Let all our employment be to know God; the more one knows Him, the more one desires to know Him. And as knowledge is commonly the measure of love, the deeper and more extensive our knowledge shall be, the greater will be our love; and if our love of God were great, we should love Him equally in pains and pleasures. Let us not amuse ourselves to seek or to love God for any sensible favors (how elevated soever) which He has or may do us. Such favors, though never so great, cannot bring us so near to God as faith does in one simple act. Let us seek Him often by faith: He is within us; seek Him not elsewhere. Are we not rude and deserve blame, if we leave Him alone, to busy ourselves about trifles which do not please Him and perhaps offend Him? It is to be feared these trifles will one day cost us dear. Let us begin to be devoted to Him in good earnest. Let us cast everything besides out of our hearts; He would possess them alone..." -Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. James 4:8 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. Hebrews 7:19 And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest: (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:) By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore. Hebrews7:20-28
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After the winter comes the spring
To show us again that in everything There's always a renewal divinely planned. Flawlessly perfect, the work of God's hand. And just like the seasons that come and go When the flowers of spring lay buried in snow, God sends to the heart in its winter of sadness A springtime awakening of new hope and gladness. -Helen Steiner Rice Love is like magic and it always will be,
For love still remains life's sweet mystery. Love works in ways that are wondrous and strange, And there's nothing in life that love cannot change. Love can transform the most commonplace Into beauty and splendor and sweetness and grace. Love is unselfish, understanding, and kind, For it sees with its heart and not with its mind. Love gives and forgives; there is nothing too much For love to heal with its magic touch. Love is the language that every heart speaks, For love is the one thing that every heart seeks. And where there is love God, too, will abide And bless the family residing inside. -Helen Steiner Rice In spite of the fact we complain and lament
And view this old world with much discontent, Deploring conditions and grumbling because There's so much injustice and so many flaws, It's a wonderful world, and it's people like you Who make it that way by the things that they do. For a warm, ready smile or a kind, thoughtful deed Or a hand outstretched in an hour of need Can change our whole outlook and make the world bright Where a minute before just nothing seemed right. It's a wonderful world and it always will be If we keep our eyes open and focused to see The wonderful things we are capable of When we open our hearts to God and His love. -Helen Steiner Rice There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. 1 John 4:18, 19 Two vases stood on the Shelf of Life
As Love came by to look, One was of priceless cloisonne', The other of solid common clay. Which do you think Love took? He took them both from the Shelf of Life, He took them both with a smile; He clasped them both with his finger tips, And touched them both with caressing lips, And held them both for a while. From tired hands Love let them fall, And never a word was spoken. One was of priceless cloisonne', The other of solid common clay. Which do you think was broken? -Nan Terrell Reed I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
"No one is ever united with Jesus Christ until he is willing to relinquish not sin only, but his whole way of looking at things. To be born from above of the Spirit of God means that we must let go before we lay hold, and in the first stages it is the relinquishing of all pretense. What Our Lord wants us to present to Him is not goodness, nor honesty, nor endeavor, but real solid sin; that is all He can take from us. And what does He give in exchange for our sin? Real solid righteousness. But we must relinquish all pretense of being anything, all claim of being worthy of God's consideration. Then the Spirit of God will show us what further there is to relinquish. There will have to be the relinquishing of my claim to my right to myself in every phase. Am I willing to relinquish my hold on all I possess, my hold on my affections, and on everything, and to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ? There is always a sharp painful disillusionment to go through before we do relinquish. When a man really sees himself as The Lord sees him, it is not the abominable sins of the flesh that shock him, but the awful nature of the pride of his own heart against Jesus Christ. When he sees himself in the light of The Lord, the shame and the horror and the desperate conviction come home. If you are up against the question of relinquishing, go through the crisis, relinquish all, and God will make you fit for all that He requires of you." -Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest" "There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it; yet I do not advise you to do it from that motive. It is not pleasure which we ought to seek in this exercise; but let us do it from a principle of love, and because God would have us."
-Brother Lawrence (1614-1691) The Practice and The Presence of God "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I AM the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Jeremiah 9:24
"We cannot escape the dangers which abound in life without the actual and continual help of God. Let us then pray to him for it continually. How can we pray to Him without being with Him? How can we be with Him but in thinking of Him often? And how can we often think of Him but by a holy habit which we should form of it? You will tell me that I am always saying the same thing. It is true, for this is the best and easiest method I know; and as I use no other, I advise the all the world to it. We must know before we can love. In order to know God, we must often think of Him; and when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure. This is an argument which well deserves your consideration."
-Brother Lawrence (1614-1691) The Practice of The Presence of God But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews11:1 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17 In the begining was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 We love Him, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:16-19 "Since by His mercy He gives us still a little time, let us begin in earnest, let us repair the lost time, let us return with a full assurance to that Father of mercies, who is always ready to receive us affectionately. Let us renounce, let us generously renounce, for the love of Him, all that is not Himself; He deserves infinitely more. Let us think of Him perpetually. Let us put all our trust in Him; I doubt not but we shall soon find the effects of it, in receiving the abundance of His grace, with which we can do all things, and without which we can do nothing but sin."
-Brother Lawrence (1614-1691) |
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