The Wisdom collection
Whenever I come across a nugget of wisdom, be it straight from the Bible or some insightful musings found in theological works, I try to jot it down. It's like a little stash of moments that shed light on our connection with the Almighty, just something I've gathered along the way. This is a collection of that wisdom.
The battle against sin rages on. Our Armor in this fight is set upon us by prayer. Do not miss your opportunity to arm yourself.
We are constantly living in the present. It is within my mind that I measure time. I must not allow my mind to insist that time is something objective. When I measure time I measure something that is in the present of my mind. Either this is time or I don't know what is.
To each is given a bag of tools
An hour glass and book of rules
And each must build till work has grown
A stumbling block, or stepping stone.
Christ gave his life in place of mine yet also lives so that I may live through him. Our saviour must do both for we lack the power to do either.
CULTIVATE: Contentment - Love - Self Control - Uprightness - Godliness - Trust - Courage
ELIMINATE: Pride - Boasting - Ego
Sinners should not only come to the cross but dwell there.
Find the lamb, don't poke the snake.
God wants us to bear fruit. The whole bible is saturated with direct quotes and symbolism regarding fruitfulness.
We need to inhale truth and exhale Love.
One and possibly the only reason that Jesus actively felt anxious when going to the cross is because he knew he would be distant from God. If God is with us (which for his elect he promises to be) then we have no reason to be anxious. The only legitimate reason to fear is to not have God with you. The only reason to be anxious is to know God will leave you in the future.
An evangelical desire to Love everyone can sometimes help you love no one in particular. Especially when they are unattractive to you.
Never ask God why? To Will what God wills brings peace.
He is no fool to give what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
We are not saved by a profession of faith but a procession of faith.
Satan is fine with you going to church as long as you don't bear fruit.
Stop playing church. Stop doing what you want in God's name.
In Revelations it calls the church a lamp stand. A stand not a lamp because the church raises and makes visible the light and hope that is already there.
Truth and Love. Law and Faith. Important pairs of the Christian faith. Law is needed because we lack faith. Truth is needed because we lack love (Love for God).
Learning to pray doesn't offer you a less busy life. It offers you a less busy heart.
Cultivate a quiet heart.
AD stands for Anno Domini, Latin for “in the year of the Lord”, while BC stands for “before Christ”. Named after Pope Gregory. No year 0.
Anxiety is born of selfishness.
Be serious. God is serious in observing us. Jesus in interceding for us. The spirit in striving with us. God's law is serious. Our spiritual enemies are serious. Lost sinners are seriously in hell. Why then should I not be serious also?
SIN, rather than 'twill out of action be,
Will pray to stay, though but a while with thee;
One Night, one Hour, one Moment, will it cry,
Imbrace me in thy Bosome else I dy:
Time to Repent (saith it) I will allow,
And help, if to Repent thou know'st not how.
But if you give it entrance at the Door,
It will come in, and may go out no more.
To grow in Christ is not to add Christ to your life but to collapse into Christ as your life.
You must decide wholeheartedly to believe the words of the bible then let its truth consistently amaze you. By doing this you take power from fear and give focus to God. When we doubt God we feed Anxiety.
A certain freedom of will is proven in that we are made in the image of God in whom free will is a part. Free will is not a yes or no but a question of degree. Only God knows the true degree. We do know that the degree of free will has gone down substantially because of the fall.
When we ask in prayer God may answer for no other reason than his delight in giving his children gifts.
Depression, for many, is a life with distractions that don't work anymore.
A desire plays the part of a need when it is put ahead of Christ.
Health is not contagious but disease is. It is far easier to catch a chill than to impart a warm glow. Easier to dwindle each other's Faith than to grow in it.
To learn to pray is to learn to dream again as a child free to hope and believe.
The Father ordains salvation
The Son accomplishes salvation
The Spirit applies salvation
Feeling distant from God often means you are not content. Come to God in simple confession. It will help you remember that you need Jesus. In turn the spirit will draw nearer.
From the cross he fled not, that sinners may have hope to flee too.
Genuine prayer is killed through pious ceremony. Come to your father as a child. From the heart saying what is on your mind.
God wills good and permits sin.
God gives us hardship to increase our endurance and remind us of our need for him. We then fall into trust in God instead of ourselves. Why then do we get any good things? Just as marriage is a crutch God gives us to ease the burdens of our sin so too are all good things a gift to release burden but the good we gain from striving after Christ is to show here on earth the fruit of living for Christ so that we might not have to trust fully on the reward for earthly endurance we receive in heaven.
Men question the truth of Christianity because they hate the practise of it.
A life that hides or lies will be an anxious life.
We grow in Christ no further than we enjoy his embrace of us.
Our identity is not connected to sin. Sin is what keeps us from our true identity in Christ.
If we first lived in heaven then came to earth. We would spend every moment trying to get our true identity in Christ back. As it stands we cling to our identity in sin and this world.
Leave the court room.
To kill our enemy, sin, we must not target it in our vision but look away from it. The further we look away the closer our eyes draw toward its opposite Christ.
God made you so that he could Love you.
There was no death before the fall. Therefore dinosaurs could not have died before Adam and Eve.
Nothing - a basic knowledge of theology - an understanding of the incomprehensibility of God - an embrace of Christ and his love - an outpouring of service in Love.
Justification is a moment in time, it works outside in (our Standing with God)
Sanctification is a gradual process, it works inside out (our Walk with God)
Inside out sanctification is fed by outside in justification.
The freedom of outside in justification will foster your inside out Sanctification.
Praise God when you see your dirt for the fact that you see it means he is with you.
The LGBTQ community takes a month to celebrate themselves and call it Pride month. Celebrating Sin under the banner of an additional sin.
Repentance is turning from Self. Faith is turning to Jesus.
Repentance and Faith are the roads we use to get to healing which is Christ.
The deepest destiny of your life is to descend ever deeper, with quiet yet ever increasing intensity, into the endless love of God. We grow spiritually here on earth only through the embrace of this endless love until it is experienced fully in the life to come.
The practiced liar is the friend of the devil.
We don't need the spirit to be moral
That is we don't need the spirit to be different on the outside
We do need the spirit to be different on the inside.
We defeat sin by looking to Christ. Just as a little toy sports car loses its attractiveness when you are invited to drive the real thing so too sin loses its appeal as we allow ourselves to be enchanted time and again with the beauty of Christ.
Don't think more of yourself
Don't think less of yourself
Think of yourself less
It is only in union to Christ that you can grow into who God made you to be.
Never be satisfied with the friendship of anyone who will not be useful to your soul.
What makes you different?
What do you have that you did not receive?
Why then boast as if you did not receive?