We can be happy with Christ in our troubles

We can be happy

with Christ

in our troubles

¡®Blessed (Happy) are the people who know

the joyful sound! LORD, they walk in the

light of Your face.¡¯

Psalm 89:15

'Light is sown like seed for the righteous,

And gladness for the upright in heart. Be

joyful in the Lord, you righteous ones, And

praise the mention of His holy name.'

Psalm 97:11-12

We can be happy with Christ in the times of our troubles,

because the school of Providence in suffering, is for our

good.

¡°And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, ¡°THIS IS THE

COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT

MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,¡± ¡°AND THEIR SINS

Now where there is

forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by

the blood of Jesus.¡±

Heb. 15:19

AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS

I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.¡±

God wills that we should push on into His Presence and live our whole

life there. This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is more

than a doctrine to be held, it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every

day.

However, we have accepted this only as a positional (legally) truth, just

an idealistic idea that we have access to the Father. But the Father has

made Himself actually present, if we will just believe and obey His call

to come and abide with Him. Abiding in Christ is living in the closest

possible relationship, now made available by God. We are welcomed

into that relationship by taking up our cross and following Christ.

God has removed the veil by the blood of Jesus Christ, legally and

effectually. On His part there remains no barrier to prevent us coming

into His actual presence. But we have created our own veil of division

through our fleshly desire to remain as we were, and we fail to take

seriously the need to crucify our flesh by offering ourselves as a living

sacrifice. Taking up our cross is removing our fleshly veil.

See this theme in A.W. Tozer's book. Removing the Veil. Chapter 3.

¡®The Pursuit of God.¡¯

When Jesus said "abide in Me" He wasn't talking about a legal matter, a

good proposition, He was and still is taking about actually joining with

Him, by moment by moment loving to remain living in His presence.

We will suffer from the trials and tribulations we must face in the world,

but we suffer alone through a lack of the actual presence of the Father

and the Son and the Living Spirit of God, who are available for us while

we walk through the valley of the shadows of death.

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Sovereign Providence is God's best and foremost eye opener about the

need to trust in Him in the darkness of the fallen world. As the screws

tighten, and the pain increases, we learn about the mystery of the

marriage of suffering and joy in the valley of the shadows.

¡®God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God,

to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He

foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His

Son.¡¯

Rom 8:28-29

We are exalted by God to the degree Christ is exalted in us in the valley

of shadows. Love is complete when it finds itself in our love for God.

Joy is the inverse of suffering. The more we suffer in Christ, the more

joy we will have in Christ. The more put down, the more exalted. For a

time weeping and rejoicing are married in Christ. There is no real

rejoicing in Christ without accepting the need for tears and a cross with

Christ. The purpose for which God allows our suffering is so that we can

know the great love of God endures with us for our good as we love and

serve Him forever.

¡®For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to

be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.¡¯

Rom 8:18

¡®For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for

who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not

see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.¡¯

Rom 8:24-25

¡®For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom

are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of

their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those

who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not

ashamed to call them brethren.¡¯

Heb 2:10-11

¡®Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or

distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just

as it is written, ¡°FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE

WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.¡± But in all these things we

overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced

that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things

present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any

other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God,

which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.¡¯

Rom 8:35-39

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Be happy, have fellowship with those who are blessed in Christ

¡°Blessed (Happy) are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of

heaven. ¡°Blessed (Happy) are those who mourn, for they will be

comforted. ¡°Blessed (Happy) are the gentle, for they will inherit the

earth. ¡°Blessed (Happy) are those who hunger and thirst for

righteousness, for they will be satisfied. ¡°Blessed (Happy) are the

merciful, for they will receive mercy. ¡°Blessed (Happy) are the pure in

heart, for they will see God. ¡°Blessed (Happy) are the peacemakers, for

they will be called sons of God. ¡°Blessed (Happy) are those who have

been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom

of heaven. ¡°Blessed (Happy) are you when people insult you and

persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of

Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great.¡±

Matt 5:3-11

The word blessed is 'makarios' in the Greek, which means happy,

fortunate, blessed. Consequently, the people of God who walk by the

Spirit of Christ are able to take pleasure in pain as they live with Christ,

even as we walk in the valley of the shadow of death, and suffer for His

name¡¯s sake.

Be happy, take pleasure in your pain for your reward is great

¡°Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same

way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.¡±

Matt 5:12

'For it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His

good pleasure.'

Phil 2:13

¡®These whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called,

He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What

then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?'

Rom 8:30-31

Great learning takes place when the words we read express what we have

been thinking. This has potential for good and bad. It depends on what

we are thinking. Whether our minds are set in the Spirit, or according to

the flesh. If our minds are alive in the Spirit, we will be built up by the

word of God, and the words written by godly people who live for the

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glory of God in Christ who will speak what we have been thinking,

according to His word. Obedience to the word of God reaps the blessing

of the grace of God that overcomes all opposition by His presence.

'But He said to me, ¡°My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made

perfect in weakness.¡± Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my

weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake

of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships,

persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.'

2 Cor 12:9¨C10

While we are to cut away the fleshly ways, God is the vinedresser who

prunes the life of everyone who abides in Christ in order to bear the fruit

of the Christ life. We need to cut away the veil that separates us from

God so we can enjoy the fruit of His presence.

While we are sometimes reluctant to put to death what is earthly in us,

God knows exactly where the knife needs to do its best work. And He

will not withhold what we need the most to lose, for His sight is

impeccable, and His purpose for us undeniable.

¡®Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us,

let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily

entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the

joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat

down at the right hand of the throne of God.¡¯

Heb 12:1-2

'More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing

value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss

of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ,

and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived

from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness

which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and

the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being

conformed to His death.'

Phil 3:8-10

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