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April 16, 2024

4/16/2024

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April 16:  Joy Through Tribulation.

Do Not Despise God's Chastening.
"Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty."--Job 5:17, NKJV

MANY OF YOUR AFFLICTIONS have been visited upon you, in the wisdom of God, to bring you closer to the throne of grace.  He softens and subdues His children by sorrows and trials.  This world is God's workshop, where He fashions us for the courts of heaven.  He uses the planing knife upon our quivering hearts until the roughness and irregularities are removed and we are fitted for our proper places in the heavenly building.  Through tribulation and distress the Christian becomes purified and strengthened, and develops a character after the model that Christ has given.--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, 143.

The fact that we are called upon to endure trial shows that the Lord Jesus sees in us something precious which He desires to develop.  If He saw in us nothing whereby He might glorify His name, He would not spend time in refining us.  He does not cast worthless stones into His furnace.  It is valuable ore that He refines.--The Ministry of Healing, 471.

                                  Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
                                And lean not on your own understanding;
                                       In all your ways acknowledge Him,
                                           And He shall direct your paths.
                                           Do not be wise in your own eyes;
                                    Fear the Lord and depart from evil....
                               My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
                                                  Nor detest His correction;
                                    For whom the Lord loves He corrects,
                               Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
                              
                                                   --Proverbs 3:5-7, 11, 12, NKJV
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April 15, 2024

4/15/2024

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April 15:  Joy Through Tribulation.

The Lord Is Tender and Patient.
I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, for You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities.--Psalm 31:7, NKJV

OH, HOW PRECIOUS is the sweet influence of the Spirit of God as it comes to depressed or despairing souls, encouraging the fainthearted, strengthening the feeble, and imparting courage and help to the tried servants of the Lord!  Oh, what a God is ours, who deals gently with the erring and manifests His patience and tenderness in adversity, and when we are overwhelmed with some great sorrow!--Patriarchs and Prophets, 657.

The Lord permits trials in order that we may be cleansed from earthliness, from selfishness, from harsh, unchristlike traits of character.  He suffers the deep waters of affliction to go over our souls in order that we may know Him and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, in order that we may have deep heart longings to be cleansed from defilement, and may come forth from the trial purer, holier, happier.--Christ's Object Lessons, 174.

                        "Now this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God,
                                         and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
                                                                                   --John 17:3, NIV

                                                 Who is a God like you,
                                who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
                                           of the remnant of his inheritance?
                                               You do not stay angry forever
                                                 but delight to show mercy.
                                       You will again have compassion on us;
                                            you will tread our sins underfoot
                                  and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
                              
                                                                    --Micah 7:18, 19, NIV
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April 14, 2024

4/14/2024

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April 14:  Joy Through Tribulation.

Facing Trials Head-On.
Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice.--Psalm 51:8, NKJV

IT IS TRUE that God loves us, that He is working for our happiness, and that, if His law had always been obeyed, we should never have known suffering; and it is no less true that, in this world, as the result of sin, suffering, trouble, burdens, come to every life....

...This world is not a parade ground, but a battlefield.  All are called to endure hardness, as good soldiers....

The true way of dealing with trial is not seeking to escape it, but by transforming it.  This applies to all discipline, the earlier as well as the later.  The neglect of the child's earliest training, and the consequent strengthening of wrong tendencies, makes his after education more difficult....Painful it must be to the lower nature, crossing, as it does, the natural desires and inclinations; but the pain may be lost sight of in a higher joy.--Education, 295.

Our sorrows do not spring out of the ground.  God "doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men."  Lamentations 3:33.  When He permits trials and afflictions, it is "for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness."  Hebrews 12:10.  If received in faith, the trial that seems so bitter and hard to bear will prove a blessing.  The cruel blow that blights the joys of earth will be the means of turning our eyes to heaven.  How many there are who would never have known Jesus had not sorrow led them to seek comfort in Him!--Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 10.

                                  O Lord, I will praise You;
                            Though You were angry with me,
                     Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.
                                                                            --Isaiah 12:1, NKJV
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April 13, 2024

4/13/2024

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April 13:  Joy Through Tribulation.

Bearing Our Burdens With Joy.
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  Makes us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.  Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.--Psalm 90:14-16, ESV

LET ME ASSURE YOU that the struggles and conflicts which must be endured in the discharge of duty, the self-denials and sacrifices which must be made if we are faithful to Christ, are not created by Him.  They are not imposed by arbitrary or unnecessary command; they do not come from the severity of the life which He requires us to lead in His service.  Trials would exist in greater power and number were we to refuse obedience to Christ and become the servants of Satan and the slaves of sin.

Jesus invites us to come to Him and He will lift the weights from our weary shoulders and place upon us His yoke, which is easy, and His burden, which is light.  The path in which He invites us to walk would never have cost us a pang had we always walked in it.  It is when we stray from the path of duty that the way becomes difficult and thorny.  The sacrifices which we must make in following Christ are only so many steps to return to the path of light, of peace and happiness.--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, 557, 558.


                          "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,
                     and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me,
                   for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
                                      For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
                              
                                                         --Matthew 11:28-30, ESV
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April 12, 2024

4/12/2024

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April 12:  Joy Through Tribulation.

Persevere in Prayer.
Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.--Romans 12:12, NKJV

HAPPY IS THE MAN whom God corrected:...He maketh sore, and bindeth up: He woundeth, and His hands make whole.  He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee."  Job 5:17-19.  To every stricken one, Jesus comes with the ministry of healing.  The life of bereavement, pain, and suffering may be brightened by precious revealings of His presence.

God would not have us remain pressed down by dumb sorrow, with sore and breaking hearts.  He would have us look up and behold His dear face of love.  The blessed Saviour stands by many whose eyes are so blinded by tears that they do not discern Him.  He longs to clasp our hands, to have us look to Him in simple faith, permitting Him to guide us.  His heart is open to our griefs, our sorrows, and our trials.  He has loved us with an everlasting love and with loving-kindness compassed us about.  We may keep the heart stayed upon Him and meditate upon His loving-kindness all the day.  He will lift the soul above the daily sorrow and perplexity, into a realm of peace.

Think of this, children of suffering and sorrow, and rejoice in hope.--Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, 12.

               Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication,
                        with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
                             and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
                                    will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
                                                                                                 --Philippians 4:6, 7, NKJV
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April 11, 2024

4/11/2024

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April 11:  Joy Through Tribulation.

All Things Work Together for Our Good.
Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better.--Ecclesiastes 7:3, NKJV

ALL OUR SUFFERING and sorrows, all our temptations and trials, all our sadness and griefs, all our persecutions and privations, in short, all things work together for our good.  All experiences and circumstances are God's workmen whereby good is brought to us.--The Ministry of Healing, 488.

It may be that much work needs to be done in your character building, that you are a rough stone, which must be squared and polished before it can fill a place in God's temple.  You need not be surprised if with hammer and chisel God cuts away the sharp corners of your character until you are prepared to fill the place He has for you.  No human being can accomplish this work.  Only by God can it be done.  And be assured that He will not strike one useless blow.  His every blow is struck in love, for your eternal happiness.  He knows your infirmities and works to restore, not to destroy.--Testimonies of the Church, vol. 7, 264.

                      Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is,
                    because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
                    And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,
                                     to those who are called according to His purpose.
                                                                                                       --Romans 8:27, 28, NKJV
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April 10, 2024

4/10/2024

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April 10:  Joy Through Tribulation.

How to Find Joy Here and Now and Forever.
We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain....As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.--2 Corinthians 6:1, 10, NKJV

WE ARE IN A WORLD of suffering.  Difficulty, trial, and sorrow await us all along the way to the heavenly home.  But there are many who make life's burdens doubly heavy by continually anticipating trouble.  If they meet with adversity or disappointment they think everything is going to ruin, that theirs is the hardest lot of all, that they are surely coming to want.  Thus they bring wretchedness upon themselves and cast a shadow upon all around them.  Life itself becomes a burden to them.  But it need not be thus.  It will cost a determined effort to change the current of their thought.  But the change can be made.  Their happiness, both for this life and for the life to come, depends upon their fixing their minds upon cheerful things.  Let them look away from the dark picture, which is imaginary, to the benefits which God has strewn in their pathway, and beyond these to the unseen and eternal.--The Ministry of Healing, 247.

All who are pursuing the onward Christian course should have, and will have, an experience that is living, that is new and interesting.  A living experience is made up of daily trials, conflicts, and temptations, strong efforts and victories, and great peace and joy gained through Jesus.--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, 579.

                        And since we are his children, we are his heirs.
                In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory.
            But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
                              
                                                              --Romans 8:17, NLT
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April 9, 2024

4/9/2024

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April 9:  Joy Through Tribulation.

Facing Trials With Joy.
If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.  On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.--1 Peter 4:14, NKJV

THE WORLD LOVES SIN, and hates righteousness, and this was the cause of its hostility to Jesus.  All who refuse His infinite love will find Christianity a disturbing element.  The light of Christ sweeps away the darkness that covers their sins, and the need of reform is made manifest.  While those who yield to the influence of the Holy Spirit begin war with themselves, those who cling to sin war against the truth and its representatives.

Thus strife is created, and Christ's followers are accused as troublers of the people.  But it is fellowship with God that brings them the world's enmity.  They are bearing the reproach of Christ.  They are treading the path that has been trodden by the noblest of the earth.  Not with sorrow, but with rejoicing, should they meet persecution.  Each fiery trial is God's agent for their refining.  Each is fitting them for the work as colabors with Him.  Each conflict has its place in the great battle for righteousness, and each will add to the joy of their final triumph.  Having this in view, the test of their faith and patience will be cheerfully accepted rather than dreaded and avoided.--The Desire of Ages, 306.

                                  Since Christ suffered for us in the flesh,
                                  arm yourselves also with the same mind,
                                            for he who has suffered in the flesh
                                                      has ceased from sin.
                                                                                              --1 Peter 4:1, NKJV
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April 8, 2024

4/8/2024

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April 8:  Joy Through Tribulation.

Trials Resulting in Growth.
My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience.  Indeed we count them blessed who endure.  You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord--that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.--James 5:10, 11, NKJV

PATIENCE AS WELL AS COURAGE has its victories.  By meekness under trial, no less than by boldness in enterprise, souls may be won to Christ.  The Christian who manifests patience and cheerfulness under bereavement and suffering, who meets even death itself with the peace and calmness of an unwavering faith, may accomplish for the gospel more than he could have effected by a long life of faithful labor.  Often when the servant of God is withdrawn from active duty, the mysterious providence which our shortsighted vision would lament is designed by God to accomplish a work that otherwise would never have been done.--The Acts of the Apostles, 465.

Not in freedom from trial, but in the midst of it, is Christian character developed.  Exposure to rebuffs and opposition leads the follower of Christ to greater watchfulness and more earnest prayer to the mighty Helper.  Severe trial endured by the grace of God develops patience, vigilance, fortitude, and deep and abiding trust in God..  It is the triumph of the Christian faith that it enables its followers to suffer and be strong; to submit, and thus to conquer; to be killed all the day long, and yet to live; to bear the cross, and thus to win the crown of glory.--The Acts of the Apostles, 467.
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April 7, 2024

4/7/2024

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April 7:  Joy Through Tribulation.

When His Spirit Works Through Us.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.--Galatians 5:22, 23, ESV

CHARITY SUFFERETH LONG, and is kind; charity envieth not."  The divine love ruling in the heart exterminates pride and selfishness.  "Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up."  The purest joy springs from the deepest humiliation.  The strongest and noblest characters rest upon the foundation of patience and love, and trusting submission to the will of God.

Charity "doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil."  The heart in which love rules will not be filled with passion or revenge, by injuries which pride and self-love would deem unbearable.  Love is unsuspecting, ever placing the most favorable construction upon the motives and acts of others....

...Love not only bears with others' faults, but cheerfully submits to whatever suffering or inconvenience such forbearance makes necessary.  This love "never faileth."  It can never lose its value; it is the attribute of heaven.  As a precious treasure it will be carried by its possessor through the portals of the city of God.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, and peace.  Discord and strife are the work of Satan and the fruit of sin.  If we would as a people enjoy peace and love, we must put away our sins; we must come into harmony with God, and we shall be in harmony with one another.  Let each ask himself: Do I possess the grace of love?  Have I learned to suffer long and to be kind?--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, 168, 169.

               For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,
                           and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control,
                     and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,
                  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
                              
                                                             --2 Peter 1:5-7, ESV
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Joy of Troy Community Seventh-day Adventist Church
600 3rd Avenue, Lansingburgh, New York 12182 | 518-273-6400
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