Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

SATURDAY MARCH 7


THE POWER TO SURVIVE

READ:
2 Corinthians 4:8
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We are hard-
pressed on every
side, yet not
crushed
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When I was growing up, I had an inflatable plastic punching dummy. It was about as tall as I was and had a smiling face painted on it. My challenge was to hit it hard enough to make it stay down. But no matter how hard I tried, it always bounced right back up again. The secret? There was a lead weight in the bottom that always kept it upright. Sailboats operate by the same principle. The lead weights in their keels provide the ballast to keep them balanced and upright in strong winds.

It's like that in the life of a believer in Christ. Our power to survive challenges resides not in us but with God, who dwells within us. We're not exempt from the punches that life throws at us nor from the storms that inevitably threaten our stability. But with full confidence in His power to sustain us, we can say with Paul, "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Cor. 4,8-9).

Join the many travelers through life who through deep waters of pain and suffering embrace with unshakable confidence the truth that God's grace is sufficient and that in our weakness He is made strong (1:29). It will be the ballast to your soul.

*Where do you turn for stability when you're in a stormy season of life? Read
Anchors in the Storm by Joe Stowell online at discoveryseries.org/hp073
for help.___________________________________________________________
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The power of God within you is greater than the pressure of troubles
around you.

*******************TODAY'S BIBLE READING : 2 Corinthians 4:7-12*******************
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the
excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we
are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not
forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed__ 10 always carrying
about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of
Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live
are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of
Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 so then
death is working in us, but life in you.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
In fulfilling his calling as an apostle (ACTS 9:15),
Paul endured great suffering. In 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, 6:4-10, and
11:23-27, he elaborated on the many persecutions, threats, and
dangers he faced. But in the midst of great opposition, persecution,
and painful suffering, Paul's refrain is: "We do not lose heart"
(2 COR 4:1,16). Speaking of himself as an "earthen vessel," Paul
acknowledges his frailty, limitations, and expendability (v.7). His
confidence is not rooted in himself but in God's sovereign power,
in His sustaining grace, in Chris't resurrected life, and in the
expectation of future reward and eternal glory (vv.7-18).