Thursday, February 28, 2013

Before we pray...


  "Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear."
~Isaiah 65:24


What a comforting reminder this verse is, that not only while we pray, but before we pray, God is working... 

I thank the Lord for His sovereign hand faithfully guiding life! Life may seem to make no sense, but that is only my finite perception. Our Father works out all of the littlest details - whether they're painful or pleasurable - even when we are wholly unaware of it at the moment. :) 

Monday, February 25, 2013

The power of our Savior's words...


"When you or I open the Bible, we are beholding the very words of God - words that have supernatural power to redeem, renew, refresh, and restore our lives to what He created them to be."
~David Platt

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Loved beyond measure.

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
~1 Corinthians 13:4-7~


"...God is love."
1 John 4:8b

I don't normally write posts that go "with" holidays, but a friend suggested that we both write on 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 this month and I have just realized what a marvelous idea she came up with! :) So often I've read this passage, and have passed over the true meaning of it. It's so commonly read at weddings, but as I read it again, I'm realizing that we need these verses every single day! :)

We, as Christ's children, are so loved! And I mean, SO loved. Jesus took the wrath for our sins in our place... He loved us when we were unlovely... He sought us and bought us... We are loved beyond measure, my friends! Amazing, isn't it?

Oh, how I want this love to define my life!

I fail so many times... but God's grace is greater than my weakness.

So, on a day when love is "celebrated", may we be freshly reminded to love others like Jesus loved us.

May we fall in love more and more with our Savior who loves us perfectly and who can love others through us when we lay our lives low in the dust of humility where God is magnified most.

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." ~Galatians 2:20

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

A collection of quotes...











This afternoon I was quickly trying to clean up the desktop on my laptop... you see, I love using the "stickynotes"option on my laptop ~ almost too much I think!

So, I decided I would do one whole post with quotes, not all of them mind you, but a few. :)

~~~~

"I must confess that I never realize Christ's preciousness so much as when I feel myself still to be, apart from Him, an undeserving, hell-deserving sinner." ~Charles Spurgeon

"The first link between my soul and Christ is not my goodness but my badness, not my merit but my misery, not my riches but my need." ~Charles Spurgeon

“There are two days in my calendar: This day and that Day.”
~Martin Luther

"...none makes the worth of Christ shine more brightly than sacrificial love for other people in the name of Jesus." ~John Piper

"The love of Christ triumphs over all misery." John Piper

"As you meditate on the law of the Lord day and night (Psalm 1:2) - as you immerse yourself in God's word - He comes and takes some truth of that word and burns it into your heart until it becomes a holy ambition. If that hasn't happened yet, saturate yourself with the word of God and ask Him for it."
~John Piper

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Out of the bow of brokenness God slings the arrow of healing." ~Louie Giglio

"Take the hardest thing in your life—the place of difficulty, outward or inward, and expect God to triumph gloriously in that very spot. Just there He can bring your soul into blossom." ~Lilias Trotter

And the one quote I left on my screen:
"To fear God means that my life is structured by a sense of awe, worship, and obedience that flows out of recognizing Him and His glory. He becomes the single most important reference point for all that I desire, think, do, and say. God is my motive and God is my goal. The fear of God is meant to be the central organizing force in my life." -Paul David Tripp

Friday, February 8, 2013

Strength of character.


This evening my family and I read 1 Peter 5 and I wanted to share a few of the verses and commentary by John MacArthur. I think these words are so challenging and comforting to any child of God!

"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." -1 Peter 5:6-7

John MacArthur writes:

"Christians are to cast all of their discontent, discouragement, despair and suffering on the Lord, and trust Him for knowing what He's doing with their lives."

None of us are alone in our trials and hurt:
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world." v. 8-9

And look at this.. it is so beautiful:

"But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you." v. 10

John MacArthur says:
Christians are to live with the understanding that God's purposes realized in the future require some pain in the present  While the believer is being personally attacked by the enemy, he is being personally perfected by the Lord... God is working through the Christians struggles to produce strength of character."

I'm amazed at God's grace and love... and so thankful that He is so patient with His children as He diligently and faithfully conforms us to His son. 

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Redemption's Song



"Redemption has given us a song." ~John MacArthur

There have been times in the past week that I have been so discouraged and overwhelmed to the point of tears. Some things just don't seem "right." I become so weary. It always causes me to cry out for help to God. I know He hears... and will answer my prayer with the best answer.

Yet, I have to ask myself when I'm hurting, how deep is my understanding of God's power? His love at this moment? 

And I realize that I am so 
thirsty for the gospel. There seems to be a famine of the gospel all around.

I need to sing myself the song of the gospel ~ again and again! And oh, it is freeing and comforting! When my heart refuses to sing for joy, it's the gospel news that will wash over my breaking desert-feeling heart, causing it to break forth in joy! 

When we look to Jesus and the cross we know for certain that we are are more loved and cared for then we ever dared hope to believe! 

Our God is a great God, and I think we so often forget how great He really is. His sovereignty and the love and power found in the truth of the gospel, gives me the greatest reason to adore and trust Him and praise Him! We have a song because of our redemption!

Psalm 147:1-11:

Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
 He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.
 He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by name.
 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;
His understanding is infinite.
 The Lord lifts up the humble;
He casts the wicked down to the ground.
 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
Sing praises on the harp to our God,
 Who covers the heavens with clouds,
Who prepares rain for the earth,
Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.

He gives to the beast its food,

And to the young ravens that cry.
 He does not delight in the strength of the horse;
He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
 The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him,
In those who hope in His mercy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The praise of gratitude for the past is sweet, but that praise is sweeter which adores God for the future in full confidence that it shall be well. Therefore, take down your harps from the willows, O you people, and praise you the name of the Lord, though the fig tree still does not blossom and the cattle still die in the stall and the sheep still perish from the folds—though there should be to you no income to meet your needs and you should be brought almost to necessity’s door—still bless the Lord whose mighty Providence cannot fail and shall not fail as long as there is one of His children to be provided for!
Your song while you are still in distress will be sweet music to the ear of God! 
  
~Charles Spurgeon