Tag: Scripture

I Will Be With You

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“Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”

~ Genesis 31:3

At this point in Jacob’s life he realized he wasn’t where the Lord wanted him to be. He was living with Laban and Laban’s family instead of with his father, Isaac, and other relatives. So, the Lord tells Jacob to go back to the land of his fathers. And then the Lord promises Jacob, “and I will be with you”.

Being in God’s will for our life fosters His presence with us. When we are where God wants us to be, we will find our closest experiences with Him. For Jacob, God wanted him back with his own family. For us, the place God usually wants us to be is spiritually close to Him. James 4:8 tells us, “Draw near to God and He’ll draw near to you”.

May we obey His voice that we too might know His promise, “I will be with you”.

~ apl

Two Separate Systems

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“The plain truth is, there are two distinct and separate systems of Christianity in England at the present day. It is useless to deny it. Their existence is a great fact, and one that cannot be too clearly known. According to one system, religion is a mere corporate business. You are to belong to a certain body of people. By virtue of your membership of this body, vast privileges, both for time and eternity, are conferred upon you. It matters little what you are and what you feel. You are not to try yourself by your feelings. You are a member of a great ecclesiastical corporation. Then all its privileges and immunities are your own. Do you belong to the one true visible ecclesiastical corporation? That is the grand question.

According to the other system, religion is eminently a personal business between yourself and Christ. It will not save your soul to be an outward member of any ecclesiastical body whatever, however sound that body may be. Such membership will not wash away one sin, or give you confidence in the day of judgement. There must be personal faith in Christ, personal dealings between yourself and God, personal felt communion between your own heart and the Holy Ghost. Have you this personal faith? Have you this felt work of the Spirit in your soul? This is the grand question. If not you will be lost.

This last system is the system which those who are called evangelical ministers cleave to and teach. They do so, because they are satisfied that it is the system of Holy Scripture. They do so, because they are convinced that any other system is productive of most dangerous consequences, and calculated to delude men fatally as to their actual state. They do so, because they believe it to be the only system of teaching which God will bless, and that no church will flourish so much as that in which repentance, faith, conversion and the work of the Spirit are the grand subjects of the minister’s sermon”.

~ J.C. Ryle (1816-1900)

Tradition’s Proper Place

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[Y]ou reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

~ Mark 7:9

Traditions in the life of God’s people can be of benefit unless they conflict with Scripture and the commandments of God. When we take more pride in keeping our traditions rather than in obeying the Lord, we have put ourselves in opposition to Him. In this passage, as elsewhere in Scripture, holding to traditions is not condemned all together. It is when Christ’s Church supplants God’s ways with their own that tradition becomes an idol. Therefore let us continue in those traditions which exalt Christ, enhance God’s glory and strengthen our faith, holding fast to that which is good, and reject anything, any tradition, that places our wants, will, or ways above His own.

~ apl

The Chinks & Crevices

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“[Biblical] meditation is a help to knowledge; thereby your knowledge is raised. Thereby your memory is strengthened. Thereby your hearts are warmed. Thereby you will be freed from sinful thoughts. Thereby your hearts will be tuned to every duty. Thereby you will grow in grace. Thereby you will fill up all the chinks and crevices of your lives, and know how to spend your spare time, and improve that for God. Thereby you will draw good out of evil. And thereby you will converse with God, have communion with God, and enjoy God. And I pray, is not here profit enough to sweeten the voyage of your thoughts in meditation?”

~ William Bridge

Prayer Life Pause: Heavenly Father, cause me to swim in the depth of Thy word that my thoughts, words and deeds would be controlled by the principles and precepts found therein. In Jesus name, amen.

His Precious Word

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“Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible. But I often spent a quarter of an hour to an hour on my knees struggling to pray while my mind wandered. Now I rarely have this problem. As my heart is nourished by the truth of the Word, I am brought into true fellowship with God. I speak to my Father and to my Friend (although I am unworthy) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word.”

~ George Muller

Walking in God’s Will

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“He who walks with integrity walks securely…” ~ Proverbs 10:9

Scripture often uses the concept of walking as a metaphor for our life. Our “walk” with Christ is literally our “life” lived in Christ. And as our Proverbs states here, he who walks, that is lives their life, with integrity, walks securely. Why is this? It is because God would have His people live by His character, His integrity. We should walk as “living sacrifices, holy and blameless” (Rom. 12:1-2). And as our life conforms more to Christ, there is safety and security knowing you’re walking in the will of God.

~ apl

A Pupil of Scripture

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“Now, in order that true religion may shine upon us, we ought to hold that it must take its beginning from heavenly doctrine and that no one can get even the slightest taste of right and sound doctrine unless he be a pupil of Scripture.”

~ John Calvin (1509-1564)

The Imago Dei

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After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, rendering them fit unto that life to God for which they were created; being made after the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness; having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it, and yet under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change.

~ London Baptist Confession of Faith 1689 VI.II

All This Was Done

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“But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”

~ Matthew 26:56 (NKJV)

The birth, life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was not some random cosmic accident. Mere chance had no hand in it. The redemption Christ brought to this world was the result of a glorious and eternal plan of salvation for a lost and dying world. Since the first man fell from righteousness and succumbed to the temptation of sin, mankind has desperately needed a Redeemer. Jesus is that Redeemer. All that was accomplished from His miraculous birth, through His sinless life, sacrificial death and justifying resurrection, was done that God’s Word, what the Lord had promised through the prophets of old, would lovingly, mercifully and gracious be fulfilled. May we embrace Christ and what He has done for us.

Amen