Amos 5

Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.  -From Amos 5, The Bible Gateway verse of the day.

I John 4:9

 

Matthew chapter 6. Jesus on Prayer and Fasting.

"...when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

"But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

-Matthew ch 6 

Bible Study Tools Verse of the Day

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. -Colossians 3:12-13

spurgoen on suffering.

O child of suffering, be thou patient; God has not passed thee over in his providence. He who is the feeder of sparrows, will also furnish you with what you need. Sit not down in despair; hope on, hope ever. Take up the arms of faith against a sea of trouble, and your opposition shall yet end your distresses. There is One who careth for you. His eye is fixed on you, his heart beats with pity for your woe, and his hand omnipotent shall yet bring you the needed help. The darkest cloud shall scatter itself in showers of mercy.  

-Charles Spurgeon

Bible Gateway verse of the day Jan 5 2023

Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.  -Isaiah 1

Ephesians 6. Not the armor and spirit-battle stuff.

utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.  -Ephesians 6

Ah, the mystery of the Gospel, that God's will is so far more perfect than human mind can comprehend.  Remember too, the seed of the Gospel, some would fall on weak earth, and other on utterly stony, infertile earth, and in either case, it would be rootless and weak, destitute of belief.

But God's will as being above man, think of the Calvinistic proofs, how those seeking to disprove tie themselves up in knots to knock down Calvin's doctrine.  It seems to always come down that Calvin limits God, and limits the redemptive work of the Cross, but nowhere in Calvin's doctrine does it say the blood is not capable of redeeming all, simply that God doesn't plan to redeem all.

Think of Christ, speaking of the stony soil of some hearts, where faith would not live.  Even Christ knew some would not believe, and during his day, there were hard real sins, people risen from the dead, among other miracles, and still, some would not believe.

Fast forward to our day, in which "some would not believe", and conquest made against love and peace, the lack of miracles, and the Bible had lamented that people only wanted signs, but blessed moreso are those that have not seen, yet believed.

The Gospel is thusly a mystery because it is not readily apparent to all, but probably to most of the hearers, most of the readers, that redemptive work of the cross lays its shadow across the hearts of the faithful and spurns them to pick up their own crosses and give.

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