Fear imprisons, faith liberates ...

Fear imprisons, faith liberates; fear paralyzes, faith empowers; fear disheartens, faith encourages; fear sickens, faith heals; fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable—and, most of all, fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life, while faith rejoices in its God.

-- Harry Emerson Fosdick

A Godly Response to Trials

"We may be frankly bewildered at things that happen to us, but God knows exactly what he is doing, and what he is after, in his handling of our affairs. Always, and in everything, he is wise: we shall see that hereafter, even where we never saw it here….Meanwhile, we ought not to hesitate to trust his wisdom, even when he leaves us in the dark."

"But how should we respond to baffling and trying situations when we cannot now see God's purpose in them? First, by taking them as from God, and asking ourselves what reactions to them, and in them, the gospel of God requires of us: Second, by seeking God's face specifically about them. If we do these two things, we shall never find ourselves wholly in the dark as to God's purpose in our troubles."

Peace of God in Trials

"There is nothing--no circumstance, no trouble, no testing--that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment; but as I refuse to become panicky, as I lift my eyes up to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will cause me to fret, for I shall rest in the joy of what my Lord is." -- Alan Redpath, Victorious Christian Living, pp166

Judge not the workings of his brain

Judge not the workings of his brain, And of his heart you cannot see. What looks to thy dim eyes a stain, In God’s pure light may only be A scar brought from some well-won field where thou wouldst only faint and yield.

- Unknown

Exercise of Some Christians

The only exercise some Christians get is Jumping to Conclusions and Running down Others!

- J.Vernon McGee

Do You Love the Belief in God?

"Many men believe in the existence of a God; but they do not love that belief. They know there is a God; but they greatly wish there were none... But the Christian never wishes any such a thing as that. The thought that there is a God is the sunshine of his existence." (Quoted by Dan DeHaan, The God You Can Know, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1982, p. 40. Original source, Charles H. Spurgeon in Elon Foster, Six Thousand Sermon Illustrations, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1972, p. 294)

OUR HISTORY IN CHRIST

Regret for a sinful past will remain
Until we truly believe that for us in Christ,
That sinful past no longer exists.
The man in Christ has only Christ's past,
And that is perfect and acceptable to God.
In Christ he died, in Christ he rose, and in Christ
He's seated within a circle of God's favored one.
He's no longer angry with himself, because
He's no longer self-regarding, but Christ regarding.
Hence, there is no place for regret.

Walking in the Valley of the Shadow of Death

Just got off the phone with my bride of 27 years. The doctors told her she has Uterine Fibroids and she needs to see a specialist. This is like taking a punch to the stomach. I know that God is sovereign and He is allowing this to form me into the image of His Son and my savior, Jesus Christ but the news is still hard to take.

While this blog was to hold quotes that I liked, I will now use it to express my personal thoughts and feelings as I walk with my wife along this path. We are not alone because God is walking with us.

Psalms 23 NLT

Revenge

"Justice may involve hurting someone because the person deserves to be hurt, but… revenge involves hurting someone because it makes you feel better to hurt them." - Rabbi Harold Kushner

How much faith does it take?

"Doubters invert the metaphor and insist that they need faith as big as a mountain in order to move a mustard seed." - Webb B. Garrison

Prosperity, the most exacting test

Not every man can carry a full cup. Sudden elevation frequently leads to pride and a fall. The most exacting test of all to survive is prosperity - Oswald Chambers

The circumstances of life, the events of life, and the people around me in life, do not make me the way I am, but reveal the way I am -- Dr. Sam Peeples

Which is better?

It is preferable to have the whole world against you, than Jesus offended with you. -- Thomas A Kempis

A quote from J. G. Millar about our need to know the Old Testament in order to know the gospel. He mentions Deuteronomy in particular, but what he says applies to the whole Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible):

Much of the theological framework needed to understand the significance of Jesus' coming, life and death was put in place by Moses in his writing, and perhaps above all in Deuteronomy. For it is here that the theology of blessing and curse which lies at the heart of Jesus' sin-bearing work is first articulated. It is here that the hopelessness of humanity trapped in sin, even when chosen by God, is exposed. It is here that the prospect of a divine intervention so radical that it changes people at the very core of their being first appears. (New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, pp. 164-165)