"Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark"

I [personally solemnly] warn everyone who listens to the statements of the prophecy [the predictions and the consolations and admonitions pertaining to them] in this book: If anyone shall add anything to them, God will add and lay upon him the plagues (the afflictions and the calamities) that are recorded and described in this book.
And if anyone cancels or takes away from the statements of the book of this prophecy [these predictions relating to Christ’s kingdom and its speedy triumph, together with the consolations and admonitions or warnings pertaining to them], God will cancel and take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the city of holiness (purity and hallowedness), which are described and promised in this book.

He Who gives this warning and affirms and testifies to these things says, Yes (it is true). [Surely] I am coming quickly (swiftly, speedily). Amen (so let it be)! Yes, come, Lord Jesus!

For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and these three agree as one.
1 JOHN 5:7-8

And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the son of God does not have life.
1 JOHN 5:11-12

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?
1 THESSALONIANS 2:19

​'He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. He chafed in spirit and sighed and was disturbed. And He said, 'Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, 'Lord, come and see.' JOHN 11:33b.

When you say to Him, come and see what has happened to me; when you take Him to the place where you laid down your greatest tragedy; where you did all you knew to do and still lost something dear, He is no respecter of persons. He is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow--

The response of Jesus to the mourners present in Bethany— is the shortest verse in the Bible.

'Jesus wept'. JOHN 11:3
​
In the Greek New Testament the sentence has a subject (Jesus) and a verb (wept). Here is something very interesting — the Greek verb ‘edakrusen' has one occurrence. Only once in all of Scripture this verb was used.

‘Edakrusen’ is in the 'third person' yet singular and indicative of an active verb in the Greek, the word 'dakruw' means 'to shed tears, to weep silently'.
Now, I am not an English scholar, but this is remarkable! John recorded
'Jesus wept'; the shortest verse in the Bible which has one remarkable word; ‘Edakrusen’. That word expresses the humanity and diety of One who is touched by our infirmities. The most unique Person who will ever live on earth — wept. He shed actual tears. He wept silently.

​This expression— edakrusen—by Jesus, was not a wail, it was not a loud sob, it was not an overt outward display of emotion. He did not wail like the hired mourners who had come for Lazarus. Jesus was quietly giving way to His emotions, tears spilled from Divine Tear Ducts and rolled down His wonderful Face.

What prompted this emotional display? He asked them that all important question, ‘Where have you laid him?' They said 'Lord, come and see’; the ever important answer; to show Him what had happened. As He was walking toward the tomb we are told two short words — ‘Jesus wept’. ‘He silently gave way to tears’ …

What has this to do with The Lazarus Principle’? It is an expression of personal loss.

Personal loss is what The Lazarus Principle is all about — ‘Edrakrusen’ has everything to do with it! If you know Jesus, then you are not alone in your losses, you have a friend who cares more about your circumstances than anyone you will ever know. If you will accept His friendship, in the midst of your difficulties; it will be a great comfort to you

As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.
Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.
And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.
And there was great joy in that city.

So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
ACTS 8:30-31

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.
ACTS 8:35-38

And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,
saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!
Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.
For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”
Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”
ACTS 8:18-20+22-24

“… I do believe that the hiding of the cross beneath the veil of fine language and learned dissertation is half the cause of the spiritual destitution of our country.
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost.
I would sooner say these few words and then cease my testimony, than utter the most splendid oration that ever streamed from the lips of Demosthenes or of Cicero, but not have declared the gospel of Christ. We must keep to this. This must be the hammer that we bring down upon the anvil of the human heart again, and again, and again.
God forbid that we should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord! God forbid that we should know anything among men save Jesus Christ and him crucified!”

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;
but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

For [it is] better to suffer [unjustly] for doing right, if that should be God’s will, than to suffer [justly] for doing wrong.
For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the Just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God. In His human body He was put to death, but He was made alive in the spirit,
In which He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
1 PETER 3:17-19 (AMPC)

But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].
ROMANS 8:10 (AMPC)

So, since Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you, arm yourselves with the same thought and purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God],
So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites and desires, but [he lives] for what God wills.
1 PETER 4:1-2 (AMPC)

"While other worldviews lead us to sit in the midst of life's joys, foreseeing the coming sorrows, Christianity empowers its people to sit in the midst of this world's sorrows, tasting the coming joy."

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing:
but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.
PROVERBS 25:2

When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
My foot has held fast to His steps;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my necessary food.
__________

Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
HEBREWS 13:20-21

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. (NLT)
JOHN 14:1

And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.
ACTS 6:15

Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,
and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’
ACTS 7:1-3

”You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,
who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;
ACTS 7:51-57

And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh.
ACTS 7:13

Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
ROMANS 11:22-24

So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
HEBREWS 9:28

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

Considering happiness and joy…

Happiness is an emotion and is deeply affected by how you are feeling in that moment. Something that makes you happy one day may not the next because your state of mind has changed. Your circumstances may be different. It is fleeting and very much governed by mood.

A verse from the Scots poet Robert Burns says this…

‘Happiness is shy and not always found where sought man’

He is writing to a friend. How true his words are. Please don’t misunderstand me, to feel happy is a glorious thing. Just don’t pin everything on it. We do not always find ourselves in that state. That is not to say we are miserable. Quite the contrary.

Joy is a state of being. We can have a deep joy in the midst of trouble. I would maybe go as far as to say to be joyful or find joy is a choice and can be a work in progress. Sometimes we need to re-train our thinking and our reactions. Some adults never do and remain in a state of emotional fluctuation, which can be harmful to themselves and those around them.

We can remain in the doldrums about something or seek joy. It is always to be found and can sustain us through a difficult time. I remember the day my Mother died. I came back from the hospital. It was a most beautiful September day. I sat in the garden just by the Rowan tree which was laden with bright red berries. A Robin sang a sweet song in the branches — a moment of deep joy and comfort within the sadness.

Another verse I am fond of in relation to my faith is this…

‘The joy of The Lord is my strength’

For myself I think of happiness more as childhood emotion; it tends to fly in any direction. It is like unstable water. We were not created to be in a permanent state of happiness. How on earth would we grow, and indeed how could we define happiness…

I wish you all a joy filled day wherever you may find it.
It could be in the simple opening of a flower.
We were made to bloom just like the flowers.

If you find yourself treading deep waters at this moment in time, remember this…

This too shall pass.

It may sound like a cliché, but it is the truth.

A CLOSING WORD from MOTHER TERESA…
Joy is prayer, Joy is strength, Joy is love, Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.

O GOD, You are my God, earnestly will I seek You; my inner self thirsts for You, my flesh longs and is faint for You, in a dry and weary land where no water is.
So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.
So will I bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.
My whole being shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips
When I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the night watches.
For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings will I rejoice.

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; — [see also Job 5:17-22]
For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”

HEBREWS 12:3-6

Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
JOHN 4:13-15

A CLOSING WORD from … CARTER CONLON


For our CLOSING WORD this time we recommend the following YouTube video from Carter Conlon, the Overseer of Times Square Church in New York. Entitled ‘Seeing the Reward of the Wicked’ it was broadcast on 18th March 2025. It plays for 53 minutes approximately.

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.
Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen.
And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.
Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council.

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:
for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits,
to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:7-11

But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.
But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.
Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.
You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death.
And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.
LUKE 21:12-17

“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.
They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.
JOHN 16:1-2

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’
He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.
And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
MATTHEW 10:34-39

Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death,
but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward
and said, “This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’”
And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?”
But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! What do you think?”
They answered and said, “He is deserving of death.”
Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands,
saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?”
MATTHEW 26:59-68

A CLOSING WORD from DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
God's truth judges created things out of love, and Satan's truth judges them out of envy and hatred.