Thanks-Living 11.28.14

THANKS-LIVING

BREAD

16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

15 Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:15-20 (NIV)

1 I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.

Psalms 34:1 (NIV)

1 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. 2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. 4 One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. 5 They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. 6 They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. 7 They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. 8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. 9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. 10 All you have made will praise you, O LORD; your saints will extol you. 11 They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, 12 so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Psalms 145:1-12 (NIV)

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Hebrews 13:15 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Thanksgiving is good, but thanks-living is better.” Matthew Henry

“(Why does God) bother to speak to us? The truly staggering answer that the Bible gives to this question is that God’s purpose in revelation is to make friends with us. It was to this end that he created us rational beings, bearing his image, able to think and hear and speak and love; he wanted there to be genuine personal affection and friendship, two-sided, between himself and us—a relation, not like that between a man and his dog, but like that of a father to his child, or a husband to his wife. Loving friendship between two persons has no ulterior motive; it is an end in itself. And this is God’s end in revelation. He speaks to us simply to fulfill the purpose for which we were made; that is, to bring into being a relationship in which he is a friend to us, and we to him, he finding his joy in giving us gifts and we finding ours in giving him thanks”. J I Packer

“Gratitude is not an option for believers who want to splash in waves of grace…God commands His followers to be thankful. Some spend a lot of time wondering about God’s will for their lives. We can be absolutely certain of at least one aspect of His divine will: we are to be thankful! We are to give thanks! In all things!” Ellen Vaughn

“Christian thanksgiving is the life of Christ in the heart — transforming the disposition and the whole character. Thanksgiving must be wrought into the life as a habit—before it can become a fixed and permanent quality. An occasional burst of praise, in the midst of years of complaining, is not what is required. Songs on rare, sunshiny days; and no songs when skies are cloudy—will not make a life of gratitude. The heart must learn to sing always. This lesson is learned only when it becomes a habit which nothing can weaken. We must persist in being thankful. When we can see no reason for praise—we must believe in the divine love and goodness, and sing in the darkness. Thanksgiving has attained its rightful place in us, only when it is part of all our days and dominates all our experiences.” J. R. Miller

“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement, vowed to Awe Himself, covenanted to Christ –and I took the whole of everything He gave in this gloried world into my open arms with thanks. Because really? Yeah, I guess so — Anybody can be a cynic. Cynicism is laziness in every way. The real heroes are the ones who never stop looking for the possibility of joy.” Ann Voskamp

HEART SAVOR

• I am to be joyful always.
• The Lord is good to all. He shows compassion to all He has made.
• Anyone can be a whiney complainer we must choose to be joyfully thankful. I am not to kick against God’s best! My heart must learn to sing always!

Read Full Post »

Where Are You? 11.26.14

WHERE ARE YOU?

BREAD

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

Genesis 3:8-9 (NIV)

35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other. 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. 37 Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, 38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today. 39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.

Deuteronomy 4:35-40 (NIV)

18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

Isaiah 30:18 (NIV)

3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”

Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)

1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2 But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. 3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. 4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.”

Hosea 11:1-4 (NIV)

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Your God refuses to give up on you. Your God looks for you when you’re feeling lost, and your God seeks you out when you’re down, and your God calls for you when you feel cast aside. He doesn’t run down the rebel. He doesn’t strike down the sinner. He doesn’t flog the failure.” Ann Voskamp

“I am come to find you wherever you may be. I will look for you till the eyes of My pity see you. I will follow you till the hands of My mercy reach you, and I will still hold you…to My heart.” Charles H. Spurgeon

“The thunders of the law and the terrors of judgment are all used to bring us to Christ; but the final victory is effected by loving-kindness. The prodigal set out to his father’s house from a sense of need. However, his father saw him a great way off and ran to meet him, so that the last steps he took towards his father’s house were with the kiss still warm upon his cheek and the welcome still musical in his ears…What Moses with the tablets of stone could never do, Christ does with His pierced hand. Such is the doctrine of effectual calling. Do I understand it experimentally? Can I say, ‘He drew me, and I followed on, glad to confess the voice divine?’ If so, may He continue to draw me, until at last I shall sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Charles H. Spurgeon

“The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows, but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean.” Jonathan Edwards

“He loved us not because we were lovable, but because He is love.” C. S. Lewis

“How did we ever find ourselves with the gift of finding favor with God?” Ann Voskamp

HEART SAVOR

• God woos us with His love.
• He draws us with cords of loving-kindness.
• God’s mercy reaches down to me – even me.

Read Full Post »

True Wealth Comes Not From The World But The Word 11.24.14

TRUE WEALTH COMES NOT FROM THE WORLD BUT THE WORD

BREAD

127 Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold, 128 and because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.

Psalms 119:127-128 (NIV)

7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. 11 By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Psalms 19:7-11 (NIV)

72 The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

Psalms 119:72 (NIV)

10 Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, 11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Proverbs 8:10-11 (NIV)

12 “But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell? 13 Man does not comprehend its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living. 14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me’; the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ 15 It cannot be bought with the finest gold, nor can its price be weighed in silver. 16 It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir, with precious onyx or sapphires. 17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it, nor can it be had for jewels of gold. 18 Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies. 19 The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it; it cannot be bought with pure gold. 20 Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell?……. 23 God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells, 24 for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.”

Job 28:12-20, 23-24 (NIV)

BUTTER

“The rabbis spoke of the text being like a gem with seventy faces, and each time you turn the gem, the light refracts differently, giving you a reflection you haven’t seen before. And so we turn the text again and again because we keep seeing things we missed before. When you embrace the text as living and active, when you enter its story, when you keep turning the gem, you never come to the end. Inspired words have a way of getting under our skin and taking on a life of their own. They work on us. We started out reading them, but they end up reading us.” Rob Bell

The richness of God’s Word ought to determine our prayer, not the poverty of our heart.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Our claim is that God has revealed Himself by speaking; that this divine (or God-breathed) speech has been written down and preserved in Scripture; and that Scripture is, in fact, God’s Word written, which therefore is true and reliable and has divine authority over men.” John Stott

“When you read God’s Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, ‘It is talking to me, and about me.’” Soren Kierkegaard

“God alone knows the depth and riches of His Godhead, and divine wisdom alone can declare His secrets.” Thomas Aquinas

“What is more elevating and transporting than the generosity of heart which risks everything on God’s word?” John Henry Newman

“Now when a man has learned through the commandments to recognize his helplessness and is distressed about how he might satisfy the law…and then being truly humbled and reduced to nothing in his own eyes, he finds in himself nothing whereby he may be justified and saved. Here the second part of Scripture comes to our aid, namely, the promises of God which declare the glory of God, saying, ‘If you wish to fulfill the law….come, believe in Christ in whom grace, righteousness, peace, liberty, and all things are promised to you. If you believe you shall have all things; if you do not believe, you shall lack all things’.” Martin Luther, On Christian Liberty

“Scripture is like a lion. Who ever heard of defending a lion? Just turn it loose; it will defend itself.” Charles H. Spurgeon

“If the Word does not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us.” John Owen

“His wisdom’s vast, and knows no bounds, a deep where all our thoughts are drowned.” Isaac Watts

HEART SAVOR

• God’s Word is more precious than gold – than much pure gold.
• There is great reward in following God’s ways.
• God’s Word is perfect reviving my soul.

Read Full Post »

Will.Work.For.God. 11.21.14

WILL.WORK.FOR.GOD

BREAD

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

John 15:16 (NIV)

10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

Colossians 3:23-25 (NIV)

12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence–continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)

9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Galatians 6:9-10 (NIV)

BUTTER

“If I could I would thrust a thorn into the seat where you are now sitting, and make you spring up for a moment to the dignity of a thought of your responsibilities. Why, sirs, what has God made you for? What has he sent you here for? Did he make stars that should not shine, and suns that should give no light, and moons that should not cheer the darkness? Has he made rivers that shall not be filled with water, and mountains that shall not stay the clouds? Has he made even the forests which shall not give a habitation to the birds; or has he made the prairie which shall not feed the wild flocks? And has he made thee for nothing? Why, man, the nettle in the corner of the churchyard has its uses, and the spider on the wall serves her Maker; and you, a man in the image of God, a blood-bought man, a man who is in the path and track to heaven, a man regenerated, twice created, are you made for nothing at all but to buy and to sell, to eat and to drink, to wake and to sleep, to laugh and to weep, to live to yourself?” Charles H. Spurgeon

Our motivation behind our works is to please the Lord – to do His will from our hearts –“doing the will of God from your heart.” Ephesians 6:6 (NIV) as one expositor states: “Mark how this motive sweetens, sanctifies, ennobles our earthly work. It then becomes a part of our worship. Animated by such a thought, the school boy diligently, joyfully applies himself to his task. The clerk needs no other master’s eye over him to keep him to his work. The tradesman carefully executes his orders to the last stitch, when he feels that he works not merely for men, but for Christ. The merchant no longer sells spurious or adulterated goods, when he feels that he sells, not to men, but to the Lord Himself. The minister, the physician, the lawyer, are no longer content with a formal or perfunctory discharge of duty. The creditor, presenting his account, asks no more than is really due, and the debtor faithfully pays it.” W. Grant

“The same thought appears again in Philippians 2:12, where Paul writes, ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.’ Notice that the verse does not say to work for salvation, but to work out salvation. As believers we work out the salvation we possess; that is, we manifest it, we prove it to others. We do all that with the attitude that we do not want to fail our Lord.” J. D. Watson

“Let us work as if success depended upon ourselves alone, but with heartfelt conviction that we are doing nothing, and God everything.”
St. Ignatius Loyola

“There must be a practical outworking of our faith here in this present world, or it will never endure in the world to come. We need fewer words and more charitable works; less palaver and more pity; less repetition of creed and more compassion.” Billy Graham

“The work of a true convert is not done. He (and she) finds a great work to do and great wants to be supplied. He (and she) still sees himself/herself to be a poor, empty, helpless creature who still stands in great and continual need of God’s help. He/she well knows that without God he/she can do nothing. After a true conversion, the soul is increasingly aware of its own impotence and emptiness. It is still aware of its universal dependence on God for everything. A true convert is aware that his grace is very imperfect and that he/she is very far from having all that he/she desires. Through conversion, new desires are produced in him/her that he/she never had before…So he/she still has plenty of business at the throne of grace: if fact, his/her business there increases rather than diminishes.” Jonathan Edwards

“The Christian life is not about being a ‘good committed Christian’ for God, but allowing the life of Christ to be supernaturally lived through us as we’re dependent upon Him.” Chip Ingram

HEART SAVOR

• I am appointed to bear fruit – fruit that will last.
• I am created to do good works which God has prepared for me to do.
• I am to work for the Lord not man.

Read Full Post »

Follow Me 11.19.14

FOLLOW ME

BREAD

21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

Exodus 13:21-22 (NIV)

22 “Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. 23 You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. 24 But I said to you, ‘You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations.”

Leviticus 20:22-24 (NIV)

16 This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”

Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

John 14:5-7 (NIV)

19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew 4:19-20 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Would you follow Christ? Then follow Him in self-denial, in humility, in patience, and in readiness for every good work. Follow Him with a daily cross upon your back, and look to His cross to make your burden light. Follow Him as your Guide and Guard, and learn to see with His eyes, and to trust in His arm for defense. Follow Him as the Friend of sinners, who healeth the broken in heart, and giveth rest to the weary souls, and casteth out none that come unto Him. Follow Him with faith, resting your whole acceptance with God, and your title to heaven, on His meritorious blood and righteousness. Lastly, follow Him with much prayer. For, though He is full of compassion, He loves to be much entreated; and when He is determined to give a blessing, you must yet wrestle with Him for it. Thus follow Jesus, and He will lead you to glory.” K. H. Von Bogatzky

“Discipleship is much more than simply strolling with the Savior.” Detzler

“Our identity as Jesus’ followers should define and dictate our lives.” Joseph Stowell, III

“Most of us get up in the morning saying, ‘I am going to make something of my life, and I’ll follow Jesus too.’ But I just want you to know that we can’t have it both ways. We have to have the formula right. ‘Follow Me,’ Jesus said, ‘and as you follow Me, I will make something of your life.’” Joseph Stowell, III

“O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee. I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow, may richer fuller be. O light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee. My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day, may brighter fairer be. O joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee. I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be. O cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee. I lay in dust life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red, life that shall endless be.” George Matheson

“To be rebuffed by a loved one causes pain not to be compared with the cruelties inflicted by an enemy. So your indifference and unresponsiveness to My call brings anguish to My soul, indeed, deeper grief than the crimes of the reprobate sinner. I have laid My rod upon the sinner, but I have laid My hand upon you. And I have put My arm around you to draw you closer, but you have been impatient and irritable as though I sought to interfere with your liberty. I am able to give you greater liberty than you will ever find by seeking to be independent of Me. I seek not to interfere with your happiness, but I do require that you relinquish your will; for I cannot bless you as I desire until your will is yielded up and you accept Mine in exchange. As you love Me, you accept My will as your own, and the caliber and extent of your love for Me may be accurately measured to the degree that you accept My will with a peaceful heart. You can best sing ‘My Jesus, I Love You’ when you can truly sing ‘Where He Leads Me, I Will Follow.’ For whoever does not take up his cross daily to follow Me cannot be My disciple.” Frances J. Roberts

HEART SAVOR

• Jesus desires for me to follow Him and in doing so I experience all that life has to offer for me this side of heaven. I am the ultimate loser if I do not follow Him.
• God’s way is the good way.
• I bring harm to myself when I do not follow the One Who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Read Full Post »

Precious Peace 11.17.14

PRECIOUS PEACE

BREAD

13 “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. 14 They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.”

Jeremiah 6:13-14 (NIV)

17 This is what the LORD says– your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. 18 If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.”

Isaiah 48:17-18 (NIV)

26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Ezekiel 37:26-27 (NIV)

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)

3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

Isaiah 26:3 (NIV)

17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.

Isaiah 32:17 (NIV)

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 14:27 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Peace comes not from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of God.” Alexander Maclaren

“Blessed are the single-hearted; for they shall enjoy much peace.” Thomas a Kempis

“God, and not the world, can give peace.” Billy Graham

“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset. Commend all to God, and then lie still and be at rest in His bosom. Whatever happens, abide steadfast in a determination to cling simply to God……Maintain a holy simplicity of mind, and do not smother yourself with a host of cares, wishes, or longings, under any pretext.” St. Francis de Sales

“Peace reigns where our Lord reigns.” Julian of Norwich

“If the basis of peace is God, the secret of peace is trust.” J. N. Figgis

“His love is unfailing, His Word unchangeable, His power ever the same; therefore the heart that trusts Him is kept in ‘perfect peace’…I know He tries me only to increase my faith, and that it is all in love. Well, if He is glorified, I am content.” Hudson Taylor

“Hudson Taylor was an object lesson in quietness. He drew from the bank of heaven every farthing of his daily income – ‘My peace I give unto you.’ Whatever did not agitate the Saviour or ruffle His spirit, was not to agitate him. The serenity of the Lord Jesus concerning any matter, and at its most critical moment, was his ideal and practical possession. He knew nothing of rush or hurry, or quivering nerves or vexation of spirit. He knew that there is a peace passing all understanding and that he could not do without it…Christ his reason for peace, his power for calm. Dwelling in Christ, he drew upon His very being and resources, in the midst of and concerning the matters in question. And this he did by an attitude of faith as simple as it was continuous.” Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor

“All the commandments of God are commandments of love tending to our real good and great happiness; far from being grievous to those who have faith and love, the practice thereof is life and peace. The world may think it a grievous burden; but this is a great mistake indeed. Sin is grievous. In hatred, envy, anger, revenge, pride, there is nothing but torment and slavery; but in love there is a sweet rest and pleasure. Thus a sinner always punishes himself, and is robbed of great peace and blessing, by transgressing the commandments of God.” K. H. Von Bogatzky

HEART SAVOR

• It is Christ Who gives me peace – peace with God and the peace of God.
• The world cannot give me peace.
• Following God’s commands through the power of the Holy Spirit brings peace like a river.

Read Full Post »

Life Giving Word 11.14.14

LIFE GIVING WORD

BREAD

45 When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. 47 They are not just idle words for you–they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Deuteronomy 32:45-47 (NIV)

1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Deuteronomy 8:1-3 (NIV)

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)

29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 29:29 (NIV)

165 Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.

Psalms 119:165 (NIV)

BUTTER

“The rabbis spoke of the text being like a gem with seventy faces, and each time you turn the gem, the light refracts differently, giving you a reflection you haven’t seen before. And so we turn the text again and again because we keep seeing things we missed before. When you embrace the text as living and active, when you enter its story, when you keep turning the gem, you never come to the end. Inspired words have a way of getting under our skin and taking on a life of their own. They work on us. We started out reading them, but they end up reading us.” Rob Bell

“This is a world on information overload and our souls are obese with data that doesn’t matter, but who slowly savours Living Bread? This is the nation and the generation that is gluttonous for Google, starved for social streams on screens, but who is hungry for God?……Why be fat with the world and anemic for Christ who took nails so you’d have the iron to stand?” Ann Voskamp

“Scripture is like a lion. Who ever heard of defending a lion? Just turn it loose; it will defend itself.” Charles H. Spurgeon

“Now when a man has learned through the commandments to recognize his helplessness and is distressed about how he might satisfy the law…and then being truly humbled and reduced to nothing in his own eyes, he finds in himself nothing whereby he may be justified and saved. Here the second part of Scripture comes to our aid, namely, the promises of God which declare the glory of God, saying, ‘If you wish to fulfill the law….come, believe in Christ in whom grace, righteousness, peace, liberty, and all things are promised to you. If you believe you shall have all things; if you do not believe, you shall lack all things’.” Martin Luther

“God has revealed Himself by speaking; that this divine (or God-breathed) speech has been written down and preserved in Scripture; and that Scripture is, in fact, God’s Word written, which therefore is true and reliable and has divine authority over men.” John Stott

“Take heed that you do not glory in your graces, but let all your glorying and confidence be in Christ and His strength, for this is the only way you can be kept from falling. Pray more often. Spend longer periods of time in holy adoration. Read the Scriptures more earnestly and constantly. Watch your lives more carefully. Live nearer to God. Take the best examples for your pattern. Let your conversation emit the fragrance of heaven. Let your hearts be perfumed with affection for the souls of others. So live that others may recognize that you have been with Jesus, and have learned of Him…On, Christian, with care and caution! On, with holy fear and trembling! On, with faith and confidence in Jesus alone, and let your constant petition be, ‘Sustain me according to your promise.’ He, and He alone, is able ‘to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy.’” Charles H. Spurgeon

HEART SAVOR

• God’s Word is not to be merely idle to me – it is to be my life.
• All Scripture is profitable for me.
• All Scripture is God’s revealed will.

Read Full Post »

Perfecting Patience 11.12.14

PERFECTING PATIENCE

BREAD

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

Colossians 1:9-12 (NIV)

34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it. 35 I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil, 36 but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found. 37 Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.

Psalms 37:34-37 (NIV)

13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Psalms 27:13-14 (NIV)

12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:12 (NIV)

7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.

Micah 7:7 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” Augustine

“Waiting is just a gift of time in disguise — a time to pray wrapped up in a ribbon of patience — because is the Lord ever late?” Ann Voskamp

“Wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in Him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an insult to the Lord. Believe that if He keeps you tarrying even until midnight, yet He will come at the right time; the vision shall come and shall not linger.” Charles H. Spurgeon

“Christian patience is based upon the absolute, unshakeable belief that God is sovereign and that He is at work in the lives of His children. Christian patience stems from the knowledge that you will not be forgotten nor forsaken by the God to whom you have committed your soul regardless of what is happening around you.” Michael Youssef

“On every level of life…..hurry and impatience are sure marks of an amateur.” Evelyn Underhill

“I am waiting on Thee, Lord, to open the way.” J. Hudson Taylor

“Simply wait upon Him. So doing, we shall be directed, supplied, protected, corrected, and rewarded.” Vance Havner

“Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of spiritual life.” Simone Weil

“Keep bringing your prayers to God. If you think your request is legitimate, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. God wants to teach us through persistent praying to wait on Him and to watch. While we’re praying and waiting for God to answer our prayers, do you know what He’s doing? He’s working on us, conforming us more and more to the image of Christ. And when we’re ready, the answer will surely come.” David Jeremiah

“I will wait, if You keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon You alone, O God, and my spirit waits for You in the full conviction that You will yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower.” Charles H. Spurgeon

HEART SAVOR

• God desires for me to have peace in patience as I wait on Him to act on my behalf. I am not to be inactive in the waiting – patience is not paralysis – rather I am to do the next thing – constantly keeping a focus on the One Who gently and sweetly holds my life in His all-powerful, all-sufficient hands. 11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. 12 O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you. Psalms 84:11-12 (NIV)
• My patience is to be laden with hope.
• My patience is to be accompanied by persistent prayer.

Read Full Post »

Energizing Encouragement 11.10.14

ENERGIZING ENCOURAGEMENT

BREAD

28 But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.

Deuteronomy 3:28 (NIV)

17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Isaiah 1:17 (NIV)

11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)

11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 (NIV)

16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (NIV)

13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Hebrews 3:13 (NIV)

25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)

BUTTER

“More people fail for lack of encouragement than for any other reason.” Anonymous

“Encouragement is oxygen to the soul.” John Maxwell

“There are high spots in all of our lives and most of them have come about through encouragement from someone else. I don’t care how great, how famous or successful a man or woman may be, each hungers for applause.” George M. Adams

“Encouragement costs you nothing to give, but it is priceless to receive.” Anonymous

“On Him then reckon, to Him look, on Him depend: and be assured that if you walk with Him, look to Him and expect help from Him, He will never fail you. An older brother, who has known the Lord for forty-four years, who writes this, says for your encouragement that He has never failed him. In the greatest difficulties, in the heaviest trials, in the deepest poverty and necessities, He has never failed me; but because I was enabled by His grace to trust in Him, He has always appeared for my help. I delight in speaking well of His Name.” George Mueller

“Being loving and encouraging catches a person’s soul more than angrily defending ideas. Listening to people without condemning them and seeking to encourage them where they are builds bridges and creates relationships.” Tim Baker

“God employs His people to encourage one another. We should delight that God usually works for human beings with other human beings. It forms a bond of friendship, and being mutually dependent on one another, we are fused more completely into one family. Work to help others, and especially strive to encourage them. Talk cheerily to the young and anxious inquirer, lovingly try to remove obstacles out of his way. When you find a spark of grace in the heart, kneel down and blow it into a flame. Leave the young believer to discover the roughness of the road by degrees, but tell him of the strength which dwells in God, of the sureness of the promise, and of the charms of communion with Christ. Aim to comfort the sorrowful, and to animate the hopeless. Speak a word in season to him who is weary, and encourage those who are fearful to go on their way with gladness. God encourages you by His promises; Christ encourages you as He points to the heaven He has won for you, and the Spirit encourages you as He works in you to will and to do of His own will and pleasure. Imitate divine wisdom, and encourage others according to the Word.” Charles H. Spurgeon

HEART SAVOR
• Encouragement builds rather than tears down. It strengthens the soul and quickens the pace of the hearer. It breathes life into a person often enabling them to keep on keeping on. Like a breath of fresh air, it leaves the aroma of Christ.
• God encourages me to encourage.
• Human beings need human beings. We were not created to go through this life solo. We were created to need the love and encouragement of others so that by this we might be all that God created us to be – our utmost for His highest. Iron sharpens iron.

Read Full Post »

Gratitude – A Divine Mandate – A Divine Blessing 11.07.14

GRATITUDE – A DIVINE MANDATE – A DIVINE BLESSING

BREAD

20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Romans 1:20-23 (NIV)

1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalms 100:1-5 (NIV)

8 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.

1 Chronicles 16:8 (NIV)

28 You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. 29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Psalms 118:28-29 (NIV)

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)

18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” Melody Beattie

“Hot gratitude melts our hard pride. It is the means of remaining in Christ. This thanksgiving for who He is mingles with daily thanks for all good gifts, from breath in our lungs to asparagus in the springtime. Relishing who God is and all He’s given is the secret of remaining connected to Him- and also of sucking the marrow from every ordinary day… I would be remiss if I did not tell the stories I’ve been given, woven with Scripture, of how God can refresh real people through the gracious gift of radical gratitude.” Ellen Vaughn

“Gratitude is not only the memory but the homage of the heart – rendered to God for His goodness.” Nathaniel Parker Willis

“Gratitude makes even a temporal blessing a taste of heaven.” William Romaine

“Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped. God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy. Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant- a seed- this plants the giant miracle. The miracle of eucharisto. Do not disdain the small. The whole of the life – even the hard – is made up of the minute parts, and if I miss the infinitesimals, I miss the whole…There is a way to live the big of giving thanks in all things. It is this: to give thanks in this one small thing. The moments will add up.” Ann Voskamp

“Unyielding gratitude to God — is how God makes us unstoppable.” Ann Voskamp

HEART SAVOR

• God delights in a “thank you” from His children.
• I have nothing I did not receive – all is a gift. Gratitude is my heart’s only proper response. I am to give no place to whining and complaining.
• Gratitude melts pride the insidious sin which destroys.

Read Full Post »