Having recently read about the changes that God is bringing to the world and will bring to his people, I wanted to know from the Lord if He wanted me to stay where I am or go.
I went to sleep after my devotional and prayer and around the next morning early in the morning around 4ish while in my sleep I hear sounds of light metal hitting metal...I thought "wonder where that is coming from" while still sleeping I decided to wake up to check on it if something was wrong.
Well my first check was the ceiling fan right above me and it was on but there are no hanging pull ropes to adjust the speed or turn on the light so I continued to check the ceiling because I live on the bottom floor of a 3 story Condo and sometimes you can hear banging from above...nothing.
My wife and daughter were asleep and my pets too, no appliance was running or any water so I was baffled. I decided to ask the Lord if this was from Him. I said in my mind "it sounded like a hammer hitting a metal tent stake when putting up a tent". This was the closest sound I could think of in my experience as being a Boy Scout and setting up dad's old military tent when in an outings. I said "Lord please confirm if this was what I heard and you want me to stay by letting me see something military" then I went back to sleep.
A few hours later I readied for work that same morning and was now on the road going to work and I remembered my request and said Lord please confirm if this is from you by allowing me to see something military then within a minute from me repeating that request there to my left was another Jeep in black and as it was excelling I saw the back window to the hatch and there was a UNITED STATES ARMY sticker right in the upper center of the back window and started laughing out loud....yep there's my confirmation! Thank you Lord.
Where I live there are Redskins fans, Nationals fans, UVA fans, etc..but this was amazing to me that this was the only sticker seen after my remembering the request.
Usually military tents when being in use means training and preparation...so anchor down and prepare for the call of duty of what is coming my Brethren!
A Message, Vision, and Dream for The Bride
7/23/2016 http://soundthealarm-wp.weebly.com/
Come
to Me My Love. I am waiting for you. You see, very soon you will be
transformed! You will be absolutely delighted about your new body! Each
of you I have masterfully crafted, and you each will carry a greater
measure of My Spirit. Very soon now the transformation will be upon
you!! This is a gift to My Bride! Don’t fear what is coming upon the
world for you will be perfectly protected in your new bodies. I have
sent more angels to watch over each of your households. Some travel with
you and never leave your side and others stay at their post which I
have assigned. You see, My Bride is perfectly protected as she is My
Greatest Treasure! Soon your eyes will be opened, and you will see
through the veil! Your help is already in place for we are days away
from Kickoff!
VISION:
I had a quick vision where I saw 2 very ordinary clouds part in the sky, and as they parted the brightest light I have ever seen shown through them! When I saw this, my body reacted in the physical with a jolt of what I can only explain as electricity! It was not painful at all, but it literally rocked me!
MESSAGE CONTINUES...
Surely I am coming quickly! Prepare your hearts My Love and lift up your head for soon I will part the clouds and call My Own, My Bride to Myself, and she will hear My voice loud and clear and answer My call! My Love! Prepare for your King for surely I come! Now get this posted without further delay for the night is coming and Your Knight is coming! I love you My Darling! I love you!
Ephesians 2:10
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Psalm 91:11
"For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways"
Deuteronomy 7:6
"The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession."
Luke 21:28
"When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
1 Thessalonians 4:16
"For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first."
John 9:4
"I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night comes, when no man can work."
DREAM FROM LAST NIGHT TO POST WITH THIS MESSAGE:
The Lord just brought a dream I had last night back to me! It may be important to the time we are in!
In my dream, there were earthquakes all over the earth and they were in places that had never had earthquakes before! The whole earth was shaking and there was no safe place! I saw a huge sink hole open up suddenly right before me without any warning, and I started warning people to get to safety away from the sink hole and then the sink hole grew even larger without warning. People were screaming and running by that point, and I knew this was happening everywhere. I must have been in my new body because I was calm and trying to help people. I also saw a road covered in water and no one knew how deep the water was, but then I was able to cross the water safely with the water only coming up to my waist. There were others crossing too with me, so we must have all been transformed!
VISION:
I had a quick vision where I saw 2 very ordinary clouds part in the sky, and as they parted the brightest light I have ever seen shown through them! When I saw this, my body reacted in the physical with a jolt of what I can only explain as electricity! It was not painful at all, but it literally rocked me!
MESSAGE CONTINUES...
Surely I am coming quickly! Prepare your hearts My Love and lift up your head for soon I will part the clouds and call My Own, My Bride to Myself, and she will hear My voice loud and clear and answer My call! My Love! Prepare for your King for surely I come! Now get this posted without further delay for the night is coming and Your Knight is coming! I love you My Darling! I love you!
Ephesians 2:10
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Psalm 91:11
"For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways"
Deuteronomy 7:6
"The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession."
Luke 21:28
"When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
1 Thessalonians 4:16
"For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first."
John 9:4
"I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night comes, when no man can work."
DREAM FROM LAST NIGHT TO POST WITH THIS MESSAGE:
The Lord just brought a dream I had last night back to me! It may be important to the time we are in!
In my dream, there were earthquakes all over the earth and they were in places that had never had earthquakes before! The whole earth was shaking and there was no safe place! I saw a huge sink hole open up suddenly right before me without any warning, and I started warning people to get to safety away from the sink hole and then the sink hole grew even larger without warning. People were screaming and running by that point, and I knew this was happening everywhere. I must have been in my new body because I was calm and trying to help people. I also saw a road covered in water and no one knew how deep the water was, but then I was able to cross the water safely with the water only coming up to my waist. There were others crossing too with me, so we must have all been transformed!
Monday, July 25, 2016 http://wingsofprophecy.blogspot.com/
Do Not Be Alarmed
My
children, you have noticed the shaking going on in relationships around you. Do
not be alarmed, for did I not tell you I would shake everything loose that was
not of Me?
What
is not of Me will not be able to survive what is yet ahead for My people, so I
must do this.
Cling
to My Word and My Ways, not to your lives in the earth, and all will be well.
1 Corinthians 15:33
Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he
that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
Proverbs 3:5-7
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean
not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall
direct thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and
depart from evil.
Joshua 1:9 Have
not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither
be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Isaiah 41:10
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I
will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the
right hand of my righteousness.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Set Your Mind
Some
of My children are not ready for the changes about to happen in their lives,
though they think they are. My children, you must remember that the changes you
see as negative may actually be what is best for you in My eyes. I know what is
coming to your world, and how it will affect each one of you and I am making
changes that are best for you so you can be most effective.
Set
your minds to obey Me in all things. Set your hearts to be humble under My
hand, no matter what these changes bring, and you will do well in them. If you
resist the changes, it will not stop them from coming, it will only make them
harder for you to bear. If you resist Me, I will in turn resist you in your
pridefulness.
Set
yourself to obey, and follow Me.
Luke 9:51 And
it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he
stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
1 Peter 5:6 Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time:
2 Corinthians 12:9
And 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.
Proverbs 3:5-7
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean
not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall
direct thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and
depart from evil.
James 4:6 But
he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth
grace unto the humble.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Are You Ready?
Some
of the changes I am bringing into your lives will take you by surprise, My
children, and at first you may find them difficult to understand, but bear with
Me, for I have a purpose in this. It will turn out for your benefit if you will
only trust Me.
I
have placed people in your path for you to minister to, for you to influence.
The world is under the enemy’s influence, but My people are able to influence
the world if they will only try. So many sit back and say, “Let someone else do
it.” Do not be one of these if I speak to you to go to the streets.
Your
reward is in My Hand and I will release it when I see you are ready. Are you
ready?
Mark 16:15 And
he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature.
Isaiah 6:8 Also
I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for
us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
1 John 4:4 Ye
are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that
is in you, than he that is in the world.
Tuesday, July 19, 2016 http://iamcallingyounow.blogspot.com/
COME TO ME IN THE JOY AND IN THE SORROW
MESSAGE RECEIVED JULY 2, 2016
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the light and the darkness. I am the fullness of all you will ever need, and I am the empty and dry place you must visit in order to know your Father. I am complete joy, and I am the deepest sorrow of your heart.
I am in the greatest triumphs of your life, and I meet you in your deepest failures. I am the night, the day, the fullness of all things. I have your tomorrow's, and I remember not your yesterdays. When all else fades, there I am. When all is stripped away, I remain. I am the One constant you will always have.
Will you meet Me in all places and in all things? Are you willing to go to both extremes with Me? The highest summit and the deepest darkest valley? To have the intimacy of your Father, you must be able to embrace both extremes, the highest to the lowest. I am everything in between.
You will find the greatest revelation of who I AM in traveling the full and complete wheel. I will teach you through all points in between, if you would only allow Me. To be My vessel, I must mold and shape you, My clay through the fire of My refinement. It is only through the testing that purification can be successful in your surrendered vessel.
Allow Me to bring you to the place where you join in the sorrows and sufferings of My heart, and I will reveal to you My joy and My glory, and this will far surpass any experience here in this realm that you have ever known.
Take My hands, My arms are outstretched for you. No one cares for you as your Creator cares for you, for I have intricately fashioned you in My image. All I ask of you is this, give Me the opportunity to show you all that has been spoken.
YAHUSHUA
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the light and the darkness. I am the fullness of all you will ever need, and I am the empty and dry place you must visit in order to know your Father. I am complete joy, and I am the deepest sorrow of your heart.
I am in the greatest triumphs of your life, and I meet you in your deepest failures. I am the night, the day, the fullness of all things. I have your tomorrow's, and I remember not your yesterdays. When all else fades, there I am. When all is stripped away, I remain. I am the One constant you will always have.
Will you meet Me in all places and in all things? Are you willing to go to both extremes with Me? The highest summit and the deepest darkest valley? To have the intimacy of your Father, you must be able to embrace both extremes, the highest to the lowest. I am everything in between.
You will find the greatest revelation of who I AM in traveling the full and complete wheel. I will teach you through all points in between, if you would only allow Me. To be My vessel, I must mold and shape you, My clay through the fire of My refinement. It is only through the testing that purification can be successful in your surrendered vessel.
Allow Me to bring you to the place where you join in the sorrows and sufferings of My heart, and I will reveal to you My joy and My glory, and this will far surpass any experience here in this realm that you have ever known.
Take My hands, My arms are outstretched for you. No one cares for you as your Creator cares for you, for I have intricately fashioned you in My image. All I ask of you is this, give Me the opportunity to show you all that has been spoken.
YAHUSHUA
From Sorrow to Joy
by Charles Spurgeon
"Your sorrow shall be turned into joy." John 16:20
Our Lord was very honest with His followers when any enlisted beneath
His banner. He did not profess that they would find an easy service if
they took Him to be their leader. Over and over again He stopped some
young enthusiastic spirits by bidding them count the cost; and, when
some said they would follow Him wherever He might go, He reminded them
that though the foxes had holes and the birds of the air had nests, yet
He had no where to lay His head. He never duped any man. He told all the
truth to them, and He could honestly say to them, "If it were not so, I
would have told you." He kept back nothing which it was needful for
them to know in enlisting under His name.
In this verse He reminds His people that they will have sorrow. Let no
Christian forget that. Be he old or young, sorrow is an appointed
portion for all mankind. And there is a sorrow which is the especial
benediction of the saints. They shall have that sorrow if none others
do.
Oh, young spirit, you have just found a Savior, and your heart is very
glad. Be glad while you may, but expect not that the sun will always
shine. Reckon for days of rain and days of frost and days of tempest,
for come they will, and I tell you of them now lest when they come they
should be strange to you and overwhelm you with confusion.
And oh, child of God, you have for many years been prospering; you have
walked in the light of God’s countenance, and the Lord has made a hedge
about you and all that you have, until you have prospered in the land
like the Patriarch of Uz. Remember that evil days will come even to you
as they did to Job, and expect them, for "in the world you shall have
tribulation." This part of the inheritance of children, namely, the rod,
will be quite sure to fall to your portion if you be one of the sacred
family.
Our Savior, in the verse before us, not only tells His disciples that
they will have sorrow, but He warns them that sometimes they would have a
peculiar sorrow. When the world was rejoicing they would be sorrowing.
"The world shall rejoice," says He, "but you shall weep and lament." Now
this is sometimes hard for flesh and blood. We cannot understand this
riddle — God’s people sighing and God’s enemies laughing — a saint on
the dunghill with dogs licking his sores and a sinner clothed in scarlet
and faring sumptuously every day — a child of God sighing and groaning,
chastened every morning, and an heir of Hell making the world ring with
his merriment! Can these things be so? Yes, they are so, and we must
expect them so to be; and if we read this riddle by the eye of faith, we
shall understand it. Yet we shall see God working even in these
mysterious circumstances, and dealing out the best to the best after
all, and giving still the worst to the worst in the long run.
Now, our Lord, in order to sustain His servants under the ill news of
sorrow and of special sorrow, gave them two thoughts. The first He put
into three words — "a little while." And there is a whole mint of golden
consolation here — "a little while." When things are only temporary, we
put up with them. If we are traveling, and we come to an uncomfortable
inn, we are off tomorrow, and therefore we make no great noise about it.
A painful operation has to be performed, but, when the surgeon tells us
it will only occupy a second or two, we submit to it. "A little while " —
it takes off the edge of sorrow. If it be but a minute, and then
afterwards there shall be never-ending blessing coming out of it, oh,
then we glory in the tribulation, and count it not worthy to be compared
with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Afflicted child of God, I
commend to you those three words, "a little while." I beseech you to
roll them under your tongue as a sweet morsel when your mouth is filled
with the wormwood of sorrow. "A little while," and after that little
while is over then it shall be "forever with the Lord." The other
reflection which He gave them for their comfort is that which is
furnished by our text, "Your sorrow shall be turned into joy." May God
the Spirit give us comfort while we think over these words.
And first, brethren, this language was strictly true with regard to the
remarkable sorrow which was then coming upon them when our Lord spoke.
You know the chapter. The Lord had been telling them of His death. They
had been sitting around the table, and He had revealed to them the fact
that He was about to be delivered into the hands of wicked men and be
crucified, and that this would make them weep and lament; but concerning
this He says, "Your sorrow shall be turned into joy." We have also
another sorrow coming out of that, namely, the sorrow that our risen
Lord has gone away from us, has risen from Mount Olive and left His
Church a widow; yet that sorrow, too, is turned into joy. Let us speak,
then, about those two things.
You will soon see before you, brethren, a sacred feast. We are preparing
tonight to come around the table on which we have the bread and wine
which celebrate our Savior’s death. Now, it is a very pleasing thought
that to celebrate the death of Christ we have not an ordinance that is
full of sorrow. There is no rubric which tells us that we are to come
clothed in mourning, that we are to come together as to a funeral, that
dirges are to be sung, that violet colors, or such as represent sorrow
are to be used. On the contrary, the ordinance which commemorates and
shows the death of Christ is one of joy, if properly used. We come
around a table, and sit there at our ease and eat and drink, for the
death which was so sorrowful is turned into joy, and the memorial of it
is meant to set it forth not as it was on the sorrowful side, but as it
is to us on the joyful side. Our sorrow is in the symbol turned into
joy.
Now, let us think of the sorrow of Christ’s death a moment. It was great
sorrow to see Him suffer, sorrow unspeakable to see Him die. You
mothers who love your sons, what a sword would have gone through your
hearts if it had been your son who was nailed to the tree! You brothers
who love your brothers, what pangs would have rent your spirit if he had
been your brother who was hanging there. We would, if it had been
possible, have spared Him the thirst, have spared Him the shame and
spittle; we would have spared Him the nails and spared Him the crown of
thorns. We can never think of His sufferings without smiting upon our
breast with grief and saying — "Alas! my sins, my cruel sins, His chief
tormentors were!" And as we look on His sufferings we ask: Oh, why
should man offend, And make the Lord his Savior die?
Bitter ought to be our regret that ever we should have wandered from the
path of right and made it necessary that our wanderings should be laid
upon the Shepherd’s head. Woe, woe, woe unspeakable, that the elect of
God should thus have multiplied their transgressions and have compelled
their Savior to be smitten even to death for their sakes!
We sorrow, too, from another thought that in the death of Christ, sin
for a time appeared to get the mastery over goodness. There He was, the
perfect Man, content until they had washed their hands in His blood.
When I see Him upon the cross, I seem to feel as if Satan, the old
serpent, had bitten the heel of truth and poisoned it. I begin to
tremble for truth and righteousness when I see thus the pure and perfect
One laid low in the dust, but all these three sorrows put together, for
His sufferings, for our sins and for the temporary triumph of evil, are
at once turned into joy when we know that now the Savior has finished
the atoning work, that He is accepted of His Father, that He has crushed
the old dragon’s head, that He has given to sin and death and Hell a
total defeat.
Brethren, there is nothing to sorrow for when we look at the cross now,
for Jesus is again alive; He has glory about Him that He had not, and
could not have had, if He had not stooped to conquer and bowed His head
to death. The man Christ Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father
exalted far above principalities and powers, and every name that is
named. He sees of the travail of His soul, and He is satisfied, and
instead of mournful dirges we say, "Bring forth Miriam’s timbrel yet
again, and let us sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously!
The horse and his rider has He cast into the sea. All the host of His
enemies has He drowned in the Red Sea of His atoning blood."
Moreover, brethren, we are gainers now. It is true our sin crucified
Him, but our sin is gone. The last act of sin was sin’s own destruction.
It pulled down the house upon itself like Samson, and there it died.
Our sin is put away by the death of Christ. He has "finished
transgression, and made an end of sin." And as for truth and
righteousness, they are gainers, too. Now, on the cross the crisis of
the great battle comes. Now is the prince of this world cast out. Now do
righteousness and holiness and truth win the day, and that forever.
Glory be unto God, we come to the memorial of the death of Christ as to a
festival. Our sorrow is turned into joy.
And as to our Lord’s going away from us into Heaven, it does at first
sight wear a very sorrowful aspect. We should be glad if He should
occupy that chair tonight and say, "Take, eat; this is My body." Oh,
what a happy crowd would you all be who love Him, if He stood in this
pulpit tonight and showed you His hands and His feet. We would stand at
the posts of the doors by the week together to get a sight of Him. If He
had His throne in Jerusalem this day, what pilgrimages would we make if
we might but come anywhere near His blessed person, and might kiss the
very dust He trod upon! For what a precious Lord was He! Oh, in our
times of sorrowing, if we could but once see His face, those dear
lustrous eyes that seem to say, "I know your sorrows, for I have felt
the same," that blessed countenance that would speak consolation, though
it said not a word, and would say to every mourner, "I will help you. I
have borne your burden of old " — would not it be a joy to see Him?
Surely I should be glad enough to cease my ministry, and you might be
glad enough, however useful you might be, to give up your work as the
stars hide their diminished heads when the sun rises.
II. But, brethren, there is no cause for sorrow. I am talking idly for
the moment now, for our sorrow is turned into joy. It is a great gain to
us not to have the Savior here. And see you how it is? He said, "If I
go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you." Now, it is a nobler thing to have the Spirit of God dwelling in us than it would be to have Jesus Christ dwelling upon earth. For,
as I have hinted, if He were on earth we could not all get at Him; He
could only be in one place at a time, and how would the poor be able to
get where He is? And if He wandered all the world yet in the natural
order of things, it is only now and then He could come to one place, and
so some of us would have to be pining all our lives to see Him. But now
the Holy Spirit is here. The Holy Spirit is wherever believers are.
"Know you not that He dwells in us forever?" And whereas we see nothing,
this is all the better for us. A life of sight is for babes; a living by feeling is for poor puny infants, but the life of faith is
for men in Christ Jesus, and ennobles us by taking away anything that
is to be seen and giving us to walk after the unseen. "Though we have
known Christ after the flesh," says the apostle, "yet now after the
flesh know we Him no more." We have not Christ among us after the flesh,
and we are glad of it, for now our faith is exercised and God loves
faith, and faith makes men into true men in the sight of God, and
ennobles them and makes them friends of God. For who was "the friend of
God" like Abraham, who believed God? Faith, then, being so much more for
our good than the most delightful sight, we have reason to thank God
that Jesus is gone and that the Spirit is given.
Besides, beloved, Christ can serve our turn better where He is than He
could here, What is He doing for us yonder in the unseen land? Why, know
you not He has gone to take possession for us — gone ahead that He may
say, "This Heaven belongs to My people; I am come here as their legal
representative." The moment that He put that pierced foot of His upon
the golden streets He said, "These streets belong to all whom I have
redeemed with My blood, to all whom My Father gave Me, and they shall
possess this, for lo ! I take possession of it." And inasmuch as there
was something to do to make Heaven fit for us — I do not know what it
was — what a joy it is to hear Him say, "I go to prepare a place for
you." Why, brethren, Heaven was not fit for us any more than we were fit
for Heaven until He went there, and He is getting it ready, so that
when we come home we shall find our house furnished and all prepared.
When God made Adam, He did not make Adam first and suspend him in the
air until he made Eden for him to live in, but He made the garden,
fitted it for Him, and then He made the man and put him in it. And so
our great Lord is gone to make Heaven fit for us, and He will come again
and take us unto Himself that where He is we may be also. Now for this
cause we are glad that He is not here. We comfort one another with these
words, and we see how true was this promise of His, "Your sorrow shall
be turned into joy." Sorrow at His death, sorrow at His departing out of
the world — these two sorrows are now" turned into joy."
We pause awhile and change the subject. I see before me still the
preparation for the feast — for the supper, and therefore let me remind
you that in coming to that table we experience a transmutation of
spiritual emotions with regard to Him. I will show you what I mean. Some
time ago, the Lord made us hungry and thirsty after righteousness. We
could not any longer be satisfied with the world. We came to feel
ourselves miserable. Our heart was pining for something. We had once
been quite content with present joys, but, on a sudden, we were
dissatisfied and felt a craving we had never felt before. Are you not
glad of it, because when you come to the table here you see that there
is bread to eat and wine to drink, emblems of the body and the blood of
Christ? Do you know, when I sit down at a good table, what I feel
thankful for? Two things, if I have got them.
First, for what is on the table; but, secondly, for an appetite. For a
feast is a poor thing without an appetite. So, see you, the hunger and
thirst which God has given us after Christ are turned into joy when we
come to see Christ, for now we say, "How glad I am, how thankful I am
that I could no longer remain content ! How happy am I that God gave me a
distaste for all the joys of the world, for now I am the man that can
enjoy a crucified Savior. Now I can eat His flesh, which is meat indeed,
and drink His blood, which is drink indeed !"
Well, at the same time when we felt our hunger we had another sorrow,
namely, that hungry as we were, we had not a crust in the house: we
could not satisfy our own hunger, do what we would. We went about the
world to try and find something to satisfy our need, but we could find
nothing whatever. The husks that contended the swine would not content
us. We wanted something more. I know at that time I had not a pennyworth
of merits, though I had a mass of sins. I tried to pray, but my prayers
could no more fill my soul than wind could. I tried to be diligent in
hearing the word and doing good, but there is nothing to stay a hungry
soul in all that we can do. But now today, today in the sight of that
table and remembering this bread and wine, to picture Christ crucified
the food of the soul, I am glad that I had not got anything to eat,
because now I was driven to feed on Christ. Oh, what a blessed thing is
an empty cupboard when it brings a soul to the Savior ! Our sorrow is
turned into joy, and we call it a blessed famishing, a blessed
emptiness, when we can have the emptiness and famishing removed by
feeding upon an all-sufficient Savior.
So, you see again, our sorrow is turned into joy. And on the table of
fellowship tonight we see the wine-cup, and while it represents to us
our Savior as our refreshment, it also reminds us that we were once foul
and needed to be washed in His blood. Now, it was a great sorrow to
feel ourselves foul; it was a horror to discover that we were soiled
from head to foot with scarlet sins. But, for my part, now that I have
washed in the fountain filled with blood, I have forgotten my sorrow
about sin. It is turned into joy. Oh, the blessedness of being made
clean in Christ Jesus!
Why, I think if I had been Adam, and had
never sinned, I should always have had some little fear that perhaps I
had come short somewhere if I had to depend on my own merits, even if I
hoped I was perfect. Now, sinner that I am, I entertain no fears, for I
know Christ’s righteousness is perfect; I know His death cleanses from
all sin; and so the sorrow about sin is turned into joy in the sense of
perfect pardon and complete righteousness which belong to us through the
precious blood of our dear Lord and Savior. Oh, when you come to the
table, my dear brethren and sisters, lay aside all your griefs, whatever
they may have been. Feel that if you must bring them with you they are
transformed and transmuted on the road; for your sorrow since you have
believed on Jesus is turned into joy.
III. Now, for a moment or two, let me remind you that this truth will
hold good of all believers’ sorrows. Your sorrow shall be turned into
joy. It shall be good of some of them today. God will make your present
sorrows to be turned into joys. Do I address one person tonight who has
been persecuted for Christ’s sake? Do I speak with one young
person whose parents treat her ill because she follows Jesus? Brother,
sister, your sorrow is turned into joy, even now, for, if you be
persecuted for righteousness’ sake, happy are you. Not, happy shall you
be, but happy are you. Even now you have a great honor put upon you: you
are counted worthy not only to believe on the Lord Jesus but to suffer
for His sake, At the thought of Him, then, that sorrow is turned into
joy.
Perhaps I address some who are under very severe afflictions.
Beloved brother, if the Lord shall reveal Himself in your afflictions,
you will be very sorry to be rid of them; you will feel that they are
even now turned into joy. Constantly, in reading Rutherford’s letters
you meet with the expression of his wonder that his enemies should be so
kind to him as they were. He speaks in a sort of holy sarcasm. They
banished him, sent him away from where he was accustomed to preach the
Gospel, but he said, "I find my Lord lives here and they have sent me
into His arms. They would not let me preach," he says, "and now my Lord
does make up for my dumb Sabbaths, for, whereas I may not speak, He
speaks to me and cheers my soul," and it seems from his letters that,
the more his enemies persecuted him, the more deep, the more high his
joy became.
I, too, know such a thing as that, that pain can come upon you and grace
can come with the pain, so that you feel thankful for it. I have heard
saints of God say that they have had great losses, but that the love of
God has flowed into their soul so that their losses they have reckoned
to be their gains. We have heard of one that said, "Let me go back to my
bed again; let me go to my pain again, for I had so much of Christ
there that I would sincerely rather be always sick than lose the
sickness and lose the love of my Lord."
Yes, beloved, He can, at this moment, turn your sorrows into joys. If
you have a great lump of sorrow, you will have a great lump of joy, for
He turns it all into joy. One touch of His finger can turn the granite
stones into gold; bring them to His feet; ask Him to do it, and you
shall be rich in joy tonight. Well, if it is not done at once, it will
be done before long. It sometimes takes a little time for a sorrow to
turn into a joy. It is rather an odd figure of Cowper’s, but it is a
true one: The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower.
It takes a little time for our bitters to bloom out into sweetness, but
they will. If you are praying for your dear child, praying for his
conversion but do not see it, yet pray on, for your sorrow will be
turned into joy. If you are in great trouble about your husband, or your
brother, or your friend, whose conversion you are seeking, strive on
still, for it will come. One day you shall have the joy of your heart,
and your sorrow shall be turned into joy. And that trial you are
laboring under just now — don’t faint under it; wait a little. It is a
rough wind, but it is blowing you towards the port. It is a rough wave,
but it is washing you on to the rock. It is not today that you will see
it, nor tomorrow; but afterwards, and by-and-bye it will bring forth the
comfortable fruits of righteousness, and you will rejoice.
And, mark you, if never in this world, yet in the blessed country "on
the hither side of Jordan" your sorrow shall be turned into joy. It will
be among the delights of Heaven, I do not doubt, to look back on the
sorrows of life and to see how they ministered to our fitness for the
better land.
There we shall make songs out of our sighs and music out of our
mournings; only let us wait and be patient. The people of the world have
the laughter today and we have the sighing; they shall have the sighing
by-and- bye and we shall have the laughter.
God is like a certain great man who had in his house two sets of cups.
Those cups were for his friends, and these were for his enemies; but
they might take which they would. He knew his friends were wise; his
enemies were fools. Now, these cups which were for his foes were very
sweet; they sparkled on the brim; they flashed. The wine was red, and it
moved itself aright. But they were warned that whoever drank these cups
would find that the dregs were full of death. And his foes came in and
drank and drank and laughed, and said the good man of the house loved
them best, for he had given them the sweetest wines. But on the other
table stood the cups that were ready for his friends, and his friends
were wise, and they went to them, and the cups were very bitter — very
bitter! Ah, how they set their teeth on edge and filled their mouths
with wormwood ! But they knew that these were health-cups that would
purge them of all disease and fill their frames with a vitality and
force which magic could not give; and therefore these friends of his
drank the cups with joy and thankfulness, for they knew that he had
prepared them in love; and while they heard his enemies laughing at them
they bore the laughter with composure, for they knew what the end would
be.
Today the saints and the sinners in the world are like two armies on the
eve of battle; you go through yonder tents. On the left side you will
hear the sound of revelry; you shall see them enjoying the dance. Full
bowls they quaff, merrily. Say they, "We go forth to battle and to
victory tomorrow.!"
That is the camp of sin and of the enemy. Here you see the other camp;
and the soldiers there make not merry. They are men of sober stuff. They
have a solid joy within them, for they expect to win tomorrow; but they
boast not. Each man is looking well to his buckler, seeing that his
harness is complete and his sword well-sharpened; and you will hear at
intervals the prayer, the cry to God, "Make strong our arms, and send us
like thunderbolts upon our foes." Now, by tomorrow’s eve, you shall
know what has become of them, for you mirthful and haughty cavaliers,
with all their mirth, shall strew the field, and their carcasses shall
be given to the dogs and to the fowls of Heaven. But you suppliant hosts
there, though they be reviled as Puritans, shall dash through the hosts
of their foes and shall lead their captivity captive.
In which camp would you wish to be? I have taken my choice, and I pray
my brethren to take theirs, and may the Spirit of God rule their choice
that they may take the bitter cups that are full of health and that they
may go with the sober prayerful camp whose song of victory shall turn
their sorrows into joys.
Brethren, if the saints’ sorrows are turned into joys, what are their
joys? If their bitters are sweet, how sweet are their sweets ! And if
the finger of Christ touching the things of life can make them sweet,
how sweet must Christ Himself be! If He turns the water into wine, how
rich must He be!
And if He turns on earth our sorrows into joy, what can the joys be
where there are no sorrows, but where the joys are unalloyed and
undiluted and last on forever! Blessed sorrows, blessed joys! Who would
not be a believer when even his sorrows shall be turned into joys ?
IV. But lastly, this little text is a Gospel. I think it is a Gospel for
all my hearers tonight. Your sorrows shall be turned into joys. Whoever
among you shall come tonight to those dear feet that were pierced by
the nails, and will come and trust in Jesus Christ to save him, shall
have his sorrow turned into joy. Are you sorrowing for sin? It shall be
pardoned, and in a moment joy shall fill your spirit. Do you sorrow
because you are afraid you are not one of the elect? Come and trust in
Jesus, and you shall make your election sure, and the doctrine that was
so horrible to you shall be full of consolation. Are you mourning
because you are unfit to come?
Come with all your unfitness, and you shall thank God that you were
saved from making a fitness and were enabled to come as a sinner to
Christ. Do you mourn because you have a hard heart? Come and trust
Jesus, and He will give you a heart of flesh and you shall bless His
name that you were another instance of His Almighty power to change the
hearts of men.
I desire tonight that you would try my Lord and Master. I have known Him
now more than two and twenty years. Two and twenty years ago, last
Friday, I avowed my faith in Him in baptism, and I would not give Him a
good character if He did not deserve it. I would not lie even for Him, I
trust. But, oh, there was never such a Lord as He is! Sorrow He told us
we should have, and we have had it, but He has always turned it into
joy, and up to this moment I can say of Him, if I had to die like a dog
and there were no hereafter, I would prefer to be a Christian; and if
there were no joy about religion but the present joy which it gives to a
believing heart, let me have it beyond all the joys of wealth, or fame,
or honor. There is none like Christ. I would that some of you would
come and take Him.
May His Spirit guide you and may you tonight become His disciples, and
your sorrow shall be turned into joy. The Lord grant it for His name’s
sake. Amen.
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