Author: bonniefaurote

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STRENGTH FOR EACH DAY

“But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matt 10:30 ESV).

“[R]emember Psalm 139: ‘Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them’ (v16). [E]very single day of your life was written into God’s book before you lived the very first of them. He carefully authored the content of every one of those days with his own hand. This is where rest and courage are to be found when discouragement shakes the resolve of your heart” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, July 1st).

“[Y]ou lifted me out of the depths. I called to you for help and you healed me” (Ps 30:1-2 NIV).

As Thy Days, So Shall Thy Strength Be

“Afflicted saint, to Christ draw near,

Thy Saviour’s gracious promise hear;

His faithful word declares to thee,

That as thy days, thy strength shall be.

Let not thy heart despond, and say,

‘How shall I stand the trying day?’

He has engaged, by firm decree,

That as thy days, thy strength shall be.

Thy faith is weak, thy foes are strong;

And if the conflict should be long,

Thy Lord will make the tempter flee;

For as thy days, thy strength shall be.

Should persecution rage and flame,

Still trust in thy Redeemer’s name;

In fiery trials thou shalt see,

That as thy days, thy strength shall be.

When called to bear the weighty cross,

Or sore affliction, pain, or loss,

Or deep distress, or poverty,

Still, as thy days, thy strength shall be”  J. Fawcett (ref#224, song #328).

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OVERWHELMED WITH GRIEF

Safety in God

“When, overwhelmed with grief,

My heart within me dies,

Helpless and far from all relief,

To heaven I lift my eyes.

O lead me to the Rock

That’s high above my head.

And make the covert of thy wings

My shelter and my shade!

Within thy presence, Lord,

For ever I’d abide;

Thou art the Tower of my defense,

The Refuge where I hide.          Isaac Watts (ref#224, song #140).

“Turn every loss of creature-good into an occasion for greater nearness to Christ. The dearest and liveliest creature is only a cistern of inferior and limited good. If it contains any sweetness, the Lord put it there. If, instead of leading you to, it draws you from the Fountain, the Lord will, in unerring wisdom, tender mercy, and faithful love, break it so that you can learn that, while no creature can substitute for Him, He Himself can substitute for all creatures. Thus His friendship, His love, and His presence are frequently the sweetest and most fully enjoyed when He has taken everything else away. Jesus loves you far too much to allow another, however dear, to eclipse and rival Him” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, March 21st).

“The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him” (Nahum 1:7 ESV).

“When you pass through the waters, [He] will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For [He is] the LORD your God” (Isa 43:2-3 ESV).

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GOD’S COMFORT IN AFFLICTION

“No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it” (1 Cor 10:13 MSG).

“Tried soul, go to this unfailing spring of comfort. God speaks to you in it. It is the unsealing of the heart of Jesus; it is the still small voice of the Spirit. It speaks to you. It bids you ‘cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee’ (Ps 55:22). Call on Him in the day of trouble, and He will answer you (Ps 86:7). It assures you that, amid all your confusing cares, ‘He careth for you’ (1 Pet 5:7). It promises you that, for your difficult path, your ‘shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be’ (Deut 33:25)” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Dec 13th).

“If [you are] journeying to the heavenly kingdom, [your] path lies through much tribulation. [I]f [your] sufferings abound, much more so do [your] consolations” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Jan 28th).

“Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name” (Ps 33:20-21 ESV).

“[T]he more we are afflicted with adversity, the surer we are made of our fellowship with Christ” John Calvin (ref#113, p458).

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IN GRIEF, JESUS PITIES

“For all whom the Lord has chosen and received into the society of his saints, ought to prepare themselves for a life that is hard, difficult, laborious, and full of countless griefs. It is the will of their heavenly Father to try them in this manner that he may test them. He began with Christ his firstborn son and he pursues this manner with all his children” John Calvin (ref#313, p45).

“Christ is exceedingly ready to pity us. His arms are open to receive us. He delights to receive distressed souls who come to Him and to protect them. He would gather them as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings; it is a work that He exceedingly rejoices in because He delights in act of love, and pity, and mercy” Jonathan Edwards (ref#229, p106).

“And you that are mourning over those that have been lately taken from you, Jesus pities you. Jesus wept, he sympathizes with your tears. He will dry them and give you consolation. ‘He was moved with compassion.’” Charles Spurgeon.

“Christ, ‘is inclined from his own heart and affections to give us help and relief and he is inwardly moved during our sufferings and trials with a sense and fellow-feeling of them.’” (John Owen) If you are in Christ, you have a Friend who, in your sorrow, will never lob down a pep talk from heaven. He cannot bear to hold himself at a distance. Nothing can hold him back. His heart is too bound up with yours” Dane Ortlund (ref#382, p49-50).

“Grief never ends, but it changes. It is a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith, it is the price of love” Darcie Sims.

“Oh, what glory is brought to Jesus by a life of faith! Who can fully measure it? Taking to Him the corruption as it is discovered, the guilt as it rises, the grief as it is felt, the cross as it is experienced, the wound as it is received—indeed, simply following the example of John’s disciples, who, when their master was slain, took up his headless body, buried it, and then went and poured their grief in Jesus’ ear and laid their deep sorrow on His heart” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, July 14th).

“It is lawful to wish we were well; it is natural to groan, being burdened; but still [God] must and will take his own course with us; and, however dissatisfied with ourselves, we ought still to be thankful that he has begun his work in us, and to believe that he will also make an end. Therefore while we mourn, we should likewise rejoice; we should encourage ourselves to expect all that he has promised; and we should limit our expectations by his promises” John Newton (ref#322, p180).

“Honestly facing your lack of sovereignty over your own life produces either anxiety or relief. In all of those moments when life is out of your control, it is not out of his control” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Mar 13th).

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UNCOMFORTABLE GRACE

“There will always be mystery in your life. God will always surprise you with what he brings your way. You will always be confronted with the unplanned and the unexpected” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Feb 18th).

“God has chosen to let you live in this fallen world because he plans to employ the difficulties of it to continue and complete his work in you. [W]e cry out for God’s grace and we get it—but not the grace that we’re looking for. We want the grace of relief or release. We get those in little pieces, but largely they are yet to come. What we all really need right now is the grace of transformation, the theology of uncomfortable grace” Paul Daivd Tripp (ref#190, March 8th).

“It must be our desire, therefore, if we want to be disciples of Christ, to fill our minds with such a great reverence for God and with such an unrestrained obedience that we may triumph over all contrary inclinations, and submit to his plan” John Calvin (ref#313, p63).

“May the Master take you by the hand and lead you along the path of God’s love and Christ’s endurance” (2 Thes 3:4-5 MSG).

“Whatever be the kind of tribulation with which we are afflicted, we may be trained to despise the present, and thereby stimulated to aspire to the further life” John Calvin (ref#113, p464).

“Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I keep your word” (Ps 119:67 ESV). “I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules” (Ps 119:106 ESV).

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DREAMS CAPTURING OUR HEART

“[W]e would like to go to heaven upon a bed of roses, and so we pay more attention to one cross than to a hundred blessings. So unkindly do we deal toward God. Is God indebted to us? Does He owe us anything? Those that deserve nothing should be content with anything” Richard Sibbes (ref#225, Feb 28th).

“Because he is zealous to rescue you from you, God’s care can be violent. He rips you from what is dangerous to give you what is better” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Oct 1st).

“The clinging desperation and trembling uncertainty feels bumpy to us but it’s smooth to God” Bob Sorge (ref#197, p22).

“We all chase a vision of what we would like life to be. We all fantasize and imagine. [C]ombine it with the selfishness of sin, and it will surely get you and me into trouble. Here’s what happens: it’s not just that you have a dream, but that your heart gets captured by your dream. It becomes your definition of ‘life.’ You no longer hold your dream with open hands. What was once a desire has morphed into a demand, and it won’t be long before you view that demand as a need. This thing that you once wished that you had becomes your nonnegotiable, the thing that you are unwilling to live without. Soon you’re unhappy, not because life has been hard or God has been unfaithful, but because this thing that is effectively and functionally ruling your heart lies beyond your grasp. You are despondent and discouraged. You envy people who seem to have captured their dreams. You wonder why you’ve been singled out. You wonder why God has forgotten you. Dream? Yes, but when your dream becomes a ruling thing, it wreaks havoc on your spiritual life” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Sept 11th).

“If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction” (Ps 119:92 ESV).

“[I]f you [when undergoing these trials] [are] deficient in wisdom, keep on presenting [your] request in the presence of the giving God” (James 1:5 Wuest).

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VALLEYS AND MOUNTAINTOPS

“[T]he LORD who goes with you will not leave you or forsake you” (Deut 31:6 ESV).

“Can you answer this question, believer? Can you find any reason why you are so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy apprehension? Who told you that the night would never end in day? Who told you that the sea of circumstances would ebb out until there was nothing left but long, muddy stretches of horrible poverty? Who told you that the ‘winter of your discontent’ would proceed from frost to frost; from snow, ice, and hail to deeper snow and an even worse blizzard of despair? Do you not know that day follows night, that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer follow winter? Then hope! Always hope, for God will not fail you” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, July 21st PM).

GOD understands quite well His children’s ups and downs. “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him”(Ps 42:11 ESV).

And how can we again praise Him? By GOD’s doings—the work of His hands in our midst (Isa 29:32). No matter why I’m in the valley my FATHER is gladly obligated to continually redeem because of His oaths and promises to our father Abraham.

However, once recognizing my residence in the pit I have a choice about how long I stay. GOD will lift me to that mountain top faster if I quickly admit my dependence on Him in contriteness.

“[B]eing fallen, in our risings up again, it is Christ that must do the work, by (1) removing, or (2) weakening, or (3) suspending opposite hindrances; and (4) by advancing the power of his grace in us, to a further degree than we had before we fell” Richard Sibbes (ref#311, p113-114).

“Let us permit him to advance our salvation by a diversity of methods and not refuse to be humbled, so that he may more abundantly display his glory. Above all, let us not avoid the cross of suffering, by which the Son of God himself was trained from his earliest infancy” John Calvin (ref#164, June 7th).

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AFFLICTION—A GOOD SIGN

“[S]hare in suffering for the gospel by the power of God” (2 Tim 1:8 ESV).

“You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it; things come with largeness and tonic to the life because everything is energized by God. If God gives you a time spiritually, as He gave His Son actually, of temptation in the wilderness, with no word from Himself at all, endure, and the power to endure is there because you see God” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, May 2nd).

“[T]hrough many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22 ESV).

“When you’re going through hard times and wonder where God is, remember the teacher is always quiet during a test” YCHS.

“Anyone who wants to live all out for Christ is in for a lot of trouble” (2 Tim 3:10-13 MSG).

“If ye were not strangers here, the dogs of the world would not bark at you” Samuel Rutherford (ref#333, p165).

“[C]onsider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom 8:18 ESV).

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IN AFFLICTION, LET THE REDEEMER BE GLORIFIED IN YOU

“Be watchful against everything that would mar the simplicity of your faith, and so dim the glory of Jesus; especially guard against the adoption of unlawful or doubtful measures intended to disentangle you from present difficulties” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, July 14th).

“We are quick to think that our hardships merit a time of peace and ease. But we can see from the apostles’ example that this is not the case at all. Submitting to hardships is so often difficult; let us pray for God’s grace so that we might be spurred on to new and radical obedience by the trials we face” John Calvin (ref#164, July 22nd).

“The believer should never fail to remember that the present is, by the appointment of God, his state of affliction. It is God’s ordained, revealed will that His covenant children here should be afflicted. When called by grace, they should never take into their account any other state. They become the disciples of the religion of the cross, become the followers of a crucified Lord, put on a yoke, and assume a burden: they must, then, expect the inward cross and the outward cross. To escape it is impossible. To pass to glory without it is to go by a way other than God’s ordering, and in the end to fail to arrive there. The gate is strait and the way is narrow that leads to life, and a man must become nothing if he would enter and be saved. He must deny himself; he must become a fool that he may be wise, and receive the sentence of death in himself that he should not trust in himself” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, June 29th).

“If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rest upon you” (1 Pet 4:14 ESV).

“In the face of opposition, envy, and prejudice [the apostles] went on with their work, ‘speaking boldly in the Lord’” Ellen G. White (ref#331, p177).

“Believer suffering for Christ, rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer shame for His sake. What distinction is awarded you! What honor is put on you! What a favored opportunity you have to bring glory to His name; to illustrate His sustaining grace, upholding strength, almighty power, infinite wisdom, and comforting love! By the firm yet mild preservation of your principles, by the dignified yet gentle spirit of forbearance, by the uncompromising yet kind resistance to temptation, let the Redeemer by glorified in you” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, July 14th).

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IN AFFLICTION, RUN TO THE LORD

“Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes are weary with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety” (Isa 38:14 ESV)!

“Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distress. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins” (Ps 25:16-18 ESV).

For a Believer in Darkness and Distress

“Why so cast down, dejected soul?

A loving Christ is near;

Thy broken bones he can make whole,

And drooping spirit cheer.

Thy soul with tempests may be tossed,

And Satan sorely thrust;

Yet sure no soul shall e’er be lost

Who makes the Lord his trust.

Dear Jesus, show thy smiling face, And

Calvary’s peace impart,

Display the power of saving grace,

And cheer a troubled heart”

John Berridge (ref#224, song#714).

“Save me, O God! I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God” (Ps 69:1,3 ESV). This quote comes from a Psalm that contains many prophecies about Christ. Did Christ say something like this in Gethsemane the night He was betrayed? What faith He displayed in His Father as He waited there! His faith kept him calling out to God instead fleeing for His life. He trusted His Father to bring Him back to life if He let the Jewish leaders kill Him. That’s exactly the kind of strong trust I have to have in my Father, too, or I cannot have His strong help. He says:

“I want you to trust me in your times of trouble, so I can rescue you and you can give me glory” (Ps 50:14 (TLB).

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Pet 5:6-11 ESV).