some reading in the Revised Standard 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."

faith is the only way.

"...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

verse of the day for Bible Gateway: Romans 15:13

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.  -Romans 15(KJV)

Romans 8: all things work together for the good.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  -Romans 8 KJV

 

Saturday, November 5, 2022

For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. -Romans 13

God's own plan is everything, and God's own plan happens in his own time, at his command, and not ours.  That next big thing in your life, or the happy conclusion of something else, may be an object of our prayer; the believer sometimes has to be patient and wait on God.

And then the hopes of his heart are his.

Give to the site to help with ministry costs, if you want.

SELECTIONS:

I think the thrill of the Pagan stories and of romance may be due to the fact that they are mere beginnings—the first, faint whisper of the wind from beyond the world—while Christianity is the thing itself: and no thing, when you have really started on it, can have for you then and there just the same thrill as the first hint. For example, the experience of being married and bringing up a family cannot have the old bittersweet of first falling in love. But it is futile (and, I think, wicked) to go on trying to get the old thrill again: you must go forward and not backward. Any real advance will in its turn be ushered in by a new thrill, different from the old: doomed in its turn to disappear and to become in its turn a temptation to retrogression. -CS Lewis

Thou hast made this nation the home of the gospel; and when the foe has risen against her, thou hast shielded her. Help us to offer repeated songs for repeated deliverances. Grant us more and more a hatred of Antichrist, and hasten on the day of her entire extinction. Till then and ever, we believe the promise, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper." -Charles Spurgeon

If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. -Oswald Chambers

We never realize at the time what God is putting us through— we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize— “God has strengthened me and I didn’t even know it!” -Oswald Chambers

The LORD loves His chosen too well to be always angry with them. If He were to deal with us always as He does sometimes, we should faint outright and go down hopelessly to the gates of death. Courage, dear heart! The LORD will soon end His chiding. Bear up, for the LORD will bear you up and bear you through. He who made you knows how frail you are and how little you can bear. He will handle tenderly that which He has fashioned so delicately. Therefore, be not afraid because of the painful present, for it hastens to a happy future. He that smote you will heal you; His little wrath shall be followed by great mercies.  -Charles Spurgeon

Third of November verse of the day and purchase of the dear.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. -Romans 13

Give to the site if you want.
 

Now I do not think that Satan much cares to destroy us Christians physically. The soldier dead in battle who died performing some deed of heroism is not a great loss to the army but may rather be an object of pride to his country. On the other hand the soldier who cannot or will not fight but runs away at the sound of the first enemy gun is a shame to his family and a disgrace to his nation. So a Christian who dies in the faith represents no irreparable loss to the forces of righteousness on earth and certainly no victory for the devil.  -AW Tozer

Our God not only hears prayer but also loves to hear it. "He forgetteth not the cry of the humble." True, He regards not high looks and lofty words; He cares not for the pomp and pageantry of kings; He listens not to the swell of martial music; He regards not the triumph and pride of man; but wherever there is a heart big with sorrow, or a lip quivering with agony, or a deep groan, or a penitential sigh, the heart of Jehovah is open; He marks it down in the registry of His memory; He puts our prayers, like rose leaves, between the pages of His book of remembrance, and when the volume is opened at last, there shall be a precious fragrance springing up therefrom.  -Charles Spurgeon

 Devils may surround you on all sides, but the way upward is always open, and as long as that road is unobstructed, you will not fall into the enemy's hand. We can never be taken by blockade, escalade, mine, or storm, so long as heavenly succours can come down to us by Jacob's ladder to relieve us in the time of our necessities. Prayer is never out of season: in summer and in winter its merchandize is precious. Prayer gains audience with heaven in the dead of night, in the midst of business, in the heat of noonday, in the shades of evening.-Charles Spurgeon

Toys and trinkets are easily won, but the greatest things are greatly bought. -LB Cowman

 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me… Galatians 2:20

These words mean the breaking and collapse of my independence brought about by my own hands, and the surrendering of my life to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me, I must do it myself. God may bring me up to this point three hundred and sixty-five times a year, but He cannot push me through it. It means breaking the hard outer layer of my individual independence from God, and the liberating of myself and my nature into oneness with Him; not following my own ideas, but choosing absolute loyalty to Jesus. -Oswald Chambers

 

From Romans 8. Tragedy and ultimate Triumph through Grace.

 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31‭-‬39 KJV

 

That from Pastor Lawrence. 

And believe me, we could all be reminded, at any old time of the day, every day or every other day, just to keep the truth fresh in our minds and keep the gratitude flowing.

Key part in there might be that we do sometimes suffer for God's sake, but that does not negate grace, that does not defy gratitude, does not nullify gratitude.  Just like Job, even if we are made to suffer by the world, we do not forget God, nor do we discount Christ's sacrifice for the sake of our forgiveness.