day of mercy

"Blessed be the Lord for another day of mercy, even though I am now weary with it's toils." -Charles H. Spurgeon

"But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it." 2 Timothy 4:17

praise

"Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; You are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from You; You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give You thanks, and praise Your glorious name." 1 Chronicles 29:10-13

"Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold." 2 Corinthians 3:12

the life

"The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and regulations— it is a picture of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is having His unhindered way with us." -Chambers

"This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

understanding

A determination to know what cannot be known always works harm to the Christian heart. Ignorance in matters on our human level is never to be excused if there has been opportunity to correct it. But there are matters which are obviously "too high for us." These we should meet in trusting faith and say as Jesus said, "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." There are things that we can never understand until we have the benefit of advanced experience and the addition of a light beyond anything we possess at present. Under those circumstances it is not good to attempt to understand. Confessed ignorance becomes us better. Human curiosity and pride often combine to drive us to try to understand acts of God which are plainly outside the field of human understanding. We dislike to admit that we do not know what is going on, so we torture our minds trying to fathom the mysterious ways of the Omniscient One. It's hard to conceive of a more fruitless task. For instance, a child which had been long desired and prayed for is suddenly taken away. The parents are prostrated with grief, and to add to their suffering comes the torturing thought that they should know why it all happened, but do not. Then begins the long, painful attempt to learn the secret of life and death. Why did this happen? What does God have in mind? These poor friends bruise their minds cruelly trying to fathom the unfathomable. We may as well learn (and the earlier the better) that God has no private secretaries who are on the inside of the secrets of eternity. All God wanted to say, He has said in the Scriptures. Beyond that we show the greatest wisdom simply to remain still before Him and whisper, "Even so, Father." To the adoring heart, the best and most satisfying explanation for anything always will be, "It seemed good in thy sight."

-Tozer

My word... always produces fruit.

"'My thoughts are completely different from yours,' says the LORD. 'And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.'" Isaiah 55:8-11

two

"Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two" Matthew 5:41

"So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11

dependent

"Having the reality of God’s presence is not dependent on our being in a particular circumstance or place, but is only dependent on our determination to keep the Lord before us continually. " -Oswald Chambers

spiritual life

"I consider that the spiritual life is the life of man's real self, the life of that interior self whose flame is so often allowed to be smothered under the ashes of anxiety and futile concern." -Thomas Merton

"because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God" Ephesians 1:11

Go!

"He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.'" Mark 16:15

devotion

"Here is a door, behind which, according to some people, the secret of the universe if waiting for you. Either that’s true, or it isn’t. And if it isn’t, then what the door really conceals is simply the greatest fraud, the most colossal 'sell' on record. Isn’t it obviously the job of every man . . . to try to find out which, and then to devote his full energies either to serving this tremendous secret or to exposing and destroying this gigantic humbug?" C.S. Lewis

divine control

". . . how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" Matthew 7:11

Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct in this passage for those people who have His Spirit. He urges us to keep our minds filled with the concept of God’s control over everything, which means that a disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek. Fill your mind with the thought that God is there. And once your mind is truly filled with that thought, when you experience difficulties it will be as easy as breathing for you to remember, "My heavenly Father knows all about this!" This will be no effort at all, but will be a natural thing for you when difficulties and uncertainties arise. Before you formed this concept of divine control so powerfully in your mind, you used to go from person to person seeking help, but now you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those people who have His Spirit, and it works on the following principle: God is my Father, He loves me, and I will never think of anything that He will forget, so why should I worry? Jesus said there are times when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but you should trust Him. At times God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the thought that the mind of God is behind all things strong and growing. Not even the smallest detail of life happens unless God’s will is behind it. Therefore, you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but is an attitude of the mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. "Ask, and it will be given to you . . ." ( Matthew 7:7 ).

Oswald Chambers

"we are... perplexed, but not in despair" 2 Corinthians 4:8

"Pray also for me" Ephesians 6:19

faith

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...

"It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

plans

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is God's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

no one knew

"When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled! The sea quaked to its very depths. The clouds poured down their rain; the thunder rolled and crackled in the sky. Your arrows of lightning flashed. Your thunder roared from the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world! The earth trembled and shook. Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters- a pathway no one knew was there! You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds."

Psalm 77:16-20

let me hope and wait, and rest in Your purpose and not my plans.

Psalm 139, sorta

"O Lord, You have examined my heart and you know everything about me... You know my every thought when far away. You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am.... You both precede and follow me. You place Your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know! I can never escape from Your spirit! I can never get away from Your presence! ....I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night- but even in the darkness I cannot hide from You... You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.... You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! ....Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life."

"Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun." Ecclesiasties 9:9

love

"Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained." -Lewis

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me." John 14:1

"Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God."

Proverbs 3

6 "seek His will in all you do, and He will direct your paths."

5 "trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding."

7 "don't be impressed with your own wisdom."

as I all too often am.

"God loves us; not because we are loveable but because He is love, not because he needs to receive but because He delights to give." -Lewis

"The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" -Westminister Catechism