No pen, no words, no image can express to you the loveliness of my only, only Lord Jesus.

What a privilege to have God as our God! What a happy condition when nothing can hurt you! If one loses his name, it is written in the book of life. If he loses his liberty, his conscience is free. If he loses his estate, he owns the pearl of great price. If he meets a storm, he has a harbour; God is his God, and heaven is his heaven. If God is our God, our soul is safe. It is hidden in the promises, in the wounds of Christ and in the decrees of God. If God is our God, then all that is in God is ours. How happy is he who not only inherits the gifts of God, but God himself! In his wisdom, he is ours to teach us, his power shall support us, and his mercy shall save us. God is an infinite ocean of blessedness, and there is enough in him to fill us. He give us peace in trouble, and when there is a storm without, he will make music within. The world gives trouble in peace, but God gives peace in trouble.  -Thomas Watson

I do this thing for God, not for success in the work, or for happiness in my soul or for anything else. I am here for God. -Lilias Trotter (1853-1928), missionary to the Arab people of North Africa

Communion with Christ is a certain cure for every ill. Whether it be the woodworm of sadness or the smothering impact of earthly treasure, close fellowship with the Lord Jesus will take bitterness from the one and excess from the other. Live near to Jesus, Christian, and it is a matter of secondary importance whether you live on the mountain of honor or in the valley of humiliation. Living near to Jesus, you are covered with the wings of God, and underneath you are the everlasting arms. Let nothing keep you from that hallowed communion that is the unique privilege of a life hidden in Christ . Do not be content with the occasional meeting, but always seek to retain His company, for only in His presence will you find either comfort or safety. Jesus should not be for us a friend who calls us now and then, but one with whom we are in constant touch. You have a difficult road before you; Make sure, pilgrim, that you do not go without your guide. You have to pass through the fiery furnace, do not enter unless, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you have the Son of God to be your companion. You have to storm the walls of your corrupt heart; Do not attempt it until, like Joshua, you have seen the Captain of the Lord’s host, with His sword drawn in His hand.  -Charles Spurgeon

The great thing with unhappy times is to take them bit by bit, hour by hour, like an illness. It is seldom the present, the exact present, that is unbearable. Remember one is given strength to bear what happens to one, but not the 100 and 1 different things that might happen.   -C.S. Lewis, Letter to An American Lady

This was part of my reading this morning and I’m still chewing on it:

Question: ‘If God’s providence ordains all things that come to pass according to the immutable law of his purpose, then what necessity is there for prayer? We cannot by our most fervent prayers alter God’s decrees. Our prayers cannot hasten or ripen his blessings before their time, or prevent or prolong the time fixed to bring afflictions to pass upon us.’ Divine providence does not only ordain what effects shall come to pass, but also by what means, what causes, and in what order they shall flow. God has appointed not only the effect itself, but the means to accomplish it. Prayer is a means to bring to pass that which God has determined shall be. We do not pray out of hope to alter God’s eternal purposes; but we pray to obtain that which God has ordained to be received by our prayers. We ask, that we may be fit to receive what God has from all eternity determined to give by prayer, and not otherwise. Therefore, when we lie under any affliction, or if we are pinched by poverty, prayer is necessary because, as God by his providence has brought these things upon us, so likewise possibly the same providence has also determined not to remove them until we earnestly and fervently pray for our deliverance. Prayer does not incline God to bestow that which before he was not resolved to give, but prepares us to receive that which God will not give otherwise.  -Ezekiel Hopkins

TRUTH IN JESUS

Life-Giving God,
Quicken me to call upon thy name,
for my mind is ignorant,
my thoughts vagrant,
my affections earthly,
my heart unbelieving,
and only thy Spirit can help my infirmities.
I approach thee as Father and Friend,
my portion for ever,
my exceeding joy,
my strength of heart.
I believe in thee as the God of nature,
the ordainer of providence,
the sender of Jesus my Saviour.
My guilty fears discourage an approach to thee,
but I praise thee for the blessed news
that Jesus reconciles thee to me.
May the truth that is in him
illuminate me in all that is dark,
establish in me all that is wavering,
comfort in me all that is wretched,
accomplish in me all that is of thy goodness,
and glorify in me the name of Jesus.
I pass through a vale of tears
but bless thee for the opening gate of glory at its end.
Enable me to realize as mine the better, heavenly country.
Prepare me for every part of my pilgrimage.
Uphold my steps by thy Word.
Let no iniquity dominate me.
Teach me that Christ cannot be the way
if I am the end,
that he cannot be my Redeemer
if I am my own saviour,
that there can be no true union with him
while the creature has my heart,
that faith accepts him as Redeemer and Lord
or not at all.

from The Valley of Vision

Cheerful holiness is the most forcible of sermons, but the Lord m ust give it to you. Seek it this morning before you go into the world. When it is the Lord’s work in which we rejoice, we need not be afraid of being too glad. -Charles H. Spurgeon

In seeking truth, remember it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths that make them sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee’s brief touching of the flower, but her abiding upon the flower that draws out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.  -Thomas Brooks

What is my vision of God’s purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish—His purpose is the process itself. What He desires for me is that I see “Him walking on the sea” with no shore, no success, nor goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is all right because I see “Him walking on the sea” (Mark 6:49). It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God.

God’s training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.  -Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Thousands on every side are continually trying to do the thing which Christ pronounces impossible. They are endeavoring to be friends of the world and friends of God at the same time. Their consciences are so far enlightened, that they feel they must have some religion. But their affections are so chained down to earthly things, that they never come up to the mark of being true Christians. And hence they live in a state of constant discomfort. They have too much religion to be happy in the world, and they have too much of the world in their hearts to be happy in their religion.  – J.C. Ryle