He has delivered us from the domain of darkness...

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. -Colossians 1:13-14

When Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, it was not the blood of a martyr; or the blood of one man for another; it was the life of God poured out to redeem the world. 

-Oswald Chambers

"For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified."

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. -1 Corinthians 2:2-5

The moment we make up our minds that we are going on with this determination to exalt God overall, we step out of the world’s parade... We shall acquire a new viewpoint; a new and different psychology will be formed within us; a new power will begin to surprise us by its upsurgings and its outgoings. -AW Tozer

He has great tranquility of heart...

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. -1 Peter 3:14-17

He has great tranquility of heart who cares neither for the praises nor the fault-finding of men. He will easily be content and pacified, whose conscience is pure. You are not holier if you are praised, nor the more worthless if you are found fault with. What you are, that you are; neither by word can you be made greater than what you are in the sight of God.   

-Thomas à Kempis

Now when Jesus was at Bethany...

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” -Matthew 26:6-13 Image

There is a certain extravagance in love. The alabaster phial of perfume was meant to be used drop by drop; it was meant to last for years, perhaps even a life-time; but in a moment of utter devotion, the woman poured it on the head of Jesus. Love does not stop nicely to calculate the less or more; love does not stop to work out how little it can respectively give. With a kind of divine extravagance, love gives everything it has and never counts the cost. Calculation is never any part of love.

-William Barclay

My Soul Will Wait...

 

My Soul Will Wait (Psalm 62)

 Sovereign Grace Music

VERSE 1

When the enemy surrounds and my heart grows faint within

When the darkness overwhelms and my fears are pressing in

I will trust in You, O Lord, in the silence I will wait

I will stand upon Your Word

 

CHORUS

You’re my solid rock and my salvation

My steadfast hope that won’t be shaken

My soul will wait, my soul will wait for You

 

VERSE 2

You’re my stronghold and my shield 

in the midst of every threat

Though the wicked never yield, they will vanish like a breath

Yes, I know the outcome’s sure, Satan’s evil plans will fail

In Your power I’m secure

                    

CHORUS 2

You’re my solid rock and my salvation

My steadfast hope that won’t be shaken

My soul will wait, my soul will wait for You

You’re my comfort when I feel forsaken

My refuge and my sure foundation

My soul will wait, my soul will wait for You

 

VERSE 3

This is love I can’t explain, this is mercy unreserved

Through Your sacrifice so great, 

I have peace that’s undeserved

For the battle has been won, and I fear no shame or loss

Now the sting of death is gone

 

TAG

Pouring out our hearts before You

We will trust in You

Perfect Savior, strong defender

We will trust in You

The facts are that God is not silent...

The facts are that God is not silent, has never been silent. It is the nature of God to speak. The second Person of the Holy Trinity is called the Word. The Bible is the inevitable outcome of God’s continuous speech. It is the infallible declaration of His mind for us to put into our familiar human words. 

-AW Tozer

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness...

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. -Colossians 1:13-14

When Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, it was not the blood of a martyr; or the blood of one man for another; it was the life of God poured out to redeem the world. -Oswald Chambers

Jesus the Holy One is the humble one...

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  -Philippians 2:5-8

Jesus the Holy One is the humble one: the holiest will ever be the humblest. There is none holy but God: we have as much of holiness as we have of God. And according to what we have of God will be our real humility, because humility is nothing but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all. The holiest will be the humblest. -Andrew Murray

One thing have I asked of the Lord...

One thing have I asked of the Lord,

    that will I seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

    all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

    and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter

    in the day of trouble;

he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;

    he will lift me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up

    above my enemies all around me,

and I will offer in his tent

    sacrifices with shouts of joy;

I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

        -Psalm 27:4-6

All who call on God in true faith...

Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. -Mark 11:23-24

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask; yet they will obtain something greater and more glorious than they had dared to ask.  -Martin Luther

Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven

 

Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven 

 Keith and Kristyn Getty, Sing!

Vs 1

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven

To His feet thy tribute bring;

Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,

Who like me His praise should sing?

Alleluia, alleluia

Praise the everlasting King

Vs 2

Praise Him for His grace and favor

To our fathers in distress;

Praise Him, still the same forever,

Slow to chide, and swift to bless.

Alleluia, alleluia

Glorious in His faithfulness

Vs 3

Father-like, He tends and spares us;

Well our feeble frame He knows;

In his Hands He gently bears us,

Rescues us from all our foes.

Alleluia, alleluia

Widely as His mercy goes.

Vs 4

Frail as summer’s flow’r we flourish–  

Blows the wind and it is gone.

But, while mortals rise and perish

God endures unchanging on!

Alleluia, alleluia

Praise the High Eternal one!

Vs 5

Angels, help us to adore Him;

Ye behold Him face to face;

Sun and moon, bow down before Him,

Dwellers all in time and space

Alleluia, alleluia

Praise with us the God of grace

We would like Christ’s gifts without Christ’s Cross...

That crowd of Jews would have followed Christ at that moment because He was giving them what they wanted [bread], and they wished to use Him for their plans and dreams and purposes. That attitude to Christ still lingers in men’s minds. We would like Christ’s gifts without Christ’s Cross; we would like to use Christ instead of allowing Him to use us. -William Barclay  Image

But if God so clothes the grass of the field...

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? -Matthew 6:28-30

The relation of Jesus to His heavenly Father was not a relation to a vague and impersonal goodness, it was not a relation which merely clothed itself in symbolic, personal form. On the contrary, it was a relation to a real Person, whose existence was just as definite and just as much a subject of theoretic knowledge as the existence of the lilies of the field that God had clothed. The very basis of the religion of Jesus was a triumphant belief in the real existence of a personal God.   

-J. Gresham Machen

To be right with God...

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. 

-Luke 6:22-23

To be right with God has often meant to be in trouble with men.  -AW Tozer