Post by Fletch on May 2, 2009 23:21:44 GMT -8
John 16:29-33 (NIV)
29 Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God."
31 "You believe at last!" Jesus answered. 32 "But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Are you asking the reason for this? Look upward to your heavenly Father, and behold Him pure and holy. Do you know that you are one day to be like Him? Will you easily be conformed to His image? Will you not require a great deal of refining in the furnace of affliction to be purified? Will it be an easy thing to get rid of your corruptions, and make you perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect?
Next, Christian, turn your eye downward. Do you know what foes you have beneath your feet? You were once a servant of Satan, and no king will willingly lose his subjects. Do you think that Satan will let you be? No, he will be always come after you, for he "goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Expect trouble, Christian, when you look beneath you. Then look around you. Where are you? You are in an enemy's country, a stranger and a sojourner. The world is not your friend. If it is, then you are not God's friend, for he who is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Be assured that you shall find enemies everywhere. When you sleep, and think that you are resting on the battlefield; when you walk, suspect an ambush in every hedge. As mosquitoes are said to bite strangers more than natives, so will the trials of earth be sharpest toward you.
Last, look within you, into your own heart and observe what is there. Sin and self are still there. If you had no devil to tempt you, no enemies to fight you, and no world to ensnare you, you would still find in yourself evil enough to be troublesome to you, for "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Expect trouble then, but do not be disheartened on account of it, for God is with you to help and to strengthen you. He has said, "I will be with you in trouble; I will deliver you and honor you."
29 Then Jesus' disciples said, "Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God."
31 "You believe at last!" Jesus answered. 32 "But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Are you asking the reason for this? Look upward to your heavenly Father, and behold Him pure and holy. Do you know that you are one day to be like Him? Will you easily be conformed to His image? Will you not require a great deal of refining in the furnace of affliction to be purified? Will it be an easy thing to get rid of your corruptions, and make you perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect?
Next, Christian, turn your eye downward. Do you know what foes you have beneath your feet? You were once a servant of Satan, and no king will willingly lose his subjects. Do you think that Satan will let you be? No, he will be always come after you, for he "goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Expect trouble, Christian, when you look beneath you. Then look around you. Where are you? You are in an enemy's country, a stranger and a sojourner. The world is not your friend. If it is, then you are not God's friend, for he who is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Be assured that you shall find enemies everywhere. When you sleep, and think that you are resting on the battlefield; when you walk, suspect an ambush in every hedge. As mosquitoes are said to bite strangers more than natives, so will the trials of earth be sharpest toward you.
Last, look within you, into your own heart and observe what is there. Sin and self are still there. If you had no devil to tempt you, no enemies to fight you, and no world to ensnare you, you would still find in yourself evil enough to be troublesome to you, for "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Expect trouble then, but do not be disheartened on account of it, for God is with you to help and to strengthen you. He has said, "I will be with you in trouble; I will deliver you and honor you."