Hello, John and Doves,
Why, oh why, are we beset by troubles
daily?
You know what I mean:
Treasure in Fragile
Clay Jars
1Therefore,
since God in his mercy has given us this new way,
we never give up. 2We
reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We
don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We
tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know
this.
3If
the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is
hidden only from people who are perishing. 4Satan,
who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of
those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the
glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand
this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact
likeness of God.
5You
see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We
preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are
your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For
God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has
made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the
glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
7We
now have this light shining in our hearts, but we
ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great
treasure.
This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not
from ourselves.
8We are
pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not
crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9We
are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get
knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10Through
suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of
Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our
bodies.
11Yes,
we live under constant danger of death because we serve
Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our
dying bodies. 12So
we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in
eternal life for you.
13But
we continue to preach because we have the same kind of
faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God,
so I spoke.”14We
know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus,
will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself
together with you. 15All
of this is for your benefit. And as
God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be
great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more
glory.
16That
is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our
spirits are
being renewed every day. 17For
our present troubles are small and won’t last very long.
Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them
and will last forever! 18So we don’t
look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our
gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we
see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see
will last forever.
2
Corinthians 4 NLT
The truth be known, we are literally
buying time for the wicked to repent.
It is written,
6Seek the Lord while you
can find him.
Call on him
now while he is near.
7Let the
wicked change their ways
and banish
the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn
to the Lord that he may
have mercy on them.
Yes, turn to
our God, for he will forgive generously.
Have we not prayed for the wicked to
repent?
How then shall God not honor such a
generous request?
Again, it is written,
As
surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no
pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only
want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live.
Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why
should you die?
Ezekiel
33:11 NLT
So, here we find ourselves in the sixth
year of Daniel’s Seventieth Week,
the sixth year having begun on Rosh
Hashanah 5774—
beginning the evening of Wednesday, 4
September 2013.
.
Why so late?
It is written,
In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a
single person will survive. But it will be shortened for
the sake of God's chosen ones. [Eretz
Israel is God’s elect—http://www.lasthour.com/israelreplaced.htm]
So there we go. And wherever we
go,
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in
trouble.
~Blessings,
Mike