I Believed And So I Spoke

"However, we carry this treasure in vessels of clay, so that this all-surpassing power may not be seen as ours, but as GOD's.  Trials of every sort come to us, but we are not discouraged.  We are left without answer, but do not despair; persecuted but not abandoned, knocked down but not crushed.  At any moment, we carry, in our person, the death of JESUS, so, that, the life of JESUS may also be manifested in us.  For we, the living, are given up continually to death, for the sake of JESUS, so, that, the life of JESUS may appear in our mortal existence.  And as death is at work in us, life comes to you.

We have received the same spirit of faith referred to in Scripture, that says: I believed and so I spoke.  We also believed, and so we speak.  We know that HE, who raised the LORD JESUS, will also raise us, with JESUS, and bring us, with you, into HIS presence.  Finally, everything is for your good, so that grace will come more abundantly upon you, and great will be the thanksgiving for the glory of GOD." - 2 Corinthians 4:7-15  

(We carry this treasure in vessels of clay.  Usually, GOD carries out HIS plans by using inadequate instruments.  Graham Greene became famous for his book "The Power and the Glory" in which we see a priest achieving heroic things despite his many personal faults.

For we, the living, are given up continually to death.  The apostle's death is necessary so that his work may live.  When a good job has been done in one sector of the Church, there has to come the hour of persecution, or of obedience to leaders whose authority we cannot reject, in spite of  the fact that they may be unjust or mistaken.  Nothing grows without having died first.)

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