Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
I also can't get around the fact that pain and suffering are not good in and of themselves, they are only good in that they are useful to achieve a purpose. No one wants pain for its own sake.
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I think there are several types of pain...
The Loss of a loved one..spouse, family member, friend, pet, the loss of a house through some tragic event..jobs.. That's very painful..and God allows us to mourn. But at some point He turns our mourning into dancing. Not right away most of the time..but He did it for David, He'll do it for us.
While walking in the shadow of death, God sets a table before us in the presence of our enemies...IF we let Him. Tell you what...a person really has to know the LORD, filled with TRUST in HIM..and holding on to Him. Try Praising the LORD with a pure heart..not a fakey display of joy & praise. The flesh can't comprehend it..the carnal mind fights it.
But you do that & you'll experience the Peace of God which surpasses all understanding. Suddenly the Word of God makes sense in your spirit. And you enter into a heavenly realm you can't describe with words.
I'm writing this 'cause I've been there. You wonder why I'm so 'positive'? What I just wrote is part of my journey thus far.
About a year after I got saved, I read a book by Watchman Nee..called 'Practical Issues of this life.' He wrote a chapter called "Precious are the tears.' It stayed with me over the many, many years of my life.
But in the summer of 2003, as I repented to the Lord Jesus for giving the forces of evil permission to sift me like sand, I shed buckets of tears. After I received my forgiveness and the healing process began, and I began to get strong in the Lord & in His Word, I recalled those words "Precious are the tears." I didn't have the book but the other day, I found it in another book I had by Nee. I will quote what he wrote because he wrote it so perfectly:
A dry eye reveals a dry and hard heart. Some regard tears as a sign of weakness, but quite the contrary, the one who has no tears to shed has buried his humanity. Tears have a cleansing effect not only to the physical realm but also in the spiritual realm. In the physical realm, a few tears will help you to see more clearly.
Anyone who fails to cry for sin fails to experience the joy of forsaking sin.
I wish I had never allowed Satan to sift me. But what satan meant for evil God turned to Good. And because I repented for my sins of denial, of unrepentant sin, sin I was carrying on my back since the day I got saved, shedding buckets of tears, I experienced the joy of forsaking sin. A broken and a contrite heart, God will not despise.
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It has to be personal, and real...nothing fakey...nothing in the flesh either.
Lot of people confuse tears of flesh with tears of spirit.
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And Igzy, you are correct too...God didn't create us to be sorrowful, pitifiul creatures. No one wants or should want pain. But when we're going through it, make the best of it...Don't go through it 'alone'.