I love to wake up with the word of God and having the assurance over all things because Jesus died on the cross and on the third day rose again. He is faithful and true.
Only God can change our hearts,
Let us not wait for an environment or circumstance to build faith in us.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Let us prove our gratitude by our devotion, and live as those who, having claimed a privilege, are willing to take the responsibility connected with it.
"Order my footsteps by Thy Word,
And make my heart sincere;
Let sin have no dominion, Lord,
But keep my conscience clear."
Charles Spurgeon
Is God giving you a new direction today? Take the first step you will be blessed.
Don’t deny your anger. Don’t dismiss your loneliness. Your restless spirit. Your sense of dread. Don’t let your heart shrink into a raisin. Hydrate your soul. Heed your thirst!
Not everything you put to your lips will help your thirst. The arms of forbidden love may satisfy for a time, but only for a time. Eighty-hour workweeks grant a sense of fulfillment, but never remove the thirst.
Religion pacifies but never satisfies. Church activities may hide a thirst, but only Christ quenches it. Drink him. And drink of him often!
Don’t you need regular sips from God’s reservoir? I do. I step to the underground spring of God and receive anew his work for my sin and death, the energy of his Spirit, his lordship, and his love.
Receive Christ’s work on the cross, the energy of His Spirit. His unending, unfailing love.
Drink deeply–and drink often!
"There's one sense in which [segregation] is just natural. But we need to work hard not to have barriers to other groups." pastor Eric Redmond encourages Christians to build real relationships with all kinds of members of Christ's family, not just make token attempts at building diversity.
Happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.
These powerful verses continue our inquiry concerning a life of obedience. They conclude with what results when God is relied upon to do His work in our lives. We become "complete in every good work to do His will." This hope is made available to us by "the God of peace."
The duty of love is to listen.
"We can too easily judge our spouse's weaknesses because where they are vulnerable, God gave us natural strengths."
~Dr. Emerson Eggerichs
The job of a coach is to force you to do things you couldn’t (or wouldn't) do yourself. I did not train my coaches to be gentle; I trained them to make you winners
When you favor another person, you are positioning them for success. You are saying, "I believe in you!" There are times when we borrow other's beliefs in ourselves. And, this may be the thing that picks you up, turns you around and encourages you to walk that extra mile.
Today, call a friend and spread your favor to them. Let them feel your care, respect and love them. It will encourage them, and you will feel great too.
Work and a 9,6 mile bike ride in, The race is not won in the cool of the day!
Sometimes those that lash out the hardest are those that are hurting the most.
GOD HAS A PURPOSE FOR DIFFICULT TIMES
God designs challenging circumstances for our ultimate benefit. Romans 8:28-29 tells us, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son….” And the primary good that God works in our lives is to make us more like Christ.
We are on a journey where our understanding increases and our eyes are opened. Sometimes the process is slow; sometimes it happens suddenly. Often it’s painful because the pain gets our attention. Eventually, we realize it is the goodness and kindness of God that leads us to Him.
Ray Bently
Some people love to talk about the past or look back on a daily bases. They wish they could live as if time has not changed. The bible tells us not to look back but rather to move forward in Phil.313
“Grace is getting another chance even though you haven’t earned it or deserve it. (You may not even want it!)” —Fritz Ridenour
Anything God has ever done, He can do now. Anything God has ever done anywhere, He can do here. Anything that God has ever done for anyone, He can do for you.
~ A.W. Tozer~
The difficulties in the lives of any great man or woman in Scripture weren’t pleasant, weren’t easy. We know how their stories end—Joshua, Deborah, Gideon, Jeremiah, David, and Paul—but when they were living out their stories, their trials were every bit as brutal as your situation. Yet, they chose by God’s grace to be great, to be heroic. And we are the richer for it.
A servant of God has but one Master.
It ill becomes the servant to seek to be rich, and great, and honoured in that world where his Lord was poor, and mean, and despised.
George Müller
It may come as a shock to some that "let go and let God" is not biblical. The truth is that the Christian life is not effortless.
I may not know what my future holds, but I know who holds my future.
We need to be so in love with Jesus that our spouses or children will be cherished. If I am so in love with Jesus Christ, I can deal with problems, as a spiritual person, and enhance my relationships, not break them up or make a mess of them.
He that loves not his wife and children breeds a
lioness at home and broods a nest of sorrows.
~Jeremy Taylor~
Let's allow the Gospel to shine out of us as lights in this darkness and bear the fruit that God has given to us.
If God lights the candle, none can blow it out.
~C. H. Spurgeon~
“You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.”
― Corrie Ten Boom
The thing about SMART people is that they seem like CRAZY people to DUMB people!
Creating Greatness starts by dying to self...... Giving what you don't have to give.
Serving the least. And not being who you are but wanting better for yourself and all who you love.
There's a big difference between the ART of worship and the HEART of worship. When pushing for excellence, it's easy to get lost in the art of what we do and lose focus on the heart. WORSHIP with no heart is just another performance. "I'm coming back to the heart of worship where it's all about YOU (not us), it's all about YOU Jesus."
It's always good to end on a good note. When I use to train horses if you end on a bad note they always remembered it. God is so good and I am so blessed to have you all in my life. The Bible says Iron sharpens iron. We all need each other.
The power to live a new life depends upon daily communion
with the living Lord.
~John Eadie~
Remember, the way we treat others is like sowing seed, and it will come back to you. Choose to esteem and delight in one another. Sow good seeds, and you will see a harvest of blessing in your own life in return!
-- Dr. Tim Emerick
Before we leave this vital subject of obedience, let's reflect upon how it is related to God's grace. Various key passages that we have examined can help us accomplish this goal.
Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. - Robert Collier
The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. -Socrates
Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts. -John Wooden
Don’t let negative and toxic people rent space in your head. Raise the rent and kick them out! by Robert Tew
"The greatest need of the church today: to be filled with the Holy Spirit--to work in Him&have Him work through us." AW Tozer
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. - Benjamin Franklin
A mile of worries won't get you as far as one inch of action. -Gonzo Arzuaga
There are no office hours for champions. -Paul Dietzel
The question to ask is not "Who is the Antichrist?" Rather, the question to ask yourself is, "Am I antichrist?"
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. -Mother Teresa
People with impoverished vocabularies live emotionally impoverished lives. People with rich vocabularies have a multi-hued palette of colors with which to paint their life's experience, not only for others, but for themselves as well.
Start being positive about what could go right.
More at Zig Ziglar
"Character is a quality that embodies many important traits, such as integrity, courage, perseverance, confidence and wisdom. Unlike your fingerprints that you are born with and can’t change, character is something that you create within yourself and must take responsibility for changing" -- Jim Rohn
Living is giving your best self away,
Living is helping someone every day;
Living is giving more than you get,
It's treating an animal like a person, instead of a pet.
It's helping the handicapped across the street,
It's smiling at the new person at work that you meet;
It's respect for all nations, color and creeds,
It's sharing and caring for your neighbor's needs
One of God's greatest laws you can live and believe,
Is the more that you give, the more you'll receive!
Excerpted from The Seeds of Greatness Treasury.
Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.
"Since the key to motivating another person is to meet that person's deepest need, resolve this evening to try to motivate your spouse by meeting their deepest need for love or respect."
~Emerson
Suspicions subtract, faith adds, but love multiplies. It blesses twice—him who gives it and him who gets it.
~C. T. Studd~
When we submit to the Lord and come to people in the love of the Lord, great things can be accomplished.
Yes, there is fleeting pleasure in sin. I will tell you to stay away from sin, but I won't tell you that it is never any fun. There is that rush. There is that excitement. But then there are the repercussions.
Hospital visits are no fun for pastors but praying with believers is a privilege.
Husbands, never use your position, size, words, or argumentation to intimidate. Instead, love gently with your wife's best interest and well being always at the forefront of your mind. Gentleness is a sure sign of strength and love.
Men that intimidate their wives (or others) are either deeply insecure or intensely selfish.
The point is not to understand the timing of every season and circumstance in life, but to trust God when they arrive.
The service we give to God should possess us rather than our possessing it. God is working in and through our lives and as He does, we must keep a light grasp upon what He has us to do for Him. May we be careful to see to it that Christ is exalted and not we ourselves; remember that all that we do here on earth is for Him and His glory.
- Pastor Jack
Because of this truth, we are motivated to live it, to be in action who we are in Christ. Thus, we avoid immorality, impurity, and greed, not out of fear of exclusion from Heaven, but out of joy over our inclusion in Heaven. This promise, held in confident faith, moves us to live as new people. All things old are passed away all things have become new.
Are you a loyal and loving friend? True friendship can only be made between true men. Hearts are the soul of honor.
~C.H. Spurgeon~
British writer and theologian C. S. Lewis famously once said, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.”
John Calvin worried about any suggestion that God has feelings and even wrote in his commentary on Hosea, “For it must ever be remembered, that God is exempt from every passion.”
When we use our words to fill the air with nonsense and when we say things that are off-color, not only are we degrading ourselves and disobeying Scripture, but also we are missing an opportunity to use our words for good. Every time I choose to say something empty or inappropriate, I am choosing not to say things that are edifying to others and glorifying to God. I am neglecting the fact that my words matter. I am failing to make them count for good.
“No man who merely skims the Book of God can profit from it; we must dig and mine until we obtain the hid treasure.”
“We never mature past the gospel. We mature in the gospel. May we never get over the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.”
“The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.” - C.S. Lewis
You are saved by what Christ felt for you, not by what you feel. Charles Spurgeon
“Breaking the law of God is a direct insult in the face of infinite love.” — Charles Spurgeon
“My Lord will not sell salvation, but he is always ready to give it away to all who humbly ask for it.” — Charles Spurgeon
“I would not give a penny for your love for the truth if it is not accompanied with a hearty hatred of error.” — Charles Spurgeon
“Had I not been helped by the grace of God, I might perhaps have been at this moment dead, buried.” — Charles Spurgeon
“Of two evils, choose neither.” — Charles Spurgeon
“We cannot go to heaven as worldly men; for there would be nothing there to gratify us.” — Charles Spurgeon
“Only give truth time, and, God being with her, she must prevail.” — Charles Spurgeon
“You are saved by what Christ felt for you, not by what you feel.” — Charles Spurgeon
“Others may change and cast out your name as vile, but God will love you still.” — Charles Spurgeon
“Too many Christians sacrifice their children’s souls to the world.” — Charles Spurgeon
“A man who says, 'I was wrong,' really says, in effect, 'I am a little wiser today than I was yesterday.'” — Charles Spurgeon
"It is not a matter of time so much as a matter of heart. If you have the heart to pray, you will find the time." — Charles Spurgeon
“I do believe we slander Christ when we think we are to draw the people by something else but the preaching of Christ crucified.” — Charles Spurgeon
"The gospel is all about Christ from beginning to end." – Charles Spurgeon
“You are as much serving God in training your own children, as you would be if you led an army to battle for the Lord.” — Charles Spurgeon
“My endeavor is to bring out of Scripture what is there, and not to thrust in what I think might be there. I have a great jealousy on this head; never to speak more or less than I believe to be the mind of the Spirit in the passage I am expounding.” - Charles Simeon
“The Church does not need brilliant personalities but faithful servants of Jesus.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“No Scripture is exhausted by a single explanation. The flowers of God’s garden bloom not only double, but sevenfold; they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance.” — Charles Spurgeon
The false church hath usually the advantage of worldly power and external glory, and the true church is known by the divine power, gifts and graces, and lustre of holiness. —Thomas Manton, Works 7:323
Take heed of moral pride, which consists in a lofty conceit of ourselves, joined with a contempt of others. This was the Pharisees’ sin. —Puritan Thomas Manton, Works 7:326
Christ never intended to have his religion spread and established by fire and sword, or penal laws, or to acknowledge bigotry, or intemperate zeal, as the mark of his disciple. —Matthew Henry, Commentary on Matthew 5:3-12
They who have done most for God, are as deep in the debt of free grace for their crown, as the thief on the cross, who believed in Christ and then expired. —Thomas Boston (1676-1732), Works 1:317-18
God is always doing something new in our lives, taking us from glory to glory and strength to strength.
God will give you the strength to look up, see the person of Jesus again, and pray for a fresh vision of God, who He is, and how much He loves you! Ray Bentley
Anything God shares with us or withholds from us cannot begin to compare with what He’s already given us in Christ.
To live a life of godly love, we need to let people be themselves. We love them and let God do His work in their lives. Ray Bentley
Sharing the gospel isn’t just about speaking the truth – it’s also about genuinely listening, building relationships, and being authentically engaged.
"Repentance is a flower that grows not in nature's garden." -Thomas Brooks.
A continual sense of God's presence is the best preservative. - William Wilberforce
The first step toward a daily following of #Christ is the denying of self. -A.W. pink -
No #Christian is in a healthy state of mind who is not prepared for trouble and #persecution. -J.C. Ryle -
"When we say we want to be the hands and feet of Jesus we must remember what happened to the hands and feet of Jesus." -Burk Parsons.
“Kill hope in a man, and you have killed the man's best self.” — Charles Spurgeon
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