Tag: Faith

Where Are You Going?

~ A Prayer Life ~ Leave a comment

Much of the feebleness, barrenness and paucity of religion results from the failure to have a scriptural and reasonable standard in religion, by which to shape character and measure results. We cannot possibly mark our advances in religion if there is no point to which we are definitely advancing. Always there must be something definite before the mind’s eye at which we are aiming and to which we are driving. Many Christians are disjointed and aimless because they have no pattern before them after which conduct and character are to be shaped. They just move on aimlessly, their minds in a cloudy state, no pattern in view, no point in sight, no standard after which they are striving. There is no standard by which to value and gauge their efforts. No magnet is there to fill their eyes, quicken their steps, and to draw them and keep them steady. In religion, we must not only go on. We must know where we are going. This is all important. It is essential that in going on in religious experience, we have something definite in view, and strike out for that one point.

~ E.M. Bounds (1835-1913)

Even To The End

~ A Prayer Life ~ Leave a comment

“The just shall live by faith.”

~ Romans 1:17

To live by faith is a far surer and happier thing than to live by feelings or by works. The branch, by living in the vine, lives a better life than it would live by itself, even if it were possible for it to live at all apart from the stem. To live by clinging to Jesus, by deriving all from Him, is a sweet and sacred thing. If even the most just must live in this fashion, how much more must I who am a poor sinner! LORD, I believe. I must trust Thee wholly. What else can I do? Trusting Thee is my life. I feel it to be so. I will abide by this even to the end.

~ Charles Spurgeon, Faith’s Checkbook

The Lord’s Portion

~ A Prayer Life ~ Leave a comment

“For the LORD’s portion is His people…”

~ Deuteronomy 32:9 (NKJV)

It is amazing to think of all the things God could delight in, He is abundantly pleased to delight in His people. The Creator of heaven and earth has no greater love, joy or delight than to pour out His care and affection over the people whom He has chosen for Himself. This concern is seen in no fuller glory than when God’s own beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, died that sacrificial death that allows us the high privilege, that allows us, those who come by faith, to become the Lord’s portion.

Amen

No Longer An Abomination

~ A Prayer Life ~ 3 Comments

“You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God a bull or sheep which has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.”

~ Deuteronomy 17:1 (NKJV)

Why did the Lord God command Israel to only offer a sacrifice free from blemish or defect? Was God just be trivial and trying to make worship unnecessarily difficult for His people to perform? Of course not! The mandate to bring no blemished or defective animal before the Lord was to teach Israel a vital spiritual lesson – that God is most holy, perfect and pure -and therefore cannot accept anything less than perfection for Himself. Anything less is an affront to the nature and character of a righteous God.

Yet we know that these mere animals possess no real moral character and only symbolize and point to the one true sinless sacrifice that can claim moral purity and perfection – Christ Himself. Jesus alone fulfilled the Old Testament obligation and command to offer only that which was free of defect or blemish. He offered Himself in place of sinful imperfect man who are riddled with blemish and defect. Christ offered Himself that we, those who come to Him by His mercy and by our faith, are graciously no longer an abomination to the Lord.

Amen

Sin of Prayerlessness

~ A Prayer Life ~ 2 Comments

To be guilty of the sin of prayerlessness is to be guilty of the worst form of practical atheism. It is actually saying we can get along without His help while the evidence is very clear on every hand that we cannot. Could it be that the sin of prayerlessness steams from our unbelief that he is a living God who exercises direct influence on the affairs of men?

~ Rev. Bruce Willis

Wallowing In Wickedness

~ A Prayer Life ~ 8 Comments

“The wicked are overthrown and are no more, But the house of the righteous will stand.”

Proverbs 12:7

The contrast between the wicked and the righteous found in this Proverb is obvious. On that great and awful Day, a final reckoning will occur when the Lord of heaven and earth lays down His final judgment and those who are found wallowing in wickedness will be overthrown and eternally condemned. While those who have taken their shelter in the household of Faith, in the covering of Christ, will stand with Him and enjoy His everlasting blessing forever more. Pray for God’s mercy upon your soul and the souls of others.

Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts

~ A Prayer Life ~ 1 Comment

Jesus, Thou Joy of loving hearts,
Thou Fount of life, Thou Light of men,
From the best bliss that earth imparts,
We turn unfilled to Thee again.

We taste Thee, O Thou living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still;
We drink of Thee, the Fountain-head,
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill!

Our restless spirits yearn for Thee,
Where’er our changeful lot is cast;
Glad when Thy gracious smile we see,
Blest, when our faith can hold Thee fast.

O Lord, be Thou our strength and stay!
Make all our moments calm and bright,
Chase all dark thoughts of sin away,
Shed o’er us here Thy holy light.

~ Bernard of Clairvaux

Depart From Me

~ A Prayer Life ~ 2 Comments

“Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven... And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me…”

~ Matthew 7:21 & 23 (NKJV)

What greater tragedy could there be than on the last day, believing you are going to heaven, to hear the Lord Jesus utter to you the words, “Depart from me, I never knew you”? I think what Jesus is trying to teach us here with these stark words is it isn’t enough to simple say you’re a Christian. It isn’t enough to say you believe in Him and follow Him. Jesus doesn’t accept mere lip service. It is he who does the will of the Father who enters into Christ’s kingdom. Jesus doesn’t want your words, He wants you. So not everyone who merely says “Lord, Lord” or “Jesus I know you” is saved, but those who truly and sincerely desire to love and serve Him.

Jesus wants people who are completely dedicated to following Him. He is seeking true disciples. Those who want to learn from Him, be like Him and be with Him. Jesus wants the confession of our mouth to match the character of our life. If we say Lord Lord, if we confess to know Him, then He desires for our life to show it. He wants our faith to be reflected in our good works. And Christ warns us, if we merely acknowledge Him with our lips, but don’t live for Him by faith, then we are in jeopardy of hearing those eternally frightful words from the Lord, “Depart from Me, I never knew you”.

~ apl