33. The Lord often allows some things to happen to us to TEST us and TRY us, to PURGE us and to make us BETTER vessels, so we will be more useful for His service, more humble and more loving. He puts us through FIERY trials to burn out the DROSS, and through the STORMS of testing to blow away the CHAFF, and through DEEP WATERS so we can learn to SWIM! The Lord uses such tests to give us great victories, even out of seeming defeats, because the trials cause us to draw closer to Him and to cry out to Him and really seek Him with ALL of our hearts.--Otherwise we have a tendency to sort of rock along with business as usual.
34. So the storms and the fires and the trials and tribulations of this life are all GOOD for us because they test our strength and determination, and give us a chance to FIGHT the Devil!--To see if we'll give up and lose faith, or if we'll keep on "FIGHTING the fight of faith" and trusting the Lord in spite of it all!--1Timothy 6:12. He often allows us to have our faith and our patience tested to see how much we will really "STIR ourselves up" to CALL upon HIM for HIS help and HIS strength.--Isaiah 64:7.
35. Of course, when the Lord allows us to go through a big trial or trouble, it's a real TEST, and sad to say, it often ends in COMPLAINING and MURMURING, and people sometimes hold it against God! Instead of really LEARNING the LESSONS that He wants to teach them from their troubles or sicknesses or whatever He has allowed, they murmur and ask, "God, WHY did You do this to ME?", instead of, "Lord, why did I DESERVE this?--Why did I NEED it?" They're almost OFFENDED at God for letting things happen to them, instead of realising that God is DEALING with them and trying to SHOW them something.
36. Some people are so self-righteous, they wonder, "How could God do such a thing to ME? How could the Lord treat ME this way when I'M so GOOD to HIM?" They actually RESENT it, just like JOB did when the Lord first started dealing with him. (See "THE IMPATIENCE OF JOB!") Look what the Lord had to put Job through before he was finally humbled and confessed that he wasn't more righteous than God!
37. SELF-RIGHTEOUS people always blame GOD for all their problems instead of themselves, or instead of accepting it for whatever reason God is allowing it and thereby learning their lessons. Some people with problems or troubles are always going around saying, "Why? Why?--WHY has God done this to me? WHY does God let me suffer like this?--I've tried to be good & do this and that for God, but I'm STILL suffering! He STILL hasn't delivered me! Why NOT?" Well, when people start asking God why in THAT kind of spirit, it is pure SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS!
38. God HATES such murmuring, complaining and self-righteousness, and He destroyed a whole generation of MILLIONS of Jews in the Sinaitic desert because of their murmuring and pretending to be more righteous than God! "WE wouldn't have done this, God. Why did YOU do this to us, God? WE would have been GOODER than YOU are, God!" (See "THE MURMURERS' FATE!")
39. It's the DEVIL'S business to use such tests and trials to try to convince you that God doesn't love you and that He doesn't answer prayer! The Lord ALLOWS the Enemy to do it in order to test your faith and to see how much you really love the Lord and what PRICE you're willing to PAY to serve Him!--To see if you will "CURSE God and DIE", as Job's doubting wife told him to do, or if you will love the Lord ANYWAY and proclaim, "Even though He SLAYS me, yet I will still TRUST Him!", like Job did!--DESPITE the trials!--Job 2:9; 13:15.
40. Trials and tests will either make you HARDENED and BITTER, or HUMBLED and BETTER!--One or the other! So when faced with tests, trials and tribulations, watch out that you don't harden your heart, that you don't get bitter and resentful against the Lord. His Word says, "Look diligently, lest any man fail the grace of God, lest any ROOT OF BITTERNESS spring up and TROUBLE you, and through it, MANY be DEFILED!"--Hebrews 12:15.
34. So the storms and the fires and the trials and tribulations of this life are all GOOD for us because they test our strength and determination, and give us a chance to FIGHT the Devil!--To see if we'll give up and lose faith, or if we'll keep on "FIGHTING the fight of faith" and trusting the Lord in spite of it all!--1Timothy 6:12. He often allows us to have our faith and our patience tested to see how much we will really "STIR ourselves up" to CALL upon HIM for HIS help and HIS strength.--Isaiah 64:7.
35. Of course, when the Lord allows us to go through a big trial or trouble, it's a real TEST, and sad to say, it often ends in COMPLAINING and MURMURING, and people sometimes hold it against God! Instead of really LEARNING the LESSONS that He wants to teach them from their troubles or sicknesses or whatever He has allowed, they murmur and ask, "God, WHY did You do this to ME?", instead of, "Lord, why did I DESERVE this?--Why did I NEED it?" They're almost OFFENDED at God for letting things happen to them, instead of realising that God is DEALING with them and trying to SHOW them something.
36. Some people are so self-righteous, they wonder, "How could God do such a thing to ME? How could the Lord treat ME this way when I'M so GOOD to HIM?" They actually RESENT it, just like JOB did when the Lord first started dealing with him. (See "THE IMPATIENCE OF JOB!") Look what the Lord had to put Job through before he was finally humbled and confessed that he wasn't more righteous than God!
37. SELF-RIGHTEOUS people always blame GOD for all their problems instead of themselves, or instead of accepting it for whatever reason God is allowing it and thereby learning their lessons. Some people with problems or troubles are always going around saying, "Why? Why?--WHY has God done this to me? WHY does God let me suffer like this?--I've tried to be good & do this and that for God, but I'm STILL suffering! He STILL hasn't delivered me! Why NOT?" Well, when people start asking God why in THAT kind of spirit, it is pure SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS!
38. God HATES such murmuring, complaining and self-righteousness, and He destroyed a whole generation of MILLIONS of Jews in the Sinaitic desert because of their murmuring and pretending to be more righteous than God! "WE wouldn't have done this, God. Why did YOU do this to us, God? WE would have been GOODER than YOU are, God!" (See "THE MURMURERS' FATE!")
39. It's the DEVIL'S business to use such tests and trials to try to convince you that God doesn't love you and that He doesn't answer prayer! The Lord ALLOWS the Enemy to do it in order to test your faith and to see how much you really love the Lord and what PRICE you're willing to PAY to serve Him!--To see if you will "CURSE God and DIE", as Job's doubting wife told him to do, or if you will love the Lord ANYWAY and proclaim, "Even though He SLAYS me, yet I will still TRUST Him!", like Job did!--DESPITE the trials!--Job 2:9; 13:15.
40. Trials and tests will either make you HARDENED and BITTER, or HUMBLED and BETTER!--One or the other! So when faced with tests, trials and tribulations, watch out that you don't harden your heart, that you don't get bitter and resentful against the Lord. His Word says, "Look diligently, lest any man fail the grace of God, lest any ROOT OF BITTERNESS spring up and TROUBLE you, and through it, MANY be DEFILED!"--Hebrews 12:15.
41. HARDENING your heart is NOT the solution! He says, "Harden NOT your hearts!"--Hebrews 3:15. But rather, "Cast your burdens upon the LORD, and HE shall sustain you! SEEK the LORD while He may be found, CALL upon HIM while He is near! For the Lord is CLOSE to them that are of a BROKEN heart, and SAVES such as be of a BROKEN and HUMBLE spirit!"--Psalm 55:22;34:18; Isaiah 55:6.
42. WHATEVER God does, He always does it in LOVE.--And as we said earlier, He will never allow ANYTHING to happen to you that is not for your GOOD, for truly, "ALL things do work together for good to them that love God!"--Romans 8:28.
43. So when things look DARKEST, DON'T look DOWN.--Look UP! Don't murmur and complain! But start PRAISING the Lord, and you can often praise your way right out of the pit of doubt, defeat and discouragement into which the Devil is trying to cast you! The Lord LOVES praise and thanksgiving. His Word says that He DWELLS in the PRAISES of His people!--Psalm 22:3.
44. Doubt, fear, discouragement and murmuring KILL! But faith, trust, courage and praising the Lord brings LIFE! So let's try to TAKE our testings and our temptations graciously, and even gratefully! The Lord promises that He will NEVER give you more than you are able to BEAR, and that He will always make a way of ESCAPE.--Somehow He will always make it easier for you or at least help you to bear it if you call on Him for help. He says, "There has no temptation come upon you except what is COMMON to man. But GOD is FAITHFUL, Who will NOT allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to ESCAPE, that you may be able to BEAR it!"--1Corinthians 10:13.
45. "But oh!" you may say, "I don't see how I can possibly bear THIS trial, THIS chastening, THIS test, it's TOO BIG for me to handle!" Well, look at the trial the Lord let His Prophet, JONAH, go through after he refused to obey the Lord and go and warn the wicked city of Ninevah as God had commanded him. A gigantic WHALE swallowed him up, and he thought that he was FINISHED!--But that same whale that gobbled him up was the means whereby God brought him safely to land!--It was a BLESSING in disguise! For three long days and nights Jonah was in the belly of that whale, but when he finally quit complaining, yielded to the Lord and began to THANK and PRAISE God, the Lord commanded the whale to spit Jonah out on dry land, and he was DELIVERED! (See Jonah 1 and 2.)
46. So always remember, the Lord LOVES you, and life's DARKEST hour is often just before DAWN! WHATEVER trials may befall you, don't despair, don't give up, don't lose hope!--But look to JESUS in your time of trial, claim and cling to His promises and believe His Word--that whatever it is you're going through, He will truly work it together for your GOOD--and He WILL! He HAS to, it's His PROMISE! He NEVER fails! Amen? GOD BLESS YOU!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family -- This file has not been proofread.
42. WHATEVER God does, He always does it in LOVE.--And as we said earlier, He will never allow ANYTHING to happen to you that is not for your GOOD, for truly, "ALL things do work together for good to them that love God!"--Romans 8:28.
43. So when things look DARKEST, DON'T look DOWN.--Look UP! Don't murmur and complain! But start PRAISING the Lord, and you can often praise your way right out of the pit of doubt, defeat and discouragement into which the Devil is trying to cast you! The Lord LOVES praise and thanksgiving. His Word says that He DWELLS in the PRAISES of His people!--Psalm 22:3.
44. Doubt, fear, discouragement and murmuring KILL! But faith, trust, courage and praising the Lord brings LIFE! So let's try to TAKE our testings and our temptations graciously, and even gratefully! The Lord promises that He will NEVER give you more than you are able to BEAR, and that He will always make a way of ESCAPE.--Somehow He will always make it easier for you or at least help you to bear it if you call on Him for help. He says, "There has no temptation come upon you except what is COMMON to man. But GOD is FAITHFUL, Who will NOT allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to ESCAPE, that you may be able to BEAR it!"--1Corinthians 10:13.
45. "But oh!" you may say, "I don't see how I can possibly bear THIS trial, THIS chastening, THIS test, it's TOO BIG for me to handle!" Well, look at the trial the Lord let His Prophet, JONAH, go through after he refused to obey the Lord and go and warn the wicked city of Ninevah as God had commanded him. A gigantic WHALE swallowed him up, and he thought that he was FINISHED!--But that same whale that gobbled him up was the means whereby God brought him safely to land!--It was a BLESSING in disguise! For three long days and nights Jonah was in the belly of that whale, but when he finally quit complaining, yielded to the Lord and began to THANK and PRAISE God, the Lord commanded the whale to spit Jonah out on dry land, and he was DELIVERED! (See Jonah 1 and 2.)
46. So always remember, the Lord LOVES you, and life's DARKEST hour is often just before DAWN! WHATEVER trials may befall you, don't despair, don't give up, don't lose hope!--But look to JESUS in your time of trial, claim and cling to His promises and believe His Word--that whatever it is you're going through, He will truly work it together for your GOOD--and He WILL! He HAS to, it's His PROMISE! He NEVER fails! Amen? GOD BLESS YOU!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family -- This file has not been proofread.
"Without ME, ye can do NOTHING!"--John 15:5. You cannot do the Master's work without the Master's Power!--And to get it, you must spend time WITH the Master!
17. When you awoke from sleep this morning,
Though the hour was rather late,
Did you stop to speak with Jesus,
And His benediction wait?
Did you thank Him for His mercy,
For His care through all the night,
That no evil had befallen,
That no tears now dim your sight?
Did you ask Him for the blessing
Of His presence through the day,
For His leading safely onward,
For His guiding, lest you stray?
Did you tell Him that you'd gladly
Go wherever He would lead;
That you'd try to do His bidding,
Helping every soul in need?
If you go without these blessings
As you start another day,
Be assured your strength will fail you,
And you'll faint along the way.
Oh, live CLOSER to the Master;
For unless you're very near,
Words of Love He whispers to you,
Will not reach your listening ear!
17. When you awoke from sleep this morning,
Though the hour was rather late,
Did you stop to speak with Jesus,
And His benediction wait?
Did you thank Him for His mercy,
For His care through all the night,
That no evil had befallen,
That no tears now dim your sight?
Did you ask Him for the blessing
Of His presence through the day,
For His leading safely onward,
For His guiding, lest you stray?
Did you tell Him that you'd gladly
Go wherever He would lead;
That you'd try to do His bidding,
Helping every soul in need?
If you go without these blessings
As you start another day,
Be assured your strength will fail you,
And you'll faint along the way.
Oh, live CLOSER to the Master;
For unless you're very near,
Words of Love He whispers to you,
Will not reach your listening ear!
Forwarded from Michael
YouTube
Messiah 2030 ~ The Prophetic Messianic Timeline - Part 1 of 3 (Part 4 in production)
Dozens of Biblical prophecies not only point to the exact year of the Messiah's first coming (30 C.E.), but those same prophecies even point to the year of his return (2030 C.E.). It has all been hidden in plain sight for thousands of years.
Messiah 2030…
Messiah 2030…