June Quotes

Once more, Never think that you can live to God by your own power or strength; but always look to and rely on him for assistance, yea, for all strength and grace. 

-David Brainerd

There is nothing you can do to make God love you more, and there is nothing you can do to make Him love you less.

-Unknown

I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am. 

-John Newton

Elijah was a man who walked by faith and not by sight, and walking by faith is not a mystical or nebulous thing but an intensely practical experience. Faith does more than rest upon the bare letter of Scripture: it brings the living God into a scene of death, and enables its possessor to endure by ‘seeing His who is invisible.’ Where faith is really in exercise, it looks beyond distressing and distracting circumstances and is occupied with Him who regulates all circumstances. …Faith looks beyond the promise to the Promiser, and God never fails those who trust alone in Him and rely fully upon Him.

-A.W. Pink

A servant of God has but one Master. 

-George Mueller

It is not powerful men, strong men, valiant men who make headway in the kingdom. It is desperate men who have nothing and only hope is in Christ.

-Paul Washer

The human heart doesn’t like taking orders from the mind. The time will come for all of us when we won’t feel like doing the godly, responsible thing we’ve resolved to do. The question is, how will we respond when our hearts lead a full-scale rebellion? If we don’t prepare ourselves for an uprising, we’ll feel tempted to abandon our principles and standards.

-Joshua Harris

A faithful friend is a strong defense; And he that hath found him hath found a treasure. 

 -Louisa May Alcott

As I went down from the present peak into the valley between the mountains, I was often shadowed by the very peak I had been enjoying. This I interpreted in a sense of failure and this often led to despair. I felt I was going down into the ‘slough of despond’. I see now that I was wrong in this ‘feeling’. The going down was merely an initial moving forward towards the next higher ground, never a going back to base level. The shadow was only relative after the brightness of the sun; the valley could provide rest for working out the experiences previously learnt, a time for refreshment before the next hard climb. Had I understood this meaning of the sunshine and shadow in my life rather than interpreting my experiences along life’s ways as ‘up’ and ‘down’, I might have saved myself many deep heartaches. 

-Helen Roseveare

I shall rise from the dead...I shall see the Son of God, the Sun of Glory, and shine myself as that sun shines. I shall be united to the Ancient of Days, to God Himself, who had no morning, never began...No man ever saw God and lived. And yet, I shall not live till I see God; and when I have seen Him, I shall never die. 

-John Donne

There are four things that we ought to do with the Word of God - admit it as the Word of God, commit it to our hearts and minds, submit to it, and transmit it to the world.

-William Wilberforce

I will charge my soul to believe and wait for Him, and will follow His providence, and not go before it, nor stay behind it.

-Samuel Rutherford

The Promise of Salvation and Resurrection

This week I read from Mark 10 to Acts 16. Acts is a book that recounts much of Jesus' ministry as the disciples proclaim the gospel to the Jews and Gentiles. And many times in their preaching, Paul, Peter, Philip, and many others, take their listeners back to the Old Testament Scriptures, pointing out that Jesus was the New Testament fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.

In Acts 2, Peter is preaching to the people Jerusalm and Judea on the Day of Pentacost. Standing with the eleven other disciples, Peter defends the inerrancy of Scripture and the deity of Christ using the words and life of Jesus, as well as the words from OT believers such as Joel and David.


One of the passages Peter quotes comes from Psalm 16:

For David says concerning him [Christ], I saw the Lord always before me, or he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence. (Acts 2:25-28, ESV)

 Going back to Psalm 16:8-11, we read:

I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

David, in this psalm describes his confidence in the Lord in the past, present, and future. Past, because he has consciously placed the Lord at the forefront of his mind, knowing that this will cause him to be steadfast regardless of people and circumstances around him. Present, because the core of his being ("heart" and "whole being") rejoices in God and is secure in the love of God. And future, because David knew that God removed the immediate threat of death, and would keep him safe in His will until the day he was resurrected into complete joy and pleasure.

Peter then takes these words of David's and brings them into his sermon defending the Lordship of Christ, especially that of the resurrection. For the resurrection was the event that proclaimed that Christ was who He said He was. David words--For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption--while speaking of his own physical death and resurrection, also spoke prophetically about Christ. And indeed, Peter uses these words to describe Christ's resurrection. David's body had never been raised, as of yet, but Peter goes on to say that Jesus was the fulfillment of these verses, in that He was raised from the dead and exalted at the Father's right hand. God kept His promise in preserving His Son's soul from corruption, and the disciples were witnesses of that fulfilled prophecy. Peter pointed to the crucified Christ and proved that He was exactly who He claimed to be--the Savior of the world and the long-awaited Messsiah of the Jews.

Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. (Acts 2:29-33)

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:36)

And so, this same promise was given to us, also: that the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead and exalted by the Father, and through Him we have the forgiveness of sins, the promise of a resurrected body, and the expectation of "fullness of joy" and "pleasures forevermore" when we enter Christ's presence.

For this promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. (Acts 2:39)

That promise should give us hope.

Rest in Jesus

Mark 6:30-32

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

Matthew 14:22-23

Immediately he [Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.

Mark 1:35

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he [Jesus] departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Luke 5:15-16

But now even more the report about him [Jesus] went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Matthew 11:28-30

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Psalm 62:5-7

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

Isaiah 65:17-19a

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people.