The Fifteenth Letter
Hey guys, whoever reads this… Today has been a lot better than yesterday. :] I’m so excited, Prom is tomorrow and I might get to spend the night at Kaley’s tonight. w00t, w00t! I’ll def. have pictures from Prom up sometime next week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to post, but if I do, it prolly won’t be very long… Anywho, on to the important stuff. :P
The Fifteenth Letter: God knows best what we need. All that He does is for our good. If we knew how much He loves us, we would always be ready to receive both the bitter and the sweet from His Hand. It would make no difference. All that came from Him would be pleasing.
I cannot thank Him enough for the relief He has given you. I hope to see Him within a few days. Let us pray for one another.
The worst afflictions only appear intolerable if we see them in the wrong light. When we see them as coming from the hand of God, and know that it is our loving Father who humbles and distresses us, our sufferings lose their bitterness and can even become a source of consolation.
Let all our efforts be to know God. The more one knows Him, the greater one desires to know Him. Knowledge is commonly the measure of love. The deeper and more extensive our knowledge, the greater is our love. If our love of God were great we would love Him equally in pain and pleasure.
We only deceive ourselves by seeking or loving God for any favors which He has or may grant us. Such favors, no matter how great, can never bring us as near to God as can one simple act of faith. Let us seek Him often by faith. He is within us. Seek Him not elsewhere.
Are we not rude and deserve blame if we leave Him alone to busy ourselves with trifles which do not please Him and perhaps even offend Him? These trifles may one day cost us dearly. Let us begin earnestly to be devoted to Him. Let us cast everything else out of our heart. He wants to possess the heart alone. Beg this favor of Him. If we do all we can, we will soon see that change wrought in us which we so greatly desire.
What an amazing idea. This was the final letter Brother Lawrence wrote, but I still see that pattern of keeping God in your life all the time. “Let us seek Him often by faith.” I think it is so important that we, as Christians, keep God always at the forefront of our minds in everything we do and that we have to give it our all. It makes me think of a passage from Ecclesiastes I read the other night.
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” Ecclesiastes 9:10a (TNIV)
When I read the first paragraph of this letter about receiving “both the bitter and the sweet from His hand”, I thought about another verse in Ecclesiastes that talks about God creating both the bitter and the sweet.
“When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.” Ecclesiastes 7:14a (TNIV)
I hope that this mini-series of posts has encouraged you to always have the Lord on your mind, your heart, and your soul. Every part of your body that has the ability to praise God should be counted as well. Toodles!
-Bee-
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