Patience

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
Psalm 119:9

Sometimes things happen to us, situations, people that push us to lose our patience and thus sin. Sin against that person, but more importantly sin against God. Whatever the person did, said, or whatever the situation it always comes back to us. We are the ones that sin. The Lord has given us His word, His Holy Spirit, now our responsibility is to read and guard His word in our hearts, to be filled with His Holy Spirit, to die to self daily and renew our minds daily, so that in the time of testing we may stand still by God's grace and not fall into sin. So you know that when you do lose patience and sin, the problem is not the other person or the situation the problem is lack in our part. The solution? Read God's word for the renewal of our mind, die to self, let the Holy Spirit fill us, but most importantly and before doing all that, Repent. Apologize to the person (you have to mean it, if you don't then you need to pray to the Lord to remove that pride from your heart, which is also a sin sometimes the root of the problem), see to it that you don't do it again and apologize to the Lord. Finally, remember that our Lord Jesus Christ endured it all yet Isaiah tells us that:

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth." Isaiah 53:7

Remember:

"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either." Luke 6:27-29

And Finally:

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
1 Cor 10:12

Excellencias de la Ley de Dios: Week One

Aleph.

1. Bienaventurados los perfectos de camino, los que andan en la Ley de Jehová.
2. Bienaventurados los que guardan sus testimonios, y con todo el corazón le buscan;
3. Pues no hacen iniquidad los que andan en sus caminos.
4. Tu encargaste, que sean muy guardados tus mandamientos.
5. ¡Ojalá fuesen ordenados mis caminos para guardar tus estatutos!
6. Entonces no seria yo avergonzado, cuando atendiese a todos tus mandamientos.
7. Te alabaré con rectitud de corazón, cuando aprendiere tus justos juicios.
8. Tus estatutos guardaré; no me dejes enteramente.

Psalm 119

Grace Gems: Supremely Precious

Supremely precious

(John Fawcett, "Christ Precious")

"Yes, He is very precious to you who believe!"
1 Peter 2:7

If Christ is truly precious to us--we shall prefer Him above every other object; He will have the chief place in our affections. The love which a Christian has to his Savior, penetrates and possesses his heart. This distinguishes it from the pretended love of hypocrites, which is only in word, or in some external actions, while their hearts are full of sinful self-love; so that it may be said of them, "This people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me."

We may possibly delight in some objects of an inferior nature, as they contribute to our health, our ease, or our comfort. Our homes, our food, and our other temporal enjoyments are dear to us, because they minister to our comfort and convenience in the present life. But true love for Christ, does not allow any other object to hold the chief place in the heart. This chief place is for Jesus, whom we ought to love with supreme ardor. The choicest affections of our souls ought to be supremely fixed upon Him.

As it is impossible for any man to love an unknown object--so it cannot be expected that Christ should be supremely precious unto us, unless we know Him to be excellent and desirable, beyond whatever may be compared with Him. We shall not esteem Him above all things--if we have not elevated views of His transcendent worth. Our esteem of Him rises in proportion to the knowledge we have of Him. Godly men therefore ardently desire to increase in the knowledge of Him--that their affections may be more intensely fixed upon Him.

That love, which has but created things for its object, is degrading to the soul. It is a cleaving to that which can neither give happiness to our souls, nor repose to our minds. For to love any object ardently, is to seek our felicity in it, and to expect that it will answer our desires. It is to call upon it to fill that deep void which we feel in ourselves, and to imagine that it is capable of giving us the satisfaction we seek. It is to regard it as the resource of all our needs, the remedy of all the troubles which oppress us, and the source of all our happiness. Now, as it is God alone in whom we can find all these advantages, it is a debasing of the soul, it is idolatry to seek them in created objects! "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!" Philippians 3:8

If Christ is truly precious to us--we shall be induced to devote our souls and our bodies, our talents, our abilities and our faculties--as a living sacrifice to Him. To contemplate His adorable perfections will be our highest joy. We shall be ready to obey Him--in opposition to all the threats and the solicitations of men. We shall rely upon Him, though all outward appearances seem to be against us. We shall rejoice in Him, though we have nothing else to comfort us. If we enjoy health and plenty, friends and reputation, the Lord is still the object of our earnest desires and our supreme delight. "Whom have I in heaven but you? There is none upon earth that I desire besides you! As the deer pants for the water-brooks, so longs my soul after you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God!"

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Eternity

I've been thinking about eternity, and how overwhelming it is the eternality of forever. This Sunday's sermon was on our final "Sabbath" which is heaven, we had a guest pastor from the church Iglesia Biblica del Señor Jesucristo (Biblical Church of Jesus Christ), Pastor Salvador Gomez Dickson, and it was such an encouraging sermon. He talked about 5 sabbaths that are mentioned in Hebrews chpts 3 and 4. The first Sabbath was when God's rested on the 7th day, the 2nd Sabbath was the one appointed by God for the Israelite's to obey, the 3rd Sabbath was the promised land, the 4th Sabbath was the Spiritual rest we are granted in Christ Jesus, but that there was a 5th one that we are yet to enter in and that is the Celestial Sabbath, which is heaven. He exhorted us to give ourselves fully and wholeheartedly to this race we are running, to beat ourselves even when we are growing tired, and to work like a mule for the Lord, for the advancement of the kingdom and for the edification of the church, knowing that we have a final resting place in Heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!" Revelations 14:12-13

Today I find myself thinking about how amazing it will be to spend eternity glorifying God and just how overwhelming the thought of eternity in my finite mind is. Then I realized that we sometimes forget that there is a large group of people who won't be enjoying eternity in Heaven, no they will get the other side of the coin a place where there will be no rest for their souls. (Rev. 14:11)
Maybe if we thought more about that other side and those other groups of people we would evangelize more and be less fearful about it. I know I need to.

Reverence

Reverence: a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.1

As we left the movie theater after having watched the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, a brother in Christ commented to me how it got to him the fact that in the movie people bowed down to the King, specifically to Aslan, and how back in the day when such things as Kings and Queens existed people understood the honor and reverence behind such gestures and yet we as Christian say things like "To God be the Honor and Glory", "Lord to you we Bow down in Honor and Praise", we kneel down or lift our hands up or bow down and yet we don't truly comprehend the honor and reverence behind these gestures since we have never had to actually bow down to a human king or queen as people once did in the olden days. I couldn't agree more. Yet today I opened my iTunes wanting to listen to my Church's sermon last Sunday, which I missed due to a shift I had at the hospital, and as I waited for it to download clicked on Johnny Hunt's Church's sermon and I was just awestruck when he said "Stand with me in honor of the reading of God's dear word..." maybe we should spend a day thinking about what it truly means to honor God and to bow down before our Lord and King!
This also applies to every time we pray, when we read His precious word and definitely when we preach His gospel which He has entrusted us!

1: Definition taken from Dictionary.com

John Piper is Bad

Psa 14:3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

"None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands; no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." Romans 3:10-12

"No one is good except God alone." Luke 18:19


Ok this was hilarious!

Creation, ah the marvel of it

Hmm ok, if you think Esther's "wedding" or Courtship preparation, for that matter, was excessive and over the top, or maybe those gifts the men had to prepare for the family of the woman they wanted as their wife in the OT were excessive, wait till you watch this amazing little creation!
Apparently embedding is disabled so you'll have to click this link: Bower Bird, to watch the video on Youtube.

Grace Gems: A Puritan Prayer

Another devotional from Grace Gems, they truly are grace gems and specially this beautiful puritan prayer, the puritans if I may say so put us to shame or at least me to shame, I read their prayers and the read about the passion and devotion they had for Christ and it is something I desire for my self as well, to have that same passion and devotion to have the same boldness they had, that the Holy Spirit may empower me, strengthen me clean me of all my uncleanliness daily, that in times of sorrow may I be driven to the cross, and in times of joy may I rejoice in Christ. So now without further adieu, a Puritan Prayer:

(A Puritan Prayer)

O Holy Spirit,
Move, I beg You, upon my disordered heart.
Take away my unruly desires and hateful lusts.
Lift the mists and darkness of unbelief. Brighten
my soul with the pure light of truth. Make it . . .
fragrant as the garden of paradise,
rich with every goodly fruit,
beautiful with heavenly grace,
radiant with rays of divine light.
Be my . . .
comforter,
light,
guide,
sanctifier.

Take of the things of Christ and show them to my
soul. Through You may I daily learn more of His . . .
love,
grace,
compassion,
faithfulness,
beauty.
Lead me to the cross and show me . . .
His wounds,
the hateful nature of evil,
the power of Satan.

May I there see my sins as . . .
the nails which transfixed Him,
the cords which bound Him,
the thorns which tore Him,
the sword which pierced Him.

Help me to find in His death--the
reality and immensity of His love.

Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth in His
death. Increase my faith in the clear knowledge of . . .
atonement achieved,
redemption completed,
guilt done away,
my debt paid,
my sins forgiven,
my soul saved,
hell vanquished,
heaven opened,
eternity made mine.

O Holy Spirit, deepen in me these saving lessons.
Write them upon my heart, that my walk be . . .
sin-loathing,
sin-fleeing,
Christ-loving.

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Sow a Seed for a Specific Need Challenge!

This is a pretty good challenge a fellow blogger has laid down for those who preach "sowing a seed" in "economic" terms:

"Give ALL of your money away. Sow that seed into something other then your own ministries….or those of your friend’s mentors, spiritual daddies or mammas and show us that it does indeed work FOR YOU! Airplanes cars yachts and designer clothes….GIVE IT ALL AWAY!

Instead of teaching us to give to you…..so that God will bless us 100 fold…..get the blessing for yourselves! You wouldn’t want to rob God would ya? I didn’t think so so loosen up those purse strings…….offshore bank accounts…..bank vaults or wherever else you’ve stashed your loot and really make a fortune!

If you sow a seed of say….50 million bucks……just think of all the blessings God has in store for you! The days of kissing up to Paul and Jan are over…..no more beg-a-thons…..forget about those endless nights spent shopping on E-bay for those worthless trinkets you give away to those who sow a seed into your ministries…..you will be so blessed you won’t need our seed anymore…..a real life harvest of your own!

Have faith in your seed….in fact have the God kind of faith and just write your need on the seed! Claim that need with your seed and watch the blessings of God rain down from heaven! Just remember that things will be great in ‘08 if you sow that seed today!

Not sure yet? Where is your faith you faithless beings? Don’t you know God wants to bless you….but you have to sow a seed first….and if you sow an uncommon seed….say every penny you have…..then you can expect an uncommon harvest!

So give it all away TODAY! If what you’re teaching REALLY works….then what are you waiting for? Remember that God is a God of patterns precepts and principles and he really wants to bless you….so get blessed today and let us know who you sowed into….how much you sowed and the end result of your sowing…..don’t delay sow today!"