Give me a heart of holy love

Give me a heart of holy love,
Like that of God in Heaven above;
Which throbs with pity when I see
A brother's need reach out to me.
Compassion bids my hands to give
Of every good that they may live;
A heart that lights with tender glow,
And knows that love will heal his woe.

O, for a heart of mercy great,
In which there is no room for hate-
Forgiveness clears away the wrong,
A heart of hope, love-filled with song;
A heart that holds no hitter grudge,
And ne'er complains, although I trudge
The road where bleeding feet have trod,
But, Joy! it leads me on to God.

Give me a heart that loves the right,
And finds the way with living light,
A heart that lifts my eyes to see
The good in all where'er I be,
A heart where loyalties abide.
Give me a heart that's humble, just,
That God can bless and men can trust.

Give me a heart sustained by truth,
That shelters both old age and youth,
And harbors nought of sorrow, sin:
A heart that sings when others fret,
And murmurs nought of vain regret.
O let this heart give glory, praise,
Reflect to all love's healing rays.

-Edgar H. Rider

Out of the mouths of babes...

Becoming Extraordinary...

For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? I Cor 3:4

Every person in their own life has these experiences.  If they fail, they will either pick up the broken pieces and build again or else they will surrender.  If they are tempted, they will sell out or else they will come through with a gallant victory.  God seems to have created life in such a way that ordinary people have to become extraordinary at times or perish.

The last thing we may say is that Christ comes to make the ordinary people extraordinary.  It is the saints in the Bible who became great because of their faith in God.  The Disciples were not leaders of the community but the kind of fellows we probably would have kept out of our church leadership.  Even Paul who was a genius in his mind was sickly and far from impressive in appearance.

This is good news for us.  We don not have to wait for some genius or some great leader.  We only have to let God put His hand upon us and lift us up to a higher level of morality and devotion. This is the time for Christian sons and daughters to stop acting like ordinary people and become extraordinary witnesses of Christ.

Bishop Gerald Kennedy

Is you tool box full?

 Winston Churchill coined a phrase that has become immortal when he dramatically cried, "Give us the tools and we will finish the job."  It was no idle statement for when the tools were supplied England demonstrated her will to win.



Let us not make light of the work before us.  Christ will never give us an assignment without all the right tools.

When the task begins to overwhelm you, remember, we have an expert Carpenter that will put in both hand and heart every tool necessary to get the job done.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, 

ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. John 15:7

When we all get to heaven....

The cares of this world, the necessary duties of life, the demands of our families, the work of our various stations and callings — all these things appear to eat up our days, and to make it impossible to have long quiet times of communion with God's people.

But, blessed be God, it shall not always be so. The hour comes, and shall soon be here, when "good-bye" and "farewell" shall be words that are laid aside and buried forever! When we meet in a world where the former things have passed away, where there is . . .


no more sin,
no more sorrow,
no more poverty,
no more work of body or work of brains,
no more need of anxiety for families,
no more sickness,
no more pain,
no more old age,
no more death,
no more change —

. . . when we meet in that endless state of being, calm, and restful, and unhurried — who can tell what the bliss and blessedness will be?


R.C. Ryle


http://jcrylequotes.com

Victory that Vindicates

David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the Lord will hand you over to me…  I Sam 17:45-46

It is possible to win less than a complete victory.  This take place in both carnal warfare, and spiritual warfare.  It is possible to water down, dilute, compromise, until a seeming victory is nothing more than a sorry defeat.  The outcome is dishonor instead of honor; uneasiness instead of peace; appeasement instead of vindication.  There lurks the tantalizing fear that we’ll meet that same enemy again, and likely under less favorable circumstances.

On the other hand, it is possible to win a victory about which there can be no question.  Friends and foes are aware of the outcome.  The triumph is clean, clear-cut, and conclusive.  A monument could be erected to the victor, and no one would dare challenge it.  Right is vindicated, honor is established, and no unholy “deal” is involved. The same foe may be encountered again, but not without knowing that he was soundly beaten in previous combat.

In our personal lives let there be no unholy appeasement; no secret alliances or agreements with the enemy; no loose ends or incomplete victory, to meet us at some turn of the road, with regret and remorse.

If we move into the fray as David, depending entirely upon the help of the Almighty, and with no thought of less than complete conquest, then men will perceive that we know on whose side we stand, for what we fight, and in which direction we travel.

B. H. Phaup

Just Trust! The Heartwarming Story of Little Starla Champan

Counting the Cost...

 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  Matt 16:24

Many would be saints if everybody would encourage them; but as soon as a hard word is spoken they are offended. They would go to heaven if they could travel there amidst the hosannas of he multitude, but when they hear the cry of “Crucify him, crucify him,” straightway they desert the man of Nazareth, for they have no intention to share his cross, or to be despised and rejected of men.

The true saints of God are prepared to endure scoffing, and jeering, and scorning; they accept this cross without murmuring, remembering him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. They know that their brethren who went before “resisted unto blood, striving against sin,” and as they have not yet come to that point, they count it foul scorn that they should be ashamed or confounded in minor trials, let their adversaries do what they may. Those who are to sing Christ’s praise in heaven must first have been willing to bear Christ’s shame below. Numbered with him in the humiliation must they be, or they cannot expect to be partakers with him in the glory.

And now, dear brethren and sisters, how is it with us? Are we willing to be reproached for Christ’s glory? Can we bear the sarcasm of the wise? Can we bear the jest of the witty?

-Charles Spurgeon

http://www.thedailyspurgeon.com

Genuine Fruit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Gal 5:22-23

Christian love will show itself in the general spirit and demeanor of a believer. It will make him kind, unselfish, good-natured, good-tempered, and considerate for others. It will make him gentle, affable, and courteous, in all the daily relations of private life. It will make him thoughtful for others' comfort, tender for others' feelings, and more anxious to give pleasure than to receive. True love never envies others when they prosper, nor rejoices in the calamities of others when they are in trouble. At all times, it will believe, and hope, and try to put a good construction on others' actions. And even at the worst, it will be full of pity, mercy, and compassion.

R.C. Ryle

http://jcrylequotes.com

The Holy Scriptures

The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, depends not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.

 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God.  I Thess 2:13

Westminster Confession...

The Unsearchable riches in Christ...

Beloved, there are unsearchable riches in Christ, for he is by nature “God over all, blessed for ever.” Others may make him a mere man, but we behold the unsearchable riches of the Deity in Jesus Christ, “In whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” He is the Creator, without whom was not anything made that was made. He is the preserver of all things, and by him all things consist. What riches there must be in him who both makes and sustains the universe by the word of his power. In Jesus Christ all the attributes of God are manifest: the wisdom, the power, the immutability, the truth, the faithfulness, the justice, and love of God are all to be found in the character of Jesus Christ our Lord.

http://www.thedailyspurgeon.com

Teen Shares Final Thoughts Before Going Home

Taste and See

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.  Ps 34:8

Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ,a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Spirit, there is a balsam for every sore.

Would you loose your sorrow?  Would you drown your cares?  Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated.

I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.

-Spurgeon

You Must Pray...

If Jesus is to save you, you must pray.

If your sins are to be forgiven, you must pray. 

If the Spirit is to dwell in your heart, you must pray. 

If you are to have strength against sin, you must pray. 

If you are to dwell with God in heaven,

your heart must talk with God upon earth by prayer.

Oh! do not be a prayerless Christian, whatever others may think right. 

Begin to pray this day if you never prayed before. 

Remember if you and I are to meet each other with joy at Christ's appearing, 

you must pray.

~ J.C. Ryle

Fatherly Discipline

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart. 

In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 

And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons:

My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or faint when you are reproved by Him, 

for the Lord disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He receives. 

Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. 

For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 

But if you are without discipline which all receive, 

then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 

Furthermore, we had natural fathers discipline us, and we respected them. 

Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? 

For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, 

but He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness. 

No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. 

Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness 

to those who have been trained by it. 

Therefore strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.

Hebrews 12:3-12

Christ, Our Righteousness

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness... I Cor 1:30

His is not now content with only thinking of the imputed righteousness as his robe; but putting on Jesus Christ, and seeking to be wrapped up in, to be clothed upon with Himself and His life, he feels how completely the righteousness of God is his, because the Lord our righteousness is his.

Before he understood this, he, too, often felt it difficult to wear his white road all day long; it was as if he especially had to put it on when he came into God's presence to confess his sins and seek new grace.

But now the living Christ Himself is his righteousness, that Christ who watches over and keeps and loves us as His own; it is not longer an impossibility to walk all day long enrobed in the loving presence with which He covers His people.


Andrew Murray

The Valley of Vision

Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, 

where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights; 

hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox

that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,

and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;

Let me find thy light in my darkness, 

thy life in my death, 

thy joy in my sorrow, 

thy grace in my sin, 

thy riches in my poverty,

thy glory in my valley.

A Puritan Prayer

Invincible Grace

Do I think that God, in the ordinary course of his providence, grants this assistance in an irresistible manner, or effects faith and conversion without the sinner’s own hearty consent and concurrence? I rather chose to term grace invincible than irresistible. For it is too often resisted even by those who believe; but, because it is invincible, it triumphs over all resistance when He is pleased to bestow it. For the rest, I believe no sinner is converted without his own hearty will and concurrence. But he is not willing till he is made so. Why does he at all refuse? Because he is insensible of his state; because he knows not the evil of sin, the strictness of the law, the majesty of God whom he has offended, nor the total apostasy of his heart; because he is blind to eternity, and ignorant of the excellency of Christ; because he is comparatively whole, and sees not his need of this great Physician; because he relies upon his own wisdom, power, and supposed righteousness. Now in this state of things, when God comes with a purpose of mercy, he begins by convincing the person of sin, judgment, and righteousness, causes him to feel and know that he is a lost, condemned, helpless creature, and then discovers to him the necessity, sufficiency, and willingness of Christ to save them that are ready to perish, without money or price, without doings or deservings.

~John Newton~

http://theoldguys.org

Peace That Surpasses All Understanding

What do I mean when I say the true Christian is happy? Has he no doubts and no fears? Has he no anxieties and no troubles? Has he no sorrows and no cares? Does he never feel pain, and shed no tears? Far be it from me to say anything of the kind! He has a body weak and is frail like other men; he has affections and passions like everyone born of woman; he lives in an ever changing world. But deep down in his heart, he has a mine of solid peace and substantial joy which is never exhausted! This is true happiness.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  Jn 14:27

~ J.C. Ryle

Maturity Overcomes A Pointing Finger

"We shall, as we ripen in grace, have greater sweetness towards our fellow Christians. Bitter-spirited Christians may know a great deal, but they are immature. Those who are quick to censure may be very acute in judgment, but they are as yet very immature in heart.

He who grows in grace remembers that he is but dust, and he therefore does not expect his fellow Christians to be anything more. He overlooks ten thousand of their faults, because he knows his God overlooks twenty thousand in his own case. He does not expect perfection in the creature, and, therefore, he is not disappointed when he does not find it.

As he has sometimes to say of himself, 'This is my infirmity,' so he often says of his Brethren, 'This is their infirmity.' And he does not judge them as he once did. I know we who are young beginners in grace think ourselves qualified to reform the whole Christian Church.

We drag her before us and condemn her straightway. But when our virtues become more mature, I trust we shall not be more tolerant of evil, but we shall be more tolerant of infirmity, more hopeful for the people of God, and certainly less arrogant in our criticisms. Sweetness towards sinners is another sign of ripeness."

-Charles Spurgeon

http://tollelege.wordpress.com

Hang In There - Jesus will not give up on you...

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Heb 13:5

Are there any among you who have tasted of this blessed change—who have put off the old man which is corrupt, and put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness—who mourn over your own daily shortcomings, and sigh after more holiness, more self-denial, more mortification of the flesh with all its lusts? We bid you take comfort, and remember that Christ is still the same: He called you and gave you the witness of the Spirit, and He will not forsake you. You may waver and tremble: go forward in faith, and He will still support you.


~ J.C. Ryle

http://jcrylequotes.com