God’s Whisper Of Love
Posted by jerrywhite on Nov 29, 2010
“Hurry to Him, O timid one, and tell Him that nothing will content you except a smile from His own face and a word from His own lips! Speak to Him and say, ‘Lord Jesus, I cannot rest unless I know that You love me! I desire proof of Your love by Your own hand and seal. I cannot live on guesses and surmises; nothing but certainty will satisfy my trembling heart. Lord, look upon me, if indeed You love me, and though I am less than the least of all believers, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation’ (Ps. 35:3).” When this prayer is heard, the castle of despair must totter; there is not one stone of it that can remain upon another if Christ whispers forth His love….
Oh, for more of these Bethel visits (Gen. 28:10-19), more frequent visitations from the God of Israel! Oh, how sweet to hear Him say to us, as He did to Abraham, ‘Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward’ (Gen. 15:1). To be addressed as Daniel was long ago, ‘O man greatly beloved’ (Daniel 10:19), is worth a thousand ages of this world’s joy. What more can a creature this side of heaven want to make him peaceful and happy than a plain avowal of love from his Lord’s own lips? O Lord, let me always hear You. If You will only speak in mercy to my soul, I will ask no more while I dwell in the land of my pilgrimage!”
Charles Spurgeon
Joy In Christ’s Presence, 82
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For the Father Himself [tenderly] loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came out from the Father.
John 16:27 (Amplified Bible)
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The greatest assurance this side of heaven you can have is when the Father tenderly whispers His love deep in your soul. This intimate encounter brings comfort beyond reading Bible verses. God does indeed speak through His Scriptural words, but with His Word can come gentle embraces by His Spirit so that His tender love is both heard and felt. This exchange of His loving affection is a foretaste of what will be experienced in heaven forever. Should it not be this way between a loving Father and His child?
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Worthy Praise
Posted by jerrywhite on Nov 25, 2010
“An older Christian once prayed in a mid-week prayer meeting, ‘Oh Lord, we will praise you. We will praise you with an instrument of ten strings.’ The people in attendance were bewildered about what he meant until he continued his prayer. ‘We will praise you with our two eyes by looking unto you. We will praise you with our two ears by listening to your leadership. We will praise you with our two feet by walking according to your instruction. We will praise you with our two hands by working to glorify you in all the world. We will praise you with our one tongue by clean speech. We will praise you with our one heart by loving you with all of it. Keep all ten strings in harmony and in pitch…In Christ’s Name, Amen.’ So remind me there is no orchestration of praise until, or unless, all the instruments are put to use.”
Charles G. Fuller
Give Him Time, 321
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Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
Psalm 100:4 (ESV)
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I bless thee for the throne of grace,
that here free favour reigns;
that open access to it is through the blood of Jesus;
that the veil is torn aside and I can enter the holiest
and find thee ready to hear,
waiting to be gracious,
inviting me to pour out my needs,
encouraging my desires,
promising to give more than I ask or think.
The Valley Of Vision, 354
Edited by Arthur Bennett
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Fulfill Your Purpose
Posted by jerrywhite on Nov 22, 2010
“We believe that it was God who made man in His own image and breathed into him the breath of life and said unto him, ‘Now, live in My presence and worship Me—for that is your chief end. Increase and multiply and fill the earth with worshipers.’
Yes, these plain people, these believing people, will tell you that God created the flowers to be beautiful and the birds to sing so that men and women could enjoy them. The scientist contends that the bird sings for a totally different reason.
‘It is the male bird that sings, and he sings only to attract the female so they may nest and procreate,’ he tells us. ‘It is simply biological.’
It is at this point that I ask the scientist, ‘Why doesn’t the bird just squeak or groan or gurgle? Why does he have to sing and warble and harmonize as though he had been tuned to a harp?’
I think the answer is plain—it is because God made him to sing.
If I were a male bird and wanted to attract a female I could turn handsprings or do any number of tricks. But why does the bird sing so beautifully?
It is because the God who made him is the Chief Musician of the universe. He is the Composer of the cosmos. He made the harp in those little throats and feathers around them and said, ‘Go and sing.’
Thankfully, the birds obeyed and they have been singing and praising God ever since they were created.”
A. W. Tozer
Whatever Happened To Worship, 60-61
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‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’
Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8 (ESV)
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Have you worshiped the Lord today? Did you worship Him the previous days of this week? In your role as a homemaker, a parent, a spouse, an employee, or an employer, are you worshiping and serving the Lord with all of your heart like God created you to do? Are you fulfilling God’s purpose for you like the bird that sings his lovely song?
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Discipline For Godliness
Posted by jerrywhite on Nov 18, 2010
“Nothing was ever achieved without discipline; and many an athlete and many a man has been ruined because he abandoned discipline and let himself grow slack. Coleridge is the supreme tragedy of indiscipline. Never did so great a mind produce so little. He left Cambridge University to join the army; but he left the army because, in spite of all his erudition, he could not rub down a horse; he returned to Oxford and left without a degree. He began a paper called The Watchman which lived for ten numbers and then died. It has been said of him: ‘He lost himself in visions of work to be done, that always remained to be done. Coleridge had every poetic gift but one—the gift of sustained and concentrated effort.’ In his head and in his mind he had all kinds of books, as he said himself, ‘completed save for transcription.’ ‘I am on the eve,’ he says, ‘of sending to the press two octavo volumes.’ But the books were never composed outside Coleridge’s mind, because he would not face the discipline of sitting down to write them out. No one ever reached any eminence, and no one having reached it ever maintained it, without discipline.”
William Barclay
Quoted by Donald S. Whitney
Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life, 20
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If the Lord Jesus could not accomplish the Father’s will without a disciplined life, then neither can we. If we are not disciplined for seeking nearness to Christ, then intimacy with Him will not happen. The Holy Spirit will strengthen us to be self-controlled just for the asking. He is our personal tutor to lead us to arrange our days so we can have time alone with the Lord. Surely none of us want to come to the end of life with regrets that we did not pursue the eternal because we were undisciplined and let all kinds of lesser things distract us. The fruit of godliness through discipline is eternal.
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Love Expressed
Posted by jerrywhite on Nov 15, 2010
Love must be expressed. The joy of a love relationship is expressing and receiving love by its various expressions. The deepest longing of every person is to be loved and to know deep within that they are loved. When one is loved and knows it, there comes healing, security, pleasure and joy. If this is true on the human plane then how much more is it true between the Heavenly Father and His child? God’s love can be known— profoundly known— and sometimes felt in your deepest self so that your soul knows heavenly joy like nothing this world can offer. It is like your Heavenly Father embraces you from heaven and whispers in your soul, “My dear, dear child, I love you—oh, how I love you and treasure you.” Charles Surgeon wrote about this:
“Sometimes the Lord Jesus tells His church His love thoughts. The Holy Spirit is often pleased, in a most gracious manner, to witness with our spirits of the love of Jesus. No voice is heard from the clouds, and no vision is seen in the night, but we have a testimony more sure than either of these. If an angel should fly from heaven and inform the saint personally of the Savior’s love to him or her, the evidence would not be one bit more satisfactory than that which is borne in the heart by the Holy Spirit.
Ask those of the Lord’s people who have lived the nearest to the gates of heaven, and they will tell you that they have had some seasons when the love of Christ toward them has been a fact so clear and sure that they could no more doubt it than they could question their own existence.
You and I have had times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and then our faith and hope have mounted to the top-most heights of assurance. We have had confidence to lean our heads upon our Lord’s bosom, and we have had no more questions about our Master’s affection for us than John did when in that blessed posture; no, nor so much: For the dark question, ‘Lord, is it I who will betray you?” has been put far from us. He has kissed us with the kisses of His mouth and killed our doubts by the closeness of His embrace. His love has been sweeter than wine to our souls.”
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I have loved you with an everlasting love.
Jeremiah 31:3 (ESV)
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