Not Surprised!!

In it. Not of it.

1 John 5:19 ...  And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. ❤

Old Toledo Blade!

The old Toledo blade cost the warrior much at first, but when he had once procured it, he knew that it would cut through joint and marrow in the day of battle. So, he was not afraid to dash into the thick of the fray, trusting to its unrivaled temper and keen edge. Could he not find a cheaper sword? He could have found it easily enough, and with small expense, but then in the moment when his sword smote upon his enemy's helmet instead of cleaving through the skull, it would snap in the warrior's hand and cost him his life! 

In the same way, many professors of the gospel take up a cheap religion. There is, no self-denial in it, no forsaking of the world, no giving up of sinful amusements. They are just the same as the world. Their religion costs them nothing and at last when they need it, it will fail them it will snap like the cheap, poorly made sword in the day of battle, and leave them defenseless. 

Oh, if you want that which will endure the conflict, you must expend cost upon it. Many professing Christians never separate from the world no, not they! They fall in with the fashions of the day, as the dead fish floats with the current! Have they any cross to bear? Does anybody mock them for living a holy life? Oh, no! for theirs is the easy religion which the world praises, and consequently the religion which God abhors. "If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him!" (1 John 2:15) He who has the smile of the ungodly, must expect the frown of God. No man has truly committed himself to Christ, unless he has also said, "My Lord, this day I give to You my body, my soul, my talents, my goods, my house, my children, and all that I have. Henceforth I will hold them as Your steward. As for me, I have nothing. I have surrendered all to You." 

You cannot be Christ's disciples at any less cost than this. If you possess a farthing that is your own, then Christ is not your Master. It must be all His, every single jot and tittle, and your life also or you cannot be His disciple. Oh, count the cost! If any of you have taken up a religion which costs you nothing then throw it down and flee from it, for it will be your curse and your ruin. But may we not get to Heaven without all this cost? No! You may be counterfeits, you may be hypocrites, you may be brethren of Judas, but you cannot be real Christians. 

The cost of the cross is unavoidable, it cannot be lessened one solitary mite. Salvation is not merely deliverance from Hell and eternal suffering. It is deliverance from this world's vain and wicked ways. If you would have justification, you must have sanctification. If you would have pardon of sin, you must have holiness of life. If you would walk the streets of gold above, you must walk the road of holiness below. 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

Luke 14:27, 33 ... And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple ...  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

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Compromised.

1. I looked for the church and I found it in the world! 

2. I looked for the world and I found it in the church! 

[Horatius Bonar]

Matthew 28:19 ...  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

2 Timothy 4:3 ... For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; ❤

His Saints' Everlasting Rest!

Heaven is the presence of God. It is to be filled with His love, to partake of His infinite joys, and to be satisfied with His all-sufficient goodness. What a glorious state will it be when we shall fully enjoy God, when we shall be perfectly united in love with all the saints, and when we shall join together with them in the perpetual praises of our Creator and Redeemer! 

There is no toil in Heaven. There is no weariness nor weakness. Their rest is not in idleness, but in sweet and perfect activity always delighting in the service of their King. Every holy desire shall find its fulfillment in Heaven. All that the soul desires, shall there be fulfilled. Every longing for beauty, every craving for truth, every thirst for love, every holy aspiration, shall be abundantly satisfied in the immediate enjoyment of God! 

If one drop of heavenly joy could fall into this world, it would swallow up all earthly pleasures as the ocean swallows a grain of sand. What then must the infinite ocean of delight be, in its full and eternal measure? In Heaven, the saints shall have no other activity but to worship the Lord. They shall continually behold His glory and forever sing His praises. Heaven is the place where the unveiled glory of God shall be fully displayed, where His perfections shall shine forth in their fullest splendor, and where every soul shall bask in the light of His countenance forever! 

No more shall there be misunderstandings, divisions, or offenses among the saints. Perfect harmony, perfect love, and perfect joy shall reign in that blessed assembly, united forever in the presence of God. All the pleasures of earth are but a drop, compared to the ocean of joys that await the saints in Heaven. Their joy shall never wane but shall increase as they plunge ever deeper into the infinite treasures of God. 

If the sight of Christ in His humiliation could ravish the souls of His disciples, then how much more will the sight of Him in His glory satisfy and delight us! If His love to us on earth was so sweet, then what will His glorious Heavenly love be? To see the face of Jesus, to behold the scars by which we are saved, to gaze upon the King in His beauty this will be the crowning joy of Heaven, the height of blessedness, the satisfaction of every holy soul. 

[Richard Baxter] 

Hebrews 4:9 ... There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

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Do His Will.

Obedience can be uncomfortable, but God has blessings in store for those who do His will. 

[Dr. Charles F. Stanley]

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Luke 12:31 ...  But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Jeremiah 7:23 ... But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

Ephesians 5:8-10 ...  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)  Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

1 Peter 4:13 ... But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. ❤

His Lions

The devil wants to discourage the flow of love in order to bring death and defilement. Speak love to yourself and others. Rise up with His soundness of mind. Self-control is a fruit of His Spirit. A mind fixed on Him moves with power and great courage. And the fear of man has no hold on His Lions. 

The righteous are as bold as Lions. You were not created for fear and foolishness, but for bold righteous love. ‘Lights’ to affect a darkened world. Turn to Him and He will awaken your heart and mind to your true identity. He blows away the fog of fear and despair and warm your soul in the light of His love. Clarity, hope and perfect love are His rewards, and He longs to give His fullness. 

"I HAVE MADE YOU STRONG... I HAVE MADE YOU FAITHFUL... I HAVE MADE YOU FEARLESS... I HAVE MADE YOU BOLD... I HAVE MADE YOU DISCIPLINED." He has made you in His image…PERFECT LOVE. 

 Now, RISE UP! Fall into agreement and alignment with His Word, for Truth has spoken. Do not shrink back from this truth with an evil, unbelieving heart. He clothes you in His Righteousness! He washes shame and guilt away in His sacrificial love and acceptance of you. Awake Child and shake off the lies that separate you from His love. 

He is The Lion of the Tribe of Judah. RISE UP in His power and love. NEVER back down and never give up! Bold courageous love! You are His standard, BANNERS of His perfect love to a desperate world. 

[Troi Nelson Cockayne]

Proverbs 28:1 ... The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion. ❤

By Grace ...

No one was ever saved because his sins were small. No one was ever rejected on account of the greatness of his sins. Where sin abounds grace shall much more abound. 

[Archibald Alexander]

Ephesians 2:8 ...  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Romans 5:20 ... Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: ❤

Necessity of Affliction

What a blessed motto and superscription over the dark lintels of sorrow: "There is a necessity for this!" Every arrow from the quiver of God is feathered with it! Write it, child of affliction, over every trial that your God sees fit to send! If He calls you down from the sunny mountain-heights to the darksome valleys hear Him saying: "There is a necessity for this!" If He has dashed the cup of earthly prosperity from your lips, curtailed your creature comforts, diminished your "basket and store" hear Him saying: "There is a necessity for this!" If He has ploughed and furrowed your soul with severe bereavement, extinguished light after light in your dwelling hear Him thus stilling the tumult of your grief, "There is a necessity for this!" 

 Yes, believe it there is some profound reason for your trial, which at present may be indiscernible to you. No furnace will be hotter than He sees to be needed. Be still and know that He is God! That "necessity," remember, is in the hands of infinite Love, infinite Wisdom, and infinite Power! Trust Him in little things, as well as in great things; in trifles as well as in disasters. Seek to have an unquestioning faith. Though other paths, doubtless, would have been selected by you had the choice been in your hands be it yours to listen to His voice at every turn of the road, saying, "This is the way, walk in it!"  We may not be able to understand it now, but one day we shall find that affliction is one of God's most blessed ministers, sent forth to "minister to those who are heirs of salvation." Sorrowful one! There is a reason for your chastisement. 

What! God loves me, when He is discharging His quiver upon me, emptying me from vessel to vessel, causing the sun of my earthly joys to set in clouds? Yes, afflicted, tempest-tossed one! He chastens you, because He loves you! This trial comes from His own tender, loving hand from His own tender, unchanging heart! Are you laid on a sick bed, are sorrowful months and wearisome nights appointed unto you? Let this be the pillow on which your aching head reclines: It is because God loves me! Is it bereavement which has swept your heart and desolated your dwelling? God appointed that chamber of death; He opened that tomb because He loves you! 

Believer! Rejoice in the thought that the chastening rod is in the hands of the living, loving Savior who died for you! Tribulation is the King's Highway, and yet that highway is paved with love. As some flowers require to be pressed before shedding their fragrance so does your God see fit to bruise you, to bring out your graces. If your heavenly Father's smile has for the moment been exchanged for the chastening rod, be assured there is some deep necessity for the discipline. There is nothing capricious in His dealings. Love is the reason of all that He does. There is no drop of wrath in that bitter cup you are called upon to drink! 

Erring human wisdom has no place in God's allotments. An earthly father may err yes, he is ever erring. But "as for God, His way is perfect!" (Psalm 18:13) This is the explanation of His every dealing: "Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things!" In our seasons of trial, when under some inscrutable painful dispensation, how apt is the murmuring thought to rise in our hearts: "All these things are against me! Might not this overwhelming blow have been spared? Might not this dark cloud, which has shadowed my heart and my home with sadness, have been averted? Might not my trial have been less severe? Surely the Lord has forgotten to be gracious!" 

No! These afflictions are errands of mercy in disguise! "He does not afflict willingly." There is nothing capricious or arbitrary about your God's dealings. Unutterable tenderness is the character of all His allotments! He appoints no needless pang. He has precious lessons that could not otherwise have been taught! Afflicted one! Be assured that there is some deep necessity in all that He does. In our calendars of sorrow, we may put this luminous mark against every trying hour: "It was needed!" Some excess branch in the tree required pruning, to increase its fruitfulness. Mourning one! 

He might have dealt far otherwise with you! He might have cut you down as a fruitless, worthless cumberer! He might have abandoned you to drift disowned and unpiloted on the rocks of destruction, joined to your idols! He might have "left you alone" to settle on your lees and forfeit your eternal bliss! But He loved you better. It was kindness--infinite kindness, which blighted your fairest blossoms, and hedged up your way with thorns! Trust His heart, when you cannot trace His hand! 

[John MacDuff] 

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Revelation 3:19 ... As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

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

1 Peter 1:6 ... Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: ❤

Give Your All ...

Let me forget the world and be swallowed up in the desire to glorify God.  I have received my all from God. Oh, that I could return my all to God! 

[David Brainard]

Joel 2:13 ... And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Matthew 22:37 ... Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Romans 12:2 ... And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. ❤

The Old Man ...

Why does God not remove the old sinful nature out of the Christian? 

SIN REMAINING IN THE BELIEVER: drives him humbly to confess his own nothingness, excludes all boasting from his tongue, compels him to trust in his God, takes away from him his propensity to trust in himself, leads him to value the precious blood which cleanses him, to prize the Holy Spirit who sanctifies him, to rejoice in the faithfulness, and patience, of God who still continues to be gracious to him. And oh! what songs will the man of God sing when he gets to heaven! How much sweeter will be the music, because of the conflict! How much more glorious the victory, because of the warfare! 

If I could be totally delivered from sin, root and branch, I certainly would; but yet am I conscious that no Christian would glorify God so much in heaven as he now does, if there were not sinned to be contended with. A creature that could not sin, could scarcely show forth much of the praise of God by its holiness; but that the creature can sin, nay, that there is a strong drawing towards sin, and yet the divine grace keeps a man from it, and sanctifies him even to perfection, why this will make the song come swelling up of "Hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujah!" 

If no adversaries had been fought, then no victories could have been won; if there were no temptations for us to struggle with, then there would have been no elbowroom for our faith, and no power for the display of the bare arm of God. Many believers would have grown too proud to be borne with, if some infirmity had not plucked the plume from their helmets and made them mourn with brokenness of heart before God. 

God can bring good out of evil by his overruling grace, while on the other hand our good works have often been the greatest curse we have ever had! Good works have puffed us up and so have led us into pride; while our sins, though pulling us down, have, through almighty grace, led us to work for eternity. 

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

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Galatians 3:11 ...  But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ... Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. ❤

The Soul Melted

 When on my Beloved I gaze,

  So dazzling His beauties appear,

His charms so transcendently blaze,

  The sight is too melting to bear.

 

When from my own vileness I turn,

To Jesus exposed on the tree,

With shame and with wonder I burn,

To think what He suffered for me.

 

My sins, how black they appear,

When in that dear bosom they meet!

My sins were the nails and the spear

That wounded His hands and His feet.

 

Twas justice that wreathed for His head,

  The thorns that encircled it round;

Your temples, Immanuel bled,

  That mine might with glory be crowned.

 

The wonderful love of His heart,

Where He has recorded my name,

On earth can be known but in part;

Heaven only can bear the full flame.

 

In rivers of sorrow it flowed,

  And flowed in those rivers for me,

My sins are all drowned in His blood; 

  My soul is both happy and free!

[Joseph Swain]

Isaiah 53:5 ... But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

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