I Peter 4:12

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.—Sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

As ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.—Now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

The exhortation . . . speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.

Remember wha t you are saved for - that the Son of God might be manifested in your mortal flesh . Bend the whole ener gy of your powers to realize your election as a child of God; rise to the occasion every time.

Y ou can not do anything for your salvation, but you must do som ething to manifest it, you must work out what God has worked in. Are you working it out w ith your tongue, and your brain and your nerves? If you are stil the same miserable crosspatch, set on your own way , then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.

God still has His secrets—hidden from “the wise and learned” (Luke 10:21). Do not fear these unknown things, but be content to accept the things you cannot understand and to wait patiently. In due time He will reveal the treasures of the unknown to you—the riches of the glory of the mystery.

Recognize that the mystery is simply the veil covering God’s face. Do not be afraid to enter the cloud descending on your life, for God is in it. And the other side is radiant with His glory.

Many hours of waiting were necessary to enrich David’s harp with song. And hours of waiting in the wilderness will provide us with psalms of “thanksgiving and the sound of singing” (Isaiah 51:3). The hearts of the discouraged here below will be lifted, and joy will be brought to our Father’s heavenly home.

What was the preparation for Jesse’s son, David, to compose songs unlike any others ever heard before on earth? It was the sinful persecution he endured at the hands of the wicked that brought forth his cries for God’s help. Then David’s faint hope in God’s goodness blossomed into full songs of rejoicing, declaring the Lord’s mighty deliverances and multiplied mercies. Every sorrow was yet another note from his harp, and every deliverance another theme of praise.

Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

When I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.—Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.