We are not doomed to an ultimate conflict with no hope of resolution. The message of the Scripture is one of victory – full, final, and ultimate victory. It is not our doom that is certain, but Satan’s. His head has been crushed by the heel of Christ, who is the Alpha and Omega.
~R.C. Sproul~
Those who place their hope in the Lord during their pilgrimage on earth will rejoice forever when the Lord implements for eternity the fullness of His salvation for His people!
“Walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16, 25). Be “led by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:18). Bear “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22–23). “Live by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25).
Apart from the Holy Spirit, the Christian life is impossible.
A young man once told me he viewed his relationship with God as the same type of wrestling match Jacob had with God. I became very quiet. He asked me, "Why don't you say something?" I answered, "Because you won't like what I have to say. If you think you're wrestling with God, then you might not be saved. The Christian life is about surrender to God, not a wrestling match. One of the basic tenets of our faith in God is He is always right -- so why fight His will?
Those who place their hope in God are strengthened by the Lord Himself. They are enabled by God to live above their circumstances, looking down on life from heaven's perspective.
Without truth, we lack the courage to speak up and convictions to speak up about. Without grace, we lack the compassion to bring the solutions people desperately need.
Randy Alcorn
we as Christians still retain this old nature. Yet it means defeat and death to live by it. So no child of God can be happy living for the things of the flesh.
The church world today frequently turns to the contemporary speculations of man. The wisdom of man is a vain help. We would do well to consider Isaiah's clear warning. "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help…who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!" (Isaiah 31:1).
Bob Hoekstra
Who of us welcomes trials and counts them as pure joy? Trials hurt but they also prepare. Trials produce perseverance which leads to maturity. Want to grow in Christ? Welcome trials!
~A.W. Tozer~
Be faithful in the Life and Power of the Lord God, and for the Truth be Valiant on the Earth, and look not at your Sufferings, but at the Power of God, and that will bring some good out in all your Sufferings;
George Fox
Sometimes we yearn so much for human approval that we are not faithful to God and God’s truth. We say what people want to hear because we want them to like us. We can grow in truthfulness if we acknowledge the reality of God’s truth and seek it faithfully. We can find the strength to say even what is unpopular when we seek most of all to honor and glorify God.
The world is showing us We may not know what's coming next but we know Who's coming soon!
People, who are stubborn, cannot see straight. When shown the truth of God’s Word they refuse to listen.
A lowly person is a teachable person, easily entreated and open to explanation. Many of our spirits are too arrogant: they can teach others but can never themselves be taught. Many possess a stubborn spirit: they stick to their opinions even if they realize they are wrong.
~Watchman Nee~
You and I are blessed when you look to God for strength! You can choose to direct your mind down the path that will lead to Him.
“Some make gods of their pleasures; some choose Mammon for their god; some make gods of their own supposed excellencies or the outward advantages they have above their neighbors: some choose one thing for their god, and others another. But men can be happy in no other God but the God of Israel: he is the only fountain of happiness.”
― Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
“Some have imagined and pretended that God’s promises are effectual for a man in his natural state if that man is truly earnest in his seeking and knocking. But it is visibly clear that God is under no obligation to keep such a person from eternal destruction, not even for one moment. It doesn’t matter how religious the man is or how many prayers he makes. Until he believes in Christ, God is not obligated in any way to protect him.”
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: Updated to Modern English
“[the Devil]... stands, waiting for them, like greedy hungry lions that see their prey, and expect to have it...”
― Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
“That the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that God's appointed time has not come. For it is said, that when that due time or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost.”
― Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
The grace of God in the west has been cheapened. Jonathan Edwards was before his time writing SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD in 1741.
I am in Christ, and I’m excited. Jesus promised He'd return to rapture His church - which entails the resurrection of the dead in Christ of the Church Age, then the translation from earth to Heaven of all living believers.
It is presented in the Bible as an imminent (any-moment) event. Are you ready for the rapture?
Consecration is the resolution that is not afraid of sacrifice.
There can be no good news apart from bad, no light without darkness, and truly no love without hate.
Serving the least, there is no praise or recognition. Not yet but this is what I know. One day you will get a crown in glory. This is where we need to set our mind and heart, on things that are above.
Brief hellos can become heartfelt moments of ministry if you are honest when people ask how are you doing, AND how was your week?
All I have seen teaches me to trust the
Creator for all I have not seen.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~
It takes time to relearn behavior, to unconditionally respect your husband or unconditionally love your wife, especially when he/she does not respond the way you like. But God’s Word does not disappoint.
Be a creator of circumstances rather than just a creature of circumstances. Be proactive rather than reactive.
Don’t be afraid to stand for what you believe in, even if that means standing alone.
THE PROBLEM IS ME, MYSELF, AND I, THE SOLUTION IS THE FATHER, SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Look back in forgiveness, forward in hope, down in compassion and up with gratitude."- Zig Ziglar
All too often I see people who fail when trying to overcome, in their own power, their sinful nature. They try to figuratively topple "Dagon" all by themselves. The Scriptures tell us: The way to gain victory over whatever troubles us is not to try to do it alone.
Too many believers try to fight this tendency to sin all by themselves. They find the battle against sin to be both frustrating and exhausting. The Lord understands our nature and has given us His Spirit to win the struggle -- but it is a choice. Will you choose victory and life, or defeat and death?
Our corrupted hearts are the factories of the devil.
~Thomas Browne~
He who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through a labyrinth of the most busy life.
-Victor Hugo
"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself." ~Henry Ford
“There are only two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.’” - C.S. Lewis
“… if we didn't fall in Adam, we cannot be redeemed in Christ, because Christ's position as the Head of the redeemed race exactly parallels Adam's position as the head of the fallen race” (1 Cor. 15:22). — John MacArthur
“The sciences are valuable tools that have the capacity to deepen our understanding of a given area of life, but they cannot displace created reality or revelation… Final authority resides only with the Author of all creation…” — Joseph Boot, For Government, 40-41.
"Our truest happiness is perfect submission to God's will, and it is the highest charity to pray that all mankind may know it, obey it, and submit to it."
—J.C. Ryle
“The knowledge of Christ is profound and large. All other sciences are but shadows; this is a boundless, bottomless ocean.” — John Flavel
It is my duty to distrust mine own ability, that I may have reliance on Him that is stronger than all. John Bunyan
To remember injuries, to retain a sense of wrongs, to watch for opportunities of revenge, to hate and be maliciously perverse, is to represent the image of the 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 unto the world in its proper colors. —Puritan John Owen, Works 6:497 We must remember that the best of men are but men at their very best & that the most eminent saints may be overtaken by temptation & yet be saints after all. The holiest man may fall sadly for a time & yet the grace within him may finally get the victory. —JC Ryle, on Jn 7:24
"Faith is the forecast of a heavenly destiny." — Charles Spurgeon
"I have found Christ ten thousand times more kind than I thought." — Charles Spurgeon
"If there were no sowing in tears there would be no reaping in joy." — Charles Spurgeon
"Prayer must not be our chance work, but our daily business, our habit, and vocation." — Charles Spurgeon
"We are not ourselves until we are lost in you." — Charles Spurgeon "The thoughts of God, and not the thoughts of man, will save souls." — Charles Spurgeon "How rich is the grace which supplies us so continually, and does not refrain itself because of our ingratitude." — Charles Spurgeon
"The gospel is all about Christ from beginning to end." – Charles Spurgeon "A great deal of unfaithfulness is caused by endeavoring to please people." — Charles Spurgeon
Consider the freeness of God’s love. He hath 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 delight in pardoning, than we [do] in salvation, and He is more ready to give than we to ask. —Thomas Manton, Works 5:76 Since this poor body will be made like the glorious body of Christ Jesus our Savior, let the first body go, without a murmur or a sigh. Spurgeon Rather than criticize God, we need to learn from Him. We need to have that same love, compassion, and readiness to forgive as God does. Chuck Smith
“There is nothing attractive about the gospel to the natural man; the only man who finds the gospel attractive is the man who is convicted of sin.” ― Oswald Chambers
Not only do psychologists sell supposed cures at a high price, but they also invent the diseases for which the cures are needed. – John MacArthur You were not created to “believe in yourself”. You were created to believe in Someone bigger than yourself. His name is Jesus. Labeling a sin as a disease takes away hope and removes responsibility.
Whenever God opens the windows of heaven to bless His people, the devil opens the gates of hell to blast. —John MacArthur
We are indeed in a storm, — the whole earth seems to reel and stagger like a drunken man; but yet our souls may rest in the infinite skill and wisdom of the great Pilot of the whole creation, who steers all things according to the counsel of his will. —John Owen, Works 6:629
The world and the Church are essentially and eternally distinct--and they ought to be distinguishable. -James Smith - The lust of the flesh is beauty-the lust of the eye is money-the pride of life is honor-These are the natural man's trinity -Thomas Watson -
Patience is an important Christian virtue. Unless we have patience, we can never learn many of the truths that God wants us to learn, truths that will lead us into a deeper life and a more fruitful ministry. Wiersbe
How can I keep my way pure? By keeping it according to God’s Word.
There can be no Truth apart from the One Who is the Truth, Jesus Christ. – Jay Adams The Word of God must never be treated as a hypothesis to be proved by rational-empirical testing; it must never be reduced to the level of probability. – Greg Bahnsen O Lord supply me out of thy fulness, shed abroad thy love in my heart by the Holy Spirit and give me a spirit of humility and faith and love and trust and hope and gratitude, and if it please thee even of peace and joy. - William Wilberforc
Our opinions don’t change the Bible. The Bible should change our opinions.
God will have the soul truly sensible of the bitterness of sin--before it shall taste the sweetness of mercy. -Matthew Mead - By nature, worship is not some performance we do, but a presence we experience. -A.W. Tozer - “Men and Women in the Church won’t be popular among those who take their cues from prevailing culture. But God’s word has never cared about popularity contests.”
God desires to impart His power to the feeble. "He gives power to the weak." Those who are of the world cannot partake of this power, because they do not know the giver of this heavenly power. Sadly, many of God's own children do not receive this divine enabling, because they are unwilling to admit their weakness. Actually, the privileged place for receiving the Lord's empowering is to confess that we have no might at all on our own. "To those who have no might He increases strength."
waiting on the Lord offers a helpful perspective on living by grace. Waiting on the Lord is the same spiritual reality as hoping in the Lord. "I will wait on the LORD…and I will hope in Him." Waiting on the Lord is not merely about waiting (that is, allowing time to pass). Rather, it is about humbly placing our hope and expectations in the Lord God as time is passing. This is what living by grace comprises (looking to the Lord to work on our behalf and within our hearts).
"Let God's promises shine on your problems."— Corrie ten Boom
"The Bible was not given for our information, but for our transformation."— D.L. Moody
Let’s repent, be refreshed, and embrace a new season with Christ.
A brand new season and brand new opportunities for faith and forgiveness.
No matter what confusion or lack of clarity you may be facing, don’t stop forging ahead.
Bianca Juarez Olthoff
Are you fighting for the things God has called you to do and be? It’s not going to be easy. But, with Jesus, even while you may be facing persecution and prosecution and oppressed in every way, you are more than a conqueror! Bianca Juarez Olthoff
Know, perceive, learn, and experience the presence of God. We can read and picture heaven in Revelation chapters 4-5, where John was told, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
We can go to this place of prayer, be filled with His Spirit, and experience being with Him and hearing His voice.
Experience must always be subservient to truth. It must always be ordered under what is right. We cannot say something is true because we experienced it. Rather, we should say we know something is true because we find it in Scripture, which verifies our experience.
In the church today there’s a growing interest in and fascination with supernatural phenomena. Believers want an experience with God, and there is nothing wrong with that. But we must be careful. We cannot seek experience at any cost.
There is no one too broken for Jesus to heal.
When you trust in yourself, you get what you can do. When you trust in the world, you get what the world can do. When you trust in government, you get what government can do. When you trust in God, you get what He can do.
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