The Real “Blowback” in Syria

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Corbett • 09/29/2015 • 17 Comments

by James Corbett
TheInternationalForecaster.com
September 29, 2015

A month and a half ago, when the US-Turkey deal for the creation of Kurdish ISIS-free zones was still the big talking point in the Syrian war, Russia was engaged in a diplomatic effort that flew under the radar. Their plan: to create a “broad coalition” of countries to seriously confront the ISIS threat. The idea, floated by Russian minister Lavrov at the Iran nuclear negotiations in Vienna and other international venues, received little attention and wasn’t taken very seriously by anyone. Spurned by the so-called “Syrian National Council,” rejected by the Saudis, and, inevitably, turned down cold by the White House, it looked like this was destined to be another Russian foreign policy initiative that would whither on the vine.

Oh what a difference a month makes. Far from giving up on the idea, Russia simply decided to proceed with their own “coalition of the willing,” much to the chagrin of the yellow press of the West. Faux outrage over the presence of Russian military advisers and equipment in the country (neither a new nor a surprising development given Russia’s military alliance with Syria) soon gave way to consternation over Russia’s military/intelligence alliance with Iran and Iraq and even the possible extension of that alliance to include Hezbollah and Yemen.

But this week’s bombshell threatens to blow all of that out of the water: the latest (unconfirmed) reports indicate China is getting involved in the fight. According to Al-Masdar Al-‘Arabi, a high-ranking Syrian army official has confirmed to the news site that Chinese involvement in the Syrian conflict is here: “the Chinese will be arriving in the coming weeks.” This follows a week of speculation piqued by the apparent deployment of a Chinese cruiser to the Mediterranean that Russian Senator Igor Morozov has asserted is taking part in Russia’s Syrian operations.

If these reports are true, then there is a significant shift taking place in the Syria narrative, long dominated by the West, the Gulf states, the Israelis, the Turks and their puppet organizations in the country. We are now witnessing the rise of a power bloc that contains the second and third largest militaries on the planet as well as the active cooperation of the governments actually effected by the ISIS invasion. That brings with it a legitimacy that the US and GCC could only wish for in the conflict.

All eyes are now on the UN General Assembly, where it seems Obama and Putin are engaging ina tit-for-tat on the Syrian conflict and the respective parties’ participation in it. It is also evident that the US has lost even more face in the international community as Russia once again steps up to the plate with actual decisive actions that show they mean business.

This turn of events is much closer to what is meant by the mealy-mouthed “blowback” explanation that left war apologists love to use to explain things like the rise of Al Qaeda or the rise of ISIS. According to the proponents of the blowback theory, the current mess in Syria wasn’t a deliberate strategy to foment an Islamic State (as even the former head of the DIA has now publicly accused the White House of doing); no, it’s “blowback” and “unintended consequences” by a “bungling administration” that “can’t do intervention right.”

Well here’s blowback of a much different sort. The US, the Saudis, the Turks, the Israelis, all of these parties have used the conflict as an excuse for showboating, hand-wringing, and advancing their own agendas in the region. And now, as a result, a military coalition that is actually interested in obliterating the ISIS terror boogeyman has arisen.

It remains to be seen whether this is just more 2D chess in support of 3D machinations. Rumors that Putin has been willing to put Assad on the chopping block since the very beginning of the conflict persist, and it will be interesting to see if Russia ultimately puts some sort of Assad “power-sharing” arrangement on the table as a concession to get the ball moving diplomatically in Syria.

But however it plays out from here, there is no happy ending for Obama and his partners in crime. Their carefully constructed terror boogeyman is increasingly looking like its days are numbered.

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Russians Strike Targets in Syria, but Not ISIS Areas

By HELENE COOPER, MICHAEL R. GORDON and NEIL MacFARQUHARSEPT. 30, 2015

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Russia May Not Have Attacked ISIS

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said the Russian airstrikes in Syria were probably not in areas with Islamic State forces. By REUTERS on Publish DateSeptember 30, 2015.Photo by Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images. Watch in Times Video »

WASHINGTON — Russian aircraft carried out a bombing attack against Syrian opposition fighters on Wednesday, including at least one group trained by the C.I.A., eliciting angry protests from American officials and plunging the complex sectarian war there into dangerous new territory.

Russia’s entry into the Syrian conflict, foreshadowed by a rapid military buildup in the past three weeks at an air base in Latakia, Syria, makes the possibility of a political settlement in Syria more difficult and creates a new risk of inadvertent incidents between American and Russian warplanes flying in the same area. And it adds a powerful but unpredictable combatant to a civil war that has already resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and a flood of refugees.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia justified his country’s entry into the conflict by saying that Russia was acting “preventatively, to fight and destroy militants and terrorists on the territories that they already occupied, not wait for them to come to our house.”
GRAPHIC
Tracking the Russian Airstrikes in Syria

Maps show that most of the areas hit by the airstrikes are controlled by rebel groups and not in Islamic State territory.

OPEN GRAPHIC

But American officials said the attack was not directed at the Islamic State but at other opposition groups fighting against the government of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, whom Mr. Putin has vowed to support. American officials said Russian warplanes and helicopter gunships had dropped bombs north of the central city of Homs, where there are few, if any, militants of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

“By supporting Assad and seemingly taking on everybody fighting Assad,” Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said Wednesday, Russia is “taking on the whole rest of the country that’s fighting Assad.” Some of those groups, he added, are supported by the United States and need to be part of a political resolution in Syria.

“That’s why the Russian position is doomed to fail,” Mr. Carter said.

Both Mr. Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry were critical of Russia for failing to fully inform American officials ahead of time of their mission. The notification consisted of contacting the American Embassy in Baghdad one hour before the strikes with the warning that American planes should avoid Syrian airspace. No effort was made to coordinate the airstrikes with American air operations in the region.

Illustrating the widening complexity of the war, the United States conducted its own airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday, near Aleppo, without warning to the Russians. “No, we did not,” an American official said afterward. “It should come as a surprise to no one that we’re conducting airstrikes in Syria.”

Mr. Kerry raised Russia’s handling of the mission Wednesday morning with Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and after a late-afternoon meeting at the United Nations, Mr. Kerry told reporters that the two sides had agreed to begin talks on avoiding unintended confrontations in Syria and clarifying which targets the Russians are picking as soon as possible, maybe even Thursday.

“It is one thing, obviously, to be targeting ISIL,” Mr. Kerry said. “We are concerned, obviously, that is not what’s happening.”Photo

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, right, at a meeting near Moscow on Wednesday.CreditPool photo by Alexey Nikolsky

Though Russia and the United States remain far apart on the critical question of whether Mr. Assad should remain in power, Mr. Kerry said the two sides had agreed to explore “options” to ease the conflict. “We think we have some very specific steps that may be able to help lead in the right direction,” said Mr. Kerry, who did not provide any details. “That needs to be properly explored.”

At least one and possibly more Syrian opposition groups that have been secretly armed and trained by the C.I.A. were among the rebel groups targeted by the Russian airstrikes, a senior United States official said. The official would not identify which group or groups were attacked or where they were located. Nor would he assess the damages or casualties suffered by the Syrian fighters other than to say, “It was not minor.” American officials said they were still sorting through the battle damage reports coming in from the field.

While the Pentagon’s $500 million program to train and equip Syrian fighters has largely failed — at one point this month only four or five American-trained combatants were in the fight in Syria — the C.I.A.’s covert program to train other fighters has weathered some setbacks to produce 3,000 to 5,000 fighters in the nearly two years it has been operating.

Mr. Kerry, speaking to the Security Council, warned Russia not to carry out airstrikes in areas of Syria in which the Islamic State is not believed to be operating. With his Russian counterpart in the chair, Mr. Kerry said that the Obama administration would welcome “any genuine effort” by Moscow to target the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria.

But Mr. Kerry made clear that the United States would have “grave concerns” if the Russians bombed other moderate rebel groups, and he repeated the American position that Mr. Assad would eventually need to leave power as part of a political transition that would be intended to bring peace to Syria. He also said that the United States-led coalition is poised “to dramatically accelerate” airstrikes against the Islamic State.

When a reporter asked Mr. Lavrov about Mr. Carter’s assertion that the Russian airstrikes appeared to have been directed at parts of Syria not known to be under the control of the Islamic State, he said, “Don’t listen to the Pentagon about the Russian strikes.”

But Western diplomats warned that Russia was sending a dangerous message if its attacks were aimed primarily against opponents of Mr. Assad, rather than the Islamic State.

Putin on Intervention in Syria

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said that he believes the only way to deal with terrorists in Syria is to act preemptively. By REUTERS on Publish DateSeptember 30, 2015. Photo by Justin Lane/European Pressphoto Agency. Watch in Times Video »

“We need the Russians to understand that in coming to defense of the regime to attack ISIL, what they will do is forge a single united force under ISIL leadership against the regime,” said the British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond. “That’s the huge danger we face.”

A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said its pilots were engaged in precision strikes “against the military equipment, communication centers, transport vehicles, arms depots, ammunition and fuels and lubricant materials belonging to ISIS terrorists.”

But in a video on YouTube, a rebel commander in Hama Province, Jamil al-Saleh, said that his forces had eavesdropped on communications between Syrian Air Force pilots and their bases, which confirmed that Russian warplanes were aloft. His group, the Izza Gathering, is one of the remaining fragments of the loosely knit Free Syrian Army, relatively secular groups that have received some Western support.

The attacks, according to state-run television and rebel sources, occurred north of Homs and into Hama Province. Recent advances in Hama by a coalition of insurgents opposed to Mr. Assad as well as to the Islamic State have posed new threats to the coastal Alawite heartland, where Mr. Assad enjoys his strongest support. That coalition has a range of groups, including the Nusra Front, less-extremist Islamist groups and relatively secular groups like Mr. Saleh’s.

In his comments, Mr. Putin said that the only long-term solution for Syria was through political change and dialogue between the opposition and the government. “I know that President Assad understands that and is ready for this process,” Mr. Putin said. He said Russia hoped Mr. Assad would make “compromises in the name of his country and his people.”

But the United States has long held that Mr. Assad must step down before a stable peace can be achieved. Lately, President Obama has added some nuance, saying that Mr. Assad could be part of a “managed transition” to a new government.

In Syria, the state-run news media strongly endorsed the move by Russia. Supporters of Mr. Assad seemed particularly pleased that Moscow was sending military aid because they felt his endorsement at the United Nations two days ago was a bit tepid.

Mr. Putin harbors both international and domestic reasons for interfering in Syria. On the international front, he wants to restore Russian influence as a global power and try to force an end to the diplomatic and financial isolation the West imposed after Moscow seized Crimea and supported separatists in southeastern Ukraine. He also wants to maintain control over Russia’s naval station at Tartus, in Syria, its only remaining overseas military base outside the former Soviet Union.

Helene Cooper reported from Washington, Michael R. Gordon from New York, and Neil MacFarquhar from Moscow. Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington, Somini Sengupta from the United Nations, and Anne Barnard from Beirut, Lebanon.

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US Complains As Russia Bombs its Terrorists

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October 1, 2015 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - The New York Times in its recent article, "Russians Strike Targets in Syria, but Not ISIS Areas," attempts to frame Russia's recent actions in Syria as dishonest and dangerous. It reports:

Russian aircraft carried out a bombing attack against Syrian opposition fighters on Wednesday, including at least one group trained by the C.I.A., eliciting angry protests from American officials and plunging the complex sectarian war there into dangerous new territory.

This of course would only make Russia's actions dishonest or dangerous if groups trained by the US CIA were in fact the "moderates" the US claims they are. However, they are not, and thus Russia's actions are duly justified as is the expansion of their current policy.

There Are no Moderates, and There Never Were

For months now, after years of headlines confirming the US has been covertly arming militants in Syria for the purpose of overthrowing the government in Damascus, a narrative revolving around tens of thousands of these militants "defecting" to Al Nusra and the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS/ISIL) has been peddled to the public by the Western media and US politicians to account for the apparent failure of America's alleged policy of creating an army of "moderates" to both fight ISIS/Al Qaeda and the Syrian government.

In reality, from the beginning, there were never any moderates. Starting as early as 2007, years before the war in Syria began, the US as a matter of policy had long since decided to intentionally fund and support the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood - for all intents and purposes the political wing of Al Qaeda - and begin arming militants affiliated with Al Qaeda itself.

This was revealed in Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh's 2007 New Yorker article titled, "The Redirection Is the Administration’s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?," which stated explicitly (emphasis added):

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.Hersh's prophetic 9-page report would also reveal that even then, the extremist Syrian Muslim Brotherhood was already receiving funding and support from the United States via Saudi Arabia. His report revealed (emphasis added):

There is evidence that the Administration’s redirection strategy has already benefitted the Brotherhood. The Syrian National Salvation Front is a coalition of opposition groups whose principal members are a faction led by Abdul Halim Khaddam, a former Syrian Vice-President who defected in 2005, and the Brotherhood. A former high-ranking C.I.A. officer told me,“The Americans have provided both political and financial support. The Saudis are taking the lead with financial support, but there is American involvement.” He said that Khaddam, who now lives in Paris, was getting money from Saudi Arabia, with the knowledge of the White House. (In 2005, a delegation of the Front’s members met with officials from the National Security Council, according to press reports.) A former White House official told me that the Saudis had provided members of the Front with travel documents.By 2011, Al Qaeda's affiliates in Syria, most notably the Al Nusra Front, began operating nation-wide, taking the lead in the US-backed fight against Damascus. By 2012, when the US State Department listed Al Nusra as a foreign terrorist organization, it was clear even then, that the largest contingent of anti-government forces on the battlefield was Al Qaeda.

The US State Department's official statement regarding Al Nusra reported that:

Since November 2011, al-Nusrah Front has claimed nearly 600 attacks – ranging from more than 40 suicide attacks to small arms and improvised explosive device operations – in major city centers including Damascus, Aleppo, Hamah, Dara, Homs, Idlib, and Dayr al-Zawr. During these attacks numerous innocent Syrians have been killed.It is clear that Al Qaeda was not only involved in the conflict since its beginning, but also led it. This betrays current US rhetoric that Al Qaeda had only entered the fight later on, seizing on the chaos created by "moderates" and their fight with Damascus. It is clear that it was Al Qaeda itself that drove that chaos from the beginning, and is still driving this chaos to this day.

The Rhetorical Pipeline

To explain how America's fictional "moderate" army has been displaced on the battlefield in Syria by Al Qaeda and ISIS, the US claims that its multi-billion dollar nearly 5-year operation has suffered from massive defections.

The Guardian would report in its article, "Free Syrian Army rebels defect to Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra," that:

Syria's main armed opposition group, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), is losing fighters and capabilities to Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamist organisation with links to al-Qaida that is emerging as the best-equipped, financed and motivated force fighting Bashar al-Assad's regime.The International Business Times would report in its article, "Four Years Later, The Free Syrian Army Has Collapsed," that:

The Nusra Front, aka Jabhat al-Nusra, has picked up thousands of men who once fought under the umbrella of the FSA during the past three years. It offers its soldiers hundreds of dollars a month in salary and food installments. The soldiers in the FSA did not receive any monthly stipend. When extremist groups such as the Nusra Front gained ground in Syria and received millions of dollars in cash and weapons from wealthy businessmen in the Gulf states and Libya, the moderate rebels “had no other choice,” Jarrah said. “They feel like they are cheated, so they join ISIS.”The Daily Beast would report in its article, "Main U.S.-Backed Syrian Rebel Group Disbanding, Joining Islamists," that:

The Syrian rebel group Harakat al-Hazm, one of the White House’s most trusted militias fighting President Bashar al-Assad, collapsed Sunday, with activists posting a statement online from frontline commanders saying they are disbanding their units and folding them into brigades aligned with a larger Islamist insurgent alliance distrusted by Washington.Harakat al-Hazm would take with them to Al Qaeda and ISIS, millions of dollars worth of sophisticated US weapons, including US-made anti-tank TOW missiles.



The most recent US supported group, the fabled "Division 30," has also allegedly defected to Al Qaeda - assuming they weren't Al Qaeda militants from the beginning. The Telegraph in its article, "US-trained Division 30 rebels 'betray US and hand weapons over to al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria'," reported that:

Pentagon-trained rebels in Syria are reported to have betrayed their American backers and handed their weapons over to al-Qaeda in Syria immediately after re-entering the country.

Fighters with Division 30, the “moderate” rebel division favoured by the United States, surrendered to the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, a raft of sources claimed on Monday night.What this news, admitted to by the West itself, of these US-backed "moderates" joining Al Qaeda's ranks by the thousands proves is that at the very least America's policy of building up a moderate opposition has failed entirely. What documented evidence stretching back as far as 2007 proves is that the US had no intention of building up a moderate opposition in the first place, and news of "defections" are simply cover for the direct funding and arming of Al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria.

At the very least, Russia bombing these groups either having already defected to Al Qaeda, or inevitably going to defect to Al Qaeda, is doing the Pentagon a favor.

Russia is Bombing Al Qaeda

This leads back to the most recent New York Times article. Russia is not arbitrarily bombing "moderates" backed by the US in Syria to stave off allegedly "legitimate" opposition to the government in Damascus - Russia is bombing terrorists who are either operating under the banner of Al Qaeda but are portrayed as otherwise by the US, or will inevitably end up turning their fighters and weapons over to Al Qaeda. Russia is bombing Al Qaeda.

The New York Times article would also claim:

“By supporting Assad and seemingly taking on everybody fighting Assad,” Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said Wednesday, Russia is “taking on the whole rest of the country that’s fighting Assad.” Some of those groups, he added, are supported by the United States and need to be part of a political resolution in Syria.Indeed, Russia is undoubtedly bombing militants supported by the United States, but that is only because the United States has intentionally supported Al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria. At any time if the United States truly wanted to strike an irreparable blow at ISIS forces, it could simply seal off the Turkish border across which the summation of ISIS' supplies, fighters, weapons, and vehicles flow. By securing the Turkish-Syrian border to the north, and the Jordanian-Syrian border in the south, the United States could strangle ISIS out of existence in a month, if not sooner.



Image: It is abundantly clear that ISIS' supply lines lead out of NATO-member Turkey and that Syrian and Kurdish forces are desperately trying to seal off the Turkish-Syrian border to stop them. Note that the proposed US-Turkish "safe zone" in Syria would be located and protecting the remaining ISIS supply corridor into Syria.

That it has intentionally allowed ISIS supplies to flow out from under the nose of its allies and its own military forces stationed both in Jordan and in Turkey, indicates the the US at the very least is tacitly perpetuating the existence of ISIS - but most likely is actively involved in filling the trucks bound for ISIS in Syria as well.

US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter claims that the Russian position is "doomed," in what appears to be a pledge by the United States to resist Moscow's attempts to stamp out Al Qaeda groups in addition to taking on and eliminating ISIS.

Some might consider doubling down on a policy of backing terrorists that will inevitably be revealed to the world, and a policy that has thus far failed to topple the Syrian government which is now being bolstered by Russian, Iranian, and possibly Chinese forces, is a policy that is ultimately doomed.

And finally, it must be noted, for those still doubting ISIS is in fact an intentional creation of US foreign policy, that ISIS is now fighting the combined military forces of Syria, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq, and now Russia. One must ask themselves who has the material resources, finances, and operational capacity to support a single army capable of taking on a multinational coalition of this size. Where, if not from the US and its regional allies, is ISIS deriving the source of its fighting capacity?

Claiming to fight ISIS, while so transparently supporting them, is indeed a doomed position, one doomed to fail today, and one doomed to eternal condemnation in the future.

Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine“New Eastern Outlook”.

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Vanishing Grace Small Group Bible Study by Philip Yancey - Session One

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A Lâmpada da Palavra

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Palavras de Jesus
[The Lamp of the Word]

Lâmpada para os meus pés é a Sua palavra, e luz para o meu caminho. — Salmo 119:105

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O segredo para encontrar o seu caminho e saber qual o próximo passo e chegar à hora certa ao destino que determinei é usar a Minha Palavra como guia e deixa-la ser a luz que vai cortar as trevas e lhe mostrar o caminho.

Algo interessante sobre uma lâmpada ou luz é que quando a segura nas mãos, ela brilha bem à sua frente. Não reluz à distância onde não serviria de nada, mas ao seu redor, de maneira que, conforme você se movimenta, ela vai mostrando melhor o caminho. É por isso que comparei Minha Palavra a uma lâmpada, porque para ela realmente surtir efeito na sua vida é preciso deixá-la reluzir ao seu redor. Fazendo isso você terá uma visão melhor e o seu caminho ficará mais nítido.

Adoro quando Meus filhos seguem o caminho que a luz da Minha Palavra lhes revela. Quando alguém está andando no escuro precisa ter fé que a sua lâmpada vai ajudar a mantê-lo no caminho certo. Ele só se perde e fica sem saber para onde seguir quando decide encontrar o caminho sozinho. Quando, porém, clama a Mim, Eu levo a luz de volta ao viajante e o coloco no caminho certo.

A Minha Palavra é essa luz na sua vida e é preciso esforço para criar o hábito de abrir o seu coração para a luz e absorvê-la.Quanto mais contato tiver com a Minha Palavra e mais prioridade lhe der, mais forte ficará esse hábito e mais vida ela passará a ter para você.

Conforme se esforçar por seguir na direção em que guio, e a receber qualquer novo direcionamento que Eu lhe dê, a luz da Minha Palavra continuará guiando, iluminando você, e lhe mostrando o caminho.

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Revistam-se do Senhor Jesus Cristo. — Romanos 13:14[1]

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Busque a Minha face no início do seu dia, assim poderá “se revestir de Mim”, passando a agir como Eu no seu dia a dia. A maioria das pessoas se veste assim que acorda. Da mesma maneira, quanto mais cedo você “vestir-se de Mim”, comunicando-se Comigo, mais bem preparado estará para o que vier a acontecer.

“Revestir-se de Mim” significa basicamente pensar como Eu, ter os Meus pensamentos. Peça ao Espírito Santo para guiar seus pensamentos e se transforme pela renovação que ocorrerá no seu íntimo. Assim estará melhor equipado para encarar as pessoas e situações que Eu permitir. Revestir a sua mente do Meu pensamento é o melhor preparativo para cada dia.

Demonstre sua confiança em Mim sentando-se sossegadamente na Minha presença. Deixe de lado tudo o que ainda precisa ser feito. Recuse-se a se preocupar com qualquer outra coisa. Esse tempo sagrado juntos os fortalecerá e preparará para encarar o que o dia trouxe. Ao esperar em Mim antes de começar as atividades do dia, está proclamando a realidade da Minha presença viva.

Quando precisar agir, Eu o guiarei claramente através do Meu Espírito e Palavra. O mundo é muito complexo e exageradamente estimulante, portanto é fácil perder o senso de direção. Quando você passa tempo Comigo, resgato seu senso de direção.

Venha a Mim e ouça! Entre em sintonia com a Minha voz e receba as bênçãos mais magníficas. Deslumbre-se com a maravilha de se comunicar com o Criador do universo, desde o conforto do seu lar.

Apesar de ser o rei do universo, estou totalmente acessível. Estou ao seu lado aonde quer que você vá. Nada o tirará da Minha presença. Quando clamei na cruz: “Está consumado”, o véu se dividiu de cima a baixo, o que lhe ofereceu uma maneira de Me conhecer cara a cara, sem protocolo ou sacerdotes. Eu, o Rei dos reis, sou a sua companhia constante. Sou totalmente acessível a você.[2]

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O espírito é que vivifica, a carne para nada serve. As palavras que eu vos disse são espírito e vida. — João 6:63[3]


Passe tempo de qualidade na Minha Palavra

Tempo de qualidade na Palavra significa comunicar-se de coração Comigo e dar ao seu espírito o alimento espiritual que ele precisapara o dia, ou desafio. Significa fazer contato Comigo no espírito. Conforme se incitar, o seu espírito estenderá a mão e Me tocará, de maneira que você será reabastecido, renovado, revigorado e fortalecido.

Passar tempo de qualidade na Palavra significa descansar em Meus braços e se sentar aos Meus pés, como Maria, satisfeito só por receber o que tenho para lhe dar, conectar-se a Mim e absorver o Meu Espírito. Significa ter uma experiência Comigo em sua mente, coração, espírito ese concentrar totalmente em Mim, dedicar-me o seu tempo e atenção e permitir que Eu satisfaça a sua fome espiritual.

Sou a Palavra. Conectar-se Comigo na leitura da Palavra o tornará um Comigo. Conforme se aplicar à leitura e ao estudo da Minha Palavra, você se tornará um Comigo. Conforme ler e estudar a Minha Palavra, buscando aplicá-la e guardá-la no seu coração, aprenderá a sentir a Minha presença e Me conhecerá de maneira mais íntima, profunda e pessoal. Você se tornará um Comigo e com a Minha Palavra.

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Aqueles que são sábios reluzirão como o brilho do céu, e aqueles que conduzem muitos à justiça serão como as estrelas, para todo o sempre. — Daniel 12:3[4]

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A verdadeira e eterna sabedoria é Me conhecer. Conhecer-Me de coração é sabedoria e também um grande e incomparável prazer. Além do que, os sábios reluzirão como o brilho do céu. Você receberá uma maravilhosa recompensa pelo hábito de desfrutar da Minha presença. Em Meu reino, a sensibilidade espiritual gera entendimento verdadeiro e alicerçado na Palavra. Quanto mais absorver a Palavra e permitir que ela penetre em seu coração, mente e espírito, mais Me conhecerá. Aqueles que Me conhecem como Salvador reluzirão no céu por toda a eternidade. Encha o coração de esperança com essa promessa fulgurante.

Outro privilégio fabuloso que lhe ofereço é o de guiar muitos à justiça. Sua vida e suas palavras podem influenciar os outros no caminho da justiça. Conforme procura viver próximo de Mim e desfrutar da Minha presença, sua luz brilhará diante dos homens para que possam Me conhecer. Influenciar outros no caminho da justiça aumenta sua capacidade de brilhar como as estrelas, para sempre e eternamente. Viver perto de Mim não só o abençoa, mas também expande sua capacidade de refletir Minha glória por toda a eternidade![5]

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Venha sobre mim o Teu constante amor, ó Senhor, e a Tua salvação segundo a Tua promessa. Então terei que responder ao que me afronta, pois confio na Tua palavra. Da minha boca não tires a palavra de verdade, pois espero nas Tuas leis. Observarei de contínuo a Tua lei, para sempre e eternamente. Andarei em liberdade, pois busquei os Teus preceitos. Falarei dos Teus estatutos perante os reis, e não me envergonharei. Tenho prazer nos Teus mandamentos, porque os amo. Levanto as mãos para os Teus mandamentos, que amo, e medito nos Teus decretos. — Salmo 119:41–48

Publicado no Âncora em julho de 2015.


[1] NLTH.
[2] Sarah Young, Jesus Calling (Thomas Nelson, 2010).
[3] NVI.
[4] NVI.
[5] Sarah Young, Jesus Lives (Thomas Nelson, 2009).

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2 Hours of non stop Christian music!

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Putin vs. Obama and the other main storylines at the U.N. General Assembly

By Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, September 28, 2015

Autumn in Manhattan: The leaves are turning, there’s a chill in the breeze, the traffic is once again snarled on the east side, and convoys of black SUVs flank the entrances of the city’s toniest hotels. Yes, the United Nations’ General Assembly is in session. Here are the key narratives to track.

Putin’s power play. President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin were set to meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly on Monday. Well before the two addressed the chamber filled with world leaders and dignitaries, the contours of their disagreements were clear.

In his Monday morning speech, Obama denounced Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, a Black Sea territory that most governments recognize as part of Ukraine. He also signaled his concern with Russia’s recent military escalation in Syria in defense of the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad and warned that there “cannot be … a return to the pre-war status quo”–that is, as the United States has insisted in the past, Assad must go.

Putin didn’t equivocate on the matter, either. Russia is a staunch and longtime ally of the Syrian government. In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” he said that the aid provided by the United States and a number of other countries to rebel factions fighting the Assad regime “contravenes the principles of international law and the U.N. Charter.”

Putin, whose government is widely seen as the main actor behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, said Russia backs “only legal government entities.”

Obama’s speech was framed around sober, liberal themes: the need for multilateralism when addressing global challenges, the limits of military power, the importance of strengthening inclusive, democratic institutions in every country and the perfidy of domineering strongmen. These were all, in some sense, direct or indirect jabs at Putin’s authoritarian politics.

Putin responded in kind later in the day. He gestured at the U.S. track record of intervention in the Middle East, and the anarchy unleashed following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. He framed the 2011 upheavals of the Arab Spring–which were celebrated as a democratic awakening by the White House–as a threat to Middle Eastern stability. He asked “those responsible” (presumably the U.S.): “Do you know what you’ve done?”

Putin also said Russia was eager to take more of a lead role in coordinating a response to the terrorist threat in Iraq and Syria, a cause in which it has backing from Iran.

Iran’s moment. This is the first General Assembly session following the July announcement of a proposed nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, including all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Obama hailed the agreement at the U.N. as a victory for the prevailing international order that makes “our world safer.”

The deal faced a heated backlash in Washington, with many congressional Republicans and neo-conservatives decrying what they considered appeasement to a regime long at odds with the United States. They failed to rally enough support against the deal in the U.S. Senate and its passage now appears to be a fait accompli.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has pinned his political fate on the deal, which will eventually see the loosening of sanctions on the Iranian economy in return for Tehran complying with measures aimed at curbing its ability to produce a nuclear weapon.

In an interview with CNN, Rouhani mocked the opponents of diplomacy. “Some of them wouldn’t even know where Tehran was in relation to Iran,” he said. “Some of them didn’t know where Iran was geographically, not distinguishing that one is the capital of the other.”

On Monday, Rouhani said the deal was a “victory over war,” championed Iran’s future economic prospects and launched his own barb at Israel, singling out the “Zionist regime” as the Middle East’s only nuclear power while calling for regional non-proliferation.

Who sounds most like the pope? Pope Francis left the United States before a blood moon rose in the night sky, but his whirlwind visit still casts a shadow on the meetings at the U.N. The pontiff spoke passionately about a number of key international crises: the threat of climate change; the perils of growing global economic inequity; the imperative to welcome immigrants and refugees.

Expect quite a few of these themes to be echoed in the speeches of the General Assembly, particularly regarding the refugee crisis facing Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, perhaps the most outspoken world leader on the need to provide for Syrian refugees, is scheduled to speak Thursday.

The question of Palestine. On Wednesday, the flag of Palestine will be raised among the other 193 member states of the United Nations. Hundreds of world leaders have been invited by the Palestinians to attend the ceremony; the United States, Israel and a handful of other nations will be sure to boycott the event.

Palestine, like the Holy See, has non-member observer status at the U.N., but a recent General Assembly resolution permitted its flag to be flown outside the organization. The raising of the flag will mark a “glorious day,” according to the Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour.

Like much of the enfeebled Palestinian efforts to force the matter of Palestinian statehood on the international stage, it is a purely symbolic gesture. On the ground, a separate, viable Palestinian state is nowhere in sight. And its potential existence is rejected by senior members of the current right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Among many governments in the West, there is deepening frustration with the current status quo, and a host of European countries took steps to recognize Palestine as an independent state in recent years. But there is also a creeping apathy. Obama, in his remarks Monday, made no mention whatsoever of Israel and the Palestinians–a conspicuous absence for any U.S. president addressing the U.N.

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Tesouros Ocultos

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Palavras de Jesus

Bendito seja o Deus e Pai de nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo, Pai das misericórdias e Deus de toda consolação, que nos consola em todas as nossas tribulações, para que, com a consolação que recebemos de Deus, possamos consolar os que estão passando por tribulações. Pois assim como os sofrimentos de Cristo transbordam sobre nós, também por meio de Cristo transborda a nossa consolação.[1]

Irmãos, não queremos que vocês desconheçam as tribulações que sofremos... as quais foram muito além da nossa capacidade de suportar, a ponto de perdermos a esperança da própria vida. De fato, já tínhamos sobre nós a sentença de morte, para que não confiássemos em nós mesmos, mas em Deus, que ressuscita os mortos. Ele nos livrou e continuará nos livrando de tal perigo de morte. Nele temos colocado a nossa esperança. — 2 Coríntios 1:3–5, 8–10[2]



Eis os tesouros ocultos nas trevas, enterrados bem no fundo da Minha mina! Assim como o minerador vai para as profundezas da terra e sacrifica o seu desejo por luz e calor, preferindo trabalhar na escuridão da mina e suportar o pó e a sujeira, ficar confinado em um local apertado, ter dor nas costas e nos músculos para poder trabalhar procurando gemas preciosas escondidas debaixo da terra, nas minas, assim é você. Neste momento, você se encontra num local difícil, procura a luz do sol, deseja poder respirar um pouco de ar puro, sente-se confinado, sem fôlego e meio asfixiado por causa do ar viciado, e anseia por uma mão que se estenda para o ajudar.

Não esmoreça nem desanime, pois nesse local aparentemente escuro você encontrará tesouros inestimáveis, mais valiosos do que qualquer outro! Este período não vai ser longo. Não vai durar para sempre. É apenas por um tempo, apenas por um momento. Então, não se canse de fazer o bem. Não se canse do lugar onde se encontra agora, pois aí você está aprendendo a se apoiar em Mim. Você está aprendendo a ficar nos Meus braços, perto de Mim, onde pode encontrar a força que precisa para continuar.

Não desanime nem esmoreça, e não se considere um fracasso. Não pense que Eu não te amo. Eu te amo e tenho um grande carinho por você. Eu o observo cada momento do dia! Ouço cada vez que você chama e todas as suas orações. Vejo cada lágrima que derrama. Estou sempre aqui para lhe dar forças e ajudar.

Então não se preocupe. Você não está fora do círculo do Meu Amor, mas bem no centro do Meu Amor. Eu nunca o deixarei nem desampararei. Eu nunca falharei a você. Cumprirei o Meu propósito na sua vida.

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Esqueça o passado

Minha preciosidade! Deixe o fardo e os pesos do passado. Perdoe-se pelos seus erros passados e aceite o perdão que outros lhe dão. Não se preocupe pensando como as coisas teriam sido diferentes ou como poderiam ter sido melhores caso você tivesse feito isto ou aquilo. Esse conflito, essa indecisão e esse sentimento de culpa e remorso quanto ao passado são pesos e fardos que você carrega desnecessariamente.

Esqueça o passado e encontre fé e tranquilidade, sabendo que Eu tenho o Meu plano perfeito para a sua vida. Eu sou o grande Pastor, e você não tem o que temer. Usei todas as experiências da sua vida para transformar você na pessoa que é agora.

Você teve que conhecer alegria e tristeza, luz e trevas, dor e felicidade, perda e ganho, derrota e vitória, para poder aprender a ter dó, a ter compaixão e compreensão. Isto aconteceu para você poder entender os outros, para poder se colocar no lugar deles e dizer: "Sim, eu sei como você se sente. Eu sei como é. Já estive numa situação assim. Eu também já passei por isso. Sei como é difícil."

Você pode ensinar outros a encontrarem fé, esperança e coragem, porque já viu a Minha ajuda nos momentos difíceis. Você sabe que há uma luz no final do túnel, porque já a viu e já passou por esse túnel. Você sabe que vale a pena continuar lutando e não desistir, porque já passou por isso.

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Eu entendo a provação do coração dos homens, o grau de desespero e de desencorajamento. Eu compreendo o grau de renúncia, pois primeiro Eu tive que renunciar a Meu Pai para ir para a Terra. Depois tive que renunciar àqueles que tanto amava para regressar para o Meu Pai.

Eu entendo a profundeza da dor e da aflição, pois Eu gritei de dor quando os pregos perfuraram as Minhas mãos e os Meus pés. Sei como é ser abandonado por aqueles que Me amavam, sim, até pelo Meu próprio Pai, e por isso gritei: "Meu Deus! Meu Deus! Por que Me desamparaste?"”[3]

Eu entendo o medo profundo, o medo de encarar aquilo que está pela frente por causa da dor e da angústia que trará. E por isso Eu disse: "Pai, passa de Mim este cálice".[4]

Eu entendo a profundeza da sensação de perda quando aqueles que Me amavam mais Me abandonaram quando fui levado cativo. E conheço a profundeza da mágoa de ver alguém que amamos nos trair, como Judas Me traiu com um beijo.

Porventura não sou um sumo sacerdote que Se compadece das suas fraquezas?[5]Fico de coração partido ao ver sua dor e ver você batalhando e passando pelo fogo da provação e pelo teste da purificação. — Quando se sente tão sem esperança, perdido, abandonado; quando se agarra com toda a sua força e ainda assim sente que não existe mais nada a que se agarrar.

Embora o Meu Pai não tenha passado este cálice de Mim, e embora Eu tenha visto os Meus entes queridos fugirem do Meu lado na hora da angústia, e aquele que Eu amava Me trair, e embora os pregos tenham perfurado Minhas mãos e pés, e embora Eu tenha levado muitas chicotadas, e sentido que Meu Pai Me abandonara, e embora tenha tido que passar pela morte, ainda assim tudo isso gerou uma vitória enorme, uma renovação enorme, uma salvação enorme!

Pois embora tenha parecido uma derrota Eu ser chicoteado e açoitado, ser coroado de espinhos e pregado numa cruz, e apesar de Eu ter clamado: "Meu Deus! Meu Deus! Por que Me desamparaste?" o Meu Pai Me guardou e Me deu uma grande ressurreição que mudou o curso da História e toda a eternidade.

Embora tudo pareça tenebroso e você não consiga ver, sabe que está envolto nos Meus braços. Eu lhe peço para confiar em Mim quando estiver nas profundezas, para confiar em Mim na hora do desespero, para confiar em Mim na sua dor, quando tiver que renunciar, pois Eu faço tudo bem e ajo na sua vida com amor. Se estiver disposto a beber deste cálice, se estiver disposto a dizer: "Não se faça a minha vontade, mas a Tua"[6], também terá uma gloriosa ressurreição que ultrapassará tudo o que você conhece!

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Antes da fundação do mundo

Você é o Meu filho amado. Eu o escolhi antes da fundação do mundo para trilhar Comigo caminhos criados especificamente para você. Concentre-se em Me acompanhar em vez de querer adivinhar Meus planos para a sua vida. Se confiar que tenho planos de prosperá-lo e não lhe causar mal, conseguirá relaxar e desfrutar o momento.

A sua esperança e o seu futuro estão arraigados no Céu, onde o êxtase eterno lhe está reservado. Nada tirará de você a sua herança de riquezas inconcebíveis e bem estar. Às vezes, lhe permito vislumbres do seu glorioso futuro para encorajá-lo e incitá-lo a seguir adiante. Mas o seu fogo principal deveria ser ficar perto de Mim. Eu determino o ritmo de acordo com suas necessidades e Meus desígnios.[7]

Publicado originalmente em 1997, salvo indicação contrária. Adaptado e republicado em março 2014. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli. Revisão Denise Oliveira.


[1] NIV.

[2] NIV.

[3] Mateus 27:46.

[4] Mateus 26:39.

[5] Hebreus 4:15.

[6] Mateus 26:39.

[7] Sarah Young, Jesus Calling (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010).

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The God of All Comfort

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Audio length: 12:25
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“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort…”—2 Corinthians 1:31

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“The God of all comfort.” All sorts of comforts are stored up in God. No matter what you may require to bear you up under your affliction, God has just the kind of comfort which you need—and He is ready to bestow it upon you! Rest assured of that and also believe that He will bestow it upon you if you ask it at His hands. Oh, I think this is a name full of good cheer to everyone who has grown weary because of the trials of the way through this great and terrible wilderness! God is the God of all comfort—not merely of some comfort, but of all comfort. If you need every kind of comfort that was ever given to men, God has it in reserve and He will give it to you! If there are any comforts to be found by God’s people in sickness, in prison, in need, in depression—the God of all comfort will deal them out to you according as you have need of them!—Charles Spurgeon2

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Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.—Isaiah 41:103

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I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.—John 16:334

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Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.—Psalm 23:45

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Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.—John 14:276

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Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.—Matthew 11:28–297

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There are many people who receive countless blessings from Him and who rest on His promises, who yet do not get to know God Himself in a personal way. There are many who for a time trusted Christ and found great comfort in the assurances of His love, but who at length, in some season of trial, entered into close relations of personal friendship with Him. In this revealing they found treasures of love, of sympathy, and of comfort, far surpassing the best they had ever experienced before. In seeking, therefore, for help in sorrow, we should never be content with the gifts of God alone, or with the comforts which come in His words of promise; we should pass through all these to God Himself and seek satisfaction in the infinite blessedness of His love.

It is thus that the Scriptures represent God. He is ever, with lavish hand, dispensing His mercies and benefits, but He would not have us content with these. “He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.” But He desires to manifest Himself to His children as He does not to the world. The great Bible saints found their satisfaction and their help, not in God’s gifts, but in God Himself. Thus the reason for David’s sublime assurance, “I shall not want,” was not because he had great stores of God’s gifts laid up, but because “the Lord is my Shepherd.” His confidence was not in the wealth which God had given him, which would cover all his wants for the future, but in God Himself. In another psalm the writer’s intense longing is not for any mere tokens of divine goodness, any mere benefits or favors, but for God Himself. “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.” His thirst was unappeasable in any way but in fellowship with God. Nothing that God could have given him of the richest of His gifts, of the sweetest blessings of His hand, would have satisfied him. It was for God Himself, the living God, that he thirsted. The human soul was made for God, and God alone can meet its need.

The only heart-filling comfort, therefore, in time of sorrow is that which is in God Himself. It is thus, too, that our Father desires to bless us; He asks for our fullest trust, and He would reveal Himself to us in tenderest personal ways. After Horace Bushnell’s death there were found, dimly penciled on a sheet of paper, laid in his Bible, these words: “My mother’s loving instinct was from God, and God was in her love to me first—which love was deeper than hers and more protracted. Long years ago she vanished, but God stays by me still, embracing me in my grey hairs as tenderly and carefully as she did in my infancy, and giving to me as my joy and the principal glory of my life, that He lets me know Him, and helps me, with real confidence, to call Him my Father.”

Persuasions, arguments, and promises, however true, precious, and divine they may be, will never bring perfect quiet to a heart in its anguish. We may listen to all that earth’s most skillful comforters can tell us even of the consolations of the word of God, but our lonely spirit will be lonely still. There may be an assent to all that is said to us, and our mind may acquiesce, finding a measure of rest; yet still in the depths of our being we remain uncomforted. Something is wanting. But if we creep into God’s bosom, and nestle there like a tired child in the mother’s arms, and let God’s love enfold and embrace us, and flow into our heart, however deep the sorrow may be, we shall be comforted, satisfied. And even if every source of human joy has been cut off and we are left utterly bereft, we can still find in God that which will suffice.

There is a blessing in true human sympathy. God sends our friends to us to bring us little measures of His own love—little cupfuls of His grace. But He Himself is the only true comforter. His love alone is great enough to fill our heart, and His hand alone has skill to bind up our wounds.—J. R. Miller8

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When all our hopes are gone and all seems to fail, even when our dreams are shattered and our ships come home with broken sails, we still have Jesus! And He's all we need!—D. Brandt Berg

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You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.—Psalm 18:289

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You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.—Psalm 32:710

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Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.—Psalm 139:7–1211

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He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.—Revelation 21:412

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His Word is always a comfort and the voice of His Spirit is always an encouragement in the hour of greatest trial.—D. Brandt Berg

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Cast your burden on the Lord. Just roll it over on Jesus and roll over and go to sleep—and let Him stay up all night! Don't worry about it. Let the Lord do the worrying! His shoulders are broad enough to carry any load—all the burdens put together, including His own!—D. Brandt Berg

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Keep your eyes on Me at all times. The skies may be dark, the winds may blow, the waters may be deep and murky, and the waves may crash all around you. There may be no apparent way of escape. But I am your escape. I am the sunshine that chases away the dark clouds. My voice will still the tumultuous waves. My rays of sunlight will make the waters clear so that you can see the wondrous splendor that lies under the surface of the ocean of life.

So if all around you seems dark and gloomy, turn your eyes toward Me, your eternal sunshine. I will shine brightly upon your life and I will calm the seas, helping you to find peace and security.—Jesus, speaking in prophecy

Published on Anchor May 2014. Read by Jon Marc. Music by Michael Dooley.

Footnotes:
1 NIV.
2 Delivered by Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, June 15, 1882.
3 ESV.
4 ESV.
5 ESV.
6 ESV.
7 ESV.
8 The Ministry of Comfort (Hodder and Stoughton, 1901).
9 NIV.
10 NIV.
11 NIV.
12 NLT.

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