Songs in the night...

Any man can sing in the day. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is the skillful singer who can sing when there is not a ray of light by which to read. Songs in the night come only from God; they are not in the power of man. ...Charles Haddon Spurgeon image

Our commitments to Christ...

Jesus did not say, "Come to me and get it over with." He said, "if any one would come after me, let that one take up his/her cross daily and follow me." Daily is the key word. Our commitments to Christ, however genuine and whole hearted it may be today, must be renewed tomorrow and the day after that. -Louis Cassel image

Christian hope...

“Optimism hopes for the best without any guarantee of its arriving and is often no more than whistling in the dark. Christian hope, by contrast, is faith looking ahead to the fulfillment of the promises of God, as when the Anglican burial service inters the corpse ‘in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Optimism is a wish without warrant; Christian hope is a certainty, guaranteed by God himself. Optimism reflects ignorance as to whether good things will ever actually come. Christian hope expresses knowledge that every day of his life, and every moment beyond it, the believer can say with truth, on the basis of God’s own commitment, that the best is yet to come.” ...J.I. Packer image

Behold the Lamb!

...Keith Getty, Kristyn Lennox Getty, Stuart Townend

Jesus is not some magic charm....He is the Lord

It makes no sense to take the name of Christian and not cling to Christ. Jesus is not some magic charm to wear like a piece of jewelry we think will give us good luck. He is the Lord. His name is to be written on our hearts in such a powerful way that it creates within us a profound experience of His peace and a heart that is filled with His praise. ...William Wilberforce image

God is waiting anxiously...

God is waiting anxiously to lead each of us in the dance of praise. God is on a mission - a quest. He is looking for worshipers. As he constantly draws each of us into a deeper and more intimate friendship with himself, he is creating within us hearts that will praise him.  ...Claire Cloninger image

There Are No Unanswered Prayers

Courtney Reissig
August 28, 2015

Excerpt:
Sometimes God answers our prayers immediately. We pray for a job offer in the morning and get a phone call by dinner. We pray for clarity in a difficult circumstance and find resolution by week’s end. But sometimes he answers prayers more slowly. Sometimes he’s working behind the scenes of our trials, yet we can’t see his handiwork—leading us to feel like our prayer has fallen on deaf ears. When we are in the position of waiting for God to act—to remedy a situation, to heal an illness, to bring a wayward child home—and we don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel, it can overwhelm us and cause unbelief to surface. Like most people, many prayers leave me wondering if I’ll ever hear an answer in this life.

We aren’t the first to experience such silence.

Abraham waited years and years for God to provide the promised son (Gen. 21:1–7). Joseph suffered silently and alone in Egypt until adulthood, waiting for God to reunite him with his family. On more than one occasion the Israelites faced captivity for hundreds of years as they waited on God to deliver them. They waited for the promised land in the wilderness. And they waited on the Messiah to be born.

In each of these circumstances, the waiting lasted far longer than anticipated. And at many points Israel trusted in what was seen, not in what was unseen.

When God is silent, we’re often tempted to doubt his goodness. We’re tempted to doubt his promises can really be true. We doubt he will answer our prayers. the rest  image

Because children have abounding vitality...

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. ...GK Chesterton image

The Story

Jul 16, 2015

Fathers and mothers...

Fathers and mothers, do not forget that children learn more by the eye than they do by the ear... Imitation is a far stronger principle with children than memory. What they see has a much stronger effect on their minds than what they are told. ...JC Ryle image

If God wants you to do something...

If God wants you to do something, He'll make it possible for you to do it, but the grace He provides comes only with the task and cannot be stockpiled beforehand. We are dependent on Him from hour to hour, and the greater our awareness of this fact, the less likely we are to faint or fail in the crisis.   ...Louis Cassels image

The love, therefore, wherewith God loveth...

The love, therefore, wherewith God loveth, is incomprehensible and immutable. For it was not from the time that we were reconciled unto Him by the blood of His Son that He began to love us; but He did so before the foundation of the world, that we also might be His sons along with His Only-begotten, before as yet we had any existence of our own. ...Augustine of Hippo image

Feast of the Transfiguration 2015

These are the divine wonders we celebrate today; this is the saving revelation given us upon the mountain; this is the festival of Christ that has drawn us here. Let us listen, then, to the sacred voice of God so compellingly calling us from on high, from the summit of the mountain, so that with the Lord’s chosen disciples we may penetrate the deep meaning of these holy mysteries, so far beyond our capacity to express. Jesus goes before us to show us the way, both up the mountain and into heaven, and - I speak boldly - it is for us now to follow him with all speed, yearning for the heavenly vision that will give us a share in his radiance, renew our spiritual nature and transform us into his own likeness, making us for ever sharers in his Godhead and raising us to heights as yet undreamed of.
 

Let us run with confidence and joy to enter into the cloud like Moses and Elijah, or like James and John. Let us be caught up like Peter to behold the divine vision and to be transfigured by that glorious transfiguration. Let us retire from the world, stand aloof from the earth, rise above the body, detach ourselves from creatures and turn to the creator, to whom Peter in ecstasy exclaimed: Lord, it is good for us to be here.
...St. Athanasius on the Transfiguration image

I Need Thee, O I Need Thee

Before the ending of the day...

Before the ending of the day,

Creator of the world, we pray!

Your grace and peace to us allow

And be our guard and keeper now.
 

From evil dreams defend our sight,

From all the terrors of the night,

From all deluding thoughts that creep

On heedless minds disarmed by sleep.
 

O Father, this we ask be done

Through Jesus Christ, your only Son,

Who with the Holy Ghost and you

Shall live and reign all ages through.

-Ambrose image

What’s Technology Really Doing to the Bible?

Three reasons Bible engagement is down — and three ways we can change that.

by Rachel Barach
July 17, 2015

Excerpt:
For many of the nearly two billion smartphone users in the world, getting searchable Bible text in their language for free is merely a tap away. Digitization has meant mass distribution in the blink of an eye.

The American Bible Society’s State of the Bible 2015 study shows that 50 percent of Americans read the Bible online — that’s up 6 percent from the 2014 report.

Perhaps even more staggering is that all this Bible reading isn’t happening silently. Bible verses are being shared more than ever on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.

It’s no wonder polls show people believe that having the Bible available digitally has helped them read it more today than in years past.

But is Bible engagement actually happening in our digital world?

The truth is, all this digital accessibility, all the hours spent reading Scripture on our laptops and mobile devices, all of these verses broadcast out to our friends via social media may not be having the impact we might expect on Bible engagement and Christian maturity — on our understanding and application of Scripture, on biblical literacy, on our connection to church and Christian community, on our lens for seeing and serving a broken world.
 the rest image

Praying the Bible: Book Review

July 15, 2015
by Tim Challies

Excerpt: This book is premised on the existence of a very common problem: That prayer is difficult. “I maintain that people—truly born-again, genuinely Christian people—often do not pray simply because they do not feel like it. And the reason they don’t feel like praying is that when they do pray, they tend to say the same old things about the same old things.” I would guess that this resonates with you and that many of your prayers feel just like that. The repetition in your prayers can lead you to assume that your prayers are meaningless and having no effect. When you are bored with your prayers you stop praying. When you stop praying you feel like a spiritual failure and count yourself a second-rate Christians. It’s a familiar downward cycle.

Now the problem here is not with praying about the same old things. We have to pray regularly and repetitively about certain matters—personal holiness, family members, our church families, our unsaved neighbors and relatives, financial care and provision, health and safety, and so on. “The problem is not that we pray about the same old things; rather, it’s that we say the same old things about the same old things.” The problem, then, is one of method.

Full review

(I just ordered it- here on Amazon)

The incentive to peacemaking is love...

The incentive to peacemaking is love, but it degenerates into appeasement whenever justice is ignored. To forgive and to ask for forgiveness are both costly exercises. All authentic Christian peacemaking exhibits the love and justice - and so the pain - of the cross. ...John R. W. Stott image

Happy July 4th, 2015

O God, our help in ages past,

    Our hope for years to come,

    Our shelter from the stormy blast,

    And our eternal home.

 

Under the shadow of thy throne,

    Still may we dwell secure;

    Sufficient is thine arm alone,

    And our defense is sure.
 

Before the hills in order stood,

    Or earth received her frame,

    From everlasting, thou art God,

    To endless years the same.
 

A thousand ages, in thy sight,

    Are like an evening gone;

    Short as the watch that ends the night,

    Before the rising sun.
 

 Time, like an ever rolling stream,

    Bears all who breathe away;

    They fly forgotten, as a dream

    Dies at the opening day.
 

O God, our help in ages past,

    Our hope for years to come;

    Be thou our guide while life shall last,

    And our eternal home.

-Isaac Watts

(picture by Raymond Dague)

 

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." -2 Chronicles 7:14

The bible is one of God's greatest love gifts to you...

The bible is one of God's greatest love gifts to you. It is the world's greatest literary treasure. It is the foundation of the church and your faith. But there is always the danger that you may forget how personally God wants to give it specifically to you. He desires you to use it daily as your spiritual food, your personal prayer resource, and your weapon for spiritual conquest. ...Wesley L. Duewel image

Look how fears have presented themselves...

Look how fears have presented themselves, so have supports and encouragements; yea, when I have started, even as it were at nothing else but my shadow, yet God, as being very tender of me, hath not suffered me to be molested, but would with one Scripture or another, strengthen me against all; insomuch that I have often said, Were it lawful, I could pray for greater trouble, for the greater comfort's sake. ...John Bunyan image

Here lies the tremendous mystery...

Here lies the tremendous mystery – that God should be all-powerful, yet refuse to coerce. He summons us to cooperation. We are honoured in being given the opportunity to participate in his good deeds. Remember how He asked for help in performing his miracles: Fill the waterpots, stretch out your hand, distribute the loaves. ...Elisabeth Elliot image

Where does your security lie?

Where does your security lie? Is God your refuge, your hiding place, your stronghold, your shepherd, your counselor, your friend, your redeemer, your saviour, your guide? If He is, you don’t need to search any further for security. 
...Elisabeth Elliot image

Elisabeth Elliot 1926-2015

June 15, 2015

A wonderful woman of God.  I've read several of her books and used to listen to her radio program years ago.  I did not know that for the last decade or so she suffered from Alzheimer's. (click on the link for a great article: Alzheimer’s, the Brain, and the Soul)

I thank God for her life and how she was willing to be used by God to minister to so many.

Elisabeth Elliot, 1926-2015

Died: Elisabeth Elliot, Pioneering Missionary and Author, Passes Through Gates of Splendor  One of the most influential Christian women of the 20th century, Elisabeth Elliot, has died.

Elliot, the Christian author and speaker whose husband, Jim, was killed during their missionary service among unreached tribes in eastern Ecuador in the 1950s, passed away Sunday at 88, according to reports. She had been suffering from dementia.

 

She wrote two books about her husband’s martyrdom and the years she and her newborn daughter spent living among the Aucans, the tribe that killed him. Through the Gates of Splendor and Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testimony of Jim Elliot both became bestsellers...

The will of God...

“The will of God is not something you add to your life. It’s a course you choose. You either line yourself up with the Son of God…or you capitulate to the principle which governs the rest of the world.” ...Elisabeth Elliot image

8 Keys to Personal Prayer

Winfield Bevins
June 9, 2015

Prayer is first and foremost a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Some people think of prayer as a business transaction or as something they have to do just like checking something off a to-do list. But that isn't really prayer at all. Think of prayer in intimate terms, like a conversation between close friends. What are some words you think of when you think of an intimate friendship? You probably think of words like loving, caring, warm, sincere, personal and intimate. These are words that should be used to describe our prayer time with the Lord. Prayer should not be dry or stuffy; it should be warm and intimate.

Every believer can have a dynamic personal prayer life. The Bible gives us the keys we need to develop a powerful prayer life. The Scriptures are full of examples of men and women who walked with God and used prayer to impact their world, and you can do the same thing through prayer.

Here are 8 Scriptural ways you can develop a deeper more fulfilling personal prayer life here.  image

Some people have a warped idea of living the Christian life...

Some people have a warped idea of living the Christian life. Seeing talented, successful Christians, they attempt to imitate them. For them, the grass on the other side of the fence is always greener. But when they discover that their own gifts are different or their contributions are more modest (or even invisible), they collapse in discouragement and overlook genuine opportunities that are open to them. They have forgotten that they are here to serve Christ, not themselves. ...Billy Graham image

The conviction of His Spirit...

God will never plant the seed of his life upon the soil of a hard, unbroken spirit. He will only plant that seed where the conviction of His Spirit has brought brokenness, where the soil has been watered with the tears of repentance as well as the tears of joy. ...Alan Redpath image

"Let us make man"

"It was the whole Trinity, which at the beginning of creation said, "Let us make man". It was the whole Trinity again, which at the beginning of the Gospel seemed to say, "Let us save man"." ...JC Ryle image

Praying Most For What You Love the Most

by Matthew Holst
May 28, 2015

Your prayer-life is a measure of your spiritual maturity. Just about any decent book on prayer will tell you so. Your prayer lives exposes you to the reality that what is nearest and dearest to your hearts are those things for which you pray the most. It is an inescapable rule. In this respect, your prayer life may betray the public image which you, in turn, portrayed to others. Just a few years back, I became painfully aware that my prayer life was centered on...me. What a shock it was to realize that my prayers were essentially self-serving!

The practice of prayer has fallen on hard times in the church today. There may be many factors producing this rapid downturn in frequency and quality of prayer. Two of the most obvious are the affluence of western society and the lack of deeply spiritual representative prayer in our churches. the rest image

Holiness...

No amount of money, genius, or culture can move things for God. Holiness energizing the soul, the whole man aflame with love, with desire for more faith, more prayer, more zeal, more consecration-this is the secret of power. These we need and must have, and men must be the incarnation of this God-inflamed devotedness. God's advance has been stayed, his cause crippled: his name dishonored for their lack. Genius (though the loftiest and most gifted), education (though the most learned and refined), position, dignity, place, honored names, high ecclesiastics cannot move this chariot of our God. It is a fiery one, and fiery forces only can move it. The genius of a Milton fails. The imperial strength of a Leo fails. Brainerd's spirit can move it. Brainerd's spirit was on fire for God, on fire for souls. Nothing earthly, worldly, selfish came in to abate in the least the intensity of this all-impelling and all-consuming force and flame." ...EM Bounds image

United prayer...

"There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer." A.T. Pierson image

You will not stroll into Christlikeness...

You will not stroll into Christlikeness with your hands in your pockets, shoving the door open with a careless shoulder. This is no hobby for one's leisure moments, taken up at intervals when we have nothing much to do, and put down and forgotten when our life grows full and interesting... It takes all one's strength, and all one's heart, and all one's mind, and all one's soul, given freely and recklessly and without restraint. This is a business for adventurous spirits; others would shrink out of it. And so Christ had a way of pulling up would-be recruits with sobering and disconcerting questions, of meeting applicants - breathless and panting in their eagerness - by asking them if they really thought they had the grit, the stamina, the gallantry, required. For many, He explained, begin, but quickly become cowed, and slink away, leaving a thing unfinished as a pathetic monument of their own lack of courage and of staying power. ...AJ Gossip image

He shines on my path to show me the way...

Any lights shining on the wrong subject will mislead you. I focus on my Lord Jesus, the true light that enlightens every man. He does not blind me, dazzle me, or confuse me. He shines on my path to show me the way, shines on my thoughts to show me the truth, and shines on my life to lead me to Life, because He is the way, the truth, and the life. His light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot resist it.
...Luis Fernando Aragón image

Prayer and a holy life are one...

Prayer and a holy life are one. They mutually act and react. Neither can survive alone...We are in danger of substituting churchly work and a ceaseless round of showy activities for prayer and holy living. A holy life does not live in the closet, but it cannot live without the closet. If, by any chance, a prayer chamber should be established without a holy life, it would be a chamber without the presence of God in it. ...E.M. Bounds image

In the resurrection of Jesus from the dead...

In the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we see God’s decisive victory not only over death but over all God’s other enemies as well. In that one climactic event, we see the certainty that someday, in the kingdom of God, there will be no more violence, war, jealousy, or death...These forces are still alive and at work in the world, but because of the victory that God won at Easter, their doom is certain. One day death will die. ...Stephen T. Davis image

Easter Sunday 2015

Morning 'breaks upon the tomb;

Jesus scatters all its gloom.

Day of triumph through the skies;

See the glorious Savior rise.

Ye who are of death afraid

Triumph in the scattered shade.

Drive your anxious cares away;

See the place where Jesus lay.

Christians, dry your flowing tears

Chase your unbelieving fears;

Look on His deserted grave,

Doubt no more His power to save.

-Will­iam B. Coll­yer image

Holy Saturday 2015

LORD, God of my salvation;

I cry out day and night before you.

Let my prayer come before you;

incline your ear to my cry!
 

For my soul is full of troubles,

and my life draws near to Sheol.

I am counted among those who go down to the pit;

I am a man who has no strength,

like one set loose among the dead,

like the slain that lie in the grave,

like those whom you remember no more,

for they are cut off from your hand.

You have put me in the depths of the pit,

in the regions dark and deep.

Your wrath lies heavy upon me,

and you overwhelm me with all your waves.
 

You have caused my companions to shun me;

you have made me a horror to them.

I am shut in so that I cannot escape;

my eye grows dim through sorrow.

Every day I call upon you, O LORD;

I spread out my hands to you.

Do you work wonders for the dead?

Do the departed rise up to praise you?
 

Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,

or your faithfulness in Abaddon?

Are your wonders known in the darkness,

or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
 

But I, O LORD, cry to you;

in the morning my prayer comes before you.

O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?

Why do you hide your face from me?

Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,

I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.

Your wrath has swept over me;

your dreadful assaults destroy me.

They surround me like a flood all day long;

they close in on me together.

You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;

my companions have become darkness.

-Psalm 88 image 

Good Friday 2015

Home of our hearts, lest we forget
What our redemption meant to Thee,
Let our most reverent thoughts be set
Upon Thy Calvary.

We, when we suffer, turn and toss
And seek for ease, and seek again;
But Thou upon Thy bitter cross
Wast firmly fixed in pain.

And in our night star-clusters shine,
Flowers comfort us, and joy of song;
No star, no flower, no song was Thine,
But darkness three hours long.

We in our lesser mystery,
Of lingering ill, and winged death,
Would fain see clear; but could we see,
What need would be for faith?

O Lord beloved, Thy Calvary
Stills all our questions. Come, oh come,
Where children wandering wearily
Have not yet found their home.
-Amy Carmichael image

Holy Thursday 2015

 Then He poureth water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet,

and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. -John 13:5
 

The Lord Jesus loves his people so much, that every day he is still doing for them much that is analogous to washing their soiled feet. Their poorest actions he accepts; their deepest sorrow he feels; their slenderest wish he hears, and their every transgression he forgives. He is still their servant as well as their Friend and Master....humbly, patiently, he yet goes about among his people with the basin and the towel. He does this when he puts away from us day by day our constant infirmities and sins....It is a great act of eternal love when Christ once for all absolves the sinner, and puts him into the family of God; but what condescending patience there is when the Saviour with much long-suffering bears the oft recurring follies of his wayward disciple; day by day, and hour by hour, washing away the multiplied transgressions of his erring but yet beloved child!....While we find comfort and peace in our Lord’s daily cleansing, its legitimate influence upon us will be to increase our watchfulness, and quicken our desire for holiness. Is it so? ...CH Spurgeon image

Palm Sunday 2015

Hosanna, loud hosanna, the little children sang;

 Through pillared court and temple the lovely anthem rang.  

To Jesus, who had blessed them close folded to His breast,  

The children sang their praises, the simplest and the best.

 

From Olivet they followed mid an exultant crowd,  

The victor palm branch waving, and chanting clear and loud.  

The Lord of men and angels rode on in lowly state,  

Nor scorned that little children should on His bidding wait.

 

“Hosanna in the highest!” that ancient song we sing,  

For Christ is our Redeemer, the Lord of Heaven our king.  

O may we ever praise Him with heart and life and voice,  

And in His blissful presence eternally rejoice! .

..Jeanette Threlfall image

The God whom earth and sea and sky...

The God whom earth and sea and sky

Adore and laud and magnify,

Whose might they own, whose praise they swell,

In Mary's womb vouchsafed to dwell.
 

The Lord whom sun and moon obey,

Whom all things serve from day to day,

Was by the Holy Ghost conceived

Of her who through his grace believed.
 

How blessed that Mother, in whose shrine

The world's Creator, Lord divine,

Whose hand contains the earth and sky,

Once deigned, as in his ark, to lie.
 

Blessed in the message Gabriel brought,

Blessed by the work the Spirit wrought;

From whom the great Desire of earth

Took human flesh and human birth.
 

O Lord, the Virgin-born, to thee

Eternal praise and glory be,

Whom with the Father we adore

And Holy Ghost for evermore.

...Fortunatus image

Leave it all...

Leave it all in the Hands that were wounded for you.

...Elisabeth Elliot image

We lift our hearts to God...

What a lofty, all-encompassing business prayer is! We lift our hearts to God, and we discover we have joined a numberless company around the world and in heaven itself! We have left time and moved into eternity! We have, in a sense, shed our mortal bodies and moved, ahead of schedule, into our future glory with Him! ...Anne Ortlund image

Let us therefore without ceasing hold fast by our hope...

Let us therefore without ceasing hold fast by our hope and by the earnest of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ who took up our sins in His own body upon the tree, who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, but for our sakes He endured all things, that we might live in Him. Let us therefore become imitators of His endurance; and if we should suffer for His name’s sake, let us glorify Him. For He gave this example to us in His own person, and we believed this. ...Polycarp image

Bishop Julian Dobbs: Lenten teaching Part I

LENTEN SERIES- DOBBS -HADES-Part 1.mov from Julian Dobbs on Vimeo.
Posted February 18, 2015
Ash Wednesday

And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple...

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.  But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.  Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. - Malachi 3:1-4 image