Required reading
Spiritual Depression by D. M. Lloyd-Jones (available from - Read Chapter 16, 'Trials'.
Now Lloyd-Jones deals with how trials (suffering) leads to spiritual depression.
(i) understanding why the suffering occurs (e.g. for your good, for chastisement, to prepare you for something);
(ii) understanding how precious is your faith that it needs to be refined through suffering;
(iv) reminding yourself of the things in which you greatly rejoice.
The section on how faith is like gold and needs to be refined by fire was a good reminder: 'There are differences in the quality of faith. Faith is many sided. There is generally at the beginning a good deal of admixture in what we call our faith; there is a good deal of the flesh we are not aware of. And as we begin to learn these things, and as we go on with te process, God puts us through His testing times. He tests us by trials as if by fire in order that the things which do not belong to the essence of faith may fall off.' Do you want 24 carat faith? Then you must be prepared to suffer in the refining fire.
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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