Posted on 01/24/2021 1:09:02 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
"If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small" (Proverbs 24:10 KJV).
Often as we read the Bible and run across a verse like this, we immediately start wondering what we are doing wrong and how we can change our lives so as to not be weak when things get tough. Sometimes the answer is not in us at all, but in something else. In this case, it is in our Saviour . . . as truly most answers are.
Paul boldly proclaimed that, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13 KJV).
But in my opinion, that statement would be impossible to understand without the preceding verse:
"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need" (Php 4:11-12 KJV). Paul learned contentment, which is not an easy thing to learn--especially for those of us living in a country like America, where things are in abundance. Paul learned that "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (I Timothy 6:6).
Paul learned some lessons in life, and one of them is that in himself he is nothing, but with or in Christ he is everything.
Jesus Christ is the God-Man. We could illustrate His humanity with a pencil, which a child can break with a finger, and His Godhood with an iron bar which takes more strength than most men have to even bend. If we take that weak pencil and that strong iron and bind them together with duct tape--we have a very poor illustration of the God-Man. Weakness and strength in the same. That is the One that lives within us. This is our strength, so that we can face any trial, or any adversity, knowing that "all things work together for good," because our Saviour is using even those to prepare us.
If any are unsure whether they have a right to heaven, regard the fact that even in this Jesus Christ understands and has worked even that out!
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6 KJV).
Why?
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8 KJV).
Lord, teach us not to fear. Help us understand that you are Lord on the mountains and You are Lord in the valleys. In the days of peace, and in the days of adversity, You are still the same, and You are good, all the time. Amen.
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“If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small” (Proverbs 24:10 KJV).
So timely for his present time.
Oh ye fainters, MAN UP! KNOCK IT OFF with the “We’re all going to die, we’ll never win again, the giants are all ten feet tall” GARBAGE!
I suppose it is fair to mention that of the twelve men that Moses sent in to spy out the land, only two of them came out with the courage to go back in. It cost Israel 40 years, and ultimately only the children of those people - and those two brave men (Joshua and Caleb) entered into that new land.
“And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel” (Numbers 14:6-10).
A biblical generation. God had to wait for all the fainters to die off. The one reason I have zero doubt that God chose DJT to be POTUS is that I don't think there was another person one Planet Earth that had the amount of raw courage and backbone needed to face all the adversaries that would have to be come against. Not a perfect man, just a man perfect for the job.
David and Joshua have always been my absolute favorites in the Old Testament. Love fearless warriors.
Joshua 7+8 are very analogous for today.
Joshua and the people were going to war to take the land. They suffered a BAD DEFEAT at Ai. Why? One guy, Achan, took spoils from the enemy, a big no-no.
"When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it."
This is the equivalent today of GOP-E types like The Governor and SOS of Georgia, thinking only of themselves at the expense of the people, taking spoils secretly from China.
7:25 "And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. "
Today's analogy: We have to remove politically, the GOP-E types the that have troubled us and caused our defeat.
After that was done, Joshua and the children of Israel won a great victory.
Today's Joshua 7:8-9 "O Lord, what shall I say, when American patriots turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Bidenites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth"
Being cowardly today will result in Trump supporters getting purged.
Our marching orders: Joshua 1:9 "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. "
Onward to war against the Bidenites...
Thank you all for these familiar and much loved verses, which never grow old. This was a perfect time for me to read them, as my husband and I do what we always do on Sunday morning, which is to listen to Southern Gospel music, mostly old hymns, on Sirius radio, 65. Nothing that goes on in this carnal, closed, earthly system, is a surprise, for it was all foretold and much of it has been lived out, in other cultures over the centuries, in the Torah and in our Christian Bible. We know exactly what human nature without God looks like and we also know that America has been different for over 200 years because our founding was based on the 10 Commandments. Now, it remains to be seen whether the old human nature that wants to enslave and persecute, so some can feel like Gods during their short time on this planet, will prevail. Those of us who are Christian and have found a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, have the security of knowing that only His Spirit can take us from this closed system, ruled by the carnal lusts, when our spirits leave this realm for eternity. Before that, to love the Lord with all our soul and mind and our neighbor as ourselves is the only path to peace and contentment on this earth. It is quite likely that we will be persecuted in the near future, but, as those who came before us, we will endure because the scriptures tell us we will receive faith and strength to endure. I, personally, expect to see another great revival break out all over the world, for, the suffering in 2020 has effected the whole world and people are reminded of how helpless all of us are without hope in someone greater than you and I. All of us will take only one thing with us when we leave here and that is simply, how we treated our fellowman on our journey and did we touch the hand of God.
As The Preacher said in Ecclesiastes: “There is nothing new under the Sun”. Human nature has not changed. Same patterns of behavior.
Ping
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