Books Habakkuk and Zechariah:
God says: Never ignore your struggle with how I do things. Ask every question that rises in your heart as you live in this world. But prepare yourself to struggle even more with My response. You must stumble in confusion before you dance with joy.
Know this: those who live by faith will struggle in ways that those who live to make their lives work will never know. It is that struggle, to believe despite desperate pain and confusion that a good plan is unfolding, that will open your eyes to see Me more clearly. Is that what you want? Will you pay the price?
The price is this: you will tremble in agony as you live in a sinful, self-prioritizing world. You will learn to wait in emptiness and frustrated desire for My plan of love to reveal itself. With confidence in Me and hope in My plan, you will not only feel the pain of living in the valley but also see My glory from the mountaintop of faith.
Only those who struggle in confusion and wait in hope will be strengthened to struggle well and to wait with confidence.
Struggle well! Wait in hope!
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God says: If you could see right now what is happening in the unseen world, you would be filled with hope. You must trust Me for whatever tastes of glory I choose to provide in this life as you continue to build the temple. You have become a prisoner of hope. The hope I provide anchors a weary, empty, troubled soul in My plan.
Beneath difficult feelings, hope encourages by giving you reason to persevere with the joy of anticipation. Happiness depends on present blessing, which I do not guarantee. Joy depends on future hope, which I do guarantee. Do not expect to feel good. You may. You may not. My work of hope reaches into the center of your soul to strengthen your character and deepen your resolve in any circumstance of life.
I gave advance notice that My Son would come; that He would be hated and killed; that what His killers meant for evil, I meant for good; that I would then open the eyes of those I invite to the party to realize what they did in killing My Son; that I would meet them in their brokenness with a cleansing fountain; that I would then set My Son on the throne of this world, and everything would be as it should be.
Live in hope!
Beneath difficult feelings, hope encourages by giving you reason to persevere with the joy of anticipation. Happiness depends on present blessing, which I do not guarantee. Joy depends on future hope, which I do guarantee. Do not expect to feel good. You may. You may not. My work of hope reaches into the center of your soul to strengthen your character and deepen your resolve in any circumstance of life.
I gave advance notice that My Son would come; that He would be hated and killed; that what His killers meant for evil, I meant for good; that I would then open the eyes of those I invite to the party to realize what they did in killing My Son; that I would meet them in their brokenness with a cleansing fountain; that I would then set My Son on the throne of this world, and everything would be as it should be.
Live in hope!
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