scripture
Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
quote
Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.
Jonathan Edwards
scripture
Psalm 68:4-6
Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds — his name is the LORD— and rejoice before him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.
quote
Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.
St. Francis of Assisi
scripture
2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
quote
We have no power from God unless we live in the persuasion that we have none of our own.
John Owen
scripture
Romans 6:1-2
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
quote
How foolish to go on adding sin to sin, increasing the hardness of the heart, increasing the distance between the soul and Christ,
and all the while fondly dreaming of some enchanted hour in which it will be more easy to yield to the divine call and part with sin.
Charles Spurgeon
scripture
Hebrews 10:35-39
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.
lyrics
Love Me If You Can
Toby Keith
I stand by my right to speak freely
But I worry about what kids learn from TV
And before all of the debating turn to angry words and hate
Sometimes we should just agree to disagree
I’m a man of my convictions
Call me wrong, call me right
But I bring my better angels to every fight
You may not like where I’m going
But you sure know where I stand
Hate me if you want to, love me if you can
thoughts
I am tired…
… of drawing the line and being called a bigot
… of speaking my convictions and then failing to meet them
… of having no place to rest my eyes
… of no one calling a spade a spade
… of Christianity that looks more like the world and less like Christ (myself included)
It is good to be discontent on this earth
It is good to long for something other than this brokenness
It is good to know that wholeness awaits us once this flesh passes away
The challenge lies in enduring and not losing heart
May we fight the good fight and be found worthy in the eyes of God Almighty
scripture
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
quote
Waiting for an answer to prayer is often part of the answer.
John Blanchard
scripture
3 John 1:11
Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.
quote
I believe that if there is one thing which pierces the Master's heart with unutterable grief it is not the world's iniquity but the church's indifference.
F. B. Meyer
scripture
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
quote
Shall light troubles make you forget weighty mercies?
John Flavel
thoughts
I am overwhelmed. I had to take a breather from rushing to and fro on campus so I found a table between many large, tall trees. I put my bag on the ground. I sat up on the table top and laid back. In the trees around me I could see squirrels chasing each other in their branches and I saw many different types of birds gliding about between them. I took a deep breath and noticed jet trails in the sky. They were running north and south. They floated quickly and faded slowly in the piece of sky overhead. I felt the breeze on my face and the coolness of the midmorning. A bird chirped in the brush and I felt peace. I then realized that if I had lain there any longer I’d fall asleep. So I said a prayer to thank God for His creation and His care over me.
Take some time today to breath and meditate on God.
scripture
1 Peter 1:3-7
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
thought
Faith has a price. Here Peter explains that it is worth more than gold.
It is a great encouragement that even though being in the flames hurts
us we know that God gives us the strength to endure and that the end
result will be worth it.
quote
Matthew is supposed to have suffered martyrdom by being put to death by a halberd, a slender ax for splitting helmets, in a city of ancient Ethiopia.
Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, till he died.
Luke was hanged upon an olive tree in Greece.
John miraculously escaped death when put into a cauldron of boiling oil at Rome. He afterwards died a natural death at Ephesus.
James the Great was beheaded at Jerusalem.
James the Less was thrown from a pinnacle or wing of the temple, stoned, and finally beaten to death with a fuller's club.
Philip was hanged up against a pillar at Hierapolis, a city of Phrygia.
Bartholomew was put to death by the command of a barbarous king in Armenia.
Andrew was bound to a cross, whence he preached to the people till he expired.
Thomas was run through the body by a lance in the East Indies.
Jude was cruelly put to death in Persia.
Simon Zelotes was crucified by the Druids in Britain.
Matthias was stoned and then beheaded.
- Unknown
scripture
Psalm 57:2
I cry to God Most High, to God who fulfils his purpose for me.
observation
What is the purpose of life? Ask God.
Why ask God? Because he directs our lives.
For what result? To fulfill HIS purposes for us.
thought
A missionary who served in Papua New Guinea named Brad Buser explained how we like lists. We like to make them and order all the items on the list in their significance. Christians should attempt to keep God at the top of the list. However, Christians are human too so God gets knocked down the list every now and then. He then commented that putting God at the top of our lists are not enough and is actually an insult to God. We must make God the list. Once God is the list, the other stuff begins to take care of itself by either by getting addressed or put to the wayside because it was actually a distraction. What would it take for you to make God your list?
