Bring all your misery, despair & helplessness together - the Power of God within us is So Much Greater!!

[Vine Abider]

I love the clarity of this speaking!  The sum total of all human calamity cannot come close to the power of His Spirit operating in us!  Isn't that the supreme encouragement!?  Nothing we experience is outside the realm of His loving care and ability - PRAISE THE INFINATELY POWERFUL GOD WHO LIVES RIGHT INSIDE US!!!   All glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20 NLT) Any power that can survive what we sometimes have to go through in the realm of our own souls is a very great power indeed; and, believe me, this power that works in the Church is going to survive all the accumulated sensations of all the members of the Body of Christ. Now, bring all your misery together, bring all your despair together, all your sensations, all the helplessness of the outlook, and, if you are a child of God, there is a power that works within which is more than sufficient to meet and counter and triumph over all that. That is the means by which God reaches His end in us, and if His end in us is conformity to the image of His Son, then the power that worketh in us is more than enough to meet and overcome all that which is contrary to His Son in us. Do you believe that? Not always! If we really believed that in a thoroughgoing way we should never be found occupied with ourselves, we should never be depressed because of our imperfection, there would be no room for any question as to our standing. Oh, if we did but believe this, what triumphant people we should be; for is it not true that the greater proportion of our trouble, of our despair, of our unhappiness, is due to the consciousness of our own imperfection – all that we are that we would not be and should not be, and all that we are not that we feel we ought to be. His eternal purpose and His exceeding great power are linked together. Do not forget that. We are the object of both, and His exceeding great power is at work within us to effect the purpose. By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Power That Worketh In Us

[D. Adrien]

I use to meditate filling my mind with verses from scripture or some of my own concoctions and I'd do 3 hours of this kind of prayer. It would seem like just a few minutes would go by after the first half hour. Upon finishing I'd have the same as a runner's high for a while.

[Vine Abider]

22 minutes ago, D. Adrien said:

I use to meditate filling my mind with verses from scripture or some of my own concoctions and I'd do 3 hours of this kind of prayer. It would seem like just a few minutes would go by after the first half hour. Upon finishing I'd have the same as a runner's high for a while.

Not sure what to make of that . . .

[D. Adrien]

6 minutes ago, Vine Abider said:

Not sure what to make of that . . .

No, it isn't Eastern religion meditation. I force myself to focus on the word of God and nothing else. 

[Michael37]

2 hours ago, D. Adrien said:

No, it isn't Eastern religion meditation. I force myself to focus on the word of God and nothing else. 

Everything has magnetic force, whether weak or strong. To me Scripture meditation is like magnetism, drawing in God's blessings.

What's happening with you these days, @D. Adrien? Are you doing alright?

[D. Adrien]

4 hours ago, Michael37 said:

Everything has magnetic force, whether weak or strong. To me Scripture meditation is like magnetism, drawing in God's blessings.

What's happening with you these days, @D. Adrien? Are you doing alright?

Thanks for asking Michael. Doing very well! Neither my wife or I have anything to complain about. Mowed the lawn for the first time this year and am in the process of replacing a fascia board that rotted behind a rain gutter for the porch. Plan on the replacement being synthetic material so I don't have to deal with this again. May your blessings be as plentiful as mine!

 

I find that being able to focus on prayer also helps me to focus on reading scripture. For me, both endeavors usually include my mind wandering into all kinds of other areas except for what I'm trying to do in the present moment.

 

[Vine Abider]

9 hours ago, D. Adrien said:

I find that being able to focus on prayer also helps me to focus on reading scripture. For me, both endeavors usually include my mind wandering into all kinds of other areas except for what I'm trying to do in the present moment.

 

Our minds can really only think one thing at a time.  The world has discovered this and uses positive affirmations to occupy the brain, and it works.  But they are filling their minds with mere earthbound thinking and temporal reasonings.  However, we as sons of the living God, have a much more powerful and wonderful resource to fill our minds with - His living, eternal Word!

Personally, I find the practice of pray-reading the pure word to be beneficial.  That is, I can take a verse or passage and speak it back to Him, mixing in my thankfulness and any requests I might have.

[Mr. M]

On 3/12/2024 at 2:02 PM, Vine Abider said:

I love the clarity of this speaking!  The sum total of all human calamity cannot come close to the power of His Spirit operating in us!  Isn't that the supreme encouragement!?  Nothing we experience is outside the realm of His loving care and ability - PRAISE THE INFINATELY POWERFUL GOD WHO LIVES RIGHT INSIDE US!!!   All glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20 NLT) Any power that can survive what we sometimes have to go through in the realm of our own souls is a very great power indeed; and, believe me, this power that works in the Church is going to survive all the accumulated sensations of all the members of the Body of Christ. Now, bring all your misery together, bring all your despair together, all your sensations, all the helplessness of the outlook, and, if you are a child of God, there is a power that works within which is more than sufficient to meet and counter and triumph over all that. That is the means by which God reaches His end in us, and if His end in us is conformity to the image of His Son, then the power that worketh in us is more than enough to meet and overcome all that which is contrary to His Son in us. Do you believe that? Not always! If we really believed that in a thoroughgoing way we should never be found occupied with ourselves, we should never be depressed because of our imperfection, there would be no room for any question as to our standing. Oh, if we did but believe this, what triumphant people we should be; for is it not true that the greater proportion of our trouble, of our despair, of our unhappiness, is due to the consciousness of our own imperfection – all that we are that we would not be and should not be, and all that we are not that we feel we ought to be. His eternal purpose and His exceeding great power are linked together. Do not forget that. We are the object of both, and His exceeding great power is at work within us to effect the purpose. By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Power That Worketh In Us

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