“God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7
We must think of suffering in a new way, we must face everything in a new way. And the way in which we face it all is by reminding ourselves that the Holy Spirit is in us. There is the future, there is the high calling, there is the persecution, there is the opposition, there is the enemy. I see it all. I must admit also that I am weak, that I lack the necessary powers and propensities. But instead of stopping there . . . I say, “But the Spirit of God is in me. God has given me his Holy Spirit.” . . . What matters . . . is not what is true of us but what is true of Him.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression, page 100.
(HT: Ray Ortlund)
Already Not Yet 