Turn Around.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay. 

Fast bound in sin and nature's night. 

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, 

the dungeon flamed with light. 

My chains fell off, my heart was free. 

I rose, went forth and followed Thee! 

 [Charles Wesley]

Hebrews 6:1 ... Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

Mark 8:34 ... And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ❤

Earthquake!

Of all the judgments which the righteous God inflicts on sinners here in this world, the most dreadful and destructive is an earthquake. This He has lately brought on our part of the earth, and thereby alarmed our fears, and bid us to "prepare to meet our God!"

Earthquakes are the works of the Lord, and He alone brings this destruction upon the earth. That God is Himself the Author of earthquakes, and sin the moral cause of earthquakes, (whatever the natural cause may be,) cannot be denied by any who believe the Scriptures. Earthquakes are set forth by the inspired writers as God's proper judicial act for the punishment of sin.

 

Job 9:5-6  ... Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.  Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

 

 

Psalm 104:32 ... He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

 

 

Psalm 18:7 ... Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

 

 

Nahum 1:5-6 ... The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.  Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

 

 

Sin is the cause of God's anger; earthquakes the effect of His anger!

 

Isaiah 13:11-13 ...  And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.  I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

 

 

Isaiah 24:1, 19 ... Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. / The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.

 

 

Isaiah 29:6 ... Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

 

 

Nothing can be more express than these Scripture testimonies, which determine both the cause and author of this terrible calamity. We cannot conceive that the universe would have been disturbed by these furious disasters, before sin entered. Therefore reason, as well as Scripture, sufficiently assure us that earthquakes are God's works of judgment; the proper effect and punishment of sin.

 

[Charles Wesley]

 

✞✞✞

 

 

Psalm 46:8 ... Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.

 

 

Hebrews 10:31 ... It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

 

 

Jeremiah 5:22 ...  Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?❤

Let My Life be Filled

"When men have much to say in a letter, and perceive that they have little paper left, they write closely."

Looking at the shortness of life, and the much that has to be written upon life's tablets, it befits us also to do much in a short space, and so to write closely.

"No day without a line!" is a good motto for a Christian.

A thoroughly useful life is very short, for it is but a span but how much may be crowded into it for God, our souls, the Church, our families, and our fellows!

We cannot afford wide blanks of idleness. We should not only live by the day, but by the 20 minutes, as Wesley did. He divided each hour into three parts.

So scanty is our life's space, that we must condense and leave out superfluous matter giving room only to that which is weighty and of the first importance.

Lord, whether I live long or not, I leave to your discretion. But help me to live while I live, that I may live profitably. You can give life more abundantly. Let me receive it, and let my life be filled, packed and crammed, with holy thoughts and words and deeds to Your glory!

 

[Charles H. Spurgeon]

 

 

 ✞✞✞

 

 

 

1 Corinthians 7:29 ... But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;

 

 

 

2 Thessalonions 3:6 ... Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

 

 

John 10:10 ... The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.❤

Love Divine

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling;
All thy faithful mercies crown!

 Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
Pure unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation;
Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit,
Into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit;
Let us find that second rest.

 Take away our bent to sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its Beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver,
Let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return and never,
Never more Thy temples leave.

 Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in Thy perfect love.

Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;

 Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

[Written by:  Charles Wesley]

Psalm 89:1 ... I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

John 8:36 ... If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

2 Corinthians 3:18 ... But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.❤

Resurrection Quotes

Earth's saddest day and gladdest day were just three days apart!

[Susan Coolidge]

The Resurrection says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there. [Clarence W. Hall]

Every parting is a foretaste of death, and every reunion a foretaste of resurrection.

[Arthur Schopenhauer]

The cross of Christ shows us that God's love is of deepest descent...universal distribution and of eternal duration.

[Dr. Fred Barlow]

Christ the Lord is risen to-day," Sons of men and angels say. Raise your joys and triumphs high; Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply.

[Charles Wesley]

Christ has not only spoken to us by his life but has also spoken for us by his death.

[Soren Kierkegaard]

John 11:25 ... Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: ❤

Join The Triumph of The Skies!

❤ Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King.”
Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”

Joyful, all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies;
With angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King.”

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored; Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin’s womb.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King.”

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, Ris’n with healing in His wings.

Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.

Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King.”



[written by Charles Wesley 1739]