The Principle of Travail ~ T. Austin Sparks

 Travail Implies Something Costly

Now note the implication of this principle of travail — and there are many connections in which the law of travail operates: just go through the Bible and see the great number of connections where struggle and conflict and pain and anguish presages the emergence of some tremendous new thing of God. But note the implication of such a law. What did God mean by it? I think simply this — and perhaps much more, but certainly this — that nothing was going to be easy and cheap. To put it another way: that God was really establishing the tremendous value of everything. He was saving man from regarding things as being of little concern or value, forcing him to recognize that this thing is costly because it is valuable.

Surely this is the offset to the whole tendency of man’s nature to get things easily and cheaply, not to pay a price for them, to escape suffering, to escape labour, to get it all without any cost. And God has written in the universe this law that anything that is of Him, whether in creation or in grace, has a price attached to it, is a costly thing; it is infinitely precious and valuable, and worth suffering for!

Note, it is intended to bring the soul in — “the travail of His SOUL”; “My SOUL is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” — to bring the soul into relation with things; and when we say that we mean love. What we get cheaply and easily we do not really love. But that which costs binds our hearts to it — it becomes a matter of the heart, of love. And so by travail the soul is saved from lightness, carelessness, frivolity, cheapness, and brought to recognize that there is something here that is infinitely precious. How far-reaching is that truth and that law! What a lot of ground it covers!

God is not going to let the creation off in this matter. This is the explanation of so much. And nations and peoples that just give themselves up to frivolity, to cheapness, to escapism and all that sort of thing, are on the high road to a bad time in their history. It will not be too long before they pass through some fiery ordeal, in order to bring back the preciousness and the seriousness of things. And if this is true in the realm of nature and the world, how much it explains in the realm of God’s spiritual things! Oh, the infinite tragedy of trying to make the things of   God cheap and easy — even salvation, and the Christian life! — appealing always to the pleasure side of men, trying to eliminate the cost. 


The Lord Jesus never did that. Salvation is something of infinite cost: everything to do with salvation is infinitely precious, and there is not one fragment of all that is of God which is not of surpassing and transcendent value. It is not just going to be had willy-nilly. “Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Yes, suffering is attached to anything of value, and that is particularly true of spiritual things.

At that very point, you and I need to have our minds “converted” — we need a tremendous change of mind. Unless you recognize that, unless that has become true for you, there are some things in the Bible you cannot understand. They sound flippant, garrulous; they sound as though they are just words, words, words… Listen: “Our light affliction, which is for the moment…” (2 Cor. 4:17). What are you talking about, Paul — “our light affliction”? Well, listen to his catalog of sufferings! Listen to him as he tells us of all that he had to go through for the Gospel’s sake, and read the much more that Luke tells us, that Paul never mentions personally. What that beloved servant of God went through for the Gospel’s sake —! And yet he talks like this: “Our light affliction which is but for a passing moment”.

You cannot talk like that in the presence of suffering unless you have seen the infinite preciousness of that toward which God is working and bringing you. “Though now for a little while.. ye have been put to grief in manifold trials, yet.. ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Pet 1:6,8). Now look at the context of that: fiery trials. You cannot get through, understand, endure the travail, unless you have some sense of the value of things.
 

All Divine Operations Effected Through Travail
 

(a) Initiations

 
This law is carried through from nature to the purpose of God, to the divine purpose, and is seen in the Scriptures to be the principle or law of all divine realization. If you look again, you will see that in all new beginnings, in all the initiations of God, this law is ever present. Everything of God emerges from some agony, from some convulsion, from some death struggle. Look at your Bible again. It is like that all the way through: without or within, some tremendous travail marks every new beginning of God. Can you put your finger upon any instance in the Bible where God began again and there was no association with the principle of travail? You will have difficulty. It is the law of birth, you see, and it relates to the spiritual world, the purpose of God, just as much as to any other realm.
 

(b) Enlargements

 
And what is true of God’s beginnings and initiations, is true of every enlargement.Whenever God sets Himself for increase, for enlargement, to get something more than that which He has already got, it seems that He plunges things anew into travail. Every spring-time, for instance, is to see nature enlarged, growing beyond what it was before, and in its increase there is a new travail. Perhaps you will think me unduly fanciful, but you can almost hear the trees travailing at certain times as you walk in the woods. Probably if our ears were more attuned to that realm, and there are real sounds, to which our ears are not attuned — we should hear the groaning of the creation. Paul says this: “The whole creation groaneth and travaileth…” (Rom. 8:22).


Why? It is pent up, it is held back, it is under arrest; it is groaning for its expansion, its enlargement, it's liberation That is a law in spiritual things. Every fresh measure of Christ, every bit of spiritual increase, is fraught with a fresh baptism into His passion. We should recognize that, because so often we do not understand why it is that, when we ask for spiritual increase & enlargement, we immediately are plunged into a bad time. 


The increase comes that way, does it not? Some of us have learned that so well that, if we say these things to the Lord, it is so to speak with our tongue in our cheek! We are very, very careful what we say to the Lord. We have learned that the way of enlargement is at a cost, through fresh travail, and we cannot get away from it. Yes, there are successive baptisms into the passion of Christ. The law of His universality is the law of His passion. “I came to cast fire upon the earth… 


But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened until it be accomplished!” (Luke 12:49,50). By the travail of His soul, the passion of His Cross, the straitening was removed, the fire was scattered, and the enlargement took place. But that is equally true of the church (Exclessia ~ called out ones) as of Himself. The church (Exclesia ~ called out ones) has never expanded and been released without some convulsion. That is a matter of history.

(c) Consummation
 
Again, what is true of God’s beginnings, and of God’s continuations and enlargements, is true of His final consummation: that in the finality of things there will be one mighty convulsion. If you like to change the word — travail. I am not sure that the Body of Christ has not entered upon that already. It is certainly coming, and it will be, at the end, the explanation. It is true to the Word. That ultimate, final, intrinsic thing of glory and preciousness, God is going to bring out of the fiery ordeal at the end. Yes, the travail of His people at the end will issue in the final emergence of the church (Ecclesia ~ called out ones)  in glory and in the consummation of the divine purpose. 


The Bible sees a great travail in the Body of Christ and in the creation, out of which the Kingdom in fullness will finally come. “When these things begin to come to pass… lift up your heads; because your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28). It means your escape, your release, your exodus, your WAY OUT.

Travail has Universal Significance

Now this principle is, of course, comprehensively gathered up in Christ Himself and in His Cross. Christ’s Cross — His passion — is central to the whole universe, and it is central in this particular respect: it is travail through which the universe is redeemed. Yes, the heavens and the earth. The Cross of the Lord Jesus affects the whole range of things in the earth and beyond the earth. His travail is of universal significance, of infinite reach. And in every experience of true spiritual travail there is something that is of far-reaching significance and account. 


Here is this one little man, Paul, thought very little of, despised, by the world both in his own day and through centuries since. A certain writer — a great man in his own eyes — calls him “the insignificant little Jew”, Paul of Tarsus. Well, that is the world’s estimate of him. Here he is saying: “I fill up… that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church (Ecclesia)” (Col. 1:24). In other words: “I sip His cup, and, in so doing, I touch the whole Body of Christ.” It is a tremendous statement, is it not? But was it true? Has history proved that it was true? 


I would like to stop here with a parenthesis on the historical side of things. Fifty years ago, the whole realm of biblical scholarship, as it is called, “finished” Paul. They wrote him off; they decided that Paul’s teaching was not Christ’s, that it was in another realm altogether — it was not Christian. That was Paul finished, they thought!  


But somehow or another, he has had a mighty resurrection. The remarkable thing is that the whole realm of biblical scholarship is now anew giving Paul his place, seeing the immense significance of the man. It is  quite a fascinating thing to follow the biblical interpretation, & to be able to see today the tremendous come-back that is taking place. 


Why it is, of course, we know, and they are all going to be made to know that this man, because he shared the sufferings of Christ, has a universal significance for the whole Body. While that is interesting — and I could add so much more to it — the point is this. 


Here is the principle: that, if you and I really do share in the spiritual travail of Christ, we are lifted out of anything that is local and small and placed right in the universal. It is a value secured for the Body of Christ beyond anything merely earthly and parochial. That is the principle of His travail, which is placed at the center of the universe; and to share in such an enlargement, such release. You see, we come back to that again: release, enlargement, expansion, fullness, reproduction — use what words you will. The law is always the law of travail.
 

Travail Reveals “Heart” or “Hollow”

The Lord allows travail — indeed, He not only allows it, but appoints it — in order to find out whether really there is a heart-relationship to His things. A few months ago I found a tree lying at the side of the road, not far from my house. 


The day before, it had been upright and growing, and looking like all the other trees. It had all the leaves of profession, all the proximity of association with other trees, and outwardly it could pass off as being the real thing. But a storm came, and now it was lying there; and when I looked at it I found that it had no heart: it was a completely hollow thing — there was only a framework. 


That is a parable. That is what is happening, and what is going to happen, and what God will cause to happen everywhere. The travail will come — the suffering, persecution, trials, whatever it may be; and, whatever may be its form, whether it be within or without, it is going to come in order to discover whether there is heart for God, or whether, after all, it is hollow, it is a profession, it is simply an association on the outside, and not real on the inside. 


God must expose what is not real, and God must test everything to prove it. But what had happened to the other trees — those that stood near the fallen one? Well, they survived the storm, and they are still standing. But is that all? Not a bit of it! The next storm that comes will probably find that it has got a little harder work to do than last time to move these. Those roots have felt the strain and they have reached down and taken a tighter hold. They have got a grip on things; they have realized that storms are realities, and that it is a matter of life and death as to whether they stand.
 
It is so easy, is it not, when things get difficult, to walk out, give up? How often we pray that the Lord will protect from difficulties and troubles! - but the Lord never answers prayers like that. These things come to us personally, and they come to us in our little companies storms, shaking storms, things calculated to devastate and scatter, destroy and finish what is there, and the Lord does not protect. But what is He doing?
 


On the one side He is finding out whether there is a heart for Him, and whether there is reality in every member, or whether it is only an outward show and hollow inside. On the other hand, He is seeking to bring out the expression of preciousness: that this thing is too precious to let go easily; it means far too much for us to abandon at the first onset of adversity and trial. That is the meaning of it, and it explains very much, does it not?

A Song for the Suffering

Your heavenly Father ~ Matthew 6:26.

OD'S people are doubly His children, they are His offspring by creation, and they are His sons by adoption in Christ. Hence they are privileged to call Him, "Our Father which art in heaven." Father! Oh, what precious word is that. Here is authority: "If I be a Father, where is mine honour?" If ye be sons, where is your obedience? Here is affection mingled with authority; an authority which does not provoke rebellion; an obedience demanded which is most cheerfully rendered—which would not be withheld even if it might. The obedience which God's children yield to Him must be loving obedience. Do not go about the service of God as slaves to their taskmaster's toil, but run in the way of His commands because it is your Father's way. Yield your bodies as instruments of righteousness, because righteousness is your Father's will, and His will should be the will of His child. Father!—Here is a kingly attribute so sweetly veiled in love, that the King's crown is forgotten in the King's face, and His sceptre becomes, not a rod of iron, but a silver sceptre of mercy—the sceptre indeed seems to be forgotten in the tender hand of Him who wields it. Father!—Here is honour and love. How great is a Father's love to his children! That which friendship cannot do, and mere benevolence will not attempt, a father's heart and hand must do for his sons. They are his offspring, he must bless them; they are his children, he must show himself strong in their defense. If an earthly father watches over his children with unceasing love and care, how much more does our heavenly Father? Abba, Father! He who can say this, hath uttered better music than cherubim or seraphim can reach. There is heaven in the depth of that word—Father! There is all I can ask; all my necessities can demand; all my wishes can desire. I have all in all to all eternity when I can say, "Father." 

Charles Spurgeon

Heart of God, Abba Father ~ Chuck Girard

Not all men are to be Believed ~ Thomas A Kempis

The Disciple
 

GRANT me help in my needs, O Lord, for the aid of man is useless. How often have I failed to find faithfulness in places where I thought I possessed it! And how many times I have found it where I least expected it! Vain, therefore, is hope in men, but the salvation of the just is in You, O God. Blessed be Your name, O Lord my God, in everything that befalls us.
 

We are weak and unstable, quickly deceived and changed. Who is the man that is able to guard himself with such caution and care as not sometimes to fall into deception or perplexity? He who confides in You, O Lord, and seeks You with a simple heart does not fall so easily. And if some trouble should come upon him, no matter how entangled in it he may be, he will be more quickly delivered and comforted by You. For You will not forsake him who trusts in You to the very end.
Rare is the friend who remains faithful through all his friend's distress. But You, Lord, and You alone, are entirely faithful in all things; other than You, there is none so faithful.
 

Oh, how wise is that holy soul[38] who said: "My mind is firmly settled and founded in Christ." If that were true of me, human fear would not so easily cause me anxiety, nor would the darts of words disturb. But who can foresee all things and provide against all evils? And if things foreseen have often hurt, can those which are unlooked for do otherwise than wound us gravely? Why, indeed, have I not provided better for my wretched self? Why, too, have I so easily kept faith in others? We are but men, however, nothing more than weak men, although we are thought by many to be, and are called, angels.
 

In whom shall I put my faith, Lord? In whom but You? You are the truth which does not deceive and cannot be deceived. Every man, on the other hand, is a liar, weak, unstable, and likely to err, especially in words, so that one ought not to be too quick to believe even that which seems, on the face of it, to sound true. How wise was Your warning to beware of men; that a man's enemies are those of his own household; that we should not believe if anyone says: "Behold he is here, or behold he is there."
 

I have been taught to my own cost, and I hope it has given me greater caution, not greater folly. "Beware," they say, "beware and keep to yourself what I tell you!" Then while I keep silent, believing that the matter is secret, he who asks me to be silent cannot remain silent himself, but immediately betrays both me and himself, and goes his way. From tales of this kind and from such careless men protect me, O Lord, lest I fall into their hands and into their ways. Put in my mouth words that are true and steadfast and keep far from me the crafty tongue, because what I am not willing to suffer I ought by all means to shun.
 

Oh, how good and how peaceful it is to be silent about others, not to believe without discrimination all that is said, not easily to report it further, to reveal oneself to few, always to seek You as the discerner of hearts, and not to be blown away by every wind of words, but to wish that all things, within and beyond us, be done according to the pleasure of Thy will.
 

How conducive it is for the keeping of heavenly grace to fly the gaze of men, not to seek abroad things which seem to cause admiration, but to follow with utmost diligence those which give fervor and amendment of life! How many have been harmed by having their virtue known and praised too hastily! And how truly profitable it has been when grace remained hidden during this frail life, which is all temptation and warfare!

The Voice of Christ
 

MY CHILD, stand firm and trust in Me. For what are words but words? They fly through the air but hurt not a stone. If you are guilty, consider how you would gladly amend. If you are not conscious of any fault, think that you wish to bear this for the sake of God. It is little enough for you occasionally to endure words, since you are not yet strong enough to bear hard blows.
 

And why do such small matters pierce you to the heart, unless because you are still carnal and pay more heed to men than you ought? You do not wish to be reproved for your faults and you seek shelter in excuses because you are afraid of being despised. But look into yourself more thoroughly and you will learn that the world is still alive in you, in a vain desire to please men. For when you shrink from being abased and confounded for your failings, it is plain indeed that you are not truly humble or truly dead to the world, and that the world is not crucified in you.
 

Listen to My word, and you will not value ten thousand words of men. Behold, if every malicious thing that could possibly be invented were uttered against you, what harm could it do if you ignored it all and gave it no more thought than you would a blade of grass? Could it so much as pluck one hair from your head?
 

He who does not keep his heart within him, and who does not have God before his eyes is easily moved by a word of disparagement. He who trusts in Me, on the other hand, and who has no desire to stand by his own judgment, will be free from the fear of men. For I am the judge and discerner of all secrets. I know how all things happen. I know who causes injury and who suffers it. From Me that word proceeded, and with My permission it happened, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed. I shall judge the guilty and the innocent; but I have wished beforehand to try them both by secret judgment.
 

The testimony of man is often deceiving, but My judgment is true -- it will stand and not be overthrown. It is hidden from many and made known to but a few. Yet it is never mistaken and cannot be mistaken even though it does not seem right in the eyes of the unwise.
 

To Me, therefore, you ought to come in every decision, not depending on your own judgment. For the just man will not be disturbed, no matter what may befall him from God. Even if an unjust charge be made against him he will not be much troubled. Neither will he exult vainly if through others he is justly acquitted. He considers that it is I Who search the hearts and inmost thoughts of men, that I do not judge according to the face of things or human appearances. For what the judgment of men considers praiseworthy is often worthy of blame in My sight.
 

The Disciple
 

O Lord God, just Judge, strong and patient, You Who know the weakness and depravity of men, be my strength and all my confidence, for my own conscience is not sufficient for me. You know what I do not know, and, therefore, I ought to humble myself whenever I am accused and bear it meekly. Forgive me, then, in Your mercy for my every failure in this regard, and give me once more the grace of greater endurance. Better to me is 

Your abundant mercy in obtaining pardon than the justice which I imagine in defending the secrets of my conscience. And though I am not conscious to myself of any fault, yet I cannot thereby justify myself, because without Your mercy no man living will be justified in Your sight

Mighty Warrior ~ Great is the Lord ~ You Are Sovereign ~ Awesome in this Place ~ Take Me In

1 Peter 1:6-8

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ: whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory!

I am posting the words and the music to some of my favorite worship songs. i pray they prepare you for spiritual battle and usher you into the Presence of The Most High Sovereign Yahweh God!

MIGHTY WARRIOR ~ (Klaus Kuehn and Mike Massa)

(Chorus)

Mighty Warrior, dressed for battle, Holy Lord of all is He. Commander in Chief, bring us to attention. Lead us into battle to crush the enemy.

satan has no authority here in this place, he has no authority here. For this habitation was fashioned for the Lord's Presence, no authority here.

(Chorus)

Jesus has all authority here in this place, He has all authority here, For this habitation was fashioned for the Lord's presence, all authority here.

GREAT IS THE LORD ~ (Brian Peterson)

Great is the Lord and most worthy of Praise. The city of our God the Holy Place. The joy of the whole earth. Great is the Lord in whom we have the victory. He aides us against the enemy. We bow down on our knees...

(Chorus)

And Lord we want to lift Your Name on high. Lord we want to thank You for the work You've done in our lives. And Lord we trust in your Unfailing Love. For You alone are God Eternal, throughout earth and heaven above.

YOU ARE SOVEREIGN ~ (Russ Taff)

You cause the sun to rise in the eastern skies. You made the stars to shine, lighting up the night. You spoke a single word, and galaxies appeared. You know the stars by name in heaven far and near.

(Chorus)

For You are Sovereign, You are Holy. Oh the beauty and glory. You are Awesome, Almighty and Worthy to be praised.

You created music, and authored every sound. You caused the clouds to thunder and lightening to come down. You salted every ocean, and flood the earth with rain. You formed every creature. and no two are the same.

(Chorus)

Glory and Honor and Wisdom and Power ....(repeated several times)

Glory and Honor and Wisdom and Power and Sovereign and Holy and Beauty and Worthy to be praised......(Repeated a few times)

(Chorus)


( *After listening to this last song click stop on the player or it will repeat starting with the first song *)

AWESOME IN THIS PLACE ~ (Kent Henry)

TAKE ME IN 

God's Wisdom is Greater than our Adversaries ~ Jerry Bridges

(This was taken and typed out from a book called, "Trusting God When Life Hurts.")

God's Wisdom is not only as high above ours as the heavens are above the earth, it is also higher than the wisdom and cunning of our adversaries. This should be a great comfort to us. I personally have, at least to this point in my life, found adversity from contrary circumstances more easy to bear than that which comes at the hands of other people. David apparently felt the same way. In 2 Samuel 24:14, he said, " I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is great, but do not let me fall into the hands of men."

Other people for various reasons may plan and scheme to treat us unjustly, to take advantage of us, or to, "use" us for their own selfish ends. Buy Proverbs 21:30 says, "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord." Therefore we can say in the words of Paul, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) Even the most nefarious schemes of our adversaries can only accomplish what God has Sovereignly ordained for us and in His infinite wisdom skillfully brings to pass. 

Joseph's brothers thought they were getting rid of their brother of whom they were exceedingly envious. But God planned all along to use their scheme to send Joseph ahead of them to be their provider during their seven years of famine. They intended their actions for evil but God intended them for good.

Saul sought to kill David because David was receiving more praise for his military prowess than was Saul. But God used those months and years when David was hiding from Saul, to build into David the character that made him a great king and a man after God's own heart. Many of the most meaningful Psalms were aparently written during those months. One of my favorites, Psalm 34, was written during a time when David was reduced to acting as an insane man for fear of a heathen king. Yet that is the Psalm I frequently turn to when I struggle with discouragement. What Saul meant for evil, God meant for good.

satan thought that by getting God to allow him to afflict Job, he would thereby get Job to curse God to His face. But he succeeded only in being an instrument to bring Job into a deeper and more reverent relationship with God.

satan was given permission to afflict Saul with a thorn in the flesh to torment him. satan probably thought that he would probably nullify the effectiveness of Paul's Ministry. Instead, he succeeded only in putting Paul in the circumstance where Paul learned experimentally the sufficiency of God's grace and that his strength is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9) Think of how many thousands of believers down through the centuries have found God's grace to be sufficient for them through meditating on God's words to Paul at that time.

God's wisdom, then, is greater than the wisdom of any of our adversaries, whether they be other people or the devil himself. Therefore we should not fear what they seek to do, or even succeed in doing to us. God is just as much at work in thise "things" as He is in the adversities of sickness, death, financial reversal, and the ravages of nature.

In researching the subject of God's wisdom among the teachers of previous centuries, I came across the following paragraph, which so beautifully sums up all that i have tried to say on the subject. I append it without further comment, hoping that it will encourage you, as it has me, to trust God in all circumstances, whether private or public, and to believe that He is working all things out for good as well as for His glory.

It should fill us with joy, that infinite wisdom guides the affairs of the world. Many of it's events are shrouded in darkness and mystery, an inextricable confusion sometimes seems to reign. Often wickedness prevails, and God seems to have forgotten the creatures that He has made.  Our own path through life is dark and devious, and beset with difficulties and danger. How full of consolation the doctrine, that infinite wisdom directs every event, brings order out of confusion, and light out of darkness. And, to those who love God, causes all things, whatever be their present aspect and apparent tendency, to work together for good.

The Awesome Voice of God ~ David Wilkerson

 

 Revelation 1:15
And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters.

The Awesome Voice of God ~ Click here 

 Deuteronomy 5:23-29

 ²³And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

 ²⁴And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.

 ²⁵Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die.

 ²⁶For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

 ²⁷Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.

 ²⁸And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the LORD said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken.

 ²⁹O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

Divine Help and Confidence in Regaining Grace ~ Restlessness of Soul (The Imitation of Christ)

The Voice of Christ

MY CHILD, I am the Lord Who gives strength in the day of trouble. Come to Me when all is not well with you. Your tardiness in turning to prayer is the greatest obstacle to heavenly consolation, for before you pray earnestly to Me you first seek many comforts and take pleasure in outward things. Thus, all things are of little profit to you until you realize that I am the one Who saves those who trust in Me, and that outside of Me there is no worth-while help, or any useful counsel or lasting remedy.

But now, after the tempest, take courage, grow strong once more in the light of My mercies; for I am near, says the Lord, to restore all things not only to the full but with abundance and above measure. Is anything difficult for Me? Or shall I be as one who promises and does not act? Where is your faith? Stand firm and persevere. Be a man of endurance and courage, and consolation will come to you in due time. Wait for Me; wait -- and I will come to heal you.

It is only a temptation that troubles you, a vain fear that terrifies you. Of what use is anxiety about the future? Does it bring you anything but trouble upon trouble? Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. It is foolish and useless to be either grieved or happy about future things which perhaps may never happen. But it is human to be deluded by such imaginations, and the sign of a weak soul to be led on by suggestions of the enemy. For he does not care whether he overcomes you by love of the present or fear of the future.

Let not your heart be troubled, therefore, nor let it be afraid. Believe in Me and trust in My mercy. When you think you are far from Me, then often I am very near you. When you judge that almost all is lost, then very often you are in the way of gaining great merit.

All is not lost when things go contrary to your wishes. You ought not judge according to present feelings, nor give in to any trouble whenever it comes, or take it as though all hope of escape were lost. And do not consider yourself forsaken if I send some temporary hardship, or withdraw the consolation you desire. For this is the way to the kingdom of heaven, and without doubt it is better for you and the rest of My servants to be tried in adversities than to have all things as you wish. I know your secret thoughts, and I know that it is profitable for your salvation to be left sometimes in despondency lest perhaps you be puffed up by success and fancy yourself to be what you are not.

What I have given, I can take away and restore when it pleases Me. What I give remains Mine, and thus when I take it away I take nothing that is yours, for every good gift and every perfect gift is Mine. If I send you trouble and adversity, do not fret or let your heart be downcast. I can raise you quickly up again and turn all your sorrow into joy. I am no less just and worthy of great praise when I deal with you in this way.

If you think aright and view things in their true light, you should never be so dejected and saddened by adversity, but rather rejoice and give thanks, considering it a matter of special joy that I afflict you with sorrow and do not spare you. "As the Father hath loved Me, so also I love you," I said to My disciples, and I certainly did not send them out to temporal joys but rather to great struggles, not to honors but to contempt, not to idleness, but to labors, not to rest but to bring forth much fruit in patience. Do you, My child, remember these words.

MY CHILD, do not trust in your present feeling, for it will soon give way to another. As long as you live you will be subject to changeableness in spite of yourself. You will become merry at one time and sad at another, now peaceful but again disturbed, at one moment devout and the next in devout, sometimes diligent while at other times lazy, now grave and again flippant.

But the man who is wise and whose spirit is well instructed stands superior to these changes. He pays no attention to what he feels in himself or from what quarter the wind of fickleness blows, so long as the whole intention of his mind is conducive to his proper and desired end. For thus he can stand undivided, unchanged, and unshaken, with the singleness of his intention directed unwaveringly toward Me, even in the midst of so many changing events. And the purer this singleness of intention is, with so much the more constancy does he pass through many storms.

But in many ways the eye of pure intention grows dim, because it is attracted to any delightful thing that it meets. Indeed, it is rare to find one who is entirely free from all taint of self- seeking. The Jews of old, for example, came to Bethany to Martha and Mary, not for Jesus' sake alone, but in order to see Lazarus.

The eye of your intention, therefore, must be cleansed so that it is single and right. It must be directed toward Me, despite all the objects which may interfere.

(Taken from The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis)