at our back.
~ Streams in the Desert ~
The person who rests in the shadow of the Most High God will be kept safe by the Mighty One.
~ Psalm 91:1 ~
The person who rests in the shadow of the Most High God will be kept safe by the Mighty One.
~ Psalm 91:1 ~
