Category: A Door of Hope

 

God doesn't have a problem with our tears.

 

Crying helps us physically as well as emotionally.

"The researchers found that…emotional tears contained far more toxic biological byproducts. Weeping, they concluded, is an excretory process which removes toxic substances that normally build up during emotional stress."

 

"The simple act of crying also reduces the body’s manganese level, a mineral which affects mood…"

 

"The researchers concluded that chemicals built up by the body during stress were removed by tears, which actually lowered stress." ~The Miracle of Tears – Answers in Genesis

 

Crying does not make us weak.  Crying makes us human.

"Emotional tears are a response which only humans have, for only people can weep. All animals that live in air produce tears to lubricate their eyes. But only people possess the marvellous system that causes crying." ~The Miracle of Tears – Answers in Genesis

 

Crying is healthy.

Suppressing tears increases stress levels, and contributes to diseases aggravated by stress, such as high blood pressure, heart problems and peptic ulcers."~The Miracle of Tears – Answers in Genesis

 

Don't hold back your tears when your heart is breaking.  Let them flow.  You will feel better physically and emotionally when your tears are passed...and they will pass!

"…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Psalm 30:5b

 

Our tears will not last…we will feel joy again.  Until then, allow yourself the blessing of crying.

 

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Isaiah 43:2

 

"God does not open paths for us in advance of our coming…

Yet when we are on the edge of our need, God's hand is stretched out…

You must get to the waters and into the floods before you can claim the promise." ~J.R.M (Streams in the Desert)

 

My precious friend, are the waters closing over your head?  Look up!

God is there in the midst of your need!

He will not let you be overwhelmed by the flood!  

Hope in Him today.

 

If He be the source of our mercies, they can never fail us!

~Streams in the Desert

 

Lamentations 3:

[21] This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
[22] It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
[23] They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

 

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. II Corinthians 12:9

 

"Christ is building His kingdom with earth's broken things. 

Men want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken, in building their kingdoms; but God is the God of the unsuccessful, of those who have failed. 

Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take and restore to glorious blessedness and beauty. 

He can take the life crushed by pain or sorrow and make it into a harp whose music shall be all praise. 

He can lift earth's saddest failure up to heaven's glory."

~J.R. Miller

 

 "..and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:" Romans 1:25b-26

 

"…and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;" Romans 1:27b

 

So, let us glory in our brokeness.

When our strength has been set aside, God's mighty power may be clearly seen!

 

 

"…and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was." Exodus 20:21

 

"When you seem loneliest and most forsaken, God is nigh. 

He is in the dark cloud. 

Plunge into the blackness of its darkness without flinching; under the shrouding curtain of His pavillion you will find God awaiting you."

~Streams in the Desert

 

Sin is bad.  We know this.

However, we often choose to sin anyway.

Why should we stop allowing ourselves to indulge in sin?

 

Romans 8

[6] For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

 

Well, I want life and peace, don't you?  And besides,

[7] Because the carnal mind is enmity against God…[8] So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

 

I want to please God, too. 

[12] Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
[13] For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die…

 

And I certainly don't want to die!  I want to live!

[13]…but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

 

If I am in the Spirit, I am God's child:

[14] For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

 

If I am His child, then I am His heir and have available to me all that is in Christ:

[17] And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ…

 

And if I suffer with Him, I will be glorified with Him:

[17]…if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

 

So then…by mortifying the flesh (refusing to meet the sinful demands of my body), as a child of God, I will be glorified with Him.

But is it really worth it?  Heaven seems so far away sometimes.  My sin is not "bad" sin…it's just a little sin.  I'm not hurting anybody with it.  I'm not a murderer, for goodness' sake!

Why should I give up my sin?

[18] For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

 

Do I want God's glory to be revealed in me?  You betcha! 

Is it hard to give up sin, to turn to Christ in obedience?  Oh yeah!

Does my sinful flesh demand its rights?  Daily.

Is it worth it to see sin as it truly is…disobedience against my Father God?  Most definitely!

 

Romans 6:[12] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
[13] Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

God promises that the suffering we may endure by refusing to sin cannot even be compared to the glory that He will reveal in us.

Let's take Him at His Word…

And turn from our sin!

 

 

"If we went from spring to spring to spring, we would never know thirst…That's why we have to walk through the barren places." ~Steven Carter

 

Are you in a dry, desert place today? 

Are you parched, needing desperately the waters of relief? 

God will not leave you without provision.  As we seek His face, His deliverance will come to us.

 

"He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river."  Psalm 105:41

 

"…I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert…I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen." Isaiah 43:19b-20b

 

In the midst of our dry places, God offers relief. 

The Water of His Word flows freely to all who will drink from its pages.

 

Why stand in the desert dying of thirst, when you can simply turn to the Rock?

 Christ offers rivers of Living Water to all who will receive them.