Encouraging Words

This morning I read a couple of chapters in Prophets and Kings ( the book I am on now) and I came across some awesome quotes that I wanted to share today. These chapters were awesome and if you have a chance - read the whole chapters they are so encouraging. "From Jezreel to Horeb" and "What Doest Thou Here?" Excellent chapters!

"Into the experience of all there come times of keen disappointment and utter discouragement_ days when sorrow is the portion, and it is hard to believe that God is still the kind benefactor of His earthborn children; days when troubles harass the soul, till death seems preferable to life. It is then that many lose their hold on God and are brought into slavery of doubt, the bondage of unbelief. Could we at such times discern with spiritual insight the meaning of Gods providences we should see angels seeking to save us from ourselves, striving to plant our feet upon a foundation more firm than the everlasting hills, and new faith, new life, would spring into being." PK 162

"Hope and courage are essential to perfect service for God. These are the fruit of faith. Despondency is sinful and unreasonable. God is able and willing "more abundantly"(Hebrews 6:17) to bestow upon His servants the strength they need for test and trial. The plans of the enemies of His work may seem to be well laid and firmly established, but God can overthrown the strongest of these. And this He does in His own time and way, when He sees that the faith of His servants has been sufficiently tested.
For the disheartened there is a sure remedy- faith, prayer, work. Faith and activity will impart assurance and satisfaction that will increase day by day. Are you tempted to give way to feelings of anxious foreboding or utter despondency? In the darkest days, when appearances seem most forbidding, fear not. Have faith in God. He knows your need. He has all power, His infinite love and compassion never weary. Fear not that He will fail of fulfilling His promise. He is eternal truth. Never will He change the covenant He has made with those who love Him. And He will bestow upon His faithful servants the measure of efficiency that their need demands. The apostle Paul has testified: "He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for these: for My strength is made perfect in weakness....Therefor I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9,10
Did God forsake Elijah in his hour of trial? Oh, no! He loved His servant no less when Elijah felt himself forsaken of God and man than when, in answer to his prayer fire flashed from heaven and illuminated the mountaintops...." PK 164-166

"Fellow Christian, Satan knows your weakness: therefore cling to Jesus. Abiding in God's love, you may stand every test. The righteousness of Christ alone can give you power to stem the tide of evil that is sweeping over the world. Bring faith into your experience. Faith lightens every burden, relieves every weariness. Providences that are now mysterious you may solve by continues trust in God. Walk by faith in the path He marks out. trials will come, but go forward. This will strengthen your faith and fit you for service. The records of history are written, not merely that we may read and wonder, but that the same faith which wrought in God's servants of old may work in us. In no less marked manner will the Lord work now, wherever there are hearts of faith to be channels of His power.
To us, as to Peter, the word is spoken, "Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for these, that thy faith fail not." Luke 22:31 Christ will never abandon those for whom He has died...
Could our spiritual vision be quickened, we should see souls bowed under oppression and burdened with grief, pressed as a cart beneath sheaves, and ready to die in discouragement. We should see angels flying quickly to the aid of these tempted ones, forcing back the host of evil that encompass them, and placing their feet on the sure foundation. The battles waging between the two armies are as real as those fought by the armies of this world, and on the issue of the spiritual conflict eternal destinies depend." PK 175-176

"Nothing is apparently more helpless, yet really more invincible, than the soul that feels its nothingness and relies wholly on God." PK 175

There was so much more- but what blessings these words were to my heart - I am hoping they are a blessing to your heart as well. :o)