Your Whole Heart

When the room is quiet and your hands finally stop trying to hold everything together, bring your whole heart to God.

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Psalm 62:8 ...  Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. ❤     

For Whom Did Christ Die?

The Father imposed His wrath onto the Son, and the Son underwent punishment for, either:

  Premise 1. All the sins of all men.

  Premise 2. Some of the sins of all men.

  Premise 3. All the sins of some men.

In which case it may be said:

A. If premise 1 is true, then why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins?

  You answer: Because of unbelief.

  I ask: Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not?

If unbelief is a sin, then Christ either suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He died for the sin of unbelief, then why must unbelief hinder them more than their other sins for which He died?

If He did not die for their sin of unbelief, then He did not die for all their sins!

B. If premise 2 is true, then all men have some sins to answer for; and so none are saved.

C. If premise 3 is true, then Christ suffered in their stead, for all the sins of all the elect in the whole world; and this is the truth.

[John Owen]

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Matthew 1:21 ... And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

John 10:11 ... I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Ephesians 5:25 ... Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; ❤

The Name of The Lord!!

Jesus has a name suiting every want, every need.

Do you need wonders to be wrought for you? His name is Wonderful; look to Him so to do, for His name's sake.

Do you need counsel and direction? His name is the Counselor; cast yourself on Him and His mighty name for this.

Have you mighty enemies to engage? His name is the Mighty God; seek that He may exert His power for His name's sake.

Do you need His fatherly pity? His name is the everlasting Father; as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. Plead His pity, for His name's sake.

Do you need peace, external, internal, or eternal? His name is the Prince of Peace; seek for His name's sake, that He may create peace.

O sirs, His name is Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord, the healer and physician; seek, for His name's sake, that He may heal all your soul diseases.

Do you need pardon? His name is Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness; seek for His name's sake, that He may be merciful to your unrighteousness.

Do you need defense and protection? His name is Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord your banner; seek, for His name's sake, that His banner of love and grace may be spread over you.

Do you need provision in extreme want? His name is Jehovah-Jireh, in the mount to the Lord it shall be seen, the Lord will provide.

Do you need His presence? His name is Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord is there; Immanuel, God with us; look to Him to be with you, for His name's sake.

Do you need an audience of prayer? His name is the Hearer of Prayer.

Do you need strength? His name is the Strength of Israel.

Do you need comfort? His name is the Consolation of Israel.

Sit down and ponder your wants and needs and you will find He has a name suitable for your supply; He has all wisdom to guide you, all power to keep you, all mercy to pity you, all holiness to sanctify you, all righteousness to justify you, all grace to adorn you, and all glory to crown you!

[Ralph Erskine]

Proverbs 18:10 ... The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. ❤

God's Care For You!!

We learn, in scripture, the particularity and the individuality of God's care. The very sparrows are remembered by Him. Not one is forgotten. How dear then to His heart, are His own redeemed people! Chosen by the Father, redeemed by His Son, renewed by His Spirit, they are the sheep of His pasture, His own beloved children as near and dear to Him as the pupil of His eye. Nor is the individuality and tenderness of God's care less now, than in days gone by. The Good Shepherd knows each of His flock by name and our Heavenly Father has a place in His heart for each of His redeemed children. 

Struggling believer, God cares for you, even for you; and loves you with an everlasting love! Your name is engraved on the palms of His nail-scarred hands and when those hands are stretched out to protect and to bless, you cannot be forgotten. When others scorn you, He smiles upon you. When the storm is high and your heart is overwhelmed, He is at hand to shelter and to support you. Even when your foot has slipped and sin has come in, He will not cast you away, but will gently rebuke you, and then graciously forgive and heal. 

But for your comfort, remember another point: God's care for you reaches to the very LEAST matters! "Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered!" With the Omniscient and All-wise God, there is nothing small or great. Therefore, be persuaded that no concern of yours is too small for your father's eye and your father's love. Bring God into everything. The very least concern that weighs upon you may roll upon Him. He will not despise it. 

The very least ache or pain of mind or body, is a part of His loving discipline and will do its work the better if it is brought to Him. The heaving of a sigh, the dropping of a tear, the unuttered desire and longing of the heart, He marks and considers. Be as a little child with your Heavenly Father. Rejoice that with filial confidence you may bring all that concerns you to His throne of grace. Your home trials, petty annoyances from those about you, the wearied body, a nervous temperament, something in the house or in the shop that disturbs your peace tell it out in your Father's ear and leave it to His merciful and wise ordering! 

[George Everard] 

Matthew 10:29-31 ... Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

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Worst Evil in The Universe

SIN is a very little word, but it contains a dreadful abyss of evil. Sin is a plague, a cancer, a devouring fire, a venomous serpent, a poison! It is the worst evil in the universe! We may name many grievous diseases which are the destroyers of our race, but the greatest of these is sin! 

Sin, indeed, is the fatal egg from which all other evils have been hatched. It is the fountain and source of all mortal maladies. Sin is the greatest evil in the universe. It is the parent of all other ills. All manner of evils draws their bitterness from this fountain of wormwood and gall. Sin is Hell! 

You can find nothing in the world so evil as sin. Nothing has so desolated this fair earth of ours, as sin has. Sin is the monster evil, the giant overtopping them all, head and shoulders above them, the most unparalleled evil in the world. Sin is the Pandora's box from which all evil has come to mankind! Sin must therefore be charged with the authorship of all sorrow, all disease, all death, and Hell. In sin itself there is abomination, and only abomination. 

Sin is a monster, a hideous thing, a thing which God will not look upon, and which His pure eyes cannot behold but with the utmost detestation. Every sin contains within it an evil a thousand times more terrible than the black death of olden times. 

Oh, flee from sin, as from a cobra, lest a single look at it should fascinate you, and its sting should envenom your veins before you are aware of it! Sin betrayed Jesus, scourged Him, put a crown of thorns upon His head, spit in His face, crucified Him, and nailed His hands and His feet to the accursed tree. Sin is the consummate evil. Sin is that which crucified the Lord of glory. 

Sin is so hateful to God, that He would not spare His own Son when He stood in the sinner's place. In the agonies of Jesus, in the shame and spitting, in the woes and anguish that He endured--we read the sinfulness of sin, written as in capital letters. Oh, sin is the murderer of Jesus, the destroyer of man, and the defiler of the world! 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

Isaiah 53:4-5 ...  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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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Sunrise-Sunset

Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset.
Eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise.

[Thomas Watson]

Romans 2:6-11 ... Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God. ❤

Jesus Gives His People His Own Glory!

 The Lord will give us nothing less than glory!

We deserve shame, but He will give us glory. We deserve misery, but He will give us glory. We deserve condemnation, but He will give us glory. We deserve Hell, but He will give us glory.

If we belong to Jesus, then all that He has is ours. The poorest believer shall be as rich as Jesus; the weakest believer shall be as strong as Jesus; the most despised believer shall be as glorious as Jesus!

"The glory which You have given to Me, I have given to them!" (John 17:22) His glory belongs to us; He has made us heirs of God, and joint heirs with Himself. What a wondrous gift is this! Jesus gives His people His own glory, the glory of sonship, the glory of union with Himself, the glory of likeness to Himself, the glory of being with Him forever! This is the perfection of Heaven that we shall be conformed to the image of God's dear Son.

The saints shall have a glory which shall never fade, a beauty which shall never wither, and a blessedness which shall never end.  This is the very summit of our desires. He shall see Him as He is, and we shall be like Him!  The certain hope of every true saint is not merely escape from judgment; but final conformity to, and communion with, the glorified Christ.

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

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Psalm 84:11 ... For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Romans 8:30 ... Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

1 John 3:2 ... Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. ❤

Quiet Me ...

Lord, quiet the part of me that needs to be noticed, praised, or proven right. Forgive me for seeking attention that belongs to You and for measuring my worth by how others respond to me. Teach me to serve without needing recognition, to listen before speaking, and to receive correction with grace. Make my heart teachable, my spirit gentle, and my life a clear reflection of Jesus. Let Christ become greater in me and let my desire to be seen grow smaller: not because I am forgotten, but because I am secure in Your love. Amen.

word-of-encouragement.com

John 3:30 ...  He must increase, but I must decrease.

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Where You Need To Be

One of the most interesting things to me about the story of Jonah and the whale is that getting swallowed by a whale was the best thing that could have ever happened to Jonah. Likewise, there are probably events that have happened in your life that don't seem like good news at all, but it could just be God steering you to where you need to be. God PREPARES things like these; it's not just a coincidence.

christianphotoshops.com

Jonah 1:17 ... Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. ❤

The Marvelous Magnet

Jesus is the spokesman here. He tells of His own death by crucifixion and of the result which will follow. It appears then, that our Lord's power to draw men to Himself lies mainly in His death. There is an attractive power about our Lord's person, and about His life, and about His teaching; but still, the main attractive force lies in His sin-atoning death upon the cross! 

Our Lord Jesus Christ died a most shameful death. Sadly, many have come to use the cross as an ornament to display, while others turn the crucifix into an object of idolatry. But the cross, to speak very plainly, was to the ancients what the gallows is to us an odious instrument of death for the worst of criminals. It was not only painful, but it was also disgraceful and ignominious! It is because of His shameful sacrificial death, that Jesus is able to draw men unto Himself. 

On that cruel cross, Prince Emanuel manifests the beauties of His dying love. The crucified Christ has irresistible attractions! The cross is the grand old story of the incarnate God who loved wicked sinners, and gave Himself to die in their stead, that they might escape Hell and have eternal life through Him. Whence this astonishing attractiveness of Jesus? It is the force of love; for Jesus is love incarnate. In Him we see one who divested Himself of His divine glory, that He might save guilty rebels. At length, His dying love compels the ungodly to believe and to adore. 

If I were asked the secret of the attractive power of the crucified Savior, I would answer that it is His invincible love! This it is this unique, unrivaled love which draws sinful men to Jesus. The pierced heart of Jesus is the marvelous magnet to draw hearts. By His agonies and death, men's affections are drawn and their hearts are enthralled. 

I turn my eyes to Jesus upon the cross, and view the thorn-crown, and the sacred head now wounded, and the eyes that were red with weeping, and the hands nailed fast to the wood, and the feet dripping with gore. I behold the Lord of life and glory suffering the most intensified pain and death; and when I remember that this shameful death was endured out of love to me, I am lost in wonder! His wounds distilled the richest balm that ever healed a sinner's wound! 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

John 12:32-33 ... And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.

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My Little Children

John is evidently addressing every believer when he speaks of them as "my little children," as, for instance, in the closing verse of his letter, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." (1 John 5:21) 

Surely, all the saints are included in these exhortations. There is a sense in which every Christian is still a little child, a sense in which he ought to be so. We are to be ever dependent upon our great Father, ever ready to receive the Word of our Father without questioning, ever teachable, ever restful in our Father's care, and full of love to Him who is our all in all.   Of necessity we must ever remain children before God; for our finite capacity is so limited that we are mere babes in knowledge in the presence of Infinite Wisdom. We know enough to make us understand that we know very little. 

The most advanced intellects in the church are but as infants, compared with the Ancient of Days. We are of yesterday and know nothing. With all our experience, with all our study, with all our meditation, we remain "little children" when measured by the boundless knowledge of our omniscient God. Children are expected to bear some likeness to their parents. Children of God, regenerated by the almighty energy of the Holy Spirit, are sure to bear a high degree of likeness to their heavenly Father. "Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ loved us, and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God." (Ephesians 5:1–2) 

The believer is as a little child utterly dependent upon our Father, sheltered in the bosom of our Savior, and finding our highest happiness in loving Him and obeying His Word. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

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1 Peter 1:14-16 ... As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:  But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

1 John 3:1-2 ... Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

1 John 2:1 ... My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:❤