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. ❤

If You Strike a Dog With a Stick!

Hosea is convinced that his trials come from God. Ungodly men set down their troubles to chance; and sometimes they even trace them to the devil as if they expected their father the devil, to have chastening dealings with them. Frequently they lay their trials at the door of their fellow men, and grow quarrelsome, malicious, and revengeful. It is a happy day for a man, when he knows in whose hand is the chastening rod, and learns to trace his troubles to God. Alas, there are even some children of God who greatly err in this matter when under affliction; they spend their time in bewailing second causes, and do not look at the first cause. This is quite brutish. 

If you strike a dog with a stick, then he will bite at the stick; had he a little intelligence, he will bite at you; and know that the blow came, not from the stick or stone, but from the hand that used these implements. Often when believers are in trouble, they look at the secondary agent, and they spend their anger or their thoughts entirely there. If in the day of adversity they would consider, then they would perceive that afflictions do not spring out of the ground, neither do troubles come by chance; but the hand of the Lord is in all these things. "When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider God has made the one, as well as the other." (Ecclesiastes 7:14) 

Whichever way the trial came, it ultimately came from Him. If the trouble was caused by a triumphant enemy, or by a deceitful friend, if it came as a loss in business, or as a sickness of body; or if it wounded us through the arrows of death piercing the heart of our beloved in each case, it was the Lord. Learn that lesson. God has smitten you. He has torn you. He has done it all. He has ordained our trials for chastening and established them for correction. Let us not despise them by refusing to see His hand, or by angrily rebelling against Him. 

Perhaps I am speaking to one who has been followed by a succession of troubles until he is now surrounded by a sea of affliction. You have scarcely escaped from one trouble, before you have plunged into another. It seems to you as if your "bad luck," as you call it were no more absent from you at any time, than your shadow. You cannot succeed at anything; whatever you touch, withers beneath your hand. You have been sick again and again. You have lost your best friend when you most needed him. You have lost your employment, and wherever you apply you get no favorable reply. 

Perhaps you are so sorely smitten, because the Lord has some great design of love to your soul. May you look on the series of trials through which you have passed as being really sent to you not by chance or haphazard, nor by the conjunction of the stars, nor by anything of that atheistic foolery which men are so fond of inventing but sent from God Himself, with a gracious intent. He smites, He tears, He slays but this is His surgery of love. Hosea had learned to trace his troubles to God Himself, and not to second causes. Notice that it is customary with God to smite His beloved people, according to His own words, "Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten." (Revelation 3:19) 

Oftentimes the Christian who endures heavy trials, receives such severe treatment because the Lord has a secret love to his soul. These chastisements and heavy blows, which are compared in the text to tearing and to smiting often fall upon God's own beloved people just because they are His beloved, and He cannot in any better way display His love to them. Look at the vine which bears fruit, and you shall see that every year at the proper season the ruthless knife of the pruner cutting away what seems to be the liveliest shoots, removing the hopeful branches, and leaving the poor vine to bleed, or to appear to be a mere dry stick. 

Yes, the vine needs pruning it belongs to the gardener's choice plants, and he looks to it for rich clusters. You who are tossed to and from and are broken by sorrow, need not startle with dread because you are made to suffer, for the Lord lays heavy hands upon His own redeemed people, and reserves the ungodly for His wrath. The believer who sinks lowest in soul sorrow, may still bless God that he is not in the torments of Hell. At our worst, we are indulged with a fullness of mercy, compared with what our sins really deserve. 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

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Hosea 6:1 ... Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

Proverbs 3:11–12 ...  My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Hebrews 12:6 ...  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. ❤

This I Know!!

Yes, Jesus loves me!!

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Matthew 19:14 ... But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. ❤

Loathsome Moral Leprosy!

Pride has a high and overweening conceit of its own possessions and acquirements, and ostentatiously boasts of what it is, has done, can do, or intends to do. Pride signifies such an exalted idea of us as leads to self-esteem and to contempt of others. 

Pride is self-admiration self-doating. Pride is the sin which laid the moral universe in ruins. Pride is the original sin, the inherent corruption of our nature. Pride spreads over humanity with contagious violence. Pride is the loathsome moral leprosy, raging alike through the palace and the cottage, and infecting equally the prince and the peasant. 

Love is no less opposed to VANITY than it is to pride! Pride differs from vanity thus pride causes us to value ourselves; vanity makes us anxious for applause. Pride renders a man odious; vanity makes him ridiculous. Love does not boast of, or ostentatiously display, its possessions, abilities, or good deeds. 

[John Angell James] 

1 Corinthians 13:4 ... Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

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"If God Left Us"

The sins of the ungodly are the looking glasses in which we may see our own hearts. Do we see a heinous, impious wretch? Behold a picture of our own hearts! Such would we be if God left us! What is in wicked men's practice is in our nature. Sin in the wicked, is like fire which flames and blazes forth. 

Sin in the godly, is like fire hid in the embers. Christian, though you do not break forth into a flame of scandalous sin, yet you have no cause to boast, for there is as much sin in the embers of your nature! You have the root of all sin in you and would bear as hellish fruit as any ungodly wretch if God did not either curb you by His power or change you by His grace! 

Why might not God have left you to the same excess of wickedness? Think with yourself, O Christian: Why should God be more merciful to you than to another? Why should He snatch you as a brand plucked out of the fire, and not him? How should this make you to adore free grace! What the Pharisee said boastingly, we may say thankfully, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, etc." 

If we are not as wicked as others, we should adore the riches of free grace! Every time we see men hastening on in sin, we are to thank God that we are not such! If we see a crazy person, we thank God that it is not so with us. When we see another infected with the plague how thankful are we that God has preserved us from it! Much more when we see others under the power of Satan how thankful we should be that this is no longer our condition! 

[Thomas Watson] 

Titus 3:3 ...  For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

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