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Augustine of Hippo
Incomprehensible and immutable is the love of God. For it was not after
we were reconciled to him by the blood of his Son that he began to love
us, but he loved us before the foundation of the world, that with his
only begotten Son we too might be sons of God before we were anything
at all.
Psalm 66:18 - "If I
regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."
Do you know what quiet time is?
Fellowship with a holy God.
The reason that some folks do not have a quiet time is they feel uncomfortable.
The reason they feel uncomfortable is that they don't want to look God in the
face.
The reason they don't want to look God in the face is because they have sin in
their life.
What did Adam do after he had sinned and God came walking in the Garden?
Adam fled.
Before that, Adam had quiet time with God, didn't he?
They had boundless, unending fellowship.
But when there was sin in Adam's life, he did not want to look God in the face.
Are you reluctant to have a quiet time? Maybe it's because there is sin
in your life.
Ask God to shine His
light into you. Then wait for His answer so you can repent.
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to
my path." ~Psalm 119:105
In all of us there is an inner consciousness that tells of God, an inner
voice that speaks to our hearts. It is a voice that speaks to us intimately,
personally, in a time of quiet mediation.
It is like a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. We can reach out into
the
darkness and figuratively touch the hand of God.
Deep down inside each of us is the fundamental idea of God.
We can find this great reality deep down within us.
And as we find it, it can change our whole attitude toward life.
"Put these things into
practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may
see your progress. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching;
continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and
your hearers." ~1 Timothy 4:15-16
Our true measure of success in life is the
measure of spiritual progress
that we have revealed in our lives. Others should be able to see a
demonstration of God's will in our lives. The measure of God's will that
those around us have seen worked out in our daily living is the
measure of our true success. We can do our best to be a demonstration each
day of the power of God in human lives, and example of the working out of
the grace of God in our hearts.
"May the God of hope fill
you with all joy and peace in believing, so
that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
~Romans 15:13
We can keep ourselves like an empty vessel for
God to fill.
We can keep pouring out ourselves to help others so that God can keep filling us
up
with God's spirit. The more we give, the more we will have for ourselves.
God will see that we are kept filled as long as we are giving to others.
But if we selfishly try to keep all for ourselves, we are soon blocked off
from God, our source of supply, and we can become stagnant.
To be clear, a lake must have an inflow and an outflow.
"You show me the path of
life. In your presence there is fullness of
joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore." ~Psalm 16:11
Faith is the messenger that bears our prayers to God. Prayer can be
like incense, rising ever higher and higher. The prayer of faith is the
prayer of trust that feels the presence of God which it rises to meet.
It can be sure of some response from God. We can pray a prayer of
thanks to God every day for God's grace, which has kept us on the right
way and allowed us to start living the good life. So we can pray to God
with faith and trust and gratitude.
A. W. Pink
We cannot grasp the true meaning of the divine holiness by thinking of
someone or something very pure and then raising the concept to the
highest degree we are capable of. God's holiness is not simply the best
we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness.
It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and
unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear god's power
and admire His wisdom, but His holiness he cannot even imagine.
"If
you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you
wish, and it will be done for you." ~John 15:7
"Ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." God has
unlimited power. There is no limit to what God's power can do in human
hearts. We can will to have God's power and we can ask God for it.
God's power can be blocked by our indifference to it. We can go along
our own selfish way without calling on God's help, and we receive no
power. But when we trust in God, we can will to have the power we need.
When we sincerely ask God for it, we can receive it abundantly.
Mal 1:14b-2:2b, 8-10
A great King am I, says the LORD of hosts,
and my name will be feared among the nations.
And now, O priests, this commandment is for you:
If you do not listen,
if you do not lay it to heart,
to give glory to my name, says the LORD of hosts,
I will send a curse upon you
and of your blessing I will make a curse.
You have turned aside from the way,
and have caused many to falter by your instruction;
you have made void the covenant of Levi,
says the LORD of hosts.
I, therefore, have made you contemptible
and base before all the people,
since you do not keep my ways,
but show partiality in your decisions.
Have we not all the one father?
Has not the one God created us?
Why then do we break faith with one another,
violating the covenant of our fathers?
J. C. Ryle
Christ would have lived, and taught, and preached, and prophesied, and
wrought miracles in vain, if he had not crowned all by dying for our
sins as our substitute! His death was our life. His death was the
payment of our debt to God. Without his death we should have been of
all creatures most miserable.
"There is an appointed time
for everything, and a time for every affair
under the heavens." ~Ecclesiastes 3:1
There is a time for everything. We can learn to wait
patiently until
the right time comes. Easy does it. We can waste our energies in
trying to get things before we are ready to have them, before we have
earned the right to receive them. A great lesson we have to learn is
how to wait with patience. We can believe that all our life is a
preparation for something better
to come when we have earned the right to it. We can believe that God
has a plan for our lives and that this plan will work out in the
fullness of time.
"Follow your bliss."
-- Joseph Campbell
"People begin to become successful the minute
they decide to be."
-- Harvey Mackay
"Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid
that it will never begin."
-- Grace Hansen
"The best and most beautiful things in the
world cannot be seen or even touched.
They must be felt with the heart."
-- Helen Keller
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