O Suffering Saints

"And the days of thy mourning shall be ended!" Isaiah 60:20

The present world is a valley of tears--a wilderness of woe. While passing through it, we are exposed to sorrows and sufferings of various kinds. Pain and disease beset us on every side; and many, in the extremity of their anguish, wish for death rather than life.

Here we are subject to innumerable troubles; our fondest hopes may be blasted, and we may be called to survey the wreck of all that we once possessed.

Here the dearest friends are snatched from each other's embrace! The ruthless spoiler respects neither rank nor age--he tears asunder the very heart-strings of our nature, and seems to delight in trampling upon the tenderest sympathies of the soul. The parent is called to weep over the remains of a much-loved child; the husband has to mourn the loss of the partner of his life; the lover and friend are cut off by a stroke--and the desire of our eyes is taken away.

From a thousand sources, do our present distresses spring; and the streams of sorrow, in all their sad variety, follow us, more or less, through the whole course of our earthly pilgrimage.

But in Heaven, all our troubles will be over! No sorrow will be there. All temporal and all spiritual evils will be entirely banished. No disappointment, no anxiety, will be there. No wearisome nights, no dismal moanings, no tossings to and fro until the dawning of the day--will be there. There will be no sickness to blast--and no death to devour there. There will be no Rachel weeping for her children, no broken-hearted father exclaiming, "O Absalom, my son, my son," there. There will be no separation from those we love there. There will be no faithless friends to wound our hearts and betray our confidence there. There will be no being vexed from day to day with the filthy lives of the wicked there. There will be . . .
no temptations there;
no fightings without--or fears within;
no hardness of heart--or stings of conscience;
no obscuring clouds, or contrary winds, or tossing waves, there.

No, nothing to grieve, nothing to cause a single sigh to rise from the bosom, or a single tear to fall from the eye--will be there.

But joy and peace will be there; and cheerful hearts and beaming countenances will be there; and the conqueror's song, and waving palms, and harps of gold, and robes of spotless white, will be there.

O suffering saint! Think much of what is there--it will help you to bear up and to press on under your load of sorrow here. It is only for a little while, that you will have to traverse this howling desert; and then, having passed the narrow stream of death--you shall know Heaven by happy experience! "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined--what God has prepared for those who love Him!"

Psalms 25:1-11

King James Version (KJV)
Psalm 25:1-11

1Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.

2O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

3Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.

4Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.

5Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

6Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.

7Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD.

8Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.

9The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

10All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11For thy name's sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.

Up and At It

"ALL at it--and ALWAYS at it!"

This was what John Wesley endeavored to impress upon all his followers--and this is what we would like to see impressed upon the mind of every Christian. We have much to do--and we have little time to do it in. We had need therefore, to be up and at it!

If ignorance is to be chased away,
if gospel knowledge is to be circulated,
if souls are to be saved,
if children are to be taught,
if churches are to grow,
if villages, towns, and cities are to be evangelized
--then we had need be ALL at it--and ALWAYS at it!

This is just . . .
what the times call for,
what the Gospel inculcates,
what Satan dreads,
what the carnal world dislikes--
therefore let us be "all at it--and always at it."

Let everyone undertake that part of the work for which he is most adapted--and persevere in that which he commences.

How many there are who profess Christ--who are doing nothing!
How many may easily do twice as much as they currently do.
Is it surprising . . .
that the church is in such a poor spiritual state,
that Popery spreads,
that ignorance prevails,
that congregations are thin,
that little is accomplished,
that ministers are dispirited, and
that mature Christians are going home to sigh?
No! It is not at all surprising! The wonder is, that things are not worse!

Self-denial is rarely practiced,
the flesh is indulged,
the world is loved,
the earthly is preferred to the spiritual--and the present to the future.

Let us all go at it, and let us be always at it--until we hear the Master's voice calling unto us and saying, "Well done, good and faithful servants, enter into the joy of your Lord!"

But if we . . .
neglect duty,
despise warning,
love ease,
court pleasure,
hunt for honor,
use our Lord's money selfishly,
and settle down upon our lees--
we shall by and bye see the day, when we will wish we had been ALL at it--and ALWAYS at it!

1 Corinthians 15:58

58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

God is Love

"God is love!" 1 John 4:16

That is, in Christ, God is love.

All that God does for His children--is in love!

All that He withholds from us--is in love!

And all that He requires of us--is in love!

His precepts are from love--as much as His promises!
His warnings are as much from love--as His invitations!
His prohibitions are as much from love--as His permissions!
His love uses the rod--as well as gives the kiss!
His love withholds--as well as gives!

All, all, is done in love!

O sweet and blessed representation of Jehovah! How can I be justified in complaining of any of His dealings? In Jesus,
all His thoughts, are loving thoughts;
all His words, are loving words; and
all His works, are loving works.

In giving, or withholding--He manifests His love.

In afflicting, or restoring--He alike displays His love.

Every pain, and every pleasure--is from His love.

Every storm, and every sunbeam--is from His love.

The fruitful shower, and the destroying hurricane--are ruled and overruled by divine love, for the good of the believer in Jesus.

Hebrews 12:6

6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Carry your troubled heart to Jesus

I am troubled!" Psalm 38:6

This is very often the case with the believer, he is seldom long without something to trouble him. He has . . .
so much sin within him,
so many foes without him, and
such unexpected and difficult things in his path
--that he is often agitated and distressed.

Where he looked for comfort--he finds sorrow;
where he expected help--he finds hindrance;
where he promised himself pleasure--he experiences pain.

He is wearied--
weary of himself,
weary of sin,
weary of the world,
weary of the carnal state of the church.

But what a mercy it is for the troubled Christian, that his Lord has experienced trouble as well as himself; so that He can sympathize with him. Jesus once said, "Now My soul is deeply troubled!" He has a fellow-feeling with us in all our troubles, and will first sanctify them, and then safely bring us out of them.

Beloved, are you troubled today?

Carry your troubled heart to Jesus, pour it out before Him. He can calm it, soothe it, and give it cheering repose. Take it to Jesus--to sanctify it for you.

Burning The Koran

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/florida-pastor-presides-over-koran-burning/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/world/asia/04afghanistan.html?_r=1

So I want to know what people thought are on the burning of the Koran that took place in Florida. If you don't know what I'm talking about well then that's just sad. So for you sad people I've put up a couple links so you can catch up on the news and know what I'm talking about.

Here is a brief summery of what happened. A pastor in Florida came out last year and said on 9/11/2010 he was going to burn the Koran but decided not to go through with it after a lot of criticism and warning of the harm it could cause for our men serving in the military in the middle east. Anyhow last week he ended up changing his mind and burning the Koran after all. There was very little news coverage of it and seemed like it wasn't a big deal after all. But I guess the president of Afghanistan came out and condemned it and said that the man who burned it should be arrested. (hmm so much for free speech in Afghanistan). So now they are having riots there in the middle east and the people who aren't Muslims are being dragged into the streets and beheaded all because of this burning. The last I heard there has been 40 death because of it.

So I was wonder what your thoughts are on this?

On burning the Koran
On this pastor burning the Koran
On the Afghan President Condemning it
On the riots and killing
On whether the death caused by this should be laid at the feet of this pastor
And whatever other thoughts you may have.

I don't know how accurate all the information is I gave you. I'm just going off what I've heard and read online so if I got something wrong I'm sorry

Here are my thoughts. On burning the Koran: I don't really care if you burn it or not. It really means nothing to me. But it seems like it would just be more of an "in your face" kind of thing. Like, what's the point?

On this pastor burning it. How is this honoring God or helping in the spreading of the word of God? It just seems like you would be ruining any chance you would have to minister to these people. Yes we should preach against it but why burn it?

On the Afghan President. Are you kidding me dude?!? Don't you have more important things to worry about other then some crazy redneck pastor burning the Koran. How about condemning your people when they do stuff like this. He is one of the main causes of all the riots and death for even saying something about this.

On the riots and killings. There has to be something in the water over there! These guys are crazy. They seem to have a major case of little man syndrome. Like whatever you do is challenging them in some way. So now they have to go out and behead some person. It's never right to kill. Go ahead and riot and be upset about it. I can understand that. I think it should make us Christians mad when people burn the Bible and tear down our God. It should just motivate us to witness more. Also let me say that I understand not everybody in the middle east are like this or involved in the riots. I know after 9/11 that many of us here have hard feeling toward the Arabs. I know God loves them just as much as me. I want them to be saved from there sin. It makes me so glad knowing I've got Arab brothers serving God over there.

I do think it's a real shame that people died because of this crazy pastor burning the Koran and that a big part of these death should be on his shoulders. The poor people killed were most likely just as lost as the people killing them. It also shows the the Muslim religion is not a peaceful religion. And just because some guy is being a stupid doesn't give you a right to go out and kill people. I feel so sorry for are men serving in the military over there because this anger is most likely going to be turned on them.

Well those are some of my thoughts.. Please let me know what you think. If you agree or disagree with me.

Stricken Smitten and Afflicted