Spurgeon on Gratefulness

A grateful heart is one of the chief characteristics of a true believer.

Ungratefulness is one of the most shameful sins, and yet it is one of the most common.

The Lord loves a thankful heart; it is the music that delights His ear.

We often write our blessings in sand and engrave our complaints in marble.

Gratitude sweetens every blessing and makes it more precious.

The deeper our sense of sin, the louder our song of gratitude for redeeming grace.

Let us be as grateful for the smallest blessings as for the greatest.

The cross is the fountain of endless gratitude.

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

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Followers!!

Beloved, may the Spirit of God help you to rise to heavenly mindedness. Do not be miserable money-grubbers, or sordid earthworms. Do not be pleasure hunters and novelty seekers. Do not set your affections upon these childish toys, which will be so soon broken up. Be no more children, but followers of the Lord Jesus. 

Find your joy in Jesus, your wealth in Jesus, your honor in Jesus, your everything in Jesus! Be in the world, but not of it. Sit loose, I entreat you, to this poor fleeting world. Get a tighter grip of the glorious world to come--so shall the love of Jesus fill your heart. Throw your anchor upward, into the soothing sea of divine love, and not downward into a troubled ocean. Anchor yourselves to the eternal throne; and never be divided even in thought, from the indescribable love of Jesus your Savior. 

It is your wondrous privilege, brethren, to lean your heads and hearts on the bosom of Jesus, until the day breaks and the shadows flee away. 

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

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Colossians 3:1-4 ... If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

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

Nehemiah 8:10 ... Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. ❤

Closed Doors

 Not every closed door is rejection.

Some are protection.

You begged for it.

Prayed for it.

Prepared for it.

And it still didn’t open.

You thought it meant you weren’t ready.

Or weren’t worthy.

Or weren’t enough.

But sometimes the door didn’t close because you were unqualified.

It closed because you were misaligned.

God will block what would break you.

Delay what would derail you.

Remove what would reduce you.

You call it setback.

He calls it shielding.

If it didn’t open,

It wasn’t yours.

Trust the One who sees the hallway

When you can only see the handle.

Rejection is painful.

But redirection is powerful.

[message from the Internet]

Exodus 14:14 ... The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. ❤

The Babylonian Books of The Present Day!

The history of that human ignorance which calls itself "philosophy", is absolutely identical with the history of fools! If ones were to write the history of folly, he would have to give several chapters to philosophy, and those chapters would be more revealing than any others.

Beware of the Babylonian books of the present day! The truth of God is the only treasure for which we seek, and the Scripture is the only field in which we dig for it! If you keep close to the inspired book, you can suffer no harm; you are at the fountainhead of all moral and spiritual good. This is fit food for the people of God; this is the bread which nourishes the highest life.

The prayerful study of the Word is not only a means of instruction, but an act of devotion wherein the transforming power of grace is often exercised changing us into the image of Christ, of whom the Word is a mirror.

Within the Scripture, there is a balm for every wound, a salve for every sore. Oh, the wondrous power in the Scripture to create a heart of hope, within the ribs of despair! Amidst sharp and strong temptations, and fierce and bitter trials the Word of the Lord has preserved us. Amidst discouragements which damped our hopes, and disappointments which wounded our hearts our Bibles have brought us a secret, unconquerable consolation.

There is no true doctrine which has not been fruitful in good works. Payson wisely said, "If there is one fact, one doctrine, or promise in the Bible, which has produced no practical effect upon your temper or conduct be assured that you do not truly believe it."

The "doctrines of grace" produce a fine morality, a stern integrity, a delicate purity,

 a devout holiness, consecration in life, calm resignation in the hour of suffering,

joyful confidence in the article of death. This must be a true gospel, which can produce such lives as these!

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

2 Timothy 2:15 ...  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

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That One!!

Stop dimming your worship to match the room.

If they won’t lift their hands, you still can.

If they won’t kneel, you still can.

If they won’t shout, you still can.

Your praise isn’t crowd-dependent.

It’s covenant based.

You don’t need permission to adore Jesus.

You don’t need the atmosphere to be right.

You don’t need everyone else to go first.

You are not called to read the temperature.

You are called to set it.

Worship is not about fitting in.

It’s about pouring out.

Loud.

Quiet.

On your face.

With tears in your eyes.

It’s between you and Him.

And sometimes the breakthrough in the room

is waiting on one person

brave enough

to go first.

Be that one.

[Natalie Breckenridge]

John 4:24 ... God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Psalm 29:2 ... Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Psalm 150:1 ... Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. 

Psalm 134:2 ... Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. ❤

Swinnock Quotes

The world is a great inn where we are to stay a night; not a home where we are to dwell forever.

He who would not fall into the river of wickedness; must not come near the river's edge.

The more a man knows God, the more he abhors himself.

A little faith will take the soul to Heaven, but great faith will bring Heaven to the soul.

Sin is sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly.

Earthly comforts are sweet like honey; but if we feed on them immoderately, they will make us sick.

A holy heart is the garden where the flowers of grace grow.

The wicked man's prosperity is but a golden chain, to bind him to eternal misery.

Time is a most precious commodity; eternity depends on how it is spent.

The devil tempts us that he may ruin us; God tries us that He may crown us.

A holy heart is always a humble heart.

A little sin will damn a soul, if it is not pardoned.

Christ is the only remedy for a sin-sick soul.

Only the soul that sees the ugliness of his sin, will see the beauty of the Savior.

The Christian must look upon himself as a pilgrim, and the world as his road, not his rest.

Sin may please for a moment, but it will pain for an eternity.

Prayer is the key that opens the treasure-house of divine mercy.

A holy heart prefers Christ’s cross, to the world’s crown.

If you would not be condemned with the world, then you must not be conformed to the world.

The more we meditate on Heaven, the less we shall love earth.

[George Swinnock]

Unexpected Mercies

 The history of Israel is a series of surprises and unexpected mercies.

It has been even more so in the works of grace. See what God has done for us in His matchless mercy. After our first parents fell into sin, could any onlooking angel have imagined in all this, that God intended to display the greatness of His mercy, so that where sin abounded, grace should much more abound? Did any seraph ever imagine that the Son of God would come down to be born into this rebellious race? Did it ever enter into their conception, that He would die, the just for the unjust, to bring sinful men to God? Was it ever thought of, that wicked and rebellious men should be adopted into the family of God? This was an honor that we did not expect.

Moreover, God having made us to be His children, did we ever imagine that He would make us His heirs? Yet He says, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ." (Romans 8:17) Did it ever enter into an angel's mind, to conceive that every Christian would be married to Jesus, wedded to Him in bonds of everlasting love? Did it ever enter the dreams of any intelligent being, that God would lift up poor, fallen man to sit with Jesus on His throne in glory? This is astonishing!

When our Lord shall take us up into glory, how amazed we shall be! To talk about that glory now, ravishes us; but to be in it, flooded with it, filled with it, crowned with it--this will be overwhelming! Surely, we shall need stronger bodies and hearts, better than those which we now have more able to endure the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!

How is it that we continue to be surprised at what God does for those who love Him? Because our largest conceptions of God, fall short of the infinite reality. Ah, my brother, you do not know the heights and depths, the lengths and breadths of His wondrous love. God is infinite. We are as a tiny shell on the beach; we cannot hold the ocean, and therefore the measureless sea must always be a marvel to us.

Therefore, there must be in God's workings, a great deal yet to come of which poor, short-lived insects like us, can have no idea.

[Charles H. Surgeon]

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Colossians 3:4 ... When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Isaiah 64:3 ...  When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.

Ephesians 3:20 ... Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, ❤

On Our Way!!

He whose daily life is a fixing his eyes on Jesus, has Heaven on his way to Heaven!

[Henry Law]

Philippians 3:20 ... For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: ❤

Don't Look Back!!

Fire was falling, mercy was moving, and deliverance had already been given. God had taken Lot and his family by the hand and pulled them out of a place that was moments away from judgment. The command was simple, clear, and urgent: do not look back. Yet, in one moment, one glance, one longing for what God had already called her out of, everything was lost. 

Luke 17:32 reminds us that Jesus himself gave the warning in the gospels: remember Lot's wife. Two words, not 'remember Sodom' or 'remember Lot,' but 'remember Lot's wife,' because her body left Sodom, but her heart did not. She was delivered physically, but she was still attached spiritually, and many are in that same place today. 

God brought you out of addiction, out of relationships, out of bondage, out of the sin that was slowly destroying your soul. He broke chains you could not break yourself, silenced voices that tormented you, and set you free, putting your feet on solid ground. But now, the enemy whispers, 'Just look back, just a small visit, just entertain it, just once.' But what you look back to, you will eventually walk back into, and what you walk back into can destroy you.

Genesis 19:26 says, 'But his wife looked back from behind, and she became a pillar of salt, a monument, a witness, a warning to every generation that would come after her.' God's grace delivered her, but her longing betrayed her. Here's the truth clearly: grace is not permission to return to what God saved you from; grace is the power to walk away and never go back. Many today want a watered-down message that makes room for the flesh, a message that says holiness is optional, a message that says you can live however you want and still walk in the fullness of God. But God's word has not changed. 

1 Peter 1:5-16 says, 'Be ye holy, for I am holy.' Holiness is not punishment; holiness is protection. It keeps you free, keeps your vision clear, and keeps your heart from hardening. The same God who calls you to holiness gives you his Spirit to help you walk in it. You were never meant to overcome the flesh alone. 

Galatians 5:16 says, 'Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.' Notice it didn't say you might not; it says you shall not, because the Spirit gives you power the flesh never had. The enemy wants you to believe you're missing something, but the truth is, you were dying there. God didn't bring you out to watch you go back; he brought you out to bring you into life, freedom, purity, and purpose. Sodom was behind her, safety was ahead of her, but she chose to look back. 

Jesus said, remember her, because in these last days, many who have been delivered will be tempted to return to old chains, old identities, old sin. But here's the truth: you are not who you were, you are not where you were, and there is nothing behind you worth losing your soul over. The fire is falling, mercy is still leading, but don't look back. 

[End Times Prophecy]

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You Will Be Damned if You Live in Sin!

We preach salvation by grace alone, but we do not preach the salvation of those who still continue to live in sin. The children of God are a holy people, washed, purged, sanctified, and made zealous for good works. He who talks about faith but has no works to prove that his faith is a living faith is simply lying. It is faith that saves us, not works but the faith that saves us, always produces a holy life. 

God-given faith always renews the heart, changes the character, and influences the desires and motives. One who merely professes to be a Christian but lives continually in unrepentant sin shows by his life that he is not a genuine believer. The New Testament consistently affirms that saving faith always produces holiness. (James 2:17; 1 John 2:3-6) Persistent, willful, unrepentant sin demonstrates that one's profession is false. 

No doubt about it, sirs. You may be baptized and re-baptized, you may attend to sacraments, and you may believe an orthodox creed; but you will be damned if you live in sin! You may become a deacon, or an elder, or a minister but there is no salvation for any man who still harbors his sins. "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) death to professors as well as to non-professors.  If you hug your sins in secret and will not part with them then God will reveal those sins in public and condemn you according to the strict justice of His Word. 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

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1 John 2:16-17 ... For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

1 John 3:8-9 ... He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

Titus 1:16 ... They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. ❤

Brave!!

Lord, you make me brave, providing courage I don't naturally possess, giving me strength to face what terrifies me, enabling me to do what feels impossible.

I'm not brave on my own, fear is my default, anxiety is familiar, and left to myself I'd avoid, hide, or run from most of what You're asking me to do.

Teach me that bravery isn't the absence of fear but moving forward despite it, that You are making me brave doesn't mean I stop feeling afraid but that I act anyway.

You make me brave by being with me, by going ahead of me, by promising Your presence in whatever I'm facing, turning cowardice into courage through Your nearness.

Help me stop waiting to feel brave before I act and start trusting that You make me brave as I step forward, that courage comes in the doing, not before it.

Remind me that every brave thing I've ever done was because You made me brave, that it was Your strength in me, not mine, that got me through what I feared.

Give me courage for what's ahead today, bravery I don't feel yet, strength to face what scares me, knowing You make me brave when I need to be.

Let me live today as someone made brave by God, facing fears, taking risks, stepping forward, not because I'm naturally courageous but because You make me so.

Home - Faithful Grace

Psalm 27:14 ... Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. ❤