August 2, 2008

he who believes

"The human spirit will not even begin

to try to surrender self-will

as long as all seems well with it.

Now error and sin both have this property,

that the deeper they are

the less their victim suspects their existence;

they are masked evil.

Pain is unmasked, unmistakeable evil;

every man knows something is wrong when he is being hurt...

And pain is not only immediately recognisable evil,

but evil impossible to ignore.

We can rest contentedly in our sins

and in our stupidities;

and anyone who has watched gluttons

shovelling down the most exquisite foods

as if they did not know what they were eating,

will admit that we can ignore even pleasure.

But pain insists upon being attended to.

God whispers to us in our pleasures,

speaks in our conscience,

but shouts in our pain:

it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

- C. S. Lewis

(The Problem of Pain)

"The troubles of my heart have multiplied;

free me from my anguish.

Look upon my affliction and my distress

and take away all my sins."

- Psalm 25: 17,18 NIV

"But thanks be to God!

He gives us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ."

- 1 Corinthians 15:57 NIV

"...for everyone born of God overcomes the world.

This is the victory that has overcome the world,

even our faith.

Who is it that overcomes the world?

Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."

- 1 John 5:4,5 NIV

Thru belief comes submission.

When you die TO self

you are allowing God to fill you with the Holy Spirit.

The dying OF self is a continual process

as the Holy Spirit works within you,

refining and purifying your soul.

Throughout this process (dying OF self)

we starve self of those things

that are not good for it.

"I don’t mean to say

that I have already achieved these things

or that I have already reached perfection.

But I press on to possess that perfection

for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.

No, dear brothers and sisters,

I have not achieved it,

but I focus on this one thing:

Forgetting the past

and looking forward to what lies ahead,

I press on to reach the end of the race

and receive the heavenly prize for which God,

through Christ Jesus,is calling us."

- Philippians 3:12-14 NLT