"When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives."— Ezra Taft Benson
Just as the resurrection had an essential role in our starting out with God (in justification), it also plays an irreplaceable part in our going on with God (in sanctification). In the new covenant of grace, the resurrection is involved from start to finish in the Christian life.
Some people just don't discover what is best for them until they try to run away and find that God is a God of pursuing love.
a lot of believers are not following after righteousness. They are not pursuing God. Instead, they are coasting along in spiritual cruise control. Meanwhile, there are mountains to climb. There is rugged terrain to navigate. There are opportunities for growth.
“God lives us enough to make us like Jesus (Roman’s 8:29), so our path is in some measure the same.” — Eric Schumacher
“See sin therefore chiefly in the death of Christ. How odious it is to God, that it could be purged in no other way than by the death of his beloved Son.” — Richard Sibbes
“Are there any weak in faith who come under the denomination of bruised reeds and smoking flax? Let them know that God will take care of them.” — Augustus Toplady
"Blind unbelief is sure to err And scan His work in vain; God is His own Interpreter, And He will make it plain." —William Cowper, "God Works in a Mysterious Way"
Suffering can soften us if we will let it. Ridding us of our own places of hardness and bitterness. Making us more empathetic to remember grace and truth hold hands. Helping us respond graciously to others. And making us more eager to forgive those who are still hard and bitter.
The visible creatures which surrounded Adam was too much beneath him: the invisible Being who gave him life, was too much above him, to permit him to unite their condition with his own. Whereupon God made the woman, & the great problem was immediately solved.
John Angell James.
"Our reading of God's word needs to be regular, not spasmodic; wide-ranging, not narrowly focused; deeply reflective, not superficial." -Ian Hamilton.
“The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay upon the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to Him is not to believe that He loves you.” John Owen
"There are some of us who are called to spend our whole lives in our Master’s service; and unless we are often alone with him, listening to the message he has for us to deliver, our streams will not continue to run." - Charles Spurgeon
“You must ask for God’s help. ... After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again.” - C.S. Lewis
My being honored with the Abolition cause is a great blessing. But far more my spiritual blessings. - William Wilberforce
"Don't dig up in doubt what you planted in faith." — Elisabeth Elliot
Sanctification is that process whereby the redeemed are increasingly set apart for the purposes, use, and glory of God. The resurrection of Christ and the power of that resurrection are interwoven into that entire process.
“To take all that we are and have and hand it over to God may not be easy, but it can be done, and when it is done, the world has in it one less candidate for misery.” —Paul E. Scherer
Before knowing Jesus Christ, we were without hope. But through Jesus, God has adopted us as His own beloved children. And now we are precious and dear to Him.
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