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Helovesme2
Registered user
Username: Helovesme2
Post Number: 680
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, October 29, 2006 - 5:20 am: |     |
My devotional reading last night was immmensely encouraging to me so I decided to share it here so that it can be encouraging here too!
quote: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ . . . and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:4-6
This is our rightful place, to be "seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," and to "sit still" there. But how few there are who make it their actual experience! How few, indeed think even that it is possible for them to "sit still" in these "heavenly places" in the everyday life of a world so full of turmoil as this.
We may believe perhaps that to pay a little visit to these heavenly places on Sundays, or now and then in times of spiritual exaltation, may be within the range of possibility; but to be actually "seated" there every day and all day long is altogether another matter; and yet it is very plain that it is for Sundays and week-days as well.
A quiet spirit is of inestimable value in carrying on outward activities; and nothing so hinders the working of the hidden spiritual forces, upon which, after all, our success in everything really depends, as a spirit of unrest and anxiety.
There is immense power in stillness. A great saint once said, "All things come to him who knows how to trust and be silent." The words are pregnant with meaning. A knowledge of this fact would immensely change our ways of working. Instead of restless struggles, we would "sit down" inwardly before the Lord, and would let the Divine forces of His Spirit work out in silence the ends to which we aspire. You may not see or feel the operations of this silent force, but be assured it is always working mightily, and will work for you, if you only get your spirit still enough to be carried along by the currents of its power. --Hannah Whitall Smith
"There is a point of rest
At the great center of the cyclone's force,
A silence at its secret source;
A little child might slumber undisturbed,
Without the ruffle of one fair curl,
In that strange, central calm, amid the mighty whirl."
It is your business to learn to be peaceful and safe in God in every situation.
(all the bolding is mine, the italics were there already)
Each of the bolded statements struck home with me last night, but especially the last one, "It is your business to learn to be peaceful and at rest in God in every situation." What an awesome reality! It is our right to "sit down in heavenly places" in Jesus Christ now! And this sitting down is not the same as when we sit down and wait on humans. When we wait on God we know he is working! We know He is with us, delights in us, has saved us, and takes responsibility for us. We can trust Him to work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure!
Blessings,
Mary |
Susans
Registered user
Username: Susans
Post Number: 93
Registered: 8-2006
| | Posted on Friday, November 03, 2006 - 5:36 pm: | |
Amen, Mary! Thank you so much for sharing!
Susan |
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