Well you could start at Central Idea or Introduction. There is a lot to read but the site owner gives directions.blessingsBrenda
I think you might relate well to a book called 'The ascent of Mount Carmel' by St John of the Cross. Be sure to get a E Allison Peers translation.
The Lord brought me through a similar experience. It began shortly after He revealed Himself profoundly to my heart & I had experienced a release from sin's bondage. What followed was a lengthy period of heaviness, dread, nightmares, and (most difficult) an overwhelming sense of perplexity of mind. I have numerous journals recording my day-to-night-to-day strivings of soul. There were various things I found comfort in, e.g. "The Lord knows if I am one of His sheep". I found comfort in praying for others, particularly fellow-believers during this time. Also the writings of Andrew Murray seemed extremely valuable, particularly his book "Abide in Christ". Eventually light began to appear and I have a new sense that nothing can hurt me. For if I suffer as one of His, He provides comfort that more than compensates. Set your eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ, His lowliness, His gentleness, and His sacrifice for you on the cross. Your light will dawn. (see Isaiah 35) Dan
_________________Daniel Irving
This thread is so important. Currently undergoing something (though not exactly similar as the above experiences). If anybody has anything to share that will be great
_________________geraldine
Dear Noah,About 27 years ago, I prayed that I would know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death (Philippians 3:10). I was a very dedicated, sincere follower of the Lord, living "my" 100% for Him. I look back now and smile at my naivety.The past 20 years have included intense trials and tremendous pain, many nights all I could cry out was "Help!" Not only did my fellow Christians not understand, some were convinced I was being cursed or was reaping from some secret sin. Slowly, my wounds became too messy my friends' American Christian way of life (Psalm 38:11). Thank God I was blessed with two outstanding, mature, spirit-filled Pastors/Mentors who prayed with me and for me on a daily basis.If God has called you to the 100-Fold life (Matthew 13:23) and waters to swim in (Ezekial 47:5), these trials will whittle away at your Adamic, self-willed nature and a new creation in Christ will take its place. As horrific as my experiences have been, its through them that the Lord has taught me to lay down my life, take up my cross, and follow the Him. He knows that His will ALWAYS comes before mine, and He has tested my obedience many times to make sure :). Continue to study your Bible, pray a lot, and repent from any sins that God brings to light. Some Christians confuse the sufferings of Christ with sowing and reaping; the two are very different.You may see your mountain as an anthill many years from now, but if you are not faithful in the little, the Lord will not trust you with the greater things. And faith, like all the gifts, is exercised like a muscle - we don't start out benching 300 pounds, but build up to the heavy stuff. I know it's hard, but keep at it and the climb will become a way of life. The rich, loving relationship with the Lord far outweighs our light and momentary afflictions. And who can even imagine the thrill of hearing Jesus say, Well done, good and faithful servant?I hope this encourages you. Reading biographies about Christians who have suffered severe trials were of great encouragement because it would not only put my American-style suffering into perspective, but build my faith seeing how God carried them through and the wonderful fruit that resulted.
When I think of the Dark Night of the Soul, I think of 3 major scripture bundles: 1. The entire book of Job. 2. Much of the life of David and the Psalms he wrote glorifying God in the midst of these dark circumstances. 3. The general life of Paul; and all of his intense sufferings; especially 2 Corinthians 1."For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead."I believe that any Christian that goes on with the Lord, will one day have to realize that the blessedness aspect of being a child of God is not the essence of our being redeemed; it is to become CONFORMED to His image; to be Forged into an authentic son, or daughter of Christ, bearing Christ Jesus' image within them, shining it out to the world.This is a much understood , bewildering experience when it begins to happen; I cannot put a time line on it, but usually a few years after salvation; The Honeymoon Period with Jesus. I had one; I would wake up in the presence of the Lord, live in my Bible all day, and walk with him in odd ways, where it seemed I was guided around by Him all day long.And then: the sound of the whirlwind....It must be lonely, No one can walk with your feet, or believe in your heart for you.Let us consider Psalm 23:I AND ME."The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: or thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."I never thought I could ever become depressed; until I was. I could not lift my head up to pray, or even read my Bible. I just gave up, and stumbled back to bed to hide under my pillow. No Presence, No glory, but a burning cloud over my head, [ "Like dirty socks!" one young believer said years before.:)]Some things are to personal, to complicated to just throw out there about the "Dark night", but yes; it is unavoidable; IF, God has His hand on your live. You, like Isaac, MUST be slain. [ Was Isaac bewildered?]Things that have helped: Worship........................... God seeks Worshippers , and those who worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. We must develop a secret worship life; a voice, that He recognizes, that is only His and ours. Here, I think of King David; the failure. Carnal and weak; but he never gave up on Mercy, and he knew it, because from a young boy, he loved worship of his God.Resolve and Honesty with God........................"Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand? Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him."........................"Pour out your heart before Him." in a spirit of worship and praise; alone, in your daily life.An odd thing I know about God; Without overcoming this cloud, I could never know Him; It is as necessary as the rain. Odd thing about the chicken; awakening alone in complete darkness. It begins instinctively to peck away at something, until a sliver of light appears. It is a crack! It then becomes devoted to the peck, more and more until a hole is large enough, and the glorious light floods through, for the first time! I Live! she peeps; but whew! that was hard.I have heard that if you remove this struggle from the chick, and do it yourself, and remove the egg shell from the babe, he will surely die. The struggle, and the resolve, form the muscles to walk, and function, and without them, you have retardation, a weakling, who cannot endure physically in the world. This kind of reminds me of some Christians I have known, who refuse but to believe that the Christian Walk is all about being BLESSED! They receive all opposition in life, as an attack of Satan, not realizing that God has set you here, for your sake, and others, to implant in you HIMSELF, to set you on high.JOSEPH: A boy, 17 or so, betrayed and abandoned, enslaved, and imprisoned...forever it seemed, and in it all he believed, and trusted. He may have read Job, the oldest book in the Bible, I do not know, but somewhere he knew that God was God, and it was OK!..and he rode it out without cursing God, as also Job."If we suffer with Christ, we shall reign with Him."I think that without these fibers of endurance and faith, we may stand before Him and then realize that we really never knew Him, and hear the most terrible words ever spoken; "Depart from me. I never knew you!"Jesus is in the fire with us, and knows our heart.
When I think of the Dark Night of the Soul, I think of 3 major scripture bundles: 1. The entire book of Job. 2. Much of the life of David and the Psalms he wrote glorifying God in the midst of these dark circumstances. 3. The general life of Paul; and all of his intense sufferings; especially 2 Corinthians 1."For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead."I believe that any Christian that goes on with the Lord, will one day have to realize that the blessedness aspect of being a child of God is not the essence of our being redeemed; it is to become CONFORMED to His image; to be Forged into an authentic son, or daughter of Christ, bearing Christ Jesus' image within them, shining it out to the world.This is a much understood , bewildering experience when it begins to happen; I cannot put a time line on it, but usually a few years after salvation; The Honeymoon Period with Jesus. I had one; I would wake up in the presence of the Lord, live in my Bible all day, and walk with him in odd ways, where it seemed I was guided around by Him all day long.And then: the sound of the whirlwind....It must be lonely, No one can walk with your feet, or believe in your heart for you.Let us consider Psalm 23:I AND ME."The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: or thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."I never thought I could ever become depressed; until I was. I could not lift my head up to pray, or even read my Bible. I just gave up, and stumbled back to bed to hide under my pillow. No Presence, No glory, but a burning cloud over my head, [ "Like dirty socks!" one young believer said years before.:)]Some things are to personal, to complicated to just throw out there about the "Dark night", but yes; it is unavoidable; IF, God has His hand on your live. You, like Isaac, MUST be slain. [ Was Isaac bewildered?]Things that have helped: Worship........................... God seeks Worshippers , and those who worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. We must develop a secret worship life; a voice, that He recognizes, that is only His and ours. Here, I think of King David; the failure. Carnal and weak; but he never gave up on Mercy, and he knew it, because from a young boy, he loved worship of his God.Resolve and Honesty with God........................"Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand? Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him."........................"Pour out your heart before Him." in a spirit of worship and praise; alone, in your daily life.An odd thing I know about God; Without overcoming this cloud, I could never know Him; It is as necessary as the rain. Odd thing about the chicken; awakening alone in complete darkness. It begins instinctively to peck away at something, until a sliver of light appears. It is a crack! It then becomes devoted to the peck, more and more until a hole is large enough, and the glorious light floods through, for the first time! I Live! she peeps; but whew! that was hard.I have heard that if you remove this struggle from the chick, and do it yourself, and remove the egg shell from the babe, he will surely die. The struggle, and the resolve, form the muscles to walk, and function, and without them, you have retardation, a weakling, who cannot endure physically in the world. This kind of reminds me of some Christians I have known, who refuse but to believe that the Christian Walk is all about being BLESSED! They receive all opposition in life, as an attack of Satan, not realizing that God has set you here, for your sake, and others, to implant in you HIMSELF, to set you on high.JOSEPH: A boy, 17 or so, betrayed and abandoned, enslaved, and imprisoned...forever it seemed, and in it all he believed, and trusted. He may have read Job, the oldest book in the Bible, I do not know, but somewhere he knew that God was God, and it was OK!..and he rode it out without cursing God, as also Job."If we suffer with Christ, we shall reign with Him."I think that without these fibers of endurance and faith, we may stand before Him and then realize that we really never knew Him, and hear the most terrible words ever spoken; "Depart from me. I never knew you!"Jesus is in the fire with us, and knows our heart.[SORRY ABOUT DOUBLE-POST]
BrotherTom,How long did yours last-months/years/weeks???? Thks-----[from brothertomThis is a much understood , bewildering experience when it begins to happen; I cannot put a time line on it, but usually a few years after salvation; The Honeymoon Period with Jesus. I had one; I would wake up in the presence of the Lord, live in my Bible all day, and walk with him in odd ways, where it seemed I was guided around by Him all day long.And then: the sound of the whirlwind....It must be lonely, No one can walk with your feet, or believe in your heart for you.Let us consider Psalm 23:]
BrotherTom,"How long did yours last-months/years/weeks???? Thks"...learn.I probably have had four or five "dark nights"..usually measured in a few months, to a year or so, w/over 40 years of Spirit filled life, and there is another aspect though, that has been much longer; a lifestyle of sorrow and rejection, that could be construed as the same, though it is not exactly.I am in no way comparing myself to these saints; BUT...to a degree, and much lessor. "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They..."Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."............. Mocked, chained, imprisoned, whipped with the "cat of nine tails", stoned, slain with the blade, homeless and naked, afflicted and probably sick, and tormented by their persecutors....these were the Hunted church.So, I would contend that everyone of them considered they were in the "Dark Night", wouldn't they? Hopelessness, sorrow and pain were their bedfellows, and don't forget that their were babies involved here, as their always is.God uses the "Dark Night" to stretch us out and prove our love; and Persecution is simply the "BLOW TORCH" OF THAT FIREY TRIAL. It is a dark night, for sure....and I believe that everyone reading this, at least here in America, will wake up one day, and see Hebrews 11, rolling right down your street. [ I believe it to be Muslim/Socialist/Sharia but could be wrong..].You see? It is the former that prepares us for the latter. If you cannot run with the footmen, where will you be when the horsemen come? Trampled; that's where. God sends the night, on an individual basis, so that we will learn to light our lamps, to see our way when the Winter Night comes, and it will and it is!We learn to worship Him, and Trust in Him, as faithful Joseph, and Job did, no matter the circumstances; we endure, and trust.TWO THINGS: NO COMPLAINING!If we allow Complaining to pour out of our lips in the midst of our trial, our pain, we deeply offend God; it is a terrible sin against Him. I try to live this way; to be thankful for what I have, and never complain about what I do not have. This is an important Biblical Maxim, and by ignoring it, has cost the soul of many.In my view, over the years, I have seen more people FALL AWAY than endure, and some because they just wanted more, and were tired of the dark-night, and fell over to the Love of the World, or money, or sex, or their pride in their own life."And when the people COMPLAINED, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp."Complaining is saying to God; MORE! NOT ENOUGH! YOUR PROVISION STINKS! YOU ARE NOT ABLE! GIVE ME!...and if you keep it up, you will become bitter, and foul in His sight. ..."They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."Hating complaining is loving the truth, for God hates complaining, and endorses Thanks giving. The martyrs thanked God for Life, as they suffered and died!NO BITTERNESS, AND A LIFE OF MERCY TOWARD BAD CIRCUMSTANCES, AND YOUR ENEMIES.Most people who suffer loss, blame God, inwardly. Perhaps through the loss of a child, your finances, or a sickness or disease, that fell upon them or their loved ones. This can be very subtle, but soon apparent; you become bitter, and it lodges in your spirit, and becomes apparent. You then become a hateful, cursing, and complaining soul rather than a sweet one.Remember Joseph, and his life. His brothers murdered him, by proxy, in the cruelest of ways, selling him to the demonic Sabean slave traders. He could have well ended uo in a salt mine somewhere, worked to death in a few short years. Then the temptress, who lied about Joseph and accused him of attempted rape falsely? Was Joseph vengeful? No. and then jail, and then being passed over and betrayed....on and on. 23 years later, his brothers come around, in a Sovereign act of reunitement, and HOW does Joseph respond to his former attackers, who deprived him of EVERYTHING!...and wanted his life! "I forgive you!..."And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto GOOD, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them."This must be our attitude in the dark night of trial; I forgive. Remember the very first Christian martyr......"And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep."No Complaining or bitterness until we pass on; those are the rules. We become always thankful in our hearts, that we are saved, and alive, no matter the circumstances, no matter the cost. This is impossible for humans to accomplish, but as Paul heard; "MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT!"
exactly what I'm struggling with BrotherTom. Having some slow progress however.When I complain He gets angry but still teaches me that those who take up the cross are "sweet" like you say. His will vs my will. pride vs humility. forgiveness vs bitterness. judgmental vs loving thoughts. "no peace for the wicked" vs "righteousness peace and joy"BrotherTom: "No Complaining or bitterness until we pass on; those are the rules."Exactly. Thanks broNoahedit: thank you 100fold for posting. great to hear from you guys about the deeper walk. "The rich, loving relationship with the Lord far outweighs our light and momentary afflictions. And who can even imagine the thrill of hearing Jesus say, Well done, good and faithful servant?"
