Fires of Sorrow

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

*June 25, 2009
<http://www.2rbetter.org/>*



   *2009-06-25 - “RECEIVING YOURSELF IN THE FIRES OF SORROW”*

*(From “My Utmost for His Highest” - Oswald Chambers)*


 “*... what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But for this
purpose I came to this hour. 'Father, glorify Your name' ” - John 12:27-28
(12:20-36). *


 *As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be
to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may
remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our
Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in
the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of
the hour.*


 *We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have
to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow,
refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts
in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and
suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in
allowing them.*


 *Sorrow removes a great deal of a person's shallowness, but it does not
always make the person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it
destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because
you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the
monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only
way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is
immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human
experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of
sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your
moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a
person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be
contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If
you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you
nourishment for other people.*



 *NOTE**: *Brother Yun, “The Heavenly Man”, experienced tremendous suffering
in China for his bold witness for Jesus Christ. He was persecuted, beaten,
jailed, brought to the very point of death - as well as those associated
with him - including his family. In the beginning he complained to God,
until the Lord Himself clearly pointed out the truth in the above message by
Chambers.


 Paul Hattaway wrote the biography on the remarkable true story of Chinese
Christian Brother Yun published by Monarch Books, 2002, in the US.
(Distributed by Kregel Publications, PO Box 2607, Grand Rapids, Michigan
49501)


 The book of Job in the Bible deals with this same subject. Oswald Chambers
wrote “Baffled to Fight Better,” a series of sermons to British troops in
World War I - in this book showing how suffering made a good man better.


 Young or old, those who are serious for life and God, all are appointed to
suffering. The above reading on ”Receiving Yourself in the Fires of
Suffering” is an absolute necessity for such. There are *no* exceptions.
Understand, accept and live through this insight, and you are destined to
become profitable both in life and the Kingdom of God. - J.A.W.



 *NOTE TWO**: **Correction - On Thursday June 18th, I mailed out a prayer
purported to be given by Billy Graham. Several friends alerted me to the
fact that this is a misnomer. It was delivered by a preacher to the House of
Representatives some 10 years previously, and several Democrats walked out
of the meeting to express their disapproval. Actually, the true story is
perhaps more startling than the fiction. <www.snopes.com> gives the full and
true story. Please accept my apologies and forgive me for failing to check
with “Snopes” first. This is perhaps the 3rd or 4th time I have been caught
in this type of error. Again - “To err is human; - to forgive is divine.”*



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