GOING ON FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
Blessed are those whose strength is in you. Ps. 84:5, N.I.V.
Vitamin pills, protein drinks, aerobics--America is on a fad of getting fit. Posters displaying muscular bodies abound; "no pain, no gain," viewers are advised. But bodies grow old regardless of what people do, and disease can rob the most enthusiastic person of his health.
There is one Source of strength that will never fail! "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion" (Ps. 84:5-7, N.I.V.).
Our only lasting happiness comes when we know the Father. Our strength is in that knowledge; we know we are only pilgrims here on this weary planet. And each day that we must pass through the bone-dry desert of misconceptions about God's character that prevail in our world, we may make places where springs of living water offer hope to the tired and dying. The autumn rains, the pouring out of the Spirit of God at the harvesttime of earth's history, will pool together as those who delight in Him draw others into like fellowship. So we go from strength to strength until we gain our heart's desire: to be with the Father forevermore.
It is possible, because "we have this treasure" of the knowledge of God "in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Cor. 4:7-9, N.I.V.). Our strength is our unshakable consciousness of who God is; our impregnable friendship with Him causes us always to hope. No future with Him could ever be dim!
So we cry with joy unspeakable, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution of famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us...[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:35-39, N.I.V.).
Inseparable! Our friendship with God is going to last! It makes you feel like living forever! And so we shall.
Blessed are those whose strength is in you. Ps. 84:5, N.I.V.
Vitamin pills, protein drinks, aerobics--America is on a fad of getting fit. Posters displaying muscular bodies abound; "no pain, no gain," viewers are advised. But bodies grow old regardless of what people do, and disease can rob the most enthusiastic person of his health.
There is one Source of strength that will never fail! "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion" (Ps. 84:5-7, N.I.V.).
Our only lasting happiness comes when we know the Father. Our strength is in that knowledge; we know we are only pilgrims here on this weary planet. And each day that we must pass through the bone-dry desert of misconceptions about God's character that prevail in our world, we may make places where springs of living water offer hope to the tired and dying. The autumn rains, the pouring out of the Spirit of God at the harvesttime of earth's history, will pool together as those who delight in Him draw others into like fellowship. So we go from strength to strength until we gain our heart's desire: to be with the Father forevermore.
It is possible, because "we have this treasure" of the knowledge of God "in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Cor. 4:7-9, N.I.V.). Our strength is our unshakable consciousness of who God is; our impregnable friendship with Him causes us always to hope. No future with Him could ever be dim!
So we cry with joy unspeakable, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution of famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us...[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:35-39, N.I.V.).
Inseparable! Our friendship with God is going to last! It makes you feel like living forever! And so we shall.
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