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The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord , endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. -Psalm 138. 

The Titan submersible left with several paying customers aboard.  Some 250 thousand dollars for the expedition of the Titanic wreckage.  The vessel and the souls aboard were lost several days ago. When it was announced that contact had been lost with the Titan, immediately some very hard-hearted jokes started coming across social media.  The most sarcastic among them even made it a game, to see how much they could post about the situation. The announcement of the crew being lost didn't deter these people. Five souls, including the company founder. At some point, we must erase the dividing line between rich and poor, erase the bonds of contempt, and reach out, not in poverty or wealth, but in a common humanity.  The believer after all, is reach spiritually, with "God's riches awaiting in glory". One of the victims was teenager who had expressed some misgivings about the trip, and if no one else, let us think of him, and let that be the touchstone of our common humanit...

 

The Titanic was a marvel when constructed.  It was huge and said to be unsinkable. This was man's attempt to hold back the forces of the ocean, and it was foiled by man's attempts to steer the ship. Just like the failed Titanic expedition recently, men once again deemed to defy the forces of nature, and once again, nature triumphed over man, as several people were tragically killed in the failure of the expedition craft. We say not that "God is Nature", because that is a heresy called pantheism.  The Bible clearly states that God created nature in those first six days, and at best, just like man is made in the image of God, so is nature, some presume, made in the image of God, to an extent. Therefore, just like elements of man, presumably the best elements of humankind, reflect something of the Creator; so too in nature is something of the Creator reflected force us to partake and revel about. It was God that held back the Red Sea for the Hebrews, and some explain how...

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. -2 Peter 3.   (NIV) 

"....it is not office, it is earnestness; it is not position, it is grace which will enable us to glorify God. God is most surely glorified in that cobbler's stall, where the godly worker, as he plies the awl, sings of the Saviour's love, aye, glorified far more than in many a prebendal stall where official religiousness performs its scanty duties. The name of Jesus is glorified by the poor unlearned carter as he drives his horse, and blesses his God, or speaks to his fellow labourer by the roadside, as much as by the popular divine who, throughout the country, like Boanerges, is thundering out the gospel. God is glorified by our serving him in our proper vocations. Take care, dear reader, that you do not forsake the path of duty by leaving your occupation, and take care you do not dishonour your profession while in it. " -Charles Haddon Spurgeon

They looked at the infant in the mother's arms.  She was so pretty, the infant, and happy, smiling joyously.  Then the mother told them that the baby was 22 years old, a victim of a rare disease that absolutely stops development and growth in humans. All they could think at first, was how many of life events the "child" had missed out on, how many things like driving a car, graduating high school, how many of those things the child would miss out on. It seemed horrific, their thoughts, but still, there was that smile on the baby's face. The baby was clearly happy, and well cared for. So was this existence cause for joy or horror or frustration? Indeed, it was a soul spared of our usual parrying and fretting over sin, a soul spared and cared for by parents who deeply loved the child.  The child didn't know the feeling of graduating, but also didn't know the feeling of losing a first love.  Spared at once, so many very adult indignities, spared the struggle agai...

It is not possible for us in ourselves to love our enemies. But we do have an enemy-loving life, the divine life, within us. This life is the source of the highest standard of morality. -Witness Lee

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."  -Matthew 16 , KJV

"I thank God upon every remembrance of you,  always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now..." -Philippians 1:3-5

The idea behind praying for angry drivers is simple: just hoping God gives them at least as much grace as He has given me, who is unworthy and grateful.

Traveling home from the office can be an emotional minefield to most people, sometimes even the seemingly most generous and compassionate, otherwise.  Say, one who does charitable works and cares for others.  We can be tested in a thousand different ways throughout the day. That moment of impatience can ruin a life, if totally unchecked, but thank the Lord these things do not last: our emotional control returns, and we can feel thankful, and we can once again love others, even when they are very rude in traffic. Even Paul had some sort of ailment that constantly nagged at him, and this in a day when there were no wonder drugs, no surgeries beyond the severing of limbs. It chastened him; it reminded him, always, that he was not perfect, and in that pain and ailing, he could remember that his blessing was not in fact total. The blessing wasn't total? His human nature kept calling him back, in the form of that sickness. It reminded him that his race was not over, that he was not ...

"we persuade men; but what we are is known to God, and I hope it known also to your conscience." -2 Corinthians 5:11 Let us all do the work in compassion, with an eye towards helping the needy, and our hearts encompassing the whole brotherhood of mankind.  

 

Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord . “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord .   -Jeremiah 23, New International Version    

From Romans chapter 12, RSV: "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Live in harmony with one another;  do not be haughty; but associate with the lowly; never be conceited. Repay no evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all."

...but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.    -Isaiah 40

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91   

"By one tree we were cursed, but by another tree we received mercy."   -Creflo Dollar Indeed, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil set mankind back a lot, but not too much for our God and Deliverer.   The next tree was the cross in which Jesus was given for the sins of mankind, which granted us all mercy, if we only believe and ask.

 

Observe the complete safety of the Lord's wheat; even the least grain has a promise of preservation. God himself sifts, and therefore it is stern and terrible work; he sifts them in all places, "among all nations"; he sifts them in the most effectual manner, "like as corn is sifted in a sieve"; and yet for all this, not the smallest, lightest, or most shrivelled grain, is permitted to fall to the ground. Every individual believer is precious in the sight of the Lord, a shepherd would not lose one sheep, nor a jeweller one diamond, nor a mother one child, nor a man one limb of his body, nor will the Lord lose one of his redeemed people. However little we may be, if we are the Lord's, we may rejoice that we are preserved in Christ Jesus. -Charles Spurgeon  There is a verse that says basically, "God has so clothed the leaves of the field; how much better then he deals with his believer..."

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?   - Mark 8 , King James Version Of course, some things, some pleasures or treasures, extract a greater price than we realize.

  Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him—his name is the Lord . A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.    -Psalm 68

"The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun." -Psalm 74:16 "The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord." -Proverbs 19:3 We cannot trust some matters to ourselves, for there is that trace of wickedness; cast it to our fellows, and cast it to God most importantly.

 

 

A heart for the Gospel.   A hand for the plow.   A head for leading.  

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?    - Luke 11 (King James Version)  

Jesus says, "take freely." He wants no payment or preparation. He seeks no recommendation from our virtuous emotions. If you have no good feelings, if you be but willing, you are invited; therefore come! You have no belief and no repentance,--come to him, and he will give them to you. Come just as you are, and take "Freely," without money and without price. He gives himself to needy ones. -Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“‘And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrowis thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!’”  -Matthew 6:28–30.

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.  - Psalm 46  

There is no light in the planet but that which proceedeth from the sun; and there is no true love to Jesus in the heart but that which cometh from the Lord Jesus himself. From this overflowing fountain of the infinite love of God, all our love to God must spring. This must ever be a great and certain truth, that we love him for no other reason than because he first loved us. Our love to him is the fair offspring of his love to us. Cold admiration, when studying the works of God, anyone may have, but the warmth of love can only be kindled in the heart by God's Spirit. -Charles Haddon Spurgeon

We need to have an overall view to see today's degraded situation and also to see that the Lord's intention is to bring us back to Himself so that we may be fully recovered to the enjoyment of Him. Our need today is to experience a transfer from degraded religion to the reality of the all-inclusive Christ in the way of enjoyment. -Witness Lee

"Sheep are very feeble creatures, and wolves are terrible enemies; yet at this hour sheep are more numerous than wolves, and the cause of the sheep is always winning, while the cause of the wolves is always declining. One day flocks of sheep will cover the plains, and not a wolf will be left. The fact is that sheep have a Shepherd, and this gives them provender, protection, and peace." -Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.   -KJV Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.   - NIV -Colossians chapter 3   

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.   - KJV    Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. - NIV Matthew chapter 7

Now how is the gospel preached? Through your life and mine. Every one of us has been entrusted by God with some gift to communicate the gospel. - Bayless Conley

The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.   - KJV The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.   - NIV -Habukkuk chapter 3.   

 

 

The Bible is the most despised, derided, denied, disputed, dissected, and debated book in all of history. It has been under attack for centuries, for everything you can imagine. Yet the Bible is still the most read, most published, and most translated book in the world. And, most importantly, it’s still changing the lives of those who apply what it teaches. -Rick Warren  

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. -KJV Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.   -NIV Psalm 90

One cheering word, poor lost sinner, for thee! You think you must not come to God because you are vile. Now, there is not a saint living on earth but has been made to feel that he is vile. If Job, and Isaiah, and Paul were all obliged to say "I am vile," oh, poor sinner, wilt thou be ashamed to join in the same confession? If divine grace does not eradicate all sin from the believer, how dost thou hope to do it thyself? and if God loves his people while they are yet vile, dost thou think thy vileness will prevent his loving thee? Believe on Jesus, thou outcast of the world's society! Jesus calls thee, and such as thou art. -Charles Haddon Spurgeon

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.    -King James Version ...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. - NIV -from Ephesians 3 . *A love which surpasses knowledge. *A spiritual fullness.  Thank you God. God is good.

"The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wishes me to do; the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die." -Soren Kierkegaard  

Floods did but lift him heavenward, and winds did but waft him on his way. Outside of the ark all was ruin, but inside all was rest and peace.  - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"...now the righteousness of God without the Mosaic Law is manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jeus." - Romans 21-27 .  King James Version

Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.   -from 1 Thessalonians. Brotherhood is so important, community, the household of faith, and the poor, and the widows, and the downtrodden, and the otherwise forgotten, the meek, the humble.   

Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord , and thou art exalted as head above all.    1 Chronicles 29

 

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.   Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.   Praise him. I needed a word of encouragement tonight, and it came straight from the intercessor. -from 2018, looking in the Parallel Classic Commentary on the Psalms.

A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.   -KJV A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger . -NIV Proverbs 15   Indeed, we hold to the adage that the truth is the best course, but so often, the truth is barked in anger, intending to hurt someone;  the same words, often with a different tact, have less of a hurtful result. The truth, however hurtful, can be much less hurtful if spoken in love.   

If you've found mercy, or received mercy, don't you think it feels too good--its too pleasant-- to just keep to oneself? Share it. Share the blessing. Be a blessing.

Webster's Unabridged Dictionary lists 550,000 words. And it is a solemn and beautiful thought that in our worship of God there sometimes rush up from the depths of our souls feelings that all this wealth of words is not sufficient to express. To be articulate at certain times we are compelled to fall back upon "Oh!" or "O!"—a primitive exclamatory sound that is hardly a word at all and that scarcely admits of a definition.   -AW Tozer

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. -Revelation 21