Whom the Lord Loveth He Correcteth

Whom the Lord loveth He correcteth

  See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. --I know the thoughts I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.--My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.
  I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.--As a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. --Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.--Humble yourselves therefore  under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.
  I know, O Lord, that Thy judgements are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

HT: Daily Light on the Daily Path

He Owns Me for His child

April 4

April 4, 2013 • By Charles H. Spurgeon; revised and edited by William C. Neff (c)2003-2005

"[God] made [Jesus], who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."-- 2 Corinthians 5:21

Dear mourning Christian! Why are you crying? Are you sorrowful over your own corruption? If so, then look to your perfect Lord, and remember that you are complete in Him. You are in God's sight as perfect as if you had never sinned— in fact, even better than that! The Lord our righteousness has put a divine garment upon you, so that you wear the very righteousness of God.
If you are mourning because of your continued sinfulness, remember that none of your sins can condemn you. You have learned to hate sin, but you have not learned that your sin is no longer yours-- it was laid upon Christ's head. Your acceptance in God’s presence is not based in yourself, but in your Lord; you are as much accepted by God today with all your sinfulness as you will be when you stand before His throne free from all corruption.
I beg you today to lay hold on this precious thought— that you are perfect and complete in Christ! With your Savior’s garment on you are as holy as the Holy one. Who can possibly condemn you? Christ died and was raised for you, and he is now at God’s right hand interceding for you.
So, Christian, rejoice! You are "accepted in the Christ who loves you." What do you have to fear? Smile! Live near your Master today, and know that when your time has come you will rise up where your Jesus sits now, and you will reign at His right hand.  All of this is true because the divine Lord "was made to be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." ~Morningandevening.org

Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears:
Before the throne my surety stands,
Before the throne my surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above, for me to intercede;
His all redeeming love, His precious blood, to plead:
His blood atoned for all our race,
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds He bears; received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:
"Forgive him, O forgive," they cry,
"Forgive him, O forgive," they cry,
"Nor let that ransomed sinner die!"

The Father hears Him pray, His dear anointed One;
He cannot turn away, the presence of His Son;
His Spirit answers to the blood,
His Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God.

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh,
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And "Father, Abba, Father," cry.

~Charles Wesley

Care of Our Feet

Faith's Check Book, Daily Entry

C. H. Spurgeon

---

January 24

Care of Our Feet

He will keep the feet of his saints. (1 Samuel 2:9)

The way is slippery and our feet are feeble, but the Lord will keep our feet. If we give ourselves up by obedient faith to be His holy ones, He will Himself be our guardian. Not only will He charge His angels to keep us, but He Himself will preserve our goings.

He will keep our feet from falling so that we do not defile our garments, wound our souls, and cause the enemy to blaspheme.

He will keep our feet from wandering so that we do not go into paths of error, or ways of folly, or courses of the world's custom.

He will keep our feet from swelling through weariness, or blistering because of the roughness and length of the way.

He will keep our feet from wounding: our shoes shall be iron and brass so that even though we tread on the edge of the sword, or on deadly serpents, we shall not bleed or be poisoned.

He will also pluck our feet out of the net. We shall not be entangled by the deceit of our malicious and crafty foes.

With such a promise as this, let us run without weariness and walk without fear. He who keeps our feet will do it effectually.

The Magnitude of Grace by C.H. Spurgeon

My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Our weakness should be prized as making room for divine strength. We might never have known the power of grace if we had not felt the weakness of nature. Blessed be the Lord for the thorn in the flesh, and the messenger of Satan, when they drive us to the strength of God.

This is a precious word from our Lord's own lip. It has made the writer laugh for joy. God's grace enough for me! I should think it is. Is not the sky enough for the bird and the ocean enough for the fish? The All-Sufficient is sufficient for my largest want. He who is sufficient for earth and heaven is certainly able to meet the case of one poor worm like me.

Let us, then, fall back upon our God and His grace. If He does not remove our grief, He will enable us to bear it. His strength shall be poured into us till the worm shall thresh the mountains, and a nothing shall be victor over all the high and mighty ones. It is better for us to have God's strength than our own; for if we were a thousand times as strong as we are, it would amount to nothing in the face of the enemy; and if we could be weaker than we are, which is scarcely possible, yet we could do all things through Christ.

Loving Your Neighbor

This was shared at our small group tonight and I thought it was to good not to share with y'all!

"You Shall Love Him--Whoever He is

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Mark 12:31

What is it to love our neighbor? It is the loving that is hard. We could do almost anything else, short of loving unpleasant neighbors.

But love is the word--and no revised version changes it. No matter how disagreeable, unlovely, unworthy, our neighbors may be--still the commandment persistently and relentlessly says to us, "You shall love him!"

Our neighbors are around us all the time, needing our love. Indeed, they touch our lives so continually, that we must guard our every look, word, and act--lest we hurt some sensitive spirit. 

Some people seem to forget that other people have feelings. They are constantly saying words and doing things which give pain. True love is thoughtful. We ought to train our hearts to the most delicate sense of kindness, that we may never, even jokingly, give pain to any other human being.

Our neighbors have hearts, and we owe to every one of them--the beggar we meet on the street, the degraded wretch we find crawling in the mire of sin's debasement, the enemy who flings his insults in our face--to every one, we owe the love that is thoughtful, gentle, and gives no hurt.

Our love ought also to be patient. Our neighbor will have his faults. But we are taught to bear with one another's infirmities. If we knew the story of men's lives, the hidden burdens they are often carrying, the unhealed wounds in their heart--we would have most gentle patience with them. Life is hard for most people, certainly hard enough without our adding to its burdens--by our criticisms, our jeering and contempt, and our lack of love."

- J. R. Miller

I have made you a watchman

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand." Ez. 3:17-18

"We have got to lay our lives down for the purposes of God. This is not a Sunday school picnic, the Church of Jesus Christ. This is not an invitation to have continuous good times; this is a WAR for the souls of man... My mind is forever branded with a story that I heard of police officers from the city of New York as people were fleeing from a crumbling building. There were police officers and firemen, and others, that were running towards the building, saying "Run for your life!" at their own peril and in some cases I believe they knew they were going to die but there was a sense of duty. I was crying out to God, saying "God, oh Jesus, don't let my sense of duty be less for Your Kingdom than these beloved firemen and policemen were for those that were perishing in the falling tower.""

~ Carter Conlon

Our duty as Christians is to proclaim the good news no matter the cost to ourselves.

Lofty Opinions

"I remember one of the most shameful moments of my spiritual life, hiking in East Asia going in and out of unreached villages with Gospel literature trying not to get caught, a tough trip, a grueling trip. And we'd set up camp one night, [there was a] little bit of daylight left so I went off by myself to read for a couple of minutes. I had a copy of Tozer's Knowledge of the Holy with me and I sat down. I looked across the countryside, I thought about our hard day of hiking in this difficult area and the thought that came to my mind was 'God must be glad to have me on His team.' And I opened up Tozer's book where I just so happened to be on the chapter dealing with the self sufficiency of God and Tozer said to me:


'Almighty God just because He is all mighty needs no support. The picture of a nervous and graciating God fawning over men to win their favor is not a pleasant one yet if we look at the popular conception of God that is precisely what we see. Twentieth century Christianity has put God on charity, so lofty is our opinion of ourselves that we find it quite easy not to say enjoyable to believe that we are necessary to God. Probably the hardest thought of all for our natural egotism to entertain is that God does not need our help. We commonly represent Him as a busy, eager, somewhat frustrated Father hurrying about seeking help to carry out His benevolent plan to bring peace and salvation to the world. Too many missionary appeals are based upon this fancy frustration of Almighty God. An effective speaker can easily excite pity in his hearers not only for the heathen but for the God who has tried so hard and so long to save them and has failed for want of support. I fear that thousands of younger persons enter Christian service for no higher motive than to help deliver God from the embarrassing situation His love has gotten Him into and His limited abilities seem unable to get Him out of. Add to this a certain degree of commendable idealism and a fair amount of compassion for the underprivileged and you have the true drive behind much Christian activity today.'


Brothers and sisters let me remind us from the start God does not need us... He does not need you, He does not need me. He does not need your specific church or my specific church... Every one of us, every one of our churches... all our denominations and our associations could drop dead and turn to dust and God will still make a great name for Himself among the nations. God involves us in His mission, not because He needs us but because He loves us and in His mercy He has invited us to be involved in His sovereign design for the spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth..."


~ David Platt
Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions

HT: Liyah McDonnell

Grace For Today, And Not A Drop More

I was encouraged by this post today, and if you haven't already read it would highly recommend it to you. Grace For Today, And Not A Drop More

"My grace is sufficient for you..." 2 Cor. 12:9

HT: Thoughts On The Way

Persist To The End

'Your work and your life must go off the stage together. Persisting to the end will be the burr in your saddle- the thorn in your flesh- when the road ahead seems endless and your soul begs an early discharge. It weighs down every other difficulty of your calling. We have known many who have joined the army of Christ and liked being a soldier for a battle or two, but have soon had enough and ended up deserting. They impulsively enlist for Christian duties, are easily persuaded to take up a profession of religion, and are just as easily persuaded to lay it down. Like the new moon, they shine a little in the first part of the evening, but go down before the night is over.

This persevering is a hard word! Taking up the cross daily, praying always, watching night and day and never laying aside our armour to indulge ourselves, sends many sorrowful away from Christ. Yet this is your calling: to make the Christian faith your daily work, without any vacation from one end of the year to the other.'
~ William Gurnall

HT: Liyah McDonnell

"O Lord, if only my will may remain right and firm towards You, do with me whatever will please You.  For it cannot be anything but good, whatever You will do with me.  If it is Your will I should be in darkness, may You be blessed.  If it is Your will I should be in light, may You again be blessed.  If You deign to comfort me, may you be blessed.  If You will have me afflicted, may You be equally blessed.  O Lord, for Your sake I will cheerfully suffer whatever will come on me with Your permission."  --Thomas A Kempis

The Triumphant Believer

"What Much-Afraid was shouting up there on the old sea wall was this:
  'And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about; therefore
I will sing praises unto the Lord; yea I will offer the sacrifice of joy and will praise
the Name of the Lord' (Psalm 27:6).
  "As she sang she thought to herself, 'It must be really dreadful to be the Shepherd's
enemies.  Always, always to find themselves frustrated.  Always, always to have
their prey snatched away.  How simply maddening it must be to see even the silliest
little weaklings set up out of reach on the High Places and made to triumph over
all their enemies.  It must be unbearable.'" ~from "Hind's Feet on High Places" by Hannah Hurnard

Perfect love casts out fear

"Anxiety and misgivings proceed solely from love of self. The love of God accomplishes all things quietly and completely; it is not anxious or uncertain. The Spirit of God rests continually in quietness. Perfect love casteth out fear. It is in forgetfulness of self that we find peace. Happy is he who yields himself completely, unconsciously, and finally to God. Listen to the inward whisper of His Spirit and follow it--that is enough; but to listen one must be silent, and to follow one must yield."

~François Fénelon

"The LORD will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O LORD, is everlasting..." Ps. 138:8 (NASB)

"For thus the Lord GOD...has said, '... In quietness and trust is your strength.'” Isaiah 30:15 (NASB)

Life's Seasons

"Just as spring's role is different from that of fall, so each of the seasons of our lives has a different emphasis, focus, and beauty. One is not better than another; each season yields its own unique treasures. We cannot skip ahead to experience the riches of another life season any more than a farmer can rush the spring. Each season builds on the one before it." J. Harris

Though the season may seem long, there is an infinitely wise and loving Father who has ordained the winter as well as the spring of our lives, and we can know that whatever season we are in it is good.