May
25
Be
strong in the Lord, relying on His mighty strength (Ephesians 6:10 ISV).
The Lord does not put us
in glass houses to grow us, to be His trees; the Lord does not protect us from
the storms, the adversities; He exposes us to the bitter winds and the
scorching suns of adversity and trial. The Lord is working in us that which is
according to His own Nature – eternity, the enduring, the
everlasting God – that which will not be easily or hardly carried away. He is
putting substance in you. Oh, today we fear that the appeal to become
Christians is so often in terms of having an easy or a good time; being happy
and enjoying yourself; well, thank God for ALL divine joy, but this is true to
the House, to the City, that the first thing the Lord is working toward and
seeking to work into His people is that substantial, steadfast, enduring
faithfulness that is according to His own nature. Substantial! Oh for
substantial Christians that don’t need coddling and nursing and running after
all the time; being pandered to in order to get them to go on or stand up. Men
and women like cedars of Lebanon; like the hewn stones – weighty, accountable,
and responsible to carry weight – and all that is meant by strength.
I can only remind you
again of what a large place that has in the Word of God: be strong, be
strong in the Lord in the strength of His might, be strong in
the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Think again. Want to understand why the
winds are allowed to blow so fiercely... the storms? To get us away from that natural,
easy-going-ness or cheapness, lightness, frivolousness and to make us people of
weight. Strength – through testing, through adversity – strength... to endure
throughout all ages. There is much which is going to be carried away in the
last great testing, and if, therefore, trial and adversity is the only way to
deepen us, to put caliber into us, I suppose we must expect more of it as the
time shortens.
By T. Austin-Sparks from: Aspects of the City
This photograph is by Liz Burnell.
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