What is Love

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A Child Shall Lead Them!

Christopher Duffley (Autistic & Blind) Sings Lean on Me With Children's Choir.

Signs of growing in grace.

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

There are some proofs that we are growing in grace that are good tests for each of us to apply to our own experience.

1. Easier victory over the trials which are inevitable in this life. We can easily discover whether we are as much annoyed as formerly by poverty, anxiety about the future, losses, slights, and Insults.

2. Quicker recognition of the Divine will. The better acquainted we become with the Holy Spirit, the more readily we ought to recognize his leading and commands.

3. Less severe temptations from the world. The world is our enemy, seeking either to allure us or to frighten us. We ought to care less, the better we know Jesus, for the influence of the world that seeks to drag us down to its level.

4. Deeper insight Into the Word of God. It re-quires spiritual sight to behold the beauties of God's Word and to see its spiritual lesson. As grace increases, insight into the Word increases.

5. Better knowledge of the devices of Satan. The apostle says, "We are not ignorant of his devices." We ought to know the author after a. while, as soon as we hear his suggestions.

6. Fiercer attacks of the devil. The farther along we get in grace, the more Satan will attack us. Greater temptations give greater victories, and hence greater installments of grace. God will not allow him to "tempt us above that which we are able," but Satan will meet our increased strength with, fiercer attacks.

7. Greater charity for the infirmities of others. The more we grow in grace, the more we shall love other people, and make allowances for their weaknesses and sorrow for their sins.

8. The establishment of the faith habit. Faith after a time ceases to be a series of spasmodic struggles, and settles into an unbroken life.

9. A greater love and practice of secret prayer. Certainly, the more we love God the more we shall feel the need of so doing.

We are sure that those who add these marks of increasing grace in their experience may well thank God, and take courage—Christian Witness and Advocate of Bible Holiness.


--Wesleyan Methodist, 01/24,1900

Proportion your zeal

It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. Gal 4:18

Take then the whole of religion together, just as God has revealed it in his word; and be uniformly zealous for every part of it, according to its degree of excellence, grounding all our zeal on the one foundation, — “Jesus Christ and him crucified;” holding fast this one principle, — “The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved ME, and gave himself for Me.”

Proportion your zeal to the value of its object. Be calmly zealous, therefore, First, for the Church; “the whole state of Christ’s Church militant here on earth;” and in particular for that branch thereof with which you are more immediately connected. Be more zealous for all those “ordinances which our blessed Lord hath appointed, to continue therein to the end of the world. Be more zealous for those works of mercy, those “sacrifices wherewith God is well pleased,” those marks whereby the Shepherd of Israel will know his sheep at the last day. Be more zealous still for holy tempers, for long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, lowliness, and resignation: But be most zealous of all for love, the queen of all graces, the highest perfection in earth or heaven, the very image of the invisible God, as in men below, so in angels above. For as God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him,”

-John Wesley "Sermon: On Zeal"

Our Choicest Zeal

It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. Gal 4:18

But our choicest zeal should be reserved for love itself, — the end of the commandment, the fulfilling of the law. The Church, the ordinances, outward works of every kind, yea, all other holy tempers, are inferior to
this, and rise in value only as they approach nearer and nearer to it. Here then is the great object of Christian zeal. Let every true believer in Christ apply, with all fervency of spirit, to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that his heart may be more and more enlarged in love to God and to all mankind. This one thing let him do: Let him “press on to this prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

-John Wesley "Sermon: On Zeal"

It is fine to be zealous

It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. Gal 4:18

In a Christian believer love sits upon the throne which is erected in the inmost soul; namely, love of God and man, which fills the whole heart, and reigns without a rival.

In a circle near the throne are all holy tempers;—long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, fidelity, temperance; and if any other were comprised in “the mind which was in Christ Jesus.”

In an exterior circle are all the works of mercy, whether to the souls or bodies of men. By these we exercise all holy tempers; by these we continually improve them, so that all these are real means of grace, although this is not commonly adverted to.

Next to these are those that are usually termed works of piety;—reading and hearing the word, public, family, private prayer, receiving the Lord’s Supper, fasting or abstinence.

Lastly, that his followers may the more effectually provoke one another to love, holy tempers, and good works, our blessed Lord has united them together in one body, the Church, dispersed all over the earth; a little emblem of which, of the Church universal, we have in every particular Christian congregation.

-John Wesleyan "Sermon: On Zeal"

Raising The Bar

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  Phil 3:14

Your Attitude
Maintain constantly the same attitude that was necessary to receive the Spirit. You had to desire Him above all else when you were seeking His filling. You cannot desire Him less now without grieving Him. You had to humble yourself then. If you let in pride now, it will ultimately drive out the Spirit.

Your Choices
You had to separate yourself completely from evil then. You cannot go back to evil practice and maintain the Spirit's fullness now. You had to deny yourself then. You can not follow selfish choices now. You had to yield yourself fully then. You must keep yourself yielded. Complete obedience was necessary to receive the Spirit. Willful disobedience will drive Him away sorrowful. You had to consecrate your all to God then.

Your Constancy
Withdrawal of any part of that consecration now is dishonest, for you pledged everything to God forever. It is sin to withdraw your consecration. To be kept filled with the Spirit you need not less but more of those preparatory attitudes.

Your Testimony
It is faith in your heart that brings you the victory, but confession with the lips must follow. See Romans 10: 10. Do not 'boast of what you have done, or of what you are, but humbly witness to what God has done for you in words that exalt God, and tend to keep self out of sight.

—James W. Elliot, Camden, New Jersey, John Landrey, Pastor. (The Wesleyan Methodist, Feb 8,1956)

Monday Morning Smile :-)

Darling Baby Laughs Uncontrollably at the Cutest Thing from kidsarecute on GodTube.

Who Made God?