Hidden Sanctification of the Soul

 

It is good that we should have to submit to what we do not understand.  It teaches us the laws of faith and hope.  

It is good that we should have to do what we would rather not, in circumstances not of our choice.  

It is good that there should be always something to prick us on, something to remind us that we are in an enemy's country, belong to a marching column.  

It is good that we should meet with checks and failures in what we undertake, to keep us humble and prayerful.  

All these things belong to sowing in tears.

God seems to have laid out the order of things in His Church, not for a general and brilliant triumph but for the hidden sanctification of the individual souls which compose it.

~ Janet Erskine Stuart in Prayer in Faith

~Breanna

Encouraging Quotes on Prayer and Trials from the book War Room

Recently I read the book War Room and was so blessed by it!  Many similarities, obviously, to the movie, but the book was so much better!  There were many things that I walked away with from reading it that challenged and encouraged me, so I thought I would share a couple of those with you all to hopefully be equally as encouraging to some of you.  Both quotes are from "Miss Clara".
~Breanna

Sometimes the best gifts God gives us are not the easy times when everything goes our way.  The best gifts are the hard times when your life is reduced to a couple of good questions: What is this all about? Why are we here?  God is not interested in making me comfortable or happy.  His goal is to make me holy, like His Son.  And I've never met a follower of Jesus who hasn't encountered some suffering and pain.  God doesn't tell us to pick up a memory foam cross.  It's rugged and it's heavy.  You can run and try to find some easier way, but eventually He leads you through the thorns and the briars and that valley of the shadow.  But I promise you, if you trust Him, He will lead you to green pastures and peaceful waters.  Not just when you get to heaven, but right now.  Peace and contentment in the middle of the storm.  In the middle of the disappointment and fear and anger.  The bad times are really the good times in disquise.

The goal of prayer is not to change God's mind about what you want.  The goal of prayer is to change your own heart, to want what He wants, to the glory of God.  When we pray, we participate in what God is doing.  He gets the glory, and we get the privilege of walking with Him, and in that process we are changed.  And guess what happens from that change?  He gets the glory. 

God is Working in Your Life to Train You

This short (1 min. and 50 sec.) video clip by Mike Morrow so blessed and encouraged me tonight! What a privilege and blessing that God allows us to be in His boot camp- training us, molding and making us into the image of His dear Son so that we may "be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." 2 Timothy 2:21  Oh to always keep this perspective in focus and embrace the training that He gives, even when it is the most difficult.    I hope you'll take a moment to listen to it as well and that it is equally as encouraging to you. :-)
~Breanna

Rejoice in the LORD!

A beautiful, precious song shared with me by a 'big sister' in the Lord.  God has a perfect plan.  If we just trust and rest in Him He will bring us His perfect peace and we will be able to rejoice abundantly as we see His plans unfold and the fruit that He brings in our lives!

"Rejoice in the LORD"

by Ron Hamilton

God never moves without purpose or plan
When trying His servant and molding a man.
Give thanks to the LORD though your testing seems long;
In darkness He giveth a song.

I could not see through the shadows ahead;
So I looked at the cross of my Savior instead.
I bowed to the will of the Master that day;
Then peace came and tears fled away.

Now I can see testing comes from above;
God strengthens His children and purges in love.
My Father knows best, and I trust in His care;
Through purging more fruit I will bear.

O Rejoice in the LORD
He makes no mistake,
He knoweth the end of each path that I take,
For when I am tried
And purified,
I shall come forth as gold.

"Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, rejoice."

~ Philippians 4:4 ~

"But He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me,

I shall come forth as gold."

~ Job 23:10 ~

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;

and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

~ Proverbs 3:5-6 ~

"O taste and see that the LORD is good:

blessed is the man that trusteth in Him."

~ Psalm 34:8 ~

"Being confident of this very thing,

that He which hath begun a good work in you

will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."

~ Philippians 1:6 ~

May the Lord help us each to trust and rejoice in Him as He directs each little step along our way.  He is doing His perfect work!

~Brittany

The master-strokes of the Divine Artist!

I was so blessed by this when I read it!  What a good reminder!  ~Breanna

(Charles Spurgeon, "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883)

"We would have speedy riddance of trouble--but God does not think it fit to grant our request. Showers that come by drops and soak into the earth, are better than those which come in a tempest and hurricane!"

The gradualness and long continuance of a trial, which are its sharpness and bitterness--are also, to a large extent, the causes of its usefulness. If the sharp affliction came and departed with a rush--we would be rather swept away by it, than softened and saturated by its influence. To push a crucible among the glowing coals and snatch it out again, would answer no purpose in refining--the metal must tarry in the furnace until the fire has done its work.

Perhaps the reader has long lived in the perpetual grip of affliction, and now feels himself to be quite weary of the endless torture. Let him not faint under the lengthened process--the highest degree of benefit is accruing to him, from the continuance of his adversity!

In the later part of a trial, every stroke brings forth a tenfold result, and operates with a greatly increased efficacy. It would be a pity for the Lord to stay His hand, when it is working with such special and marked result. All the preceding affliction has only worked the heart into a fit condition to receive the master-strokes of the Divine Artist! The foundational colors have hitherto been laid on--but the second and finishing touch is now being given! Therefore, do not ask God's hand to cease, but rather pray that its work may be carried on with power, and the Lord's glory be seen in it all.

It will not cease raining yet--and why should it, so long as the soil is being softened, saturated, and fertilized by the falling drops? Let patience have her perfect work--and how can that be, useless the tribulation runs its full time?

Lord, make me ready to tarry for the vision, however long it may be delayed. Your way of trying me is the best. I would not hurry Your hand, if I could!

"People around you desperately need living examples

of Christian love, and you can be that example.

Love is the first fruit the Holy Spirit wants to produce and grow in your life (Gal. 5:22).

Don't resist His gentle prodding;

respond in obedience to the Spirit's leading to love as Christ loved."

-- Alexander Strauch --

"But the fact remains that the place in which we find ourselves 

is the very place in which the Master desires us to live our life!

There is no haphazard in God's world.

God leads every one of His children by the right way.

He knows where and under what influences, each particular life will ripen best."

-- J.R. Miller --

"Fulfillment is not a goal to achieve,
but always a by-product of sacrifice."
-- Elisabeth Elliot --

~Brittany