I read my devotional this morning and I really thought that it was amazing so I wanted to post it on here so that maybe it will bless someone else like it blessed me! :)
It's from "Spurgeon's Most Popular Works: Morning & Evening" by Charles Spurgeon.
"Salvation is of the Lord" - Jonah 2:9
"Salvation is the work of God. It is He alone who quickens the soul "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1), and it is He also who maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 1:8). "Salvation is of the Lord." If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful. If I have graces, they are God's gift to me. If I hold on in a consistent life, it is because He upholds me with His hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own; but wherein I act uprightly, that is of God, wholly and completely. If I have repulsed a spiritual enemy, the Lord's strength fortified my arm. Do I live a consecrated life before men? It is not I, but Christ who lives in me. Am I sanctified? I did not cleanse myself; God's Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I weaned from the world? I am weaned by God's chastisements sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great Instructor teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly art. I find in God all that I need, but I find in myself nothing but sin and misery. "He only is my rock and my salvation" (Psalm 62:2, 6). Do I feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the Lord made it food for my soul and helped me to feed on it. Do I live on the manna that comes down from heaven? What is that manna but Jesus Christ Himself incarnate, whose body and whose blood I eat and drink? Am I continually recieving fresh increase of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help comes from heaven's hills. Without Jesus, I can do nothing. As a branch cannot bring forth fruit unless it "abide[s] in the vine" (John 15:4), no more can I, unless I abide in Him. What Jonah learned in the great deep, let me learn this morning in my place of prayer: "Salvation is of the LORD." "
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
This Heart of Mine
Today the Lord has brought me to the subject of my heart. I had been thinking that my struggle was with my thoughts and just simply being distracted by lots of other things and that was what was keeping me away from God. Today He revealed to me that the problem is deeper than just my thoughts because it is centered on matters of what's in my heart.
"For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Matthew 12:34
"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45
"For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly." Mark 7:21-22
Simply the fact that I was thinking about these things showed that they held a high place in my heart. I could try to ignore them and pretend that they weren't really there but I feel like that is almost as crippling as dwelling on them for extended periods of time. Because whether I confront them or ignore them they're still there. I've come to see that it's much better to confront these things because they show where I am placing my hope.
"As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man." Proverbs 27:19
What do I trust in? What do I place my hope in? What do I look to for satisfaction? If the answer is not God then there is something wrong. Though I like to say that all of those questions are answered with "God" I know that if the words I speak and the things that I think reflect what's in my heart then the answer isn't always God.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there you heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21
I want my treasure to be in heaven because I want my heart to be in heaven! I desperately want to say that the Lord is my first love and my greatest love! I want to be able to say that my hearts cry is like Pauls,
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead." Philippians 3:7-11
I was searching through the Bible for verses about the heart and some that really struck me and made me want to press in more include:
"Turn my heart towards your statutes and not towards selfish gain." Psalm 119:36
"Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." Psalm 86:4
"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12
"I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands." Psalm 119:10
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10
"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14
"Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and mind." Psalm 26:2
"And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him he will be found by you..." 1 Chronicles 28:9
"For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Matthew 12:34
"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45
"For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly." Mark 7:21-22
Simply the fact that I was thinking about these things showed that they held a high place in my heart. I could try to ignore them and pretend that they weren't really there but I feel like that is almost as crippling as dwelling on them for extended periods of time. Because whether I confront them or ignore them they're still there. I've come to see that it's much better to confront these things because they show where I am placing my hope.
"As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man." Proverbs 27:19
What do I trust in? What do I place my hope in? What do I look to for satisfaction? If the answer is not God then there is something wrong. Though I like to say that all of those questions are answered with "God" I know that if the words I speak and the things that I think reflect what's in my heart then the answer isn't always God.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there you heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21
I want my treasure to be in heaven because I want my heart to be in heaven! I desperately want to say that the Lord is my first love and my greatest love! I want to be able to say that my hearts cry is like Pauls,
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead." Philippians 3:7-11
I was searching through the Bible for verses about the heart and some that really struck me and made me want to press in more include:
"Turn my heart towards your statutes and not towards selfish gain." Psalm 119:36
"Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." Psalm 86:4
"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12
"I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands." Psalm 119:10
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10
"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14
"Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and mind." Psalm 26:2
"And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him he will be found by you..." 1 Chronicles 28:9
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Psalm 89:14-16
"Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presences, O LORD. They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness."
In the book I'm reading, "31 Days of Drawing Near to God: Resting Secruely in His Delight" by Ruth Myers, she gives a list of scriptures out of which we're supposed to choose one to meditate on. I chose Psalm 89: 14-16 today because I felt like it really exemplified my desire to know God more! I love that the person who acclaims God and who walks in the light of His presence rejoices all day long and exults in God's righteousness!
One of the first things I did when I was reading this verse was look up what "acclaim" and "exult" mean. I was interested to see exactly what the dictionary definition was because, I don't know if this makes me vocabularically-challenged (nice word huh?), I didn't really know what those words meant haha.
acclaim: "to welcome with shouts or sounds of joy and approval; to acknowledge publicly the excellence of (a person or thing)"
exult: "to show or feel lively or triumphant joy; rejoice exceedingly; to be joyful especially because of triumph or success."
I think when you put those definitions into the scripture it really makes it that much more amazing! To know that those who welcome God with shouts of joy and approval and who walk in the light of His presence are blessed! And that by doing such things they are able to rejoice in His name and rejoice exceedingly and triumphantly in His righteousness! That is so cool!
I love it! :) It's so good! I want to be the person who publicly acknowledges the excellence of God! How cool is it that we get the opportunity to do that?! So awesome! I want to always be walking in the light of His presence and I want to be able to rejoice in Him and His righteousness every day! That's the cry of my heart! :)
Another Notable Quote:
"God is so vastly wonderful, so utterly and completely delightful, that He can without anything other than Himself meet and overflow the deepest demands of our total nature, mysterious and deep as that nature is." -A.W. Tozer
God can meet all of our needs and satisfactions. Ruth Myer wrote, "This is where we find the kind of love we most deeply need-- not in human relationships, but in God. If we want real love, ideal love, perfect love, God's heart is where to find it. It's the only love big enough to meet the deep needs in your life and mine."
A good song by J.J. Heller that I feel is a perfect song for the day! :)
Lyrics:
I don't need a thing
My good shepherd brings me all
You are all I need
You let me catch my breath
Even in the valley of death
You are all I need
All I need to be complete is your love
Your blood that covers me
You lift up my head
You provide the wine and bread
You are all I need
There's no need to fear
Even with my enemies here
You are all I need
All I need to be complete is your love
Your blood that covers me
Goodness and mercy are following me
You are all that I need
You make a home for me
With pastures of green as far as I see
You are all I need
All I need to be complete is your love
Your blood that covers me
Monday, February 7, 2011
Your Love is Extravagant
Recently I have been dwelling on the love of God! The Lord has showed me ways in which I have created idols in my life and He has brought me to a place where I need to dethrone those things. He's also been the one to sustain me and help me to cast down those idols.
I have started reading a book by Ruth Myers called, "31 Days of Drawing Near to God: Resting Securely in His Delight" and I have decided to really hold my thoughts captive and dwell on HIS love through these 31 days. A "fast of thoughts" if you would. So far it has been really good and I have just been amazed by how selfish my thoughts are constantly! It's amazing that unless you are really focusing on it you just don't even think about it.
Some notable excerpts from the book that I read today that were super awesome were:
"Purge me, Lord, of my follies; an empty cup let me be,
Waiting only Thy blessing, hungry only for Thee.
Can even the Lord pour blessing into a cup that is full?
Put treasure into a locked hand, be He ever so bountiful?
Empty me, Lord, and make me hungry only for Thee.
Only Thy bread once tasted can ever satisfy me."
"May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all of God's children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God himself." -Ephesians 3:17-19
God's love is extravgant! He is the only on who can satisfy the deepest desires of our souls.
Just two weeks ago I was conversing with God about things that I thought would satisfy my heart. It was only after I said that I thought those things would satisfy me that I realized how stupid I was for thinking that! I couldn't believe I didn't see it sooner! God spoke so clearly that I should try filling those parts of my heart with Him, and since then I have been able to experience to an amazing degree His love and joy! It is so true that only the Lord can bring your heart true satisfaction!
I feel like my hearts desire these past few days has been "keep pressing in". I want to keep pressing into God so that I can know Him more and find my true satisfaction in Him! Let me tell you, it's a sweet place to be! :)
I have started reading a book by Ruth Myers called, "31 Days of Drawing Near to God: Resting Securely in His Delight" and I have decided to really hold my thoughts captive and dwell on HIS love through these 31 days. A "fast of thoughts" if you would. So far it has been really good and I have just been amazed by how selfish my thoughts are constantly! It's amazing that unless you are really focusing on it you just don't even think about it.
Some notable excerpts from the book that I read today that were super awesome were:
"Purge me, Lord, of my follies; an empty cup let me be,
Waiting only Thy blessing, hungry only for Thee.
Can even the Lord pour blessing into a cup that is full?
Put treasure into a locked hand, be He ever so bountiful?
Empty me, Lord, and make me hungry only for Thee.
Only Thy bread once tasted can ever satisfy me."
"May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all of God's children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God himself." -Ephesians 3:17-19
God's love is extravgant! He is the only on who can satisfy the deepest desires of our souls.
Just two weeks ago I was conversing with God about things that I thought would satisfy my heart. It was only after I said that I thought those things would satisfy me that I realized how stupid I was for thinking that! I couldn't believe I didn't see it sooner! God spoke so clearly that I should try filling those parts of my heart with Him, and since then I have been able to experience to an amazing degree His love and joy! It is so true that only the Lord can bring your heart true satisfaction!
I feel like my hearts desire these past few days has been "keep pressing in". I want to keep pressing into God so that I can know Him more and find my true satisfaction in Him! Let me tell you, it's a sweet place to be! :)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Thoughts
I was reading through the Psalms recently and I started reading Psalm 10 just now and this verse really hit me:
I was really struck by the second part of this verse, "In all his thoughts there is no room for God." This really made me think about what I think about. It's sobering to ask yourself, is there room in your thoughts for God? I think about the things that I spend a lot of time thinking about which aren't even worthy of the time that I do spend thinking about them because in the scheme of things they don't really matter!
I want my thoughts to be constantly about God. I don't want there to be no room for Him. I don't want to be the wicked man whose pride doesn't see the Lord. I want to devote my life to thinking about and spending time with God because He's worth it! He's worth every thought. And the time spent thinking of Him, about Him, meditating on who He is, wont be in vain! Dwelling on those things will bring fruit and knowledge and wisdom and peace and revelation!
It's easy to give other things a place of higher honor in our thoughts than God. It's hard sometimes to even recognize that we're doing it! Unfortunately that's when those things become idols. That's why it's so important to constantly be asking God to search our hearts and our minds so that He can reveal to us when we've strayed from Him.
I'd encourage you to ask the question, "is there room in my thoughts for God?" and allow the Lord to reveal those things, if they're there, that take up most of the space in your thoughts and steal away time with Him.
"In his pride the wicked does not see him. In all his thoughts there is no room for God." Psalm 10:4
I was really struck by the second part of this verse, "In all his thoughts there is no room for God." This really made me think about what I think about. It's sobering to ask yourself, is there room in your thoughts for God? I think about the things that I spend a lot of time thinking about which aren't even worthy of the time that I do spend thinking about them because in the scheme of things they don't really matter!
I want my thoughts to be constantly about God. I don't want there to be no room for Him. I don't want to be the wicked man whose pride doesn't see the Lord. I want to devote my life to thinking about and spending time with God because He's worth it! He's worth every thought. And the time spent thinking of Him, about Him, meditating on who He is, wont be in vain! Dwelling on those things will bring fruit and knowledge and wisdom and peace and revelation!
It's easy to give other things a place of higher honor in our thoughts than God. It's hard sometimes to even recognize that we're doing it! Unfortunately that's when those things become idols. That's why it's so important to constantly be asking God to search our hearts and our minds so that He can reveal to us when we've strayed from Him.
I'd encourage you to ask the question, "is there room in my thoughts for God?" and allow the Lord to reveal those things, if they're there, that take up most of the space in your thoughts and steal away time with Him.
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