Pick Me!!

I thank You, Lord, that I can bow before You to be stripped of my pride. Convict my heart. Wash me clean. Make me holy and acceptable in Your sight. Convict me when I am tempted to want to be right, or to have the last word. Forgive me for being proudly defiant and presumptuous against You, rather than sitting still and listening for Your instruction.

Stir up Your Holy Spirit within me. Prompt me to be still before You as a living sacrifice. Prompt me daily. I cannot do this on my own. Prompt me to get up at dawn. Prompt me to cry out before You. Prompt me to pray for those who have wronged me. Mold back the parts of me that are out of Your alignment.

Smooth out my rough edges. Let Your countenance shine before me as You see the good thing You are doing in me before Your eyes. I am Yours, Lord. Use me. Pick me. I am here.

                                                           word-of-encouragement.com

Psalm 51:10 ... Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. ❤

There is a Difference!

The path to eternal life is narrow and challenging, while the path to destruction is broad and easy.  Choose Life. Choose Jesus.

Matthew 7:13-14 ...  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. ❤

Society's View of Salvation

Just as our culture has redefined sin, and reshaped its understanding of God, it has also radically distorted the meaning of salvation. The prevailing message is that people are essentially good, that no one is truly guilty, and therefore no one needs to be saved from the righteous wrath of God. Salvation, if it is considered at all, has been reduced to becoming a better person, doing one's best, finding personal peace, discovering one's true identity, or simply being a decent human being.

But the Bible presents a radically different picture. Salvation is not self-improvement; it is deliverance from the guilt, the power and ultimately from the presence of sin! Salvation begins with the devastating recognition that we are heinous and destitute sinners who deserve God's righteous wrath and cannot save ourselves. It is not something we achieve; it is something God graciously accomplishes for helpless sinners. We are not saved because we imagine that we are better than others and deserve to be saved. We are saved because Christ died for undeserving, ill-deserving, and Hell-deserving sinners bearing the wrath which our sins deserved.

Our society instinctively resists this message because it wounds human pride. We want to believe that we are "good people", hence we deserve to be saved. We prefer a salvation that requires no repentance, no submission to Jesus, and no acknowledgment of guilt. Many have embraced the comforting idea that there are countless paths to God, that sincerity is what matters, and that a loving God would never condemn anyone. But Scripture offers no hope for such vain delusions.

Biblical salvation is therefore exclusive by the fact that there is only one way to be saved. Salvation is not found in our goodness, our religious achievements, our morality, or our sincerity; but by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone. The same holy God whom sinners have offended, has provided the only sufficient sacrifice for their sin.

And this salvation is received only through sincere repentance and faith. We are not merely called to profess that Jesus lived and died for sinners. We are called to turn from sin, surrender to Jesus, and trust wholly in Him for salvation. The gospel does not promise that God will receive us, so long as we are sincere and desire to go to Heaven. It promises that in Christ alone, sinners can be forgiven, justified, reconciled to God, and made new.

The world imagines that we all have good hearts at the bottom, and that God will receive everyone into Heaven. But the Scripture says, "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked!" (Jeremiah 17:9)

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

Romans 5:8 ... But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ❤

Society's View of Sin

Sin has become so deeply woven into the fabric of our society that it receives little notice today, and even less opposition. Outrage over lying, cheating, or stealing is essentially nonexistent. Sexual sins like adultery and homosexuality are commonplace. Even violent crimes and murders will find defenders in certain circumstances. Only a few particularly heinous sins are still seen as unacceptable, like pedophilia (you may recall the scandals that erupted some years back regarding the Roman Catholic Church). 

Yet today even that wicked perversion has some proponents who want us to believe it is natural and acceptable. It is undeniable that we are a people quite comfortable with sin. So, unsurprisingly, our world rarely thinks there should be consequences for people's misdeeds and evil. And when people grow up in a world where sin has been dismissed and redefined, and wickedness has no consequences, immorality abounds. But not only is sin tolerated it is also celebrated. For example, when a child announces that he is homosexual or transsexual, suddenly his parents become the strongest advocates for his preferred sexual perversion. This is what Paul described in Romans 1:32, "Although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." 

Merely tolerating sin is not enough today. It must be celebrated. The result is that our culture is characterized by a warped sense of good and evil, and a distorted understanding of justice. People do not know what sin is and they certainly don't think anything they do qualifies. And because the culture imposes no consequences on sin and no stigma on people for it, the idea that sin carries an eternal cost is completely alien to their worldview. As a result, verses like Romans 2:5 make no sense to the world. Paul writes, "You are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." 

The apostle makes it clear that sinners are not getting away with anything. No act of fornication or adultery will be overlooked. No sin of the mind, lips, or any other kind will be ignored. The rebellious heart mistakes the absence of immediate punishment as a kind of license to keep sinning. It can't perceive, much less appreciate, the deferral of punishment as a mercy rather than as approval, so it just keeps accumulating iniquities all of which will be confronted and judged. As Paul says, they are "storing up wrath." And one day, those immense storehouses of divine wrath will break upon their heads, and they will understand the crushing weight of their sin. 

But in a world where sin has no consequences, that is virtually impossible for people to comprehend. And today that's not just a problem in the world sadly, it's also rife within so-called churches which never confront sin. Too many preachers never speak of sin or repentance, and too many churches resist the divine prescription for biblical church discipline. Just as in the world, sin goes unaddressed and unpunished, and the truth about hell and God's wrath has been forfeited and forgotten. 

[John MacArthur]

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Endure!!

Suffering is a part of the Christian journey. Just as soldiers face challenges and hardships in battle, Christians are called to endure difficulties for the sake of their faith. 

2 Timothy 2:3 ... Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.❤

Grace Changes Everything

A consistent theme in the Bible, from cover to cover, is that people aren’t perfect. We read about those who are constantly making mistakes, those who are stubborn, those who are resentful, and even those who are full of pain and tragedy. And yet God has a habit of using these broken people to accomplish His purposes. This is called GRACE.

I made an image similar to this about 10 years ago, but I wanted to revisit the image and use the “Kintsugi” style of art. That is a Japanese method that repairs broken pottery by mending the cracks with an adhesive mixed with gold or other precious minerals. The idea behind this is that the repair serves a part of the object’s history rather than something to hide or discard. There is beauty in the imperfection.

Maybe that is why God used all of those broken people in the Scripture. He is able to restore, and He is able to shine through their imperfections. So many of the heroes of the Bible (Moses, David, Abraham, Peter, Paul, etc.) had many flaws and struggles. But God still used them all the same and let their brokenness reveal His glory.

The bottom line: if you are broken, you are in the optimal position for God to do something amazing through your life. God still uses broken people. 

                                                         www.ChristianPhotoshops.com

Psalm 34:18 ... The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. ❤

Strangers and Pilgrims on The Earth!

This poor world is a boarding-house in which we lodge for a night or two, but it is not our home. The furniture is not ours, the title-deeds are not in our name, and the lease will soon expire. Why then, do we fret over its broken chairs, or quarrel about the best rooms? The Christian's true estate lies yonder, where Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. Let us hold all earthly things with a loose hand, lest when the Master calls, we be found glued to the toys of the nursery, instead of ready for the palace of the King.  The path of the Christian pilgrim is not strewn with flowers, but with thorns. He must expect to be misunderstood by the men of this world, for he speaks a different language and seeks a different country. 

Beloved friends, you and I are passing through Vanity Fair, but we are not free to set up shop there. The true pilgrim buys none of the merchandise of the place neither its honors, its pleasures, nor its empty praise. He has his treasure in Heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt. A pilgrim must travel light. The more luggage he carries, the wearier he becomes. So, the Christian is called to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets him. Houses, lands, gold, and reputation are heavy burdens for a man who is bound for eternity. 

This world is a wilderness, and though the desert winds howl and the fiery serpents hiss, the pilgrim need not fear. His God has sworn to bring him safely to the land that flows with milk and honey the better country of everlasting rest.  Our Lord Jesus was the great Pilgrim who had nowhere to lay His head. If we are in Him, we must share His pilgrim spirit. The cross marks the pilgrim's pathway, but the crown lies at the end of it! We are pilgrims and strangers upon the earth, and we do well to remember it every day we live. This poor world is not our rest, for it is polluted! 

Our home is beyond the river of death, in the land where the flowers never fade and the sun never sets. Let us not build our nests too firmly in these trees that will soon be cut down, but keep our hearts loose from earthly things, that when the trumpet sounds, we may rise and enter into the joy of our Lord. What is this poor dying world, that we should fall in love with it? Its smiles are deceitful, its riches take wings and fly away, and its pleasures bite like adders! The believer has been taught by the Spirit to call it what it is a broken cistern, a fading flower, a temporary tent. His heart is fixed on things above, not on earthly toys. 

To the true believer, this world is a wilderness, dry and barren, full of serpents and thorns. He finds no lasting satisfaction in its broken cisterns. He is a pilgrim passing through, and though the road may be rough and the sky dark, he knows that every step brings him nearer to the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

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Micah 2:10 ... Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

1 Peter 2:11 ...  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

Hebrews 11:13 ... 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. ❤

Pure, Unalloyed, Perfect Truth!

The Bible is a vein of pure gold, unalloyed by any earthly substance. The Scripture is, a star without a speck, a sun without a blot, a light without darkness, and a glory without a dimness. O Bible! It cannot be said of any other book, that it is perfect and pure; but of the Bible we can assuredly declare that all wisdom is gathered up in it, without a particle of folly. This is the judge that ends the strife, where wit and reason fail. This is the Book untainted by any error; but is pure, unalloyed, perfect truth. 

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

Psalm 19:7-11 ... The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.  Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

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Unutterable Affection!

In calling the Lord Jesus "altogether lovely," the redeemed Church asserts that she sees nothing in Him which she does not admire. The world may rail at His cross and call it shameful; but to her it is the very center and soul of glory. He is never without beauty to her! She presses His pierced feet to her embrace and looks upon His wounds as jewels! Fools stand by His cross and find many a theme for jest and scorn; but she discovers nothing but solemn reason for reverent adoration and unbounded love! "You are absolutely beautiful, my Beloved--with no imperfection in You!" (Song of Solomon 4:7)

Viewing Him in every office and relationship, she cannot discover a flaw! She knows too well, His perfect Godhead and His spotless manhood, to offer a moment's shelter to the thought of a blemish in His immaculate person! She abominates every teaching that debases Him! She spurns the most gorgeous religious drapery that would obscure His beauteous features! Yes, so jealous is she of His honor, that a hint against His unsullied purity would stir her soul to holy wrath! Nothing has ever aroused the ire of the Church so much as a word against her beloved Redeemer. 

To all true believers, this is high treason and an offense which cannot be treated lightly. Jesus is without a single blot or blemish, yet this negative praise this bold denial of any fault, is far from representing the fullness of the loving admiration of the Church. Jesus is positively lovely in her eyes! Not merely lovely His beauties are attracting beauties, and His glories are such as charm the heart. 

But although this utterance of the Church is the very climax of the language of praise and was doubtless intended as the pinnacle of all description yet it is not possible that this one sentence, even when expanded by the most careful meditation, should be able to express more than a mere particle of the admiration felt. Her description towers above all others; but its stature fails to reach the towering height of Heaven-born love. It is but a faint symbol of unutterable affection! It is a choice pearl washed on shore, from the deep sea of Divine love. 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

Song of Solomon 5:16 ...  His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

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He Leads ...

Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading. 

[Oswald Chambers]

Proverbs 3:5-6 ... Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Psalm 25:5 ... Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Isaiah 49:10 ... They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. ❤

You Can Do All Things!!

All that God is, He is to you! All He has, He has for you! All He has promised, He will fulfill in you! Ever, ever remember that all things are possible to your God, your Father, your Savior, and your Friend!

Jesus, my Savior and my Lord! 'Tis good to trust your name; Your power, your faithfulness, and love, Will ever be the same!

What, though my griefs are not removed yet why should I despair? While everlasting arms support, I can the burden bear!

Weak as I am yet through your grace, I all things can perform; And triumph in your saving name, Amid the raging storm!

[James Smith]

Philippians 4:13 ... I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Matthew 19:26 ...  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. ❤