Morning and Evening

Today's devotional by Spurgeon is definitely one to remember each day. Its just a reminder that we are prone to becoming tired and dry and we need to be filled again and again. So many things in life slow us down and bring us down and work against our joy and passion for God. So we must fight against that and take action! And remember, Paul compared the Christian life to a race...

Galatians 6:9"do not grow weary"

Romans 12:11 "not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord

1 Samuel 12:24 "Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you." 

 

"Every work which he began in the service of the house of God in law and in commandment, seeking his God, he did with all his heart and prospered."              2 Chronicles 31:21

This is no unusual occurrence; it is the general rule of the moral universe that those men prosper who do their work with all their hearts, while those are almost certain to fail who go to their labour leaving half their hearts behind them. God does not give harvests to idle men except harvests of thistles, nor is he pleased to send wealth to those who will not dig in the field to find its hid treasure. It is universally confessed that if a man would prosper, he must be diligent in business. It is the same in religion as it is in other things. If you would prosper in your work for Jesus, let it be heart work, and let it be done with all your heart. Put as much force, energy, heartiness, and earnestness into religion as ever you do into business, for it deserves far more. The Holy Spirit helps our infirmities, but he does not encourage our idleness; he loves active believers. Who are the most useful men in the Christian church? The men who do what they undertake for God with all their hearts. Who are the most successful Sabbath-school teachers? The most talented? No; the most zealous; the men whose hearts are on fire, those are the men who see their Lord riding forth prosperously in the majesty of his salvation. Whole-heartedness shows itself in perseverance; there may be failure at first, but the earnest worker will say, “It is the Lord’s work, and it must be done; my Lord has bidden me do it, and in his strength I will accomplish it.” Christian, art thou thus “with all thine heart” serving thy Master? Remember the earnestness of Jesus! Think what heart-work was his! He could say, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” When he sweat great drops of blood, it was no light burden he had to carry upon those blessed shoulders; and when he poured out his heart, it was no weak effort he was making for the salvation of his people. Was Jesus in earnest, and are we lukewarm?  

New Year...New Self

Feel refreshed this New Year with God's Word! Many people have resolutions and goals for the next 12 months (exercise more, eat right, manage finances...) and these are all great goals and should be worked on (Please do!) But many people are focusing more on the temporal fixes and changes and not on anything eternal.

“All flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,

and the flower falls,

but the word of the Lord remains forever.” ! Peter 1:24, 25

Let these truths highlight your year and characterize your life...

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Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
1 Peter 3:8,9

Wednesday's Wisdom

" I rejoice to think that all things are at thy disposal, and I love to leave them there. Then prayer turns wholly into praise, and all I can do is to adore and love thee."

The Valley of Vision

{Election}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Encouragement

Here are some artsy quotes of encouragement...enjoy!


{Via Pinterest}

I want to be a tree!

Psalm 1 is one of my favorites because it shows the importance of God's Word. Dedication and constant study of the Bible reaps a confidence in God from knowing Him and because you know Him you can trust Him. Not only are you secure in your faith but your life produces fruit like in Galatians 5. It takes work though but it is worth it.

1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

4 The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.

In Isaiah 66:2 we see what the Lord thinks of those who love His word. It is attractive to Him:
"But to this one I will look,

To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word"

See Psalm 119 its176 verses all about God's word!

Friday Inspiration

Morning and Evening by Spurgeon. This is the portion of evening for June 3 (I underlined the parts that stood out to me).
"He humbled Himself" Philippians 2:8

Jesus is the great teacher of lowliness of heart. We need daily to learn of him. See the Master taking a towel and washing his disciples’ feet! Follower of Christ, wilt thou not humble thyself? See him as the Servant of servants, and surely thou canst not be proud! Is not this sentence the compendium of his biography, “He humbled himself”? Was he not on earth always stripping off first one robe of honour and then another, till, naked, he was fastened to the cross, and there did he not empty out his inmost self, pouring out his life-blood, giving up for all of us, till they laid him penniless in a borrowed grave? How low was our dear Redeemer brought! How then can we be proud? Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed; see the thorn-crown; mark his scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills; see hands and feet given up to the rough iron, and his whole self to mockery and scorn; see the bitterness, and the pangs, and the throes of inward grief, showing themselves in his outward frame; hear the thrilling shriek, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” And if you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that cross, you have never seen it: if you are not humbled in the presence of Jesus, you do not know him. You were so lost that nothing could save you but the sacrifice of God’s only begotten. Think of that, and as Jesus stooped for you, bow yourself in lowliness at his feet. A sense of Christ’s amazing love to us has a greater tendency to humble us than even a consciousness of our own guilt. May the Lord bring us in contemplation to Calvary, then our position will no longer be that of the pompous man of pride, but we shall take the humble place of one who loves much because much has been forgiven him. Pride cannot live beneath the cross. Let us sit there and learn our lesson, and then rise and carry it into practice.

What amazing truth that should characterize the life of a believer daily.