Broken

His plans for you don’t include rebellion. Stay the course. Deliverance comes in the heat of trial.  He takes away what cannot satisfy to give what can. Broken plans are allowed to play out to break the prideful heart holding those plans. A broken and contrite heart he will not despise. (Psalm 51:17)

He can reach a broken heart. A broken heart will listen and come home to His love. Pray for His mercy and receptivity to His love. See what He sees for your life. Listen to His instruction that leads to blessings. "I AM" is the Source of LIFE. Listen to His instruction and He will indeed lead you and your family to abundant life. Do not follow lies into temptation. Hold the hand of His perfect love and do not let go. 

[Troi Nelson Cockayne]

Luke 15:21-24 ... And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.  But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:  For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. ❤

A Hazardous Game!

"If we play around the viper's hole, it is no wonder that we are bitten!" 

An old proverb advises us not to play with sharp-edged tools, lest we cut our fingers. It is a sin to trifle with sin! If we must play, we had better find harmless toys! That evil which caused Christ a bloody death, is no fit theme for any man's sport. Playing with wickedness is a hazardous game! 

Sooner or later, we will pluck the lion of sin by the beard, and we shall be torn in pieces! This is true of indulgence in strong drink: "Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper!" 

This is equally true of all other forms of evil, especially of the lusts of the flesh. Lewd words, soon lead to foul deeds. Yet such is the folly of men, that they run dreadful risks in sheer wantonness, as though vipers and cobras were fine playmates, and devils were merry makers! 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

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Psalm 19:13 ...  Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 ... Abstain from all appearance of evil. ❤

Your SELF.

Your greatest enemy and your strongest ally are one and the same — yourself. Learn to tell them apart. 

[Christopher Gregory]

Ephesians 4:22-24 ... That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

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There is No Spot in You!!

Having pronounced His Church positively full of beauty, our Lord confirms His praise by a precious negative: "There is no spot in you!" As if the thought occurred to the bridegroom that the carping world would insinuate that He had only mentioned her lovely parts and had purposely omitted those features which were deformed or defiled, He sums up all by declaring her to be universally and entirely lovely, and utterly devoid of stain. 

A spot is the very least thing that can disfigure beauty and may easily be removed but even from this little blemish, the believer is delivered in his Lord's sight. If He had said there is no hideous scar, no horrible deformity, no repulsive ulcer we might even then have marveled. But when He testifies that she is free from the slightest spot all these other forms of defilement are included, and the height of wonder is increased. 

If He had but promised to remove all of her spots when in Heaven, we would have had eternal reason for joy. But when He speaks of it as already done, then who can restrain the most intense emotions of satisfaction and delight! O my soul, here is marrow and fatness for you; eat to your fill and be satisfied with royal dainties! 

Christ Jesus has no quarrel with His spouse. She often wanders from Him and grieves Him, but He does not allow her faults to affect His love. He sometimes chides her, but it is always in the tenderest manner, with the kindest intentions, it is "My love" even then. There is no remembrance of our follies. His heart is free of bitterness toward us. He pardons and loves as well after the offence, as before it! Our precious Husband knows our silly hearts too well, to take any offence at our follies and faults! 

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

Song of Solomon 4:7 ... Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. ❤

A Privilege

Prayer is a privilege given to you from God to make a difference in someone else's life. 

 [Dr. Charles F. Stanley]

James 5:16 ... Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Ephesians 6:18 ... Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Revelation 8:3-4 ... And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. ❤

Every True Citizen of Heaven!

Every true citizen of Heaven not only has his home in Heaven, but his heart is there too. Not only does he look forward to dwelling there hereafter but even now he seeks to be holy and heavenly in life and character. Thus, he is known by all that he does and says - to be one who belongs to Heaven, and that more and more, as he gets nearer to his eternal home. Those who live the life of faith, and love their Savior, and strive to serve God are different in their whole conduct from men of the world. It is plain that they are not of this world. Their life shows it. Their citizenship is in Heaven. There ought to be no mistaking a citizen of Heaven. 

But alas! There is too much of worldliness and carelessness even in those who are in the narrow way. Too often it would be hard to know them as travelers towards Zion, seeking the heavenly country. What! Shall those who are to live forever with God have so little fellowship with Him now? Shall those whose treasure is in Heaven, where no rust nor moth can corrupt care so much for the perishing things of this world? Shall those for whom Jesus has gone to prepare a place fret against the little hardships and discomforts along the way? 

Thus, the Christian should often remind himself of the heavenly home to which he belongs. It would help him to be heavenly in heart and life. "Our citizenship is in Heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ!" (Philippians 3:19-20) We look for Jesus, we expect Him, we are waiting for Him. He said that He would return and told us to watch for His coming. He has told us to be ready, so that when He comes, we may receive Him with joy. This is the position of the Christian on earth waiting for his Lord and Savior! We do not know when He will come, and we do not know how He will come. He may come while, yet we are living or we may die before His coming; no one knows. 

To be thus looking for the coming of the Lord must have a great effect on a man's character and life, must keep him from living in sin or in carelessness, must make him watchful, diligent, and in earnest, must tend greatly to a spiritual mind, must lead him to draw off his affections from the world and to fix them upon eternal realities! Thinking of Him, looking for Him, wishing for Him, doing His will, engaged in His work this is what Jesus would have us to do and be. Lord, make us so more and more! 

[Francis Bourdillon]

Hebrews 11:13-16 ... These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

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OFF Must They Come!!

It is impossible to serve both sin and Jesus. How can a man continue to live in sin and yet be saved from sin? Oh, sirs, be not deceived! Your sins and you must part or Jesus will have nothing to do with you. Do you think so badly of my Lord, as to dream that He will pander to your passions by giving you liberty to live in sin and yet go to Heaven? Has Jesus come to play the lackey to your lusts, and let you do the work of Satan and then receive the wages of the godly? 

Though you never can attain perfection yet in your desires, you must aim for perfection. You must from your heart, strive against every single sin whatever shape it may be, and however pleasurable or profitable it may appear. Off must come the right hands and out must go the right eyes! It would be better for you to go through life maimed and blind, than that you should perish in your beloved sins. There must be the full assent of your will to the reigning power of Jesus in your soul, or else He does not reign at all. 

What do you say? Are you willing that Jesus should henceforth rule and reign over your entire nature, as your heart's supreme Lord? Until Jesus is received by you as your sovereign King, then you are still under the reign of self, sin and Satan. Whatever you may think of it the devil is your master! You say you do not like him, but he is your master and lord for all that, since he leads you captive at his will. Until Jesus truly reigns in your heart, you are also in the utmost danger in danger of damnation and eternal punishment. 

Let your breath go the wrong way or let your heart cease beating just for a little and you will be in Hell. My friends, you will be in Hell! Every man in the world has a master of some kind. Some principle or another has dominion over him. The worst tyrant a man can serve, is himself. Self is the hardest and most contemptible of all despots. Seeing then that you must have a king, can you have a better king than King Jesus, who is incarnate love? Think of His wondrous character, and of the love He has shown to sinners, and then tell me if you could have a better King? 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

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Romans 6:1-2 ... What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Matthew 6:24 ... No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Revelation 19:16 ... And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.  ❤

Saving Yourself?

 As long as a man thinks he can save himself, he remains lost.

[Martyn Lloyd-Jones]

Acts 4:12 ... Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

John 4:42 ... And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

Romans 10"9 ... That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ❤

A Little Nook in The Very Heart of God

God's plan for every marriage is happiness. Marriage is meant to be a miniature of Heaven-a fragment of the celestial blessedness, let down into this world. Marriage is meant to be a little sanctuary, into which husband and wife may flee from earth's storms and dangers, where in love's shelter, their hearts fed with affection's daily bread-they may dwell in quiet peace. 

Marriage is meant to be a shelter in which, covered from the frosts of the world and shielded from its cold and tempests-two lives may grow together into richest beauty, realizing their sweetest dreams of happiness, blending in whatever things are true, whatever things are pure, and attaining the finest possibilities of godly character. 

Marriage is meant to be a holy ark, floating on the wild floods of human life-like Noah's ark on the deluge, bearing to Heaven's gates, to the harbor of glory-the lives which God has shut within its doors. A godly marriage is a little nook in the very heart of God, where faithful souls are held close to the Father's heart, and carried safely, amid dangers and sorrows, to the home above!

[J.R. Miller]

Ephesians 5:21-28 ...  Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

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The Great Pumpkin Day!

I am a firm believer in personal liberty when it comes to an individual’s right to choose how they live, what they watch, what they participate or what they don’t participate in, I support freedom in the body of Christ. If that means a person does Halloween, that’s on them, they have that liberty, because of grace, to do that. But I also respect another’s right and freedom not to. That’s the beauty of God’s grace he gives us. 

I’ve seen the damage done by legalism growing up in church, women not allowed to wear pants, makeup, or simple things like going to the movies. All restricted by the church police. We are all accountable for our own actions, that’s how it works. No need to apologize for your behavior, just be you. 

And eat some candy along the way. 🎃

[Christopher Gregory]

Galatians 5:1 ... Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Colossians 2:16 ... Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

2 Corinthians 3:17 ... Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ❤

Some Means to Fruitfulness

I shall here lay down some means to fruitfulness. If you would be fruitful, remove those things which will hinder fruitfulness, such as cherishing any secret lust in the heart. Sin indulged is like vermin to the tree, which destroys the fruit. Grace cannot thrive in a sinful heart. Avoid the love of riches. The cares of the world choked the seed, in Matthew 13. 

The love of sin poisons the fruit; the love of riches chokes it. Another means to fruitfulness is weeping for sin. Moisture helps growth in trees; holy tears water the trees of God and make them more fruitful. Mary Magdalene, a weeping plant how fruitful was she in love to Christ! Moist grounds are most fertile; the soul that is moistened and steeped in tears is most fruitful. 

Never did David's graces flourish more, than when he watered his couch with tears. Another means to fruitfulness is humility. The low grounds are most fruitful. "The valleys are covered with grain." (Psalm 65:13) 

The humble heart is the fruitful heart. The largest and sweetest fruits of the Spirit, grow in a humble Christian. 1 Peter 5:5 says, "God gives grace to the humble." Paul called himself the least of saints, yet he was the chief of the apostles. 

[Thomas Watson]

John 15:8 ...  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. ❤