Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.Revelation 5:12
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.Matthew 10:37-39
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:12
But what is the blessing in that? It means we have hope, right? Hope of eternal life to come if we endure! It means we have a Savior to follow after and obey! An enemy yes in satan and our fallen flesh but it is a battle to be won and we can get the victory! One particular battle would be how we think we look as godly women. Let's let the world think what it likes. We are blessed to have God's Word tell us who to be like and what to wear!
And speaking of the struggle we have against sin and the flesh, what is the greatest blessing? Our great God Himself and His Son Jesus Christ! And for His cause we battle much and know we will be persecuted for our faith and obedience to Him. Rejoice in that saints!
And what are some other battles and blessings in our own lives as godly women?
We might battle with keeping a house clean and washing dishes and clothes. But we can choose to look at the blessings in that and be thankful for a house to keep us sheltered from the weather, thankful for food to eat and for dishes to cook and serve it in and thankful for clothing.
We may be blessed to have a computer and phone to communicate with saints and share the gospel or order supplies. And there are battles that come with that. Expenses, technical issues, and stress on our bodies from using them. We can be thankful that we have them, use them wisely, and know that one day we will all be together with the Lord and His saints free from pain and suffering and the cares of this life.
All of us battle through pain and suffering in these mortal bodies. We know because of sin this world is cursed and has pain and suffering in it (and one particular one for women is pain in childbirth). But we can look at the blessings within that in that God didn't give us what we deserved...death and hell. He let us live and gave us a choice of who we would choose to serve. So let's look at these blessings sisters when life is hard. We have LIFE and God is long-suffering, merciful, and gracious! He did not kill us (as we deserved) when we were dead in sins! Glory to God! We get to live for Him now! And another blessing to look at when we battle with pain and suffering....
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Revelation 21:4-5
One day it will all be gone...for those who get to spend eternity with Him! (but the sufferings will only be far worse if we do not live for God and be sent into outer darkness).
So sisters all of us have pain and suffering to endure in these earthly tabernacles of ours but rejoice sisters we have such HOPE!! And we just get to be with Him if those sufferings lead to death!
Let's look at another blessing...being able to see! God blessed us with eyesight and through that we get to see this world His awesome creations, give Him glory for it and live this life in all the good things we get to do. But it doesn't come without some cost in that we also get to see sin. No we wouldn't be deliberately putting it in front of our eyes as we have left behind sinful things like TV, movies, books, browsing the internet for no good reason, entertainment, sports, music etc. So no we aren't putting those things in front of our eyes but as we go about life yes we can be vexed by what we see...sinful things we would rather not see. So that's a battle within the blessing of sight.
Similarly God blessed us with being able to hear. We can listen to God's Word, good biblical teachings, edification between saints, we can hear birds and frogs and the ocean and all good things in His creation. But we can also hear the things of this world that we have to battle through. You all know what some of those things are, worldly sinful talk, bad words, music, false teachings, people reviling us for Christ's sake etc. But again it's a battle we press through for our Lord.
So I'm sure you can think of more such blessings and battles but let us keep our focus on the Lord and endure all our battles for Him! They won't go on forever sisters!
Are you enduring through the battles in life...like this old pine tree, standing strong?
I must start to go now! Writing all that edified me in my battles so I hope it does you too! Rejoice sisters and focus on our real blessings in Christ and the hope to come if we obey Him! He is worthy to suffer for!
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Philippians 3:10
And thankyou sister for this picture gift...
I'm grateful for each of you saints I know and have daily close loving fellowship. And God has His remnant out there sisters!
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1 John 1:7
Love in Christ,
Sister Michaela
See the gospel explained here.