Saturday, January 11, 2020, 19:38

Dear brothers and sisters,

   Welcome back! While this is the day the Lord has made, don't you wonder at times why you have so many trials? It seems just when you get a break, there is another around the corner. I agree and that is why I am writing today. We all need encouragement.

   Romans 8:18 says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and confered on us!"

   What is Paul saying? He too is waiting for that day when he finds closure to all his troubles. There is a process that we must go through to be completed and able to stand confident before God, unashamed. Knowing that everything has had a purpose in His plans.

   This morning I read of a man who kept a flask-shaped cocoon of an emperor moth. He waited and waited. He became impatient and decided the poor thing struggled way too long. The opening of the cocoon was, he thought, too tiny. So he snipped a bit of the opening to help the moth. Right away the moth emerged.

   While the pressure seemed daunting on the tiny creature, it was necessary. God made the struggle to activate the healthy juices, by force, to enter the vessels of its wings because they are less developed at the period of emerging from the chrysalis than they are in other insects.

   The man grieved when he watched the weakened moth try to function perfectly as God intended. Stunted, struggling, distressed. All because the man wanted to deliver the moth from undue trial.

   Isn't that the way we are? We want to just get through it. And we try to help others move out of their perdicaments. Without the struggle, the fire, the trial, we are left weakened and unable to move upward before the glory of the Lord. This little story gave me pause. I understand better that God really is up to something in my life. That He loves me and only has the Best intended for me.

   From Jesus, our Lord, we recieve comfort. All our waste places and wilderness journeys He has promised to make like Eden. Our desert, like the garden of the Lord. WE will find joy and gladness welling up on wings of thanksgiving and with a melodious sound! Can you picture this? Read Isaiah 51:3.

   Take time today to read 1 Peter 1:3-9! Because of what God did in bringing us Jesus our Savior we can know that we have a living hope! It is reserved in heaven for us. WE are protected by the power of God through faith.

   Ask the Holy Spirit to help you rejoice in your times of trials. Even in testing by fire, so that the gold of our lives will be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Glory to God!

   We say we love Him. If we do then, we will believe that He is able to keep us! Like the Bible says, we rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory! We obtain as the outcome of our faith the salvation of our souls.

   Before reading these things this morning, I was hurting and feeling down...because I was in pain again. When after reading, and praying about this, I am all the more assured that it isn't about my feelings. Only the truth, the fact of His care for me.

   I pray that you are encouraged and able to stand upright, declaring the truth. Let the blood of Jesus flow through your veins so you can take flight like the beautiful emperior moth. He has said He will keep you, so He will. The Lord bless you in His matchless love, amen.

Abundance is...there is purpose in the struggle


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