Colossians 1:11

It is the Lord : let him do what seemeth him good.—Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.—The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord .—What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?

Jesus wept.—A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.

Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For when I am weak, then am I strong.

My brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Have you prayed and prayed, and waited and waited, and still you see no evidence of an answer? Are you tired of seeing no movement? Are you at the point of giving up? Then perhaps you have not waited in the right way, which removes you from the right place—the place where the Lord can meet you.

“Wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:25). Patience eliminates worry. The Lord said He would come, and His promise is equal to His presence.

General Gordon regretted that no one had told him when he was a young man that there was a Holy Spirit which he could possess and which could possess him. The knowledge would have saved him weakness, and sorrow , and loss. But when the later loneliness came, Gordon knew the inner strengthening of the Spirit. A power not his own came to his help. He was “strengthened with all power” (Colossians 1:1 1).

This is the apostle’ s sense of the magnitude of the Spirit. There is nothing we can need at any time of pressure, whether of duty or of danger , of temptation or of anxiety , but the Divine Ally will make Himself the resource of the soul to meet and endure the strain.

What a contrast there is between a barren desert and the luxuriant oasis with its waving palms and its glorious verdure! Between gaunt and hungry flocks and the herds that lie down in green pastures and beside the still waters; between the viewless plain and the mountain height with its “land of far distances.”

What a difference there is between the aridity of an artificial, irrigated, stinted existence—a desert existence—and a life of abundant rains, crowding vegetation, and harvests that come almost of themselves— the abundant life!

Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power.—As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.—Trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord , that he might be glorified.—Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.

I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.—Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.