a living sacrifice

the 542nd post!

2007-12-28T09:24:00.000-05:00

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." (I Peter 5:6)

***I'm taking a bit of a break from the internet. If it is God's will, I will continue this sometime in the future.

subject with humility

2007-12-26T08:59:00.000-05:00

"Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." I Peter 5:5

links in a chain

2007-12-25T09:33:00.001-05:00

"The laws of our holy religion are so far from clashing and interfering, that one Christian duty very much furthers and promotes another. The fruits of the Spirit are like links in a chain--one draws on another; and it is so in this; many other graces contribute to the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit."

meekness means a peaceful heart

2007-12-24T09:14:00.000-05:00

"It is spoken of as the happiness of the meek, that they 'delight themselves in the abundance of peace;' others may delight themselves in the abundance of wealth, a poor delight, that is interwoven with so much trouble and disquietude; but the meek, though they have but a little wealth, have peace, abundance of peace, peace like a river, and this such as they have a heart to enjoy."

a meek spirit is physically healthy

2007-12-22T11:02:00.000-05:00

"The quietness of the spirit will help to suppress depression; and this, as other of wisdom's precepts, will be health to the body and marrow to the bones: length of days and long life and peace they shall add unto you; but wrath kills the foolish man."

pray with meekness

2007-12-21T12:44:00.000-05:00

"Prayer is another duty which meekness disposes us rightly and acceptably to perform. We do not lift up pure hands in prayer, if they are not 'without wrath.' Prayers made in wrath are written in gall, and can never be pleasing to, or prevailing with the God of love and peace. Our rule is, 'First go and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.' And if we do not take this method, though we seek God in a due ordinance, we do not seek Him in the due order."

follow the Lamb's example of meekness

2007-12-20T08:48:00.000-05:00

"Now it is the character of all saints that they follow the Lamb: as a lamb they follow him in his meekness, and are therefore so often called the sheep of Christ. This is that part of his copy which He expressly calls us to write after: 'Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.' If the master is mild, it ill becomes the servant to be froward. The apostle is speaking of Christ's meekness under his sufferings, when he says that he 'left us an example, that we should follow his steps."

meekness- true courage

2007-12-19T10:06:00.000-05:00

"Meekness is commonly despised by the noblemen of the age as cowardice and lowliness, and the evidence of a little soul, and is posted accordingly; while the most furious and angry revenge is celebrated and applauded under the pompous names of valor, honor, and greatness of spirit. ...True courage is such a presence of mind as enables a man rather to suffer than to sin; to choose affliction rather than iniquity; to pass by an affront though he lose by it, and be hissed as a fool and a coward, rather than engage in a sinful quarrel."

put off all wrath, anger, and malice

2007-12-18T10:08:00.001-05:00

"This is that meekness and quietness of spirit which is recommended to us: such a command and composure of the soul that it does not become unhinged by any provocation whatever, but all its powers and faculties preserved in due temper for the just discharge of their respective offices. In a word, put off all wrath and anger and malice, those corrupted limbs of the old man; pluck up and cast away those roots of bitterness, and stand upon a constant guard against all the exorbitances of your own passion: then you will soon know, to your comfort, better than I can tell you, what it is to be of a meek and quiet spirit."

makes us for a day of persecution

2007-12-17T09:05:00.000-05:00

"[Humility] makes us fit for a day of persecution. If tribulation and affliction arise because of the Word--which is no foreign supposition--the meek and quiet spirit is armed for it, so as to preserve its peace and purity at such a time, which are our two great concerns, that we may neither torment ourselves with a base fear, nor pollute ourselves with a base compliance."

quietness is the composure of the meek

2007-12-15T09:34:00.001-05:00

"Quietness is the evenness, the composure and the rest of the soul, which speaks both the nature and the excellency of the grace of meekness."

Pray when anger arises

2007-12-14T09:58:00.000-05:00

"Pray to God by His Spirit to work in you this excellent grace of meekness and quietness of spirit. It is a part of that loveliness which He puts upon the soul, and He must be sought unto for it. If any man lack this meekness of wisdom, let him ask it of God, who gives liberally, and does not upbraid us with our folly. When we begin at any time to be froward and unquiet, we must lift a prayer to Him... for that grace which establishes the heart. When David's heart was hot within him, the first word that broke out was a prayer (Psa. 39:3-4). When we are surpised with a provocation, and begin to be in a ferment upon it, it will not only be a present diversion, but a sovereign cure, to utter a prayer to God for grace and strength to resist and overcome the temptation: 'Lord, keep me quiet now.'"

a disposition to strive against and strength

2007-12-13T10:54:00.000-05:00

"Meekness, in the school of Christ, is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Gal. 5:22,23. It is a grace wrought by the Holy Spirit both as a sanctifier and as a comforter in the hearts of all true believers, teaching and enabling them at all times to keep their passions under the conduct and government of religion and right reason. I observe that it is worked in the hearts of all true believers, because, though there are some whose natural temper is unhappily sour and harsh, yet wherever there is true grace, there is a disposition to strive against, and strength in some measure to conquer such a disposition. And though in this, as in other graces, an absolute sinless perfection cannot be expected in this present state, yet we are to labor after it, and press towards it."

meekness will curb the tongue

2007-12-12T14:02:00.000-05:00

"Meekness will curb the tongue, and 'keep the mouth as with a bridle' when the heart is hot. Even when there may be occasion for a keenness of expression, and we are called to rebuke sharply--cuttingly, Titus 1:13--yet meekness forbids all fury and indecency of language, and every thing that sounds like clamor and evil-speaking."

meekness reconciles grievous and afflicting circumstances

2007-12-11T16:15:00.000-05:00

"When the events of Providence are grievous and afflicting, displeasing to sense and opposing our worldly interests, meekness not only quiets us under them, but reconciles us to them; and enables us not only to bear, but to receive evil as well as good at the hand of the Lord; which is the excellent frame that Job argues himself into: it is to kiss the rod, and even to accept the punishment of our sin, taking all in good part that God does; not daring to contend with our Maker, no, nor desiring to advise him, but being dumb, and not opening the mouth, because God does it."

meekness: a gracious easiness

2007-12-10T10:39:00.000-05:00

"We must be of a MEEK spirit. Meekness is easiness of spirit: not a sinful easiness to be debauched, as Ephriam's, who willingly walked after the commandment of the idolatrous princes; nor a simple easiness to be imposed upon and deceived, as Rehoboam's, who, when he was forty years old, is said to be young and tender-hearted; but a gracious easiness to be wrought upon by that which is good, as theirs whose heart of stone is taken away and to whom a heart of flesh is given. Meekness accommodates the soul to every occurrence, and so makes a man easy to himself and to all about him. The Latins call a meek man mansuetus, which refers to the taming and reclaiming of creatures wild by nature, and bringing them to be tractable and familiar. James 3:7-9. Man's corrupt nature has made him like the wild donkey used to the wilderness, or the swift dromedary traversing her ways. Jer. 2:23-24. But when the grace of meekness gets dominion, it alters the temper, submits to management; and there is nothing to hurt or destroy."

do not overrate yourself

2007-12-08T12:22:00.000-05:00

"The humble man, is ever the patient man. Pride is the source of irregular and sinful passions. A lofty spirit, will be an unyielding and peevish spirit. When we overrate ourselves--we think that we are treated unworthily, that our trials are too severe--thus we cavil and repine. ...you should have such thoughts of yourself as would put a stop to these murmurings. You should have lower and more humiliating views of yourself than any other one can have of you! Get humility--and you will have peace, whatever you trial is!"

the meek are steady in God

2007-12-07T10:08:00.000-05:00

"The meek man is like a ship that rides at anchor, movetur, sed non amovetur--'is moved, but not removed'. The storm moves it (the meek man is not a stock or stone under provocation), but does not remove it from its port. It is a grace that in reference to the temptations of affront and injury quenches the fiery darts of the wicked (as faith in reference to temptation in general). It is armor of proof against the spiteful and envenomed arrows of provocation, and is an impregnable wall to secure the peace of the soul there, where 'thief cannot break through and steal,' while the angry man lays all his comforts at the mercy of every wasp that will strike him."

knowledge of unworthiness & dependence on God

2007-12-06T09:28:00.000-05:00

"Humility consists of having low thoughts of ourselves, founded upon the knowledge of our unworthiness and dependence on God's aid. The sense of the weakness of our understanding, which is the effect of humility, is a temper of soul which prepares it for faith: partly as it puts us on a serious consideration of those things which are revealed to us in the Word; partly as it stops all curious enquiries into those things which are unsearchable, and principally as it entitles to the promise, 'God giveth grace to the humble.'"

what it means

2007-12-05T08:11:00.000-05:00

"Meek means yielding, gentle, mild, patient, calm, and soothing; not aggressive or self-assertive or bossy; cheerfully putting up with wrong and present disadvantages for the sake of eternal good.
Meek people are self-controlled people and they have great power for good influence. It is a training to controlling the flesh. It is the attitude that can best help others."

in a much better position to enjoy life

2007-12-04T12:43:00.000-05:00

"Christianity, as we know, demands humility. That is a hard course to steer when the rest of the world (and many Christian preachers with it) urges us in the other direction. But whatever can be said against humility, this much can bes said for it: the humble person is in a much better position to enjoy life. He is, because he can still be surprised. He can take unexpected pleasure in life because anything he gets is more than expected.

The proud man, on the other hand, can never get much satisfaction because what he gets is always less than what he feels he deserves. It's not that good things don't come his way. It's just that when they do, he can't maintain any interest in them. His focus on himself crowds out the appreciation of what is not himself."

the mark

2007-12-03T08:49:00.000-05:00

"Humility is the mark of all the faithful."

accept His dealings as good

2007-12-01T08:58:00.000-05:00

"Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit which we accept His dealings with us as good and therefore without disputing or resisting."

strengthens the conviction

2007-11-30T11:00:00.000-05:00

"Obedience to Christ's commands strengthens the conviction that his words are true and from God."

*LORD willing, December's posts will be centered around themes of humility and meekness

who is your master?

2007-11-29T08:50:00.000-05:00

"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" {Romans 6:16}

the basis for the reward

2007-11-28T09:51:00.000-05:00

"In Jesus' words, this need for sacrifice of self and obedience to God as the basis for the reward of everlasting life, is expressed as follows, 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it' (Matt. 16:24-25)."

if ye will obey

2007-11-27T10:14:00.001-05:00

"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine" {Exodus 19:5}.

the thought of obedience is unpopular

2007-11-26T08:58:00.000-05:00

"The word 'obedience' is not popular today because it suggests the unpalatable thought of disobedience, and of sin and of some authority higher than man, such as God. If there is a God and Creator Who made man, and Who has given him laws to obey, then this runs up against man's desire for freedom and self-determination."

part of true discipleship

2007-11-24T08:02:00.000-05:00

"There are things which please God--doing things secretly for men, giving, praying, self-denying. ...given the right safeguards and the true motive, it is definitely a part of true discipleship to engage in works of mercy towards those in need. Not grudgingly but cheerfully; not in theory but actually; not for self-esteem but for love's sake."

works are not the goal

2007-11-23T08:33:00.000-05:00

"Works are not the goal. If you have only works then you will have only the phoney fruit... It has all the appearance of the real fruit (good works that spring from humanism or selfish or legalistic motives look convincingly like the real thing), and it may convince others or fool even ourselves what fine people we are, but it doesn't fool the One who looks directly into our hearts, not for one moment. God looks at our being, not at our doing. The two need to be in harmony. ... To spend your time putting on a show may have short-term benefits, like making people think you are good, or it might save you the aggravation of having to deal with criticism or rejection from those you live alongside, but in the long term it will breed anger and resentment and emptiness. That's what going for works without faith will bring--a bitter harvest, and not the fruit of the Spirit."

there is always more to do

2007-11-22T09:24:00.001-05:00

"We are not told that our debt is paid and there is nothing more to do. We are urged to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, to follow Christ, to obtain spirit-help from the Word of God, and play our part to make it possible that God can be just and yet our justifier."

will this please God?

2007-11-19T07:54:00.000-05:00

"Check every thought and word, and ask, 'Will this please God? Could I at this moment be pleasing Him better?' This wonderfully pacifies and harmonizes and unifies life, and gives it purpose. Set the goal of your life to bring everything into harmony with this, and to eliminate everything out of harmony with it. This is success."

obey in love

2007-11-17T17:10:00.000-05:00

"Do everything in love: love of God and love of man. Forget yourself. Forget all your own desires: they will never give you any real satisfaction--only frustration and disappointment. There is nothing there: so quit looking for it there. Get independent of personal pleasure and desire. That is the greatest emancipation possible. It frees you to get into the real joys and satisfactions--which are all in love of, and work for, God. This beautifies the character and purifies the flesh."

opposite of the world's conceptions

2007-11-16T10:41:00.000-05:00

"To find our life, we must lose it. To exalt ourselves, we must abase ourselves. To rule, we must serve. To conquer, we must yield. To attain our own welfare, we must seek that of others. Everything is the reverse of the flesh's way and the world's conceptions. ...Forget yourself in outgoing service and love, and you'll be happy."

eagerly fill every moment

2007-11-15T07:54:00.000-05:00

"True brethren and sisters of Christ will be perpetually thankful for every precious moment of time that God gives them, and will eagerly fill every moment with joyful usefulness in His glorious service."

God demands obedience

2007-11-14T10:16:00.000-05:00

"Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you." {Jer. 7:23}

hear and do

2007-11-13T09:25:00.001-05:00

"Hearing is good but the Truth is realized most by hearing made incarnate by obedience. Indeed a man who only hears and never acts is really half false. Everything we do--good or bad--tends to permanence. Every choice taken leads more in the direction of that choice. The man who hears and never does, has no permanent realization of what he ought to be like."

unwavering

2007-11-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

"Unwavering obedience to the true principles we learn will assure us spiritual survival."

sin is opposite of obedience

2007-11-09T10:39:00.000-05:00

"Think what sin is--it is the satisfying of the natural appetite outside the realm of God's law."

discovering truth

2007-11-08T09:09:00.000-05:00

"The secret of discovering real spiritual truth is by spiritual obedience."

must live the Truth

2007-11-07T09:16:00.000-05:00

"Our religion cannot become a collection of formalities and empty tradition. The Truth is not something to be speculated upon and not to be done."

obey in thought

2007-11-06T10:14:00.000-05:00

"Our thought is in bondage to truth, our words to the laws of language, and our deeds to the rights of others."

inwardly obeying

2007-11-05T13:38:00.000-05:00

"Obedience is more than outwardly obeying with a resentful, grudging attitude. Obedience means inwardly obeying, from the heart, with eagerness and cheerfulness. True obedience means obeying even when it's hard."

do for God

2007-11-03T14:42:00.000-04:00

"Nothing is unimportant when it is done for God."

to higher levels rise

2007-11-02T13:18:00.000-04:00

"When'er a noble deed is wrought,
When'er is spoken a noble thought,
Our hearts, in glad surprise,
To higher levels rise."

channel our strength

2007-11-01T10:50:00.000-04:00

God willing, November's posts will center around obedience.

"We may pray to God that we may conquer some weakness, but if we do not channel our strength of will into that which Yahweh requires of us, we will fail."

correct motive of work

2007-10-31T09:51:00.000-04:00

Keep "the spirit of sacrifice [as] the motive of your work"!

for the sake of Christ

2007-10-30T15:20:00.000-04:00

"Self-denial for the sake of self-denial does no good. Self-sacrifice for its own sake is no religion at all. ...But to do it for the sake of Christ is very different--his love constraining us--turning our conpulsory task into a privelege and a joy--as the virtue of Christ changed the task of Simon of Cyrene, from that which was hateful to that which was glorious."

attitude

2007-10-29T10:34:00.000-04:00

"Upon our attitude depends such important things as helplessness or strength, mercy or comfort, success in this world or in that which is to come. Our attitude is either the spark which keeps us going or the chain which drags us down. On the basis of our attitude we are either loved or hated by both God and men."

mortification of ego and exaltation of God

2007-10-27T15:45:00.000-04:00

"The prime transformation we must accomplish in our efforts to make our calling and election sure is the mortification of the ego and the exaltation of God to the ruling place in our affections."

how badly do we really want it?

2007-10-26T09:04:00.000-04:00

"The eternal reward we claim to treasure so highly and seek so devotedly is perfection, spirituality, holiness, freedom from all the motions and lusts of the flesh, closeness to God, total godliness in thought and action. How badly do we really want this condition, and what are we really willing to give up to get it? If we are not willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING else, and drop everything else in this life to strive for perfection in these divine things, then we reveal that our professed devotion to them and desire for them is shallow and weak. We really want the pleasure of this life and the flesh--and then God later, when this life is over, and the flesh is worn out and has lost its excitement and appeal. Giving up what we have ceased to enjoy is no sacrifice, God wants our best NOW, not our dregs."

depends on our attitude

2007-10-25T11:09:00.000-04:00

"The attitude with which we approach a task has so very much to do with the success we are likely to achieve. Whether a task seems impossible or whether it is only a stimulating challenge depends so much on our attitude."

depends on our attitude

2007-10-24T11:11:00.000-04:00

"The denying of self or the presenting of our bodies as living sacrifices comes hard or moderately easily to us, depending mostly upon our attitude. If the thing or pleasures given up for the service of Christ still beckon appealing to us as we look backward or around on them, we have no altogether sacrificed them. Our sales resistance is not increased by peering longingly into display windows and certainly not by pricing the objects of our admiration. We will always consider it a burden to give them up and will find our journey a wearying one, if we look backward longingly with divided hearts."

yoked with Christ

2007-10-23T09:18:00.000-04:00

"Life in association with the Son of man, yoked with him, is freed from many problems. The frets that come from pride and ambition, from desire for outward show, from self-will, are not to be found with the meek and the lowly of heart."

God's way of teaching

2007-10-22T10:56:00.000-04:00

"Every natural disappointment can and should be a thankful stepping-stone to greater peace with God, for by contrast to all things and persons human it emphasizes the unassailable dependability of that peace. What we grieve over as a loss, or disappointment, or deprivation, may be a great emancipation and deliverance and opportunity, a fresh turn of our lives in a higher and more satisfying direction. God's ways of teaching and correcting us are strange and wise and beautiful. The sweetest, deepest scent is from the crushed flower. Natural disappointment and sorrow can be the golden portal to spiritual joy. Joy that is born of sorrow is a far fuller and stronger-rooted joy. Above all things, never let yourself be sorry for yourself. That is sick, fatal, dead-end folly. That is a reproach on God's love."

count all things but loss

2007-10-19T10:04:00.000-04:00

"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ" (Phil. 3:7-8).

make sure it is with humility

2007-10-18T09:26:00.000-04:00

"To deny self means the same thing as to present our bodies as living sacrifices. But again, how do we deny ourselves? Some think that by doing without certain luxuries and pleasures they are thereby being quite righteous and are denying themselves something they would very much enjoy having. I have even heard brethren boast of the pleasures they denied themselves. This is self-denial in only a superficial sense, and, if a matter of pride, is not sacrifice. Whether we have much or little makes no fundamental difference. There is no virtue in poverty and no sin in riches, so far as they themselves are concerned. What really matters is the use we make of our poverty or riches. The love of money which is the root of all evil can flourish just as vigorously in the poor as in the rich. To deny ourselves means particularly to refuse and to deny all that would exalt self in opposition to God; to bring our own wills into subjection to the perfect will of God; to turn from all things, no matter how innocent and harmless in appearance, which would rob God of our love."

forsake all to follow him

2007-10-17T10:37:00.000-04:00

"The love of Jesus contrasted many to forsake all to follow him; to love him more than father or mother; to esteem 'the treasure' of 'the knowledge of the glory of God' greater riches than anything the world can give."

putting all they had at his disposal

2007-10-16T16:02:00.000-04:00

"You never find the Apostle Paul... saying, 'Brethren, this is a bad business, and I can offer you no amelioration. What cannot be cured I am afraid will have to be endured.' These men followed [Christ] gladly. Gladly they suffered in his cause, thinking themselves in some way privileged. They did it for the love of him because they were his friends, seeking his interests as he was theirs, putting all they had at his disposal, as he had put all he had at theirs. Having all things common, they were not slaves but friends--and yet in a sense slaves as never before."

deny himself

2007-10-15T10:09:00.000-04:00

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." {Matthew 16:24}

offer loneliness

2007-10-13T10:16:00.001-04:00

"The loneliness itself is material for sacrifice. The very longings themselves can be offered to Him who understands perfectly (or rather His son). The transformation into something He can use for the good of others takes place only when the offering is put into His hands."

the value of sacrifice

2007-10-12T09:46:00.000-04:00

"Service which is sacrificial is done for love's sake."

process of letting go

2007-10-11T10:44:00.000-04:00

"There is not ongoing spiritual life without this process of letting go. At the precise point where we refuse, growth stops. If we hold tightly to anything given to us, unwilling to let it go when the time comes to let it go or unwilling to allow it to be used as the Giver means it to be used, we stunt the growth of the [spirit]. It's easy to make a mistake here. 'If God gave it to me,' we say, 'it's mine. I can do what I want with it.' No. The truth is that it is ours to thank Him for and ours to offer back to Him, ours to relinquish, ours to lose, ours to let go of --if we want to find our true selves, if we want real life, if our hearts are set on glory."

life requires "little" deaths

2007-10-10T09:20:00.003-04:00

"Life requires countless 'little' deaths--occasions when we are given the chance to say no to self and yes to God."

remove from our lives

2007-10-09T11:38:00.000-04:00

"We need to remove from our own lives the marks of the life we led before repentance. Each of us is aware of what his besetting sins were, what the allurements and weaknesses of that time were when he walked without God. Let him now take heed to his ways and cleanse his home, his leisure time, his very thinking, of the sings of those old gods. Only by positive thinking and the direct bringing of Christ into everything can this be done. The letter to the Romans put it this way: 'Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill it in the lusts thereof.' If we leave the high places undestroyed we shall find that our waywardness will lead us back to them."

true submission

2007-10-08T09:27:00.000-04:00

"Only true submission can bring true power."

bring our own wills into subjection

2007-10-06T09:29:00.000-04:00

"To deny ourselves means particularly to refuse and to deny all that would exalt self in opposition to God; to bring our own wills into subjection to the perfect will of God; to turn all things, no matter how innocent and harmless in appearance, which would rob God of our love."

love Him with our everything

2007-10-05T10:42:00.000-04:00

"God does not ask us for great accomplishments. He is not an exacting Master--He is a loving Father. What does a Father ask but love, and what else can we give Him? He asks us to love Him with our whole heart and mind and soul, and to let that love pervade and direct our every act and thought and word. That is all--but that is everything."

Go to God

2007-10-04T10:52:00.000-04:00

"Always plan for yourself in simple dependence on God. It is nothing less than self-idolatry to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day without His counsel. He loves to be consulted. Therefore take all thy difficulties to be resolved by Him. Be in the habit of going to Him in the first place--before self-will, self-pleasing, self-wisdom, human friends, convenience, expediency. Before all these have been consulted go to God. Consider no circumstances too clear to need His directions. In all thy ways, small as well as great; in all thy concerns, personal or relative, temporal or eternal, let Him be supreme."

having no will but His

2007-10-03T09:07:00.000-04:00

"Neither go back in fear and misgiving to the past, nor in anxiety or forecasting to the future; but lie quiet under His hand, having no will but His."

pressing towards the mark

2007-10-02T09:59:00.000-04:00

"Where can we find such clean cut and distinct personalities as those who have suffered for righteousness, and trod the narrow path which leads to life? Men who have striven against temptation, who, conscious of their weakness, have clung to the hand of the One who is strong; sometimes stumbling, sometimes receiving instruction through bitter suffering and sorrow, but pressing towards the mark the of their high calling? 'With strong crying and tears' they have made their supplication to God, with earnest prayer they have besought His forgiveness and help. Even in the darkest hour of trial they have remembered their early lessons, and while pleading that the cup of bitterness might pass, have said, 'Thy will be done'. However dark the way, they have not faltered; however bitter and incomprehensible the pain they have maintained their trust, and prayed that sorrow should have its right effect and bring them closer to God."

to be rightly exercised by troubles

2007-10-01T08:09:00.000-04:00

"Men of strong faith, who make a proper use of the very varied Scriptures God has given us, will not be purged out from the commonwealth of Israel by tribulation. Though they may not understand why certain troubles come, they will determine to be rightly exercised by them, in order that, like Job, they may come out of the furnace of affliction like silver refined. It may seem that their abilities are fettered, but they remember that God knows all the circumstances, and He will be just. They will continue the work of building even though the enemy presses so hard that they only have one hand wherewith to labour; their troubles will become their tutors, and disappointment--to borrow a fine idea from Henry Kirke White--will be like a gentle nurse to wean them from the world."

God never fails!

2007-09-29T09:02:00.000-04:00

"We can trust in many things. None, however, offer the protection plan, the long term security, or the benefits that trusting in God offers. All of the other things in which we place our trust can fail. God never fails! In the words of King David, "...Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you..." (I Chronicles 28:20).

~If it is the Lord's will, October's posts will be focused on three essentials to our discipleship: surrendering to God's will, sacrificing, and denying self.

blessed is the man

2007-09-28T09:26:00.001-04:00

"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is." {Jeremiah 17:7}

God is trustworthy

2007-09-27T08:32:00.000-04:00

"The Psalmist says: 'They that know thy name will put their trust in thee' (Psalm 9:10). The reason for trust is in what we know of God. The warrant of faith is the Divine character. Because God is righteous He cannot do wrong. Because He is love He can only act lovingly. Unbelief will try to deny this--but have none of it. In spite of the anguish and the trial, we believe that God is trustworthy. He loves to be trusted. In the final analysis that is what He asks. Not that we explain Him, defend Him or vindicate Him--but that we trust Him."

knows and loves the One

2007-09-26T07:06:00.001-04:00

"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it knows and loves the One Who is leading."

faith is intelligent trust

2007-09-25T10:32:00.000-04:00

"Trust is what the writer of the Hebrews meant by the evidence of things not seen. Trust has the effect of proving the invisible. It makes us put confidence in the declaration and venture trustingly upon the suggestiveness of the promise. The result is an assurance of things hoped for. Trust is a risk, a venture, an adventure. It has in it an element of inspiration. It is not blind, blundering chance. Faith, after all, is not ignorant assumption--the right name for that is superstition. Faith is intelligent trust."

trust in Him when no need is pressing

2007-09-24T08:49:00.000-04:00

"In God, we live every commonplace moment as well as the most exalted moment of our being. To trust in Him when no need is pressing, when things seem to be going right of themselves, may be harder than when things seem to be going wrong."

trust turns conviction into faith

2007-09-22T10:07:00.000-04:00

"It is trust which turns conviction into faith. It is one thing to declare that a rope is strong; it is another thing to rest your weight upon it. Conviction is essential but it is not the whole story. It is one thing to believe the thing to act upon it. Trust is faith in action. Faith sometimes is a theological expression, but in its development it becomes highly personal. Faith is the conviction that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. The declaration without the diligence is on the way to being only half true, perhaps even half false on the lips of the one who confesses but will not trust."

in whom I will trust

2007-09-21T10:46:00.000-04:00

"The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." {Psalm 18:12}

cast aside worldly security

2007-09-20T08:36:00.000-04:00

"If we rely on ourselves, our knowledge, our ability, we lose the strongest incentive to resist temptation when it affects our wellbeing--but if we in faith cast aside worldly security and throw ourselves entirely upon God's care, knowing that we shall only be cared for if we are pleasing to Him, it will be a strong deterrent to doing anything that may forfeit His care and guardianship.

That is, if our whole treasure and insurance and dependence is in heaven in the shape of God's favor and care, we shall be much more careful not to jeopardize it or let it lapse by rendering a faulty obedience."

a child's trust and a Father's care

2007-09-19T08:59:00.000-04:00

"Here is where the example of childhood faces its most difficult task--to teach adult faith to rely on the invisible, immovable Rock, and not the visible, shifting sand. To relax its frantic and worrying efforts to build security out of perishing mammon, and in the serene confidence of childlike faith to feel the assuring strength of the everlasting arms."

put not trust in men

2007-09-18T09:17:00.001-04:00

"We must earnestly desire God's personal companionship. We must not be content or happy without it. It must be a constant yearning and feeling of need. Sad and bitter experience in this life greatly strengthens this desire. That is one of the reasons it is needed and beneficial. Only God is dependable. Only God understands. In God's mercy and wisdom, there can be much comfort and support in human beings, but we cannot make our happiness dependent on them, or build upon them, or build on them as our foundation. All flesh is grass. In God alone is safety and security."

there is something we can do

2007-09-17T10:12:00.000-04:00

"'Present your requests to God.' Yes, life is difficult, full of problems and filled with stress. And yes, worry is a natural tendency. And, praise God, yes, there is something we can do to keep from worrying! And yes, we can obey God's command to 'not be anxious about anything.' God's solution is this: When you are worried... pray! Pray from your heart and with all your heart!"

with all your heart

2007-09-15T13:28:00.000-04:00

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." {Proverbs 3:5-6}

"He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe." {Proverbs 28:26}

God bids us trust

2007-09-14T09:24:00.000-04:00

"Trust in the things which cannot be shaken should bring constancy in the midst of the changing scenes of life. Through the contradictions, the adversity, the apparent denials, God bids us trust. We do not always know the reason for our disturbance but we know the Disturber. We can trust Him!"

lie quiet under His hand

2007-09-13T09:32:00.000-04:00

"Neither go back in fear and misgiving to the past, nor in anxiety and forecasting to the future, but lie quiet under His hand, having no will but His."

leave all to Him

2007-09-12T09:50:00.002-04:00

"Stilled now be every anxious care;
See God's great goodness everywhere;
Leave all to Him in perfect rest:
He will do all things for the best."

over-concern for ourselves

2007-09-11T08:50:00.000-04:00

"Our only hope in overcoming fears is to recognize they arise because of over-concern for ourselves and not enough trust in the power of God. It is the old matter of self-love being stronger than our love of God."

guided by Thy hand

2007-09-10T09:35:00.000-04:00

"Lord, give me a quiet heart
That does not ask to understand,
But confident steps forward in
The lightness guided by Thy hand."

like children in the presence of a good father

2007-09-08T11:37:00.000-04:00

"Those who stand with their sins forgiven, and privileged to call God their Father, experience none of that craven fear which is cast out by love. Their fear is a dread of grieving the Father, of causing a breach, of being separated from their Maker. They are not like awkward schoolboys in the presence of a stern and unsympathetic master, afraid to do anything but study, and secretly longing for the pedagogue to go away that they might breathe freely again. They are like children in the presence of a good father, whit a wholesome far inspired by love, taking their troubles to Him, and living to have Him near; equally ready to work or play in His sight; and drawing closer in sympathy with Him, either in their labour or in their sport. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that men can never recommend themselves to God by humanly-devised exercises in asceticism. If we neglect His commands, it will be no excuse that we have kept some irksome rules of our own. If we eat forbidden fruit, it is useless to plead in extenuation that we have denied ourselves fruit that is not forbidden. And if--as its generally the case--the establishment of unwritten laws of repression simply results in harsh judgment and condemnation of others, such legislative labours are very much worse than useless. All experience tends to show that when men try to impose more stringent conditions than God has laid down, they are robbing the foundations of the building to give it a worthless piece of decoration."

turn from the sin of worry

2007-09-07T18:25:00.000-04:00

"Jacob's spiritual heirs in the twentieth century can know the same happy carefree life, if only they in their turn will believe in the promises of God which are designed to make His services a joyous freedom from the sin of worry: 'Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.' 'The very hairs of your head are all numbered.' 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.'"

the trusting heart

2007-09-06T09:47:00.000-04:00

"The trusting heart believes nothing in the life of faith is outside the compass of the Lord's control. Underneath the deepest weakness are the everlasting arms. Sorrows are encircled and fears are cradled by the tenderness of the great God. In the very things which seemed full of perplexity His love is discovered. His strength is made perfect in weakness. The purpose of God gets underneath rock bottom. By faith the perplexed heart may receive of His quietness and strength. Even hard things He will make to be the minister of good. The adversary proves to be a friend."

the example of Mary

2007-06-27T09:09:00.000-04:00

"'Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his home.' What kind of night did Mary pass that night and the next? Try to picture her anguish, her agony of mind, in her new home, with the loving but also broken-hearted John doing all he could to console her as his own mother. BUT, look at her pale face as John bursts into the room and she rises from her couch: 'Mother,' says he, 'Jesus is alive, the tomb is empty.' And Mary Magdalene would come and tell her the whole wonderful story, and her tears of joy would flow and her spirit revive, and presently she too would see Jesus, and her heart would rejoice and her joy no one could take from her. No wonder that the last glimpse we are allowed of Mary is with the disciples and in prayer!"

Let us not forget that if we endure and overcome the trials and tribulation of today that one day we will have everlasting joy, serving God alongside Jesus. There will be no updates on this website until September. Thank you for reading and hopefully it has inspired you to become a living sacrifice.

trust Him

2007-06-26T09:51:00.000-04:00

"As a Father, just, omniscient, omnipotent Father, we must trust Him to accentuate or modify our trials, to prolong them or to end them, exactly, correctly, wisely, opportunely, according to our needs and in harmony with His declared purpose and revealed methods of bringing His sons and daughters to glory."

there must be a humble submission

2007-06-25T13:43:00.001-04:00

"The difference between God's family and others lies also in the attitude of the former. This must be one of faith, trust, implicit confidence in the Father's arrangements, conditions, circumstances, as prepared or allowed for His sons and daughters. There must be a humble submission to Him, a sincere trust that all is well, that what now appears even tragedy is for our eternal good, and what is inexplicable now will be perfectly clear, when our thoughts become attuned to the Divine and the veil is removed from our limited vision."

directed towards purifying us

2007-06-23T10:33:00.000-04:00

"Then the trials we have, though they be experiences common to mankind, are directed to one end-- to our being purified and made fit associates of our Captain, who was also perfected through suffering. As he has now a fellow-feeling true towards us, so we, if accounted faithful, shall likewise have the same towards those in the kingdom for whom we shall be priests and mediators."

for a reason

2007-06-22T13:18:00.000-04:00

"Wherein lies the difference between those who are in the family of God and others? In two vital ways the difference lies. First in His Fatherly interest and control. We have obeyed the commandment: 'Come out from among them... and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.' To such 'the exhortation speaketh'. 'My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faitnt when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receieveth.' And further, He chastens us for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness."

everyone has trials

2007-06-21T13:37:00.000-04:00

"...we have trials such as men and women generally have to endure. 'As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me.' 'There be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous.' 'There is one even to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner.'

We share the trials of humanity. but, seeing we have promise of such great reward, even the immortality in the Kingdom of God with all its boundless prospects, is it not reasonable that our trials should be keener than those of others, our experience more bitter, our difficulties greater, our suffering more acute? Were this to be actually the case, might there not be room for boasting, and what part does boasting play in the bringing of God's sons and daughters to glory? 'It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith."

it is never too late

2007-06-20T07:52:00.000-04:00

"...there are so many troubles and problems [in the ecclesia] that are neither obvious or easy, and that need patience over long periods. And there is no better recipe for meeting one's own frustrations than to be active in helping others to cope with theirs. It is never too late for us, individually and ecclesially, to widen and deepen our spiritual education and fellowship so that we are the better able to feed Christ's lambs, filling the lives of the lonely with companionship, the homes of the aged with the warmth of youthful service, and the minds of these who are anxious, troubled or strained, with the assurance of all the help that they may need."