April Quotes

In the stillness of things, when one looks at the stars shining bright in the dark sky, God speaks to us in that silence.

 -Unknown

God has given us the DNA of righteousness. We are saints. Nothing we do will make us more righteous than we already are. Nothing we do will alter this reality. God knows our DNA. He knows that we are "Christ in me."

-John S. Lynch

The saving work of Christ includes deliverance from the death penalty for sin in one’s past life, the power of sin in his present life, and the very presence of sin in the future life.

-Henry Morris

God does not comfort us by showing us the future, but by showing us Himself. 

-Tim Challies

Sometimes when we least expect it, a small cross proves a lovely crown, a seemingly unimportant event becomes a lifelong experience, or a stranger becomes a friend. 

-Louisa May Alcott

“God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). This doesn’t mean we should give only when we’re feeling cheerful. The cheerfulness often comes during and after the act of obedience, not before it. So don’t wait until you feel like giving—it could be a long wait! Just give and watch the joy follow.

-Randy Alcorn

[T]he ultimate question for a responsible man to ask is not how he is to extricate himself heroically from the affair, but how the coming generation shall continue to live.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

-C.S. Lewis

Bible commentator R. C. H. Lenski once noted that people with eager but uncertain vows of allegiance to Christianity are like those who view “the soldiers on parade, the fine uniforms, and the glittering arms and [are] eager to join, forgetting the exhausting marches, the bloody battles, the graves, perhaps unmarked.” 

-John MacArthur

Expecting perfection from ourselves or others is not what holiness is about.

-Kevin DeYoung

March Quotes

A real Christian is an odd number, anyway. He feels supreme love for the One whom he has never seen; talks with familiarly every day to

Someone he cannot see; expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another; empties himself in order to be full; admits he is wrong so he

can be declared right; goes down in order to get up; is strongest when he is weakest; richest when he is poorest and happiest when he feels the worst. He dies so he can live; forsakes in order to have; gives away so he can keep; sees the invisible; hears the inaudible' and knows that which passeth understanding.

- A.W. Tozer

Fairy tales are more than true — not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten. 

-G.K. Chesterton

The moment that we take a significant step of obedience, we will be tested.

-Unknown

If we have learned to be silent before the Word, we shall also learn to manage our silence and our speech during the day."

-Bonhoeffer

When Jesus Christ is magnified, Believers are unified.

-Chad Johnson

There is sweet joy in feeling that God knows all and, notwithstanding, loves us still.

-J. Hudson Taylor

Peace is not a gift that passes from Christ the giver to us the receivers. His peace is ours because he is ours, and the peace he is experiencing we are experiencing. Our experience of peace is his peace in us because he is in us. Similarly his strength. Paul says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” (Ephesians 6:10). Being “in the Lord” is the same as the branch being in the vine. The strength of the Lord is not merely a gift from him to us. When we are strong against the devil and sin, our strength is his strength. He is being strong in us. We are being strong "in the strength of his might."

-John Piper

Walking by faith will cause all of us to recognize that as children of God we are just pilgrims and strangers down here on this earth.

-J. Vernon McGee

If we followed you for a thousand years, we would need your grace just as much the next day, the next moment, as we did the first day we believed.

-prayer by Paul Tripp

It is easier to serve God without a vision, easier to work for God without a call because then you are not bothered by what God requires, common sense is your guide, veneered over with Christian sentiment. You will be more prosperous and successful, more leisure hearted, if you never realize the call of God. But if once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God wants will always come like a goad, you will no longer be able to work for Him on the common-sense basis.

-Oswald Chambers

A Bigger Picture, Part Seven

There are five steps or phases included in the lectio divina, which in Latin, means “holy reading” or “prayerful reading”.[1] This practice has roots in ancient history and it focuses on feeling and listening to God speaking to us and transforming our lives.[2] When used alongside the inductive approach to biblical interpretation, these steps are meant provide revelation from the Spirit in accordance with God’s written Word. However, it is important to remember that our feelings are not necessarily always in alignment with the Spirit, rather, we must conform our emotions to what the Word of God shows us through the Spirit.[3]

   

The first step, Silencio, refers to the reader setting a quiet time aside to prepare his heart to enter the Lord’s presence.[4] This step should be helpful in any sort of devotional time, because in this fast-paced 21^st century, people often forget how to sit alone in the quiet to study the Word and pray. Reading the Word is hearing God’s voice, and prayer is communication with Him, so it’s vital to set aside regular time to worship the Lord.

  

The second step, Lectio, focuses on choosing a Scripture passage and reading it slowly out loud.[5] The reader needs to concentrate on allowing God’s words to say what they say, rather than reading his own words into it. Also the reader needs to apply the words specifically to himself and not to others, as is so easy to do. This aspect would definitely be vital for a Christian, because it is important to make sure that one is right with God before calling others out.

   

Meditatio directs the reader to connect the Scripture with some part of his current life situation. Reading the passage slowly again and allowing the words to sink into his heart and mind, the reader can more closely focus on what principles God is teaching. This step could be concerning, as it may lead some readers to overspiritualize the text, but through careful study, the reader can glean the principles that God has revealed to us.[6]

   

After concentrated study on the passage, the fourth step, Oratio, tells readers to use this time to pray through the passage, asking God to show His truth and point out areas where actions and attitudes need to be aligned to His Word.[7] Praying to God allows the opportunity to speak honestly with the Lord and often times helps to pinpoint areas of struggle.

   

The last step, Comtemplatio, includes the aspect of prayer in surrendering the past, present, and future to God in light of the passage that was read. Through prayer the reader also should ask that the Lord would continue His transforming work in his life, and then thank God for all He has done and continues to do.[8]

In conclusion, these five steps pointed me back to the meaning of my personal devotions—that of time

alone with God through reading and prayer. In choosing the passage from Psalm 62, I was reminded of God’s eternal character. He is our rock and our salvation and our fortress. Our hope rests in Him alone. Our glory comes from Him being our one refuge. It is in the needed silence that we learn to trust in Him. He desires our prayers and He is pleased to answer them in His timing and His way for His glory and our good. Through these verses, God instructs us to entrust our life to Him and to render to Him the cries of our heart, because He will be a refuge for us. He has promised that, and because of that promise we can remain unshaken and steadfast in our hope.

---

[1] J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays, Grasping God's Word (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 231. /12.2.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid., 230./12.2.

[4] Ibid., 231./12.2.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

A Time

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

Engedi

The post this week isn't taken from my devotional reading, but rather from my studying for Sunday school lessons plans. Last week I taught through 1 Samuel 23. I've been going through 1 Samuel for a long time now, but for six chapters Saul has been relentless in his pursuit of David. It first began with Saul's rejection as king, and then Saul's jealousy of David because he had won the peoples' hearts, and the story just gets more tangled from there on.

In chapter 23, David rescues the city of Keilah from the Philistines. This city was was identified by Saul as one that had gates and bars surrounding it. Which means that for David living there, this could either end up as a trap or as protection. And soon Saul finds out where David is hiding again. Using the ephod that Abiathar (a priest) brought when he fled from Doeg's slaughter of 85 priests, David inquires of the Lord asking if the men of Keilah would surrender him to Saul or not. The Lord said they would give him up to Saul. So David must flee. Again.

David has with him about 600 men at this point; men that he trained into a small army. Some were likely his brothers and other relatives (1 Samuel 22:1-2), but most were men who were in distress, who were in debt, and who were bitter in soul. This unhappy crowd of people gathered to David in the caves of Adullam and he accepted them as his own and provided them with the leadership they so desperately needed.

After David flees from Keilah to the wilderness of Ziph. David's often in the wildernesses of Israel. Always running, always fighting. Just going wherever they could go in order to escape Saul. But he's betrayed by the Ziphites, so then he moves on to the wilderness of Maon. Here Saul likely divides his men into two companies, and soon David is surrounded by the side of a mountain. Just as Saul was closing in on David to capture him, a messenger comes to Saul saying that the Philistines had made a raid against the land. Once again the Lord provides opportunity for David to flee. Just at the right time. Saul leaves to protect his land and there the place was called the Rock of Escape. The place where God intervened against evil, brought deliverance, and rescued his anointed.

David again leaves the area, but in the bleakest of wildernesses he find the strongholds of Engedi. Here David found an oasis in the middle of the desert. Song of Solomon notes that it also had vineyards providing nourishment for him and his men. There are fountains of water that pour out from the limestone cliffs and caves where they could find protection and shelter. So David was given rest and refreshment for a time. He was betrayed by men and pursued by Saul again, but for now, God gave him quietness in the desert.

David wasn't perfect. He was a sinful man, but He was God's anointed and a man after the Lord's heart. He lived much of his early life simply running from Saul and fighting enemies, but resulting from the betrayal, the hurt, the enemies, the pain, and the thanksgiving we have the book of Psalms today. God provided physical temporary rest and refreshment for David, but David's ultimate rest was found in the God of Israel--the King who never sleeps and is constantly guarding His children. His grace was given to David regardless of how many times he sinned or how many times he felt like giving up. And I think perhaps David was reminded of that grace in Engedi. The temporary still moments and the release from pursuit and the miraculous deliverance from Saul.

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by.
I cry out to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
He will send from heaven and save me;
he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!

-Psalm 57 

(a psalm perhaps written around the time when David was in Engedi)

[Engedi is later referred to in Ezekiel 47 where in the end of time the water of life (fresh water from the salty Dead Sea!) will flow through the Temple and Engedi will be filled with fish and fishermen will spread their nets there. A picture of restoration and healing and refreshment in the new heavens and earth.]

November Quotes

Forgiveness is the key which unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness. The forgiveness of Jesus not only takes away our sins, it makes them as if they had never been.

-Corrie ten Boom

My trust is in the mercy and wisdom of a kind Providence, who ordereth all things for our good.

-Robert E. Lee

For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ.

-Robert Murray McCheyne

You are what you want to become long before you get there.

-Steve Riddell

If you let something steal your thanksgiving, you let something steal your joy, and if you let something steal your joy, you let something steal your strength.

-Unknown

The choice before us is: Do we only give glory to God for the part of our lives that's going the way we want? Or do we worship Him, trust Him, and GIVE HIM THANKS, just because He is God—regardless of the painful, incomprehensible places we encounter in our journey?

-Nancy Leigh DeMoss

When you love those who hurt you by praying for them, in that process you are being washed by the love of Christ and no unforgiveness is allowed to stay.

-Jim Staley

The thought that there beats a heart in heaven that is always loving us, that there moves a tongue in heaven that always pleads for us; that there is an arm in heaven that always fights for us; and that there is a foot in heaven that will be swift to run for our defense--oh! this is a precious consolation.

-Spurgeon

Grace that cannot be seen, like light, and tasted, like salt, is not grace, but hypocrisy. 

-J. C. Ryle

We are the people who can't distinguish between doctrine and application, in terms of saying one thing and doing another.

-Albert Mohler

Although it is very right to think about the future, it is very wrong to be controlled by it.

-Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The clouds must break somehow, and the sun is always behind them!

-George MacDonald

October Quotes

He doesn’t promise an explanation, but He does promise to walk with us through the pain. 

-Courageous

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote was never lost.

-President John Adams

It’s sometimes in the storm, sometimes in the desert, sometimes in the agony, an’ sometimes in the calm, whaure’er he gets them right by themselves, that the Lord visits his people—in person, as a body might say. 

-George MacDonald

If we win, we praise Him. If we lose, we praise Him. 

-Facing the Giants

If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all; and the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it. Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us. 

-Charles Spurgeon

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. 

-Winston Churchill

To become another’s friend in the true sense is to take the other into such close, living fellowship that his life and ours are knit together as one. It is far more than a pleasant companionship in bright, sunny hours. A genuine friendship is entirely unselfish. It seeks no benefit or good of its own. It does not love—for what it may receive—but for what it may give. Its aim is “not to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45)....As he [Christ] loves us, he would have us love others. We say men are not worthy of such friendships. True, they are not. Neither are we worthy of Christ's wondrous love for us. But Christ loves us—not according to our worthiness—but according to the riches of his own loving heart! So should it be with our giving of friendship—not as the person deserves, but after the measure of our own character.

-J.R. Miller

Too often, people want what they want (or what they think they want, which is usually “happiness” in one form or another) right now. The irony of their impatience is that only by learning to wait, and by a willingness to accept the bad with the good, do we usually attain those things that are truly worthwhile.

-Joshua Harris

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Love is extravagant in the price it is willing to pay, the time it is willing to give, the hardships it is willing to endure, and the strength it is will to spend.

-Joni Eareckson Tada

Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are. 

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity. 

–Ulysses S. Grant

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.