In our last post we shared Amos chapter 8 which says this: Amos 8:11-12
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it."
From here we can move to Micah chapter 3 verse 6: Micah 3:6-7
“Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.”
Then Paul has this to say as recorded in 2Timothy: 2Timothy 3:8-9
“Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.”
We've shared these things as a means of helping others to be able or empowered to receive the things of God and to build trust in His faithfulness which is Christ. As they with us walk through the dark night of Faith by His Love and ontological Spirit's essence in our being in receptiveness of His Grace and Truth. Before we continue we need to also look at another few passages wherein God speaks of the furnace of affliction to hear what He purposes in it. Lets look first at Isaiah chapter 48:
Isaiah 48:9-10
"For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."
"The furnace of affliction is for those who by faith are in Christ. What happens in the furnace of affliction? What is it that is dealt with in the fire? Is it you, and is it I, that are refined in the fire? Are we are refined in the fire? Am I refined in the furnace of affliction? I say, No! emphatically NO!! If we say, “Yes!” well, let us look at the furnace of affliction, the fire with the metal in the crucible. The furnace of affliction is not for the removal of the bad out of us so as to leave the good that is in us, and secure it! Then what is its purpose? Is it to refine Christ in us? We need not discuss that! Christ needs no refining! What is it for? It is to divide between what is us in fallen nature, and what is Christ, and to get rid of the one in order to give full place to the other! The furnace of affliction is the application of the Cross to the getting rid of you and me (self-will or self-sufficiency, hardheartedness, unbelief), in order to leave the whole place for Christ." (quoted from a blog written by Michael Clark titled "A Wilderness Voice") We could call up such passages as Hebrews 12:10-11, 1Peter 4:12, and Revelation 3:19 as our proofing of this statement in the New Covenant or possibly a few from the Old but we'll allow it to stand for itself just now.
Now to 2Timothy chapter 1 verse 7:
II Timothy 1:7a
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; (now isn't that a comfort? We don't have to sit here shaking in our boots scared to death of what's going to happen tomorrow, or the next day, or down the road. We're not living under a spirit of fear) but of power,..."
We want to remember that our all-powerful God is the One that spoke the Word, and created the whole universe. We recently read an interesting thing in a magazine, an article by, "Ask Marilyn." in which she wrote that. Someone wrote and said, "I told my child while on the sandy beach one day that for every grain of sand there was also a star out in space." Then after he had told his 5-year-old this, he was wondering if he had told him right. What if the child backed him into the corner and told him to prove that? It is quite a statement, but do you know what her answer was? The old scientist Carl Sagan had determined scientifically that there are approximate 10,000 grains of sand in every handful of sand, I believe that is the correct figure. And from that he determined that there are more stars out in space than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of this world. Now you think about that for a while. Now we're not saying that he was right, but we wouldn't think that he was just spitting into the wind, as we say. We think that there is validity to that. For every grain of sand there's a star out in space, and we think the Scripture also implies that. But whatever, this is a God that we belong to, and then some of us fear? We have nothing to fear, but fear itself, as Roosevelt once said. But nevertheless our God is so powerful that we have absolutely nothing to fear. And here it is in this verse -
II Timothy 1:7-8
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God."
So here we have the power of God and there are many out there that want that power in their own hands so they can do what Jesus did, heal the sick, raise the dead and more. But there's one thing wrong with all that, if they had the power what would happen to them? Why! they'd self destruct, they'd become puffed up like a blow-fish, with ego. The power that God through the Holy Spirit imparts to us is the ability to become a Living witness, be a martyr of Christ's resurrection power. How? Through our death, not a physical death as the natural man thinks of death but as the spiritual man sees it. A passing from an earthy life into a heavenly spiritual Life in the Newness of Christ's Life infused within us. This Life is our Salvation out of here, the calling out of Ur of Chaldees and Egypt if you will.
For that reason, now whenever you see that word "power" from this point on, do you know what we want you to think of? The vastness of our outer space, and that God's in total control. We've never yet read an account of an astronomer who sees a star crashing into another star. Have you? No! Now they see explosions out there and the beginnings of still another new star, but we have never read the account of someone seeing through the Hubbell or anything else an event such as one star colliding with another one. Why? Because our Bible tells us that the Creator not only created everything, but He also holds everything exactly where it belongs. Now listen if He can keep track of as many stars and celestial bodies as there are grains of sands on the beaches of this world, then we know He keeps track of us. And we can rest assured that He's keeping track of you and me. We mean, that's a God we're talking about that goes beyond human understanding, but that's the God of this Book. Now let's read on in verse 9, and here comes the purpose of God. This God -
I Timothy 1:9
"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose (and where was that purpose originally generated? Back there in Acts chapter 2 that we looked at when the Godhead came together, and precipitated everything according to their counsel. According to His own purpose) and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,"
This was already in the mind and heart of God in that counsel that predetermined everything because He's an all-knowing God, all loving God in whom is only goodness and He alone could do IT. It all happened in that determinate counsel we read about in Acts 2:23. That's where God had us on His mind and in His heart of hearts. That's why Paul could write this in Ephesians.
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