Delight: ourselves

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Duties are ours, events are the Lord's; when our faith goeth to meddle with events, and to hold a court (if I may so speak) upon God's Providence, and beginneth to say, "How wilt Thou do this or that?" we lose ground; we have nothing to do there; it is our part to let the Almighty exercise His own office, and steer His own helm; there is nothing left us, but to see how we may be approved of Him, and how we may roll the weight of our weak souls, in well-doing, upon Him who is God omnipotent, and when what we thus essay miscarrieth, it shall neither be our sin nor cross.
~ Samuel Rutherford

Saturday, January 14, 2012

"Ye are Christ's." 1 Corinthians 3:23

"Ye are Christ's." You are his by donation, for the Father gave you to the Son; his by his bloody purchase, for he counted down the price for your redemption; his by dedication, for you have consecrated yourself to him; his by relation, for you are named by his name, and made one of his brethren and joint-heirs. Labour practically to show the world that you are the servant, the friend, the bride of Jesus. When tempted to sin, reply, "I cannot do this great wickedness, for I am Christ's." Immortal principles forbid the friend of Christ to sin. When wealth is before you to be won by sin, say that you are Christ's, and touch it not. Are you exposed to difficulties and dangers? Stand fast in the evil day, remembering that you are Christ's. Are you placed where others are sitting down idly, doing nothing? Rise to the work with all your powers; and when the sweat stands upon your brow, and you are tempted to loiter, cry, "No, I cannot stop, for I am Christ's. If I were not purchased by blood, I might be like Issachar, crouching between two burdens; but I am Christ's, and cannot loiter." When the siren song of pleasure would tempt you from the path of right, reply, "Thy music cannot charm me; I am Christ's." When the cause of God invites thee, give thy goods and thyself away, for thou art Christ's. Never belie thy profession. Be thou ever one of those whose manners are Christian, whose speech is like the Nazarene, whose conduct and conversation are so redolent of heaven, that all who see you may know that you are the Saviour's, recognizing in you his features of love and his countenance of holiness. "I am a Roman!" was of old a reason for integrity; far more, then, let it be your argument for holiness, "I am Christ's!"

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Something Worth Doing...

Up and be doing," is the word that comes from God for each of us. Leave some "good work" behind you that shall not be wholly lost when you have passed away. Do something worth living for, worth dying for. Is there no want, no suffering, no sorrow that you can relieve? Is there no act of tardy justice, no deed of cheerful kindness, no long-forgotten duty that you can perform? Is there no reconciliation of some ancient quarrel, no payment of some long-outstanding debt, no courtesy, or love, or honor to be rendered to those to whom it has long been due; no charitable, humble, kind, useful deed by which you can promote the glory of God, or good will among men, or peace upon earth? If there be any such deed, in God's name, in Christ's name, go and do it.

~ Arthur P. Stanley

Thursday, December 15, 2011

On Folks We Can't Stand...

IF thy disturbance of mind proceeds from a person who is so disagreeable to thee, that every little action of his annoys or irritates thee, the remedy is to force thyself to love him, and to hold him dear; not only because he is a creature formed by the same sovereign hand as thou art, but also because he offers thee an opportunity (if thou wilt accept it) of becoming like unto thy Lord, who is kind and loving unto all men.
~ Lorenzo Scupoli

The habit of letting every foolish or uncharitable thought, as it arises, find words, has a great deal to do with much evil in the world. Check the habit of uttering the words, and gradually you will find that you check the habit of thought too. A resolution always to turn to some distinctly good thought when a complaining or unkind one arises in the mind, is a great help--as it is to turn every thought condemnatory of our neighbor into a prayer for him. We never can long continue to dislike people for whom we pray.
~ H. L. Sidney Lear

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Love in Our Deeds

Your life is hid with Christ in God.
--COLOSSIANS 3:3

Put on therefore a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving each other; even as the Lord forgave you so also do ye.
--COLOSSIANS 3:12-13 (R. V.)

IT is not the deed we do,
Though the deed be never so fair,
But the love that the dear Lord looketh for,
Hidden with holy care
In the heart of the deed so fair.
--HARRIET MCEWEN KIMBALL

THESE are duties which belong to us alike, whatever our outward lot be, whether rich or poor, honored or despised, amid outward joys or sorrows. For as our life is hidden in Christ, so have we all an outward and an inward, a hidden life. Outwardly, we seem busied for the most part about common things, with trivial duties, worthless tasks. Inwardly we are, or ought to be, studying how, in all, to please God, walking in His sight, doing them in His Presence, seeking to know how He would have them done. So amid trivial things we may be, nay men are, in every station of life, pleasing God, that is, leading angels' lives, in that they are doing His will on earth, as the angels in heaven. They are "servants of His, doing His pleasure."
--EDWARD B. PUSEY

Friday, June 24, 2011

Face it!

When you meet your antagonist, do everything in a mild and agreeable manner. Let your courage be as keen, but at the same time as polished, as your sword.

~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears.

~Arthur Koestler

He shall fare well who confronts circumstances aright.

~ Plutarch

Facing it-always facing it-that's the way to get through. Face it!

~ Joseph Conrad

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Front Its Blows With Brave Hearts

Cowardice, as distinguished from panic, is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.

~Ernest Hemingway

A brave arm makes a short sword long.

~Author Unknown

There is no such thing as bravery; only degrees of fear.

~John Wainwright

Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.

~ Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

~ Sir Winston Churchill

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Daring to Fall

“Come to the edge.”

“We can't. We're afraid.”
“Come to the edge.”
“We can't. We will fall!”
“Come to the edge.”
And they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.

~ Guillaume Apollinaire, 1880-1918

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.

~Ambrose Redmoon

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

~ T. S. Eliot

Thursday, May 26, 2011

True Happiness

WE think it a gallant thing, to be fluttering up to heaven with our wings of knowledge and speculation; whereas the highest mystery of a divine life here, and of perfect happiness hereafter, consists in nothing but mere obedience to the Divine will. Happiness is nothing but that inward sweet delight, which will arise from the harmonious agreement between our wills and the will of God. There is nothing in the whole world able to do us good or hurt, but God, and our own will: neither riches nor poverty, nor disgrace nor honor, nor life nor death, nor angels nor devils; but willing, or not willing, as we ought.

~ Ralph Cudworth

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Middle of the Week Encouragement

Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Just think of Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself [reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds.

~ Hebrews 12:1-3 (Amplified Version)

Saturday, April 9, 2011

This Day...

Father, this day may I do nothing to tarnish your name... may the teaching of kindness be on my tongue... may the sweet peace that passes understanding keep my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.... may I be both thankful and humble... both undisturbed and undisturbing... I humbly ask this in Jesus Name... may the glory of the Lord be seen in me... Amen...

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Do the Next Thing

One week of homekeeping laid out.

DO not yield to the temptation of looking at everything at once, as if everything would happen at once, and all the events of the day be crowded into an hour. Do not thus forecast, but take each thing as it comes to you, and look upon it as the present expression of the will of God concerning you; then regard the next in the same way, and thus receive your day piece by piece from Him who will remember always when He gives you work to do, that you need strength to do it.
Often, when you have almost fainted in spirit, the thought comes, "If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, what shalt thou do with the horsemen?" Put it from you, it is a faithless thought; if you need more strength, you will have it, be sure of that; or the call to greater exertion may never come to you. Your business is with the present; leave the future in His hands who will be sure to do the best, the very best for you.

~ Priscilla Maurice

Do the next thing.

~ Elisabeth Eliot

Sunday, March 20, 2011

A Key to Contentment ...

Be content to go on quietly. When you discover somewhat in yourself which is earthly and imperfect, be patient while you strive to cast it out. Your perceptions will grow,--at first God will show you very obvious stumbling-blocks;--be diligent in clearing these away, and do not aim at heights to which you are not yet equal. Leave all to God, and while you earnestly desire that He would purify your intention, and seek to work with Him to that end, be satisfied with the gradual progress He sets before you; and remember that He often works in ways unseen by us.

~ Jean Nicolas Grou

Monday, March 14, 2011

Something to Rejoice About

For in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form [giving complete expression of the divine nature]. And you [a]are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life [in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead--Father, Son and Holy Spirit--and reach full spiritual stature]. And He is the Head of all rule and authority [of every angelic principality and power].

~ Colossians 2:9-10 (Amplified Version)

For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [[d]full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue). By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.

2 Peter 1: 3-4

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

DO not try only to abstain from sin, but strive, by God's grace, to gain the opposite grace. If thou wouldest not slip back into sin, thou must stretch forward to Christ and His holiness. It is a dull, heavy, dreary, toilsome way, just to avoid sin. Thou wouldest not simply not be impatient; thou wouldest long to be like thy Lord, who was meek and lowly of heart. Thou wouldest not only not openly murmur; thou wouldest surely long, like the beloved Apostle, to rest on Jesus' breast, and will what He wills.

~Edward B Pusey

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Psalm 77

Comfort in Trouble from Recalling God's Mighty Deeds.

For the choir director; according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

    ¹My voice rises to God, and I will ^(A)cry aloud;
         My voice rises to God, and He will hear me.
    ²In the ^(B)day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
         ^(C)In the night my ^(D)hand was stretched out ^[a]without weariness;
         My soul ^(E)refused to be comforted.
    ³When I remember God, then I am ^(F)disturbed;
         When I ^(G)sigh, then ^(H)my spirit grows faint. Selah.
    ⁴You have held my eyelids open;
         I am so troubled that I ^(I)cannot speak.
    ⁵I have considered the ^(J)days of old,
         The years of long ago.
    ⁶I will remember my ^(K)song in the night;
         I ^(L)will meditate with my heart,
         And my spirit ponders:
    ⁷Will the Lord ^(M)reject forever?
         And will He ^(N)never be favorable again?
    ⁸Has His ^(O)lovingkindness ceased forever?
         Has His ^(P)promise come to an end forever?
    ⁹Has God ^(Q)forgotten to be gracious,
         Or has He in anger withdrawn His ^(R)compassion? Selah.
    ¹⁰Then I said, "^(S)It is my grief,
         That the ^(T)right hand of the Most High has changed."
    ¹¹I shall remember the ^(U)deeds of the LORD;
         Surely I will ^(V)remember Your wonders of old.
    ¹²I will ^(W)meditate on all Your work
         And muse on Your deeds.
    ¹³Your way, O God, is ^(X)holy;
         ^(Y)What god is great like our God?
    ¹⁴You are the ^(Z)God who works wonders;
         You have ^(AA)made known Your strength among the peoples.
    ¹⁵You have by Your power ^(AB)redeemed Your people,
         The sons of Jacob and ^(AC)Joseph. Selah.
    ¹⁶The ^(AD)waters saw You, O God;
         The waters saw You, they were in anguish;
         The deeps also trembled.
    ¹⁷The ^(AE)clouds poured out water;
         The skies ^(AF)gave forth a sound;
         Your ^(AG)arrows flashed here and there.
    ¹⁸The ^(AH)sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
         The ^(AI)lightnings lit up the world;
         The ^(AJ)earth trembled and shook.
    ¹⁹Your ^(AK)way was in the sea
         And Your paths in the mighty waters,
         And Your footprints may not be known.
    ²⁰You ^(AL)led Your people like a flock
         By the hand of ^(AM)Moses and Aaron.

Footnotes:

Psalm 77:2 Lit and did not grow numb

Cross references:

Psalm 77:1 : Ps 3:4; 142:1
Psalm 77:2 : Ps 50:15; 86:7
Psalm 77:2 : Ps 63:6; Is 26:9
Psalm 77:2 : Job 11:13; Ps 88:9
Psalm 77:2 : Gen 37:35
Psalm 77:3 : Ps 42:5, 11; 43:5
Psalm 77:3 : Ps 55:2; 142:2
Psalm 77:3 : Ps 61:2; 143:4
Psalm 77:4 : Ps 39:9
Psalm 77:5 : Deut 32:7; Ps 44:1; 143:5; Is 51:9
Psalm 77:6 : Ps 42:8
Psalm 77:6 : Ps 4:4
Psalm 77:7 : Ps 44:9
Psalm 77:7 : Ps 85:1, 5
Psalm 77:8 : Ps 89:49
Psalm 77:8 : 2 Pet 3:9
Psalm 77:9 : Is 49:15
Psalm 77:9 : Ps 25:6; 40:11; 51:1
Psalm 77:10 : Ps 31:22; 73:14
Psalm 77:10 : Ps 44:2, 3
Psalm 77:11 : Ps 105:5; 143:5
Psalm 77:11 : Ps 105:5; 143:5
Psalm 77:12 : Ps 145:5
Psalm 77:13 : Ps 63:2; 73:17
Psalm 77:13 : Ex 15:11; Ps 71:19; 86:8
Psalm 77:14 : Ps 72:18
Psalm 77:14 : Ps 106:8
Psalm 77:15 : Ex 6:6; Deut 9:29; Ps 74:2; 78:42
Psalm 77:15 : Ps 80:1
Psalm 77:16 : Ex 14:21; Ps 114:3; Hab 3:8, 10
Psalm 77:17 : Judg 5:4
Psalm 77:17 : Ps 68:33
Psalm 77:17 : Ps 18:14
Psalm 77:18 : Ps 18:13; 104:7
Psalm 77:18 : Ps 97:4
Psalm 77:18 : Judg 5:4; Ps 18:7
Psalm 77:19 : Is 51:10; Hab 3:15
Psalm 77:20 : Ex 13:21; 14:19; Ps 78:52; 80:1; Is 63:11-13
Psalm 77:20 : Ex 6:26; Ps 105:26

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Psalm 73

¹TRULY GOD is [only] good to Israel, even to those who are upright and pure in heart.

²But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well-nigh slipped.

³For I was envious of the foolish and arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they suffer no violent pangs in their death, but their strength is firm.

⁵They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they smitten and plagued like other men.

⁶Therefore pride is about their necks like a chain; violence covers them like a garment [like a long, luxurious robe].

⁷Their eyes stand out with fatness, they have more than heart could wish; and the imaginations of their minds overflow [with follies].

⁸They scoff, and wickedly utter oppression; they speak loftily [from on high, maliciously and blasphemously].

⁹They set their mouths against and speak down from heaven, and their tongues swagger through the earth [invading even heaven with blasphemy and smearing earth with slanders].

¹⁰Therefore His people return here, and waters of a full cup [offered by the wicked] are [blindly] drained by them.

¹¹And they say, How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?

¹²Behold, these are the ungodly, who always prosper and are at ease in the world; they increase in riches.

¹³Surely then in vain have I cleansed my heart and washed my hands in innocency.

¹⁴For all the day long have I been smitten and plagued, and chastened every morning.

¹⁵Had I spoken thus [and given expression to my feelings], I would have been untrue and have dealt treacherously against the generation of Your children.

¹⁶But when I considered how to understand this, it was too great an effort for me and too painful

¹⁷Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood [for I considered] their end.

¹⁸[After all] You do set the [wicked] in slippery places; You cast them down to ruin and destruction.

¹⁹How they become a desolation in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors!

²⁰As a dream [which seems real] until one awakens, so, O Lord, when You arouse Yourself [to take note of the wicked], You will despise their outward show.

²¹For my heart was grieved, embittered, and in a state of ferment, and I was pricked in my heart [as with the sharp fang of an adder].

²²So foolish, stupid, and brutish was I, and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.

²³Nevertheless I am continually with You; You do hold my right hand.

²⁴You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to honor and glory.

²⁵Whom have I in heaven but You? And I have no delight or desire on earth besides You.

²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the Rock and firm Strength of my heart and my Portion forever.

²⁷For behold, those who are far from You shall perish; You will destroy all who are false to You and like [spiritual] harlots depart from You.

²⁸But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God and made Him my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Tuesday, September 29, 2015