6656	Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Romans and the Flesh Monster.	on: February 15, 2008, 08:31:13 PM
I agree TB. And sometimes the fire of a trial can become so hot that we are over come with grief so that we cannot see our hoping in Him. We have had experiences where our hope would last through any circumstance. And this kind of hope  is mixed with joys. But then we go through a big fire of a test, and we begin to look back. And this is what we do to have this kind of grief. But we are so self sufficient that this kind of grief puts us in a real battle in our minds and in our prayers. There is a cry of the heart in the mixed grief and then there is a cry in the grief that comes where there seems no way out. But we are to resist the devil. So that it is learning how to resist that is the way of learning to be content in any thing that we go through.  We must be aware of his tactics. As you have said, Gods discipline always ends in us praising Him for His eternal present help and HIs grace to keep us from being under the trouble. But we must learn to fight with the weapons that are spiritual. For our wrestling sometimes can be long and without the comforts  that we normally enjoy, that jolt of joy that comes in so that we end in longing in His unfailing love. But in these deep temptations we must go by memories of His love in the past, of what our spiritual fathers have told us, and of hoping in His word, rather than the effects of His word. When we hope on His word, then we learn to desire His word above our feeling the comforts of His present work.  So that instead of grief mixed with joy, we have deep darkness mixed with hoping in His word to get to the joy. So that we spend more time in meditation to look for the answer , than we do to get the immediate answer.