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Sunday Readings
Psalm 46:1-3 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
John 14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Swedenborg Insights
Heavenly Secrets
1692. What temptations, or the conflicts that constitute temptations, accomplish, few people understand.
Conflicts are the means by which evils and falsities are broken up and dispersed. They are also the means by which resilience of these is produced, and a conscience is not only given but also strengthened, and man is accordingly regenerated.
This is the reason why those who are going through periods of spiritual growth are led into conflicts and undergo temptations and why those who do not experience them during their earthly life do so in the next life, provided they are such as can be regenerated. And it is for these reasons also that the Lord's Church is called 'militant'. Jesus alone however underwent from His own strength or power the most cruel conflicts that constitute temptations, for He was beset by all the hells and constantly overcame them.
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