zephaniah. charles spurgeon

i was seeking advice from a friend a few months ago, having a hard time understanding that God loves me, that He died for me. with how selfish and unloving i can be, with all of my unfaithfulness towards Him. i believed that He was putting me through trials because of what a bad job i was doing at being a Christian, at being His daughter. this isn't the gospel, but i was believing lies and so she told me this: "My husband loves our one-year old daughter. sometimes our daughter can be stubborn and not want to go to sleep. she doesn't know when she needs to eat. she is rebellious and throws temper tantrums, but Paul(the husband) will always unconditionally love her." she explains further, "every night before she goes to sleep, Paul goes in to say goodnight. He makes up little songs for her every night to put her to sleep and he gets so excited to sing them for her. he gets to remind her how much daddy loves her"

the daughter doesn't understand the songs. she's only one. she doesn't understand that when her daddy tells her it's time for bed, it's because he loves her and wants her to stay healthy. just as we don't realize that our heavenly Father puts us through trials and times that seem unfair, to the point where we want to throw a one-year old tantrum, because He DEEPLY loves us. He wants to make us into what He intended us to be, 'mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (ephesians 4:13) sometimes that means we have to do what Daddy tells us to do, simply because He is our Sovereign Father and He indeed always knows what is the very best for us.

in the midst of struggles we can remember this because of what Christ did on the cross"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." zephaniah 3:17

How heart-cheering to the believer is the delight which God has in his saints! We cannot see any reason in ourselves why the Lord should take pleasure in us; we cannot take delight in ourselves, for we often have to groan, being burdened; conscious of our sinfulness, and deploring our unfaithfulness; and we fear that God’s people cannot take much delight in us, for they must perceive so much of our imperfections and our follies, that they may rather lament our infirmities than admire our graces. But we love to dwell upon this transcendent truth, this glorious mystery: that as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so does the Lord rejoice over us.”

charles spurgeon

tony evans.

i'm currently reading The Promise by Tony Evans. in this book He talks about the Holy Spirit's presence, purpose and provision. There is a section on the purpose of the Holy Spirit...

"The Holy Spirit has one overarching goal. if you want to sum up what the Holy Spirit is about, He is about glorifying Christ. What do I mean by glorifying christ? the Spirit advertises Christ. He puts Jesus Christ on display. The Spirit does not put Himself on display, He does not even speak on His own initiative. His job is to glorify Christ. So whenever you have anything that transcends the priority of Jesus Christ, it is not the Holy Spirit's doing. Anytime there is an emphasis on the Spirit that supersedes the crentrality and priority of Jesus Christ, it is not the Holy Spirit doing it.
The Holy spirit is not here to advertise Himself. His goal is to advertise Christ, to make us God's advertising agency by working in our hearts in such a way that our lives magnify the Person of Christ, The Spirit is busy making Jesus preeminant."
-Tony Evans

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. john 16:13-14

amen.

ben rector. hank

this song is just too precious not to share.
uncle ben is giving his new nephew hank some lessons on life. amen:)

octavius winslow. john.

i just can't get enough of this guy's writing.

"There is no other solution to the marvellous mysteries of His Incarnation and Sacrificial Death but this: Christ has loved us.

There is not a circumstance of our Lord’s history which is not another form or manifestation of love.

His incarnation is love stooping.
His sympathy is love weeping.
His compassion is love supporting.
His grace is love acting.
His teaching is the voice of love.
His silence is the repose of love.
His patience is the restraint of love.
His obedience is the labor of love.
His suffering is the travail of love.
His cross is the altar of love.
His death is the burnt offering of love.
His resurrection is the triumph of love.
His ascension into heaven is the enthronement of love.
His sitting down at the right hand of God is the intercession of love.

Such is the deep, the vast, the boundless ocean of Christ’s love!”

octavius winslow

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. 1 john 4:9