dW 04.08.09

 

scripture

 

James 1:12-15

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

 

En Espanol

 

quote

 

Temptation always promises more than it produces.

John Blanchard

dW 04.06.09

 

scripture

 

Song of Solomon 2:15

Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.

 

En Espanol

 

quote

 

It is a fact of Christian experience that life is a series of troughs and peaks.  In his efforts to get permanent possession of a soul, God relies on the troughs more than the peaks.  And some of his special favorites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else.

Peter Marshall

 

thought

 

My pastor said a few weeks back something that I’ve chosen to think much about.  He said, “God tempts our obedience and Satan tempts our disobedience”.  When I’ve been tempted to act or think in unrighteous ways, I’ve come back to this and been able to resist the flesh and feast on the spirit. 

dW 04.03.09

 

scripture

 

Matthew 22:36-40

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

 

En Espanol

 

quote

 

As long as anyone has the means of doing good to his neighbors, and does not do so, he shall be reckoned a stranger to the love of the Lord.

Irenaeus

 

thought

 

I asked a friend, “What good is it to have peace with men but have not peace with God?”

She responded, ““Peace with God is a prerequisite to having peace with men.  Living peaceably with men is evidence of having peace with God.”

 

Would you agree, disagree, or add something more?

03.02.09

 

scripture

 

Romans 11:33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?"  For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

 

En Espanol

 

thought

 

Though we, finite beings, attempt to understand that which is infinite, with our limited capacities, it is no less worthy an endeavor than if we were fully capable to understand that which is beyond knowing fully. Thus, we strive to know with ever-increasing certainty because ambiguity is not for theologians.

dW 03.01.09

 

scripture

 

Psalm 63:1

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

 

En Espanol

 

quote

 

The soul, like the body, lives by what it feeds on.

Josiah Holland

 

dW 03.27.09

 

scripture

 

Exodus 15:11

"Who among the gods is like you, O LORD ?  Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?”

 

En Espanol

 

quote

 

Christians often talk far too glibly and easily about God.  “I have heard students,” says Professor Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, “talking about the attributes of God in a way that made me feel ashamed.  They knew everything ‘about’ God, except that he was listening to them.  They showed no signs of shame.  They were theological students.”  Dietrich Bonhoeffer says more than once in his letters from prison that he finds a continually deepening meaning in the fact that the Israelites never allowed themselves to pronounce the name of God.

J. H. Oldham

dW 03.25.09

 

scripture

 

Ephesians 5:8-13

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

 

En Espanol

 

quote

 

There are two kinds of secrets: those we keep from others and those we hide from ourselves.

 Frank Warren

 

thoughts

 

There is also a third kind of secret: those we try to keep from God. We are so foolish to think we can hide anything from God who sees and knows all. Why not give it to Him and let Him dispose of it?

dW three.twenty.o'nine

 

scripture

 

1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

 

En Espanol

 

quote

 

Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Helen Keller

dW 03.18.09

 

scripture

 

Psalm 25:4-7 CEV

Show me your paths and teach me to follow; guide me by your truth and instruct me.

You keep me safe, and I always trust you. Please, LORD, remember, you have always been patient and kind.

Forget each wrong I did when I was young. Show how truly kind you are and remember me.

 

En Espanol

 

quote

 

Of all acts of man repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.
Thomas Carlyle

dW 03.16.09

 

scripture

 

Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

En Espanol

 

quote

 

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now, I see.

 

“The hymn was written by John Newton, an English man who was born in 1725. As a young man he was captain of a ship that was used for slave-trading. During one voyage he cried out to God for mercy as the ship was tossed about in a storm. His ship was spared and John Newton began his walk towards Christ. He continued to be a slave trader for some years but there was a slow transformation and within the next 20 years Newton had given up this life and had become the parish priest of Olney, a village near London. Whilst here he wrote the words to the famous hymn, Amazing Grace.” (http://www.wikichristian.org/)