clothe yourself

"Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Romans 13:14

fellowship

"We were made for relationships and formed for God’s family. Being alone is not a part of God’s plan and yet we often run to the larger assembly for the safety of its anonymity. Some people (like me) go to large churches with the expressed purpose of getting lost in a crowd, and that does not bode well on our need for fellowship. Fellowship is scary. Relationships are complicated, but we don’t grow without them. We simply cannot be made whole alone.

We all need some people in our lives who will not give up on us — people who extend the grace of God to us because they have had it extended to them when they least deserved it. The Body of Christ is the most non-threatening place in the world, full of forgiveness, mercy, and trust, where, as Brennan Manning puts it, no one will “should” on you today. That’s why these small groups are doing so well. Once you’ve experienced this freedom and acceptance, it’s hard to stay away. And the added bonus of having all this happen in a common place has the benefit of an open witness to what Christ died to create." -John Fischer

thoughts

Matthew 15:27

"Great thoughts of your sin alone will drive you to despair; but great thoughts of Christ will pilot you into the haven of peace." -Spurge

two or more

"...two of Jesus' followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles out of Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about what had happened. Suddenly, Jesus Himself came along and joined them and began walking beside them. But they didn't know who He was, because God kept them from recognizing Him." Luke 24:13-16

What a beautiful picture(cliche but true) of how when two are gathered and sharing, Christ joins them "walks beside them".

"When wilt Thou come unto me, Lord? Oh come, my Lord most dear! Come near, come nearer, nearer still, I'm blest when Thou art near." -Spurg

Easter Song

Here the bells ringing,

they're singing that you can be born again

Here the bells ringing,

they're singing "Christ is risen from the dead!"

The angel upon the tombstone said "He is risen, just as He said

Quickly now,

go tell His disciples that Jesus Christ is no longer dead!"

Joy to the world!

He is risen! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

Hear the bells ringing,

they’re singing that you can be here right now

Hear the bells ringing,

they’re singing “Christ, He will reveal it now!”

The angels, they all surround us,

and they are minist’ring Jesus’ power.

Quickly now, reach out and receive it,

for this could be your glorious hour!

Joy to the world! He is risen! Hallelujah!

He’s risen! Hallelujah! He’s risen! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

music by Keith Green

trust

"It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in man" Psalm 118:8

"Doubtless the reader has been tried with the temptation to rely upon the things which are seen, instead of resting alone upon the invisible God. Christians often look to man for help and counsel, and mar the noble simplicity of their reliance upon their God. Does this evening's portion meet the eye of a child of God anxious about temporals, then would we reason with him awhile. You trust in Jesus, and only in Jesus, for your salvation, then why are you troubled?... Is it not written, 'Cast thy burden upon the Lord'? 'Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication make known your wants unto God.'.... Christian, mix not thy wine with water, do not alloy thy gold of faith with the dross of human confidence. Wait thou only upon God, and let thine expectation be from Him." -Spurge

to be content

"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." Philippians 4:11

focus 2

"He must increase, but I must decrease" John 3:30

"If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a 'friend of the bridegroom'(John 3:29). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don’t try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to be amateur providences in someone’s life. We are indeed amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God’s will and saying, 'This person should not have to experience this difficulty.' Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day that person will say to us, 'You are a thief; you stole my desire to follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him.' Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right thing. '. . . the friend of the bridegroom . . . rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease' (John 3:29,30). This was spoken with joy, not with sadness-at last they were to see the Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again. Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another person. And never give any thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring. Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34)." -Oswald Chambers

joy

"Then after Moses grew up, his faith made him refuse to be called Pharaoh's grandson. He chose to be mistreated with God's people instead of having the good time that sin could bring for a little while. Moses knew that the treasures of Egypt were not as wonderful as what he would receive from suffering for the Messiah, and he looked forward to his reward." Hebrews 11:24-26

Ok, replace "Moses" with "your name" and "Egypt" with "this world" or "Texas" or "Dallas" or whatever place you lay your head at night. Ain't nothin' like the goodness that comes from above, that's joy and this world ain't got a clue what that is.

"Nothing gives the believer so much joy as fellowship with Christ. He has enjoyment as others have in the common mercies of life.... but in all these separately, yea, and in all of them added together, he doth not find such substantial delight as in the matchless person of his Lord Jesus." -Spurge

grace

"Grace is the mother and nurse of holiness, and not the apologist of sin.(Romans 3:31)" -Spurge

help

"I will help thee, saith the Lord" Isaiah 41:14

Our Saviour defeated death and its sting, but we do not trust Him in the little things. I love this quote-

"If there were an ant at the door of thy granary asking for help, it would not ruin thee to give him a handful of thy wheat; and thou art nothing but a tiny insect at the door of My all sufficiency. 'I will help thee'." -Spurge

prayer

a different kind of prayer...

"I have prayed for thee" Luke 22:32

That's Christ saying He has prayed for us, even now He prays for us! I never imagined that the Son goes before the Father with requests of my need. What a wonderful Savior.

providence

Read 1 Kings 17:8-24

I love this passage. The story of the widow and her son, and Elijah. Elijah was a man of God, a prophet, a Jew. The widow was not. Still she had faith and a belief in God that He would take care of her and her family, as she would take care of Elijah. God provided for all of their daily necessities so that they had a constant supply. I have a lot to learn

leave me

"I will never leave you" Hebrews 13:5

Do I choose to forget and believe these lies? That He's not around or doesn't care... because He IS always here, no matter what I think, He will NEVER leave me. I know I give the Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, whatever you wanna call Him(I prefer 'Holy') the short end of the stick and I complain to the Father and Son that I'm alone and They have deserted me... but Holy was always here, is always here, sometimes He's quiet and that's all right or maybe I'm just too loud. Wouldn't surprise me. Tonight I'm thankful, that He will never leave

focus

All too often I lose focus. Whether I'm distracted or I just wander, I find myself far from where I should be. Here are a few examples of what I mean, what happens when you turn your eyes from God...

Martha grew concerned with a task and not an opportunity. (Luke 10:38-42)

David committed a grave sin with more than just his body. (2 Samuel 11)

Peter almost drowned. (Matthew 14:22-36)

With this I pray, "Blessed Lord Jesus, be with me, reveal Thyself, and abide with me all night, so that when I awake, I may be still with thee." -Spurgeon

one thing

I've been real convicted lately about the urgency and "only" of, as Rich put it, "my one thing" THE only thing:

"Save me from those things that might distract me

Please take them away and purify my heart

I don't want to lose the eternal for the things that are passing

'Cause what will I have when the world is gone

If it isn't for the love that goes on and on"

-Rich Mullins

something, anything

Now I'm taking a quote from Lewis and inserting a few changes of my own, you will recognize my work by the parenthesis:

"One of the great dangers of having a lot of (anything, fill in the blank) is that you may be quite satisfied with the kinds of happiness (anything) can give and so fail to realize your need for God. If everything seems to come simply by (just anything), you may forget that you are at every moment totally dependent on God." -Lewis

deliverance

Colossians 1:21-22

"Christ is my shield. I know the Bible says this, and I’ve always thought that was talking about my protection from harm. But I think it also means He is my shield against a holy God who must deal justly with sin. (And if you think of it, you wouldn’t want it any other way. If God isn’t just, there’s no justice anywhere.) That’s why Jesus took it so badly on the cross. That’s what all the blood was about. So God would look at us, looking for sin, and crane His neck trying to look around Jesus, and be unable to see us outside of what Christ has done for us. And Jesus is saying, 'Forget trying to find any blame with John. I’ve got him covered. Don’t worry; he’s mine. Remember I took care of all this on the cross. Your holiness and justice are in good shape—by the way—and John, and all these people here who believe in me, are safe in my arms.' Too much, huh? Now does that make you want to just go out there and see how much sin you can get away with? That’s the farthest thing from your mind. Once you get this, you know you don’t deserve it, so you want to do everything you can to live a life worthy of what Christ is doing for you right now. He’s your stand-in." -John Fischer

overture

"Could there be a sweeter word in any language than the word 'forgiveness', when it sounds in a guilty sinner's ear?" -Spurgeon

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.... In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace." Ephesians 1:3,7

"I serve henceforth all my days the incarnate God, through whom I am this night a pardoned soul." -Spurgeon

...sometimes, it's already been said.

icons

love on the internet