WRITE ON WATER

Great Quote from C.H.Spurgeon ~ You write His mercies on the water, but your own trials you engrave on granite; these things ought not to be.

COMPLETE IN CHRIST

Oh desponding Christian, is not your grief caused by looking within yourself? Is not that miserable feeling of failure and disappointment, caused by your strange fixation upon your hollow heart of iniquity? You look within, hoping to find something good, something pure, something precious, something clean--but what do you see? Nothing but sin! To stare into one's self--is to stare into a bottomless pit of despair and hopelessness! "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked!" Jeremiah 17:9

Will we ever learn this? There is nothing within us to give us hope, rest, or peace. Have we ever found anything within us that gave us joy? Of course not! Then why do we continue to stare into the darkness? All that we see within is foul, ugly, and grim! One glance within ought to sicken us. We would sooner find diamonds in a dunghill or roses growing in a sewer--than find goodness dwelling within!

In ourselves we are sinful, guilty, and vile! But bless God forever! Our standing before God is not in ourselves; it's in Christ! He is . . .
our Salvation,
our Righteousness,
our Hope,
our Holiness, and
our Acceptance with God!

Change the direction of your gaze--and look up! Stop staring into the empty void of your heart--and fix your eyes upon Jesus your Lord, in whom all fullness dwells. Our hope is not within, but without, seated at the right hand of the Father! Lift up your head that is bowed down with guilt and shame! Behold Christ your Savior! Behold your glorious Redeemer! Bid sorrow goodbye and fear depart! Rejoice, for "You are complete in Him!"

Believers are perfect in Christ. To be complete in Christ is to be perfect in Christ. Perfect is not something that we will be, or strive to be--but something that we are right now, by virtue of our eternal union with God's darling Son.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are, by the free grace of God, complete in Christ our Savior!
We lack nothing!
All that He is--we are in Him!
All that He has--we have in Him!
All that He has done--we've done in Him!
We possess the infinite fullness of eternal life and everlasting salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord!

We are completely righteous in Him!
We are completely holy in Him!
We are completely forgiven in Him!
We are completely accepted in Him!
We are completely, everlastingly, perfectly sinless in Him!

"Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith" Hebrews 12:2

~Frank Hall

IT IS THE DUTY

"It is the duty of God’s servants to warn men of their danger, to point out that the way of rebellion against God leads to certain destruction and to call upon them to throw down the weapons of their revolt and flee from the wrath to come. It is their duty to teach men that they must turn from their idols and serve the living God, otherwise they will eternally perish. It is their duty to rebuke wickedness wherever it be found and to declare that the wages of sin is death.

This will not make for their popularity, for it will condemn and irritate the wicked, and such plain speaking will seriously annoy them. Those who expose hypocrites, resist tyrants, oppose the wicked, are ever viewed by them as troublemakers. But as Christ declared, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” ( Matthew 5:11,12)."

~ Arthur Pink, "The Life of Elijah"

CHRIST WILL BUILD HIS CHURCH

Christ Will Build His Church

Forever let us thank God that the building of the one true Church is laid on the shoulders of One who is mighty. Let us bless God that it does not rest upon man. Let us bless God that it does not depend on missionaries, ministers, or committees.

Christ is the almighty Builder. He will carry on His work, though nations and visible Churches do not know their duty. Christ will never fail. That which He has undertaken He will certainly accomplish! ~ J.C. Ryle

Merciful High Priest

"Let us take comfort in the thought that the Lord Jesus does not cast off His believing people because of failures and imperfections. He knows what they are. He takes them, as the husband takes the wife--with all their blemishes and defects; and once joined to Him by faith, He will never leave them. He is a merciful and compassionate High-priest. It is His glory to pass over the transgressions of His people, and to cover their many sins.

He knew what... they were before conversion--wicked, guilty, and defiled; yet He loved them.

He knows what they will be after conversion--weak, erring, and frail; yet He loves them.

He has undertaken to save them, notwithstanding all their shortcomings--and what He has undertaken, He will perform.

Let us learn to pass a charitable judgment on the conduct of professing believers. Let us not set them down in a low place, and say they have no grace--because we see much weakness and corruption in them. Let us remember that our Master in Heaven bears with their infirmities--and let us try to bear with them too.

The Church is little better than a great hospital. We ourselves are all, more or less, weak and infirm--and all daily need the skillful treatment of the heavenly Physician. There will be no complete cures until the resurrection day!"

J.C. Ryle

Glory in Nothing but Christ

"Do not glory in your own faith, your own feelings, your own knowledge, or your own diligence. Glory in nothing but Christ." ~ J.C. Ryle

Mrs. Prest, Foxes Book of Martyrs

This is about "Mrs. Prest" from Foxes Book of Martyrs. I am focusing on : the joy and cheer of her face as though preparing for a wedding, despite facing death at the stake.

To the disgrace of Mr. Blackston, treasurer of the church, he would often send for this poor martyr from prison, to make sport for him and a woman whom he kept; putting religious questions to her, and turning her answers into ridicule. This done, he sent her back to her wretched dungeon, while he battened upon the good things of this world.

There was perhaps something simply ludicrous in the form of Mrs. Prest, as she was of a very short stature, thick set, and about fifty-four years of age; but her countenance was cheerful and lively, as if prepared for the day of her marriage with the Lamb.

To mock at her form was an indirect accusation of her Creator, who framed her after the fashion he liked best, and gave her a mind that far excelled the transient endowments of perishable flesh. When she was offered money, she rejected it, "because (said she) I am going to a city where money bears no mastery, and while I am here God has promised to feed me."

When sentence was read, condemning her to the flames, she lifted up her voice and praised God, adding, "This day have I found that which I have long sought." When they tempted her to recant,—"That will I not, (said she) God forbid that I should lose the life eternal, for this carnal and short life. I will never turn from my heavenly husband to my earthly husband; from the fellowship of angels to mortal children; and if my husband and children be faithful, then am I theirs. God is my father, God is my mother, God is my sister, my brother, my kinsman; God is my friend, most faithful."

Being delivered to the sheriff, she was led by the officer to the place of execution, without the walls of Exeter, called Sothenhey, where again the superstitious priests assaulted her.

While they were tying her to the stake, she continued earnestly to exclaim "God be merciful to me, a sinner!" Patiently enduring the devouring conflagration, she was consumed to ashes, and thus ended a life which in unshaken fidelity to the cause of Christ, was not surpassed by that of any preceding martyr.

GOD IS AWARE OF MANY MORE

"Even if we were carefully to examine just one minute of our lives, we would find ourselves worthy of eternal death. Indeed, each one of us would discover ourselves to be sinners, not in just one area but a hundred thousand; not due to some one fault but to countless millions. Now if even we ourselves acknowledge that we are full of so many blemishes, surely God is aware of many more than we could ever perceive, because he sees more deeply than we can, as John writes in his epistle (l John 3:20). Thus, the case is settled. The verdict is that no one can be justified by the law; justification is through faith alone."... Calvin

He will hear His people.

The way my mind works, on one level...it is a very audacious thing to pray.  God is holy, we are sinful, who am I to approach God and think that I will be heard.  On the other hand, it is a very audacious thing not to pray.  Jesus is full of grace, Jesus is my righteousness, how can I possibly think that God will not hear me considering what Christ has done to forgive me, cleanse me, restore me, make me a new creation, and knowing my life is hid in Christ.  Isn't the resurrection of Jesus proof that the Father accepts the life, death, and work of Christ on my behalf, and isn't the resurrection and ascension of Christ proof that the Father will thus hear me when I pray.  Surely God will not resurrect Christ then turn away the very person that he purchased, pardoned, and cleansed.  I will be heard because I have an Holy and Perfect Advocate, I will be heard because I have a High Priest seated in power and glory. 

HOW HIS HEART IS CONSTITUTED

“Those speak foolishly who ascribe their anger or their impatience to such as offend them or to tribulation. Tribulation does not make people impatient, but proves that they are impatient. So everyone may learn from tribulation how his heart is constituted.” - Martin Luther

I am going to add here, not only anger or impatience, but possibly even "ongoing" sorrow and depression.  Yes we should be grieved for a short season at things;  but we should not have "ongoing" sorrow and depression.  Tribulation once again is displaying how our heart is constituted.  It shows we are not finding our Joy in Christ: His grace and His glory that He has accomplished.

DOCTRINE OF PRAYER

If your knowledge of doctrine does not make you a great man of prayer, you had better examine yourself again.
~ D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

LOVE NOT THE WORLD

(Horatius Bonar) 

"Do not love the world or anything in the world." 1 John 2:15

WHY?

1. Because the gain of it, is the loss of the soul--Matthew 16:25-26.
 
2. Because its friendship is enmity to God--James 4:4.
 
3. Because it did not know Christ--John 1:10; 17:25.
 
4. Because it hates Christ--John 7:7; 15:18.
 
5. Because the Holy Spirit has forbidden us--1 John 2:15.
 
6. Because Christ did not pray for it--John 17:9.
 
7. Because Christ's people do not belong to it--John 17:16.
 
8. Because its Prince is Satan--John 13:31; 16:11.
 
9. Because Christ's kingdom is not of it--John 18:36.
 
10. Because its wisdom is foolishness--1 Corinthians 1:20.
 
11. Because Christ does not belong to it--John 8:23.
 
12. Because it is condemned--1 Corinthians 11:32.
 
13. Because it is passing away--1 Corinthians 7:31.
 
14. Because it slew Christ--James 5:6; Matthew 21:39.
 
15. Because it is crucified to us--Galatians 6:14.
 
16. Because we are crucified to it--Galatians 6:14.
 
17. Because it is the seat of wickedness--2 Peter 1:4; 1 John 5:19.
 
18. Because its god is the evil one--2 Corinthians 4:4.
 

HAPPINESS FROM GOD

While all men seek after happiness, scarcely one in a hundred looks for it from God.
John Calvin

INVETERATE HOSTILITY

"When the Gospel is presented to the sinner, not only is his understanding completely ignorant of its glorious contents, but the will is utterly perverse against it. Not only is there no desire for Christ, but there is inveterate hostility against Him. Nothing but the almighty power of God can overcome the enmity of the carnal mind."

~ Arthur Pink, "Spiritual Union and Communion"

NO CAUSE TO BOAST

Christian, though you do not break forth into a flame of scandal, yet you have no cause to boast, for there is much sin raked up in the embers of your nature. You have the root of bitterness in you, and would bear as hellish fruit as any, if God did not either curb you by His power, or change you by His grace.
--Thomas Watson--

SECULAR AFFAIRS

A true saint intermeddles with secular affairs, more out of necessity than choice.

-Thomas Watson-

HE LOVES TO LOVE US

The great God not only loves His saints, but He loves to love them.

Jerry Bridges.

HE LOVES US

O saints, do but let your thoughts dwell upon the love of Christ, who passed by angels and thought of you; who was wounded that, out of his wounds, the balm of Gilead might come to heal you; who leaped into the sea of his Father's wrath, to save you from drowning in the lake of fire! Think of this unparalleled love, which sets the angels wondering—and see if it will not affect your hearts and cause tears to flow forth!

-Thomas Watson-

DO WE THINK OF GOD

1. God thinks on us every morning; his mercies are "new every morning" (Lam. 3:23). He gives us night-mercies, he rocks us asleep every night: "So he gives his beloved sleep" (Psalm 127:2). And if we awaken, he gives "songs in the night" (Job 35:10). If God is thinking of us day and night, shall not we think of his Name? How can we forget a friend who is ever mindful of us? Though God is out of our sight, we are not out of his thoughts!
   -Thomas Watson-

TEN LOOKS AT CHRIST

For every look at your self, take ten looks at Christ.

-- Robert Murray McCheyne