August Quotes

If God is all you have...you have it all.

-Unknown

Sometimes a majority only means that all the fools are on the same side.

-General Douglas MacArthur

What God calls us to do He gives us the strength to accomplish, the grace to live or die for His glory....God does not just have a purpose for your days, but a purpose for your life.

-Pendragon (movie)

When you feel like you’re drowning in life, don’t worry. Your Lifeguard walks on water.

-Unknown

God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him. 

-John Piper

Just keep being sensitive to God's nudging, attentive to His call, obedient to His commands, and pursue Him with reckless abandonment, and He will definitely reward and bless you above all you could ever ask or think.

-E. Mielke

Hell has many gates, though heaven has but one. 

-C.H. Spurgeon

…the strongest characters are as weak as water the moment He withdraws His upholding hand.

-A.W. Pink

He who thinks of his Savior as far away can have made little progress in the need of him; and he who does not need much cannot know much, any more than he who is not forgiven much can love much.

-George McDonald

My mother spoke of Christ to my father, by her feminine and childlike virtues, and, after having borne his violence without a murmur or complaint, gained him at the close of his life to Christ. 

-Augustine of Hippo

I preached as never sure to preach again, And as a dying man to dying men. 

-Richard Baxter

The Christian life is very much like climbing a hill of ice. You cannot slide up; you have to cut every step with an ice axe; only with incessant labor in cutting and chipping can you make any progress; you need a guide to help you, and you are not safe unless you are fastened to the guide, for you may slip into a crevasse. Nobody ever slides up, but if great care be not taken they will slide down, slide back, or in other words backslide. This is very easily done. If you want to know how to backslide, the answer is leave off going forward and you will slide backward, cease going upward and you will go downward of necessity, for stand still you never can. 

-Charles Spurgeon

His Word!

Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm dedicated to expressing the goodness and glory of God's Word. The psalmist uses many terms when exalting the Word of God including "testimonies", "statutes", "commandments", "rules", "law", "judgments", "precepts", and "word". In describing the Word of God, the psalmist declares his joy, hope, and peace found in the written Word, for God's glory is revealed in Scripture.

As an acrostic poem, these verses are divided into 22 sections, each beginning with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. As I read through this psalm in the past week, verses 105-112 particularly stood out to me, as they described some important aspects of Scripture. Since we, as believers, are to continue to search the Word daily, perhaps these words will be an encouragement to you all to keep reading and studying the words that contain eternal life.

God's Word is a Light and Lamp
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." (Psalm 119:105, ESV)
Directing our steps, God's purpose and plans prevail over those of man. He guides and sustains us in our darkness just as He does in the light. We don't have to know all that is ahead--God does, and where His will leads us, His grace will keep us.

God's Word is Righteous
"I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules." (Psalm 119:106)
Here the psalmist here promises to keep the rules of God, for they are the only true and pure commandments that are worth fighting for. The relativity of the world provides no foundation, but in the midst of compromised truth, God's righteous rules provide a solid Rock.

God's Word gives Life
"I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word!" (Psalm 119:107)
Affliction, trials, tribulations, and general spiritual weaknesses drain our spirit, and here the psalmist cries out to the Lord. God's Word makes us alive to Christ, and gives us strength and perseverance when we are weary.

God's Word Teaches
"Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your rules." (Psalm 119:108)
The Lord has promised that those who ask for wisdom will receive it. By reading Scripture, communicating with God, and allowing the Holy Spirit to convict us we will be taught the rules of God. And as the psalmist bring his offerings, He praises the Lord. The rules of God should prompt us to praise and glorify God for who He is and what He commands.

God's Word must be Remembered
"I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law." (Psalm 119:109)
Though there was often danger, the psalmist says that nothing could move him to forget the Word. Scripture is that which will never pass away, and it is these Words that we are commanded to meditate on day and night in order to walk in God's way. It requires active remembrance and purposeful meditation to remember the law of God.

God's Word Protects
"The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts." (Psalm 119:110)
The society and culture around us present many temptations for us; we are constantly attacked with Satan's devices and only faithfully holding to that which is holy and true will lead us in the right path. We must know wrong from right in order to avoid evil, and if we are to stick closely to God's precepts then we must study them to have a deep knowledge of them.

God's Word gives us Joy
"Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart." (Psalm 119:111)
This is my favorite verse from the passage. Perhaps Calvin's commentary describes it best: "Without the Divine word all other things were in his estimation as nothing; so that he could willingly leave to others, riches, honors, comforts, and pleasures, provided he possessed this incomparable treasure." When we treasure God's testimony above all else, earthly inheritances and possessions become nothing to us. God's Word is our delight and it is that which completely satisfies our hearts. It brings us inexpressible joy and we live in the blessedness of God's glory. What we treasure shows where our heart is. When we treasure Scripture, our hearts find delight in Christ.

God's Word is Eternal
"I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end." (Psalm 119:112)
The psalmist here makes a conscious choice to turn his heart to the Word of God until the end of his days. The reward for him will be eternal. God's statutes will remain eternally, and so he commits to following them for all the days of his life. We can't do this on our own, but by drawing strength from the Holy Spirit and meditating on the Words of life, we, too, can fix our eyes on the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. It will be worth the wait.

Stay in the Word. Learn to meditate on it. Seek to make Scripture the joy of your heart.

Psalm 1

I began reading through the book of Psalms on Sunday. I memorized Psalm 1 when I was very little, and while I don't know that I could recite it perfectly anymore, it is a Psalm that has stuck with me many times. It's short (only six verses), but powerful. Take some time to read and meditate on it. :)

    Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor siners in the congregation of the righteous;

for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength

The book of Nehemiah recounts the time of the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. Nehemiah, as cupbearer to King Artexerxes, hears of the broken wall of the Jews and prays for God's wisdom and direction.

The Babylonians and Assyrians took captive God's chosen people, but decades later King Cyrus, the Persian ruler, allowed the Israelite people to return to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding and reconstructing the temple. Ezra recounts the first return under Zerubbabel and Joshua, while the second return was led by Ezra himeself. And finally, Nehemiah leads the exiles on a third return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls.

They encountered much opposition in their work--seven accounts are specifically told to us. Enduring the mocking taunts of Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, the people willing set to work in groups and families. Nehemiah leads the people, praying against the opposition and setting guards to protect against invasions.

Knowing that the God of heaven was their protection, the Israelites soon have to prepare against a potential military attack, for Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites plot together to throw the Jews into confusion and stop the reconstruction. Later Sanballat and Geshem attempt to lure Nehemiah outside of Jerusalem, but he refuses and continues on in his work, praying that God would strengthen his hands and keep the people focused. Nehemiah was later threatened with false charges and others were paid to falsely prophesy and discredit Nehemiah. We're told, too, of how Tobiah wrote letters to Nehemiah to try and frighten him.

But still the work went on, for "the people had a mind to work" and joined themselves with Nehemiah in raising the walls and defending what was rightfully theirs. God destroyed the plans of those who opposed the Israelites' work, and Nehemiah brought leadership to the people who had been in captivity for so long.

In chapter 8, the people gather together under Ezra the scribe as he reads and explains the words from the Law of Moses for at least six hours. As a scribe, Ezra had set his heart on the Word of God and sought to learn it and teach it to his people, and so, with 13 other men, he stands before the people, blessing them and worshipping the one true God with them and expounding the Scriptures to them.

The people, intensely convicted of their sins by the reading of the Word "wept as they heard the words of the Law". They understood their transgression of the law and the sin that had caused them to be taken into captivity, and they realized that God did indeed punish sin. However, Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites comfort the people, telling them that this day was a holy day. The work on the temple had been completed through God's strength, protection, and guidance. This was a day for rejoicing. Rejoicing in a God who blessed obedience. Rejoicing in the fact that God once again preserved a remnant of His people. Rejoicing that the walls around Jerusalem were now finished. They were given a fresh start, and though God punished sin, He also blessed obedience. This is why Nehemiah said "And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." This was a time of celebration for all the goodness God had done for them, and the people were encouraged to keep the Feast of Tabernacles that had likely been neglected during captivity.

The heads of homes and families and the Levites and priests came together under Ezra to study the Law, and then joyfully enforced it throughout the land. "And there was very great rejoicing" among the people. Obedience was blessed, sin was confessed, and joy and freedom reigned once again in the hearts and homes of the people.