“Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.”
- 1Thessalonians 5:24
Devotional by [Charles Spurgeon]
As I started to read today's devotional I was thinking of titling this blog, "Everything you wanted to know about Heaven but didn't ask!" Then as I continued to read I was so touched at understanding just how blessed we are as believers. Also how important it is to spread the "Good News"!
[Heaven is a place where we shall never sin; where we shall cease our constant watch against an indefatigable enemy, because there will be no tempter to ensnare our feet. There the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. Heaven is the “undefiled inheritance”; it is the land of perfect holiness, and therefore of complete security. But do not the saints even on earth sometimes taste the joys of blissful security? The doctrine of God’s word is, that all who are in union with the Lamb are safe; that all the righteous shall hold on their way; that those who have committed their souls to the keeping of Christ shall find him a faithful and immutable preserver. Sustained by such a doctrine we can enjoy security even on earth; not that high and glorious security which renders us free from every slip, but that holy security which arises from the sure promise of Jesus that none who believe in him shall ever perish, but shall be with him where he is. Believer, let us often reflect with joy on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, and honour the faithfulness of our God by a holy confidence in him.
May our God bring home to you a sense of your safety in Christ Jesus! May he assure you that your name is graven on his hand; and whisper in your ear the promise, “Fear not, I am with thee.” Look upon him, the great Surety of the covenant, as faithful and true, and, therefore, bound and engaged to present you, the weakest of the family, with all the chosen race, before the throne of God; and in such a sweet contemplation you will drink the juice of the spiced wine of the Lord’s pomegranate, and taste the dainty fruits of Paradise. You will have an antepast of the enjoyments which ravish the souls of the perfect saints above, if you can believe with unstaggering faith that “faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”]
Do you believe with "unmovable faith"? Are you in union with the Lamb? If your heart is yelling, "Yes, yes!", please look around for those who are not. How they are longing to hear Jesus whisper to them!
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Life's Highway
THE BROAD AND THE NARROW WAY
by [F. B. Meyer]
Matthew 7:13 Go in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in through it.
Matthew 7:14 Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
I am always amazed as I look back on the paths that I chose in my 66+ years that I have been blessed to be on this earth. Yes, paths, for I have switched directions in the latter years. Though like many, some decisions I probably would want to take back but I chose the paths as F. B. Meyers describes in this devotional. I am amazed for the good Lord lets us decide. Also once we do it is up to us if we want to stay on that path.
[AT THE beginning of life, each soul stands before these two paths. In each of us the love of life is strong, and in each is the desire to get as much as possible out of the years which may be given. Amiel expresses this strong passion for life when he says: "A passionate wish to live, to feel, to express, stirred the depth of my heart. I was overpowered by a host of aspirations. In such a mood one would fain devour the whole world, experience everything, see everything, learn everything, tame everything, and conquer everything."
In our early years each of us wakes up to the throb of strong natural impulses, and we are tempted to argue, if God has given me these strong desires, why should they not be gratified? Why should I not throw the reins on the necks of these fiery steeds, and let them bear me whither they may? To do this, is to go through the wide gate, and to take the broad road. It is the way of society, of the majority--the "many" go in there, It is pre-eminently the way of the world, and no one who goes by this way, allowing his course to be dictated by strong natural impulses, need fear that he will be counted strange or eccentric!
It must be admitted that, in its first stages, the broad way is generally easy and rather delightful. The boat launched on the flowing stream sweeps merrily and pleasantly along the gradient of the road slopes so as to make walking easy, the sun shines, and the path is filled with bright flowers. But to a life given up to self-indulgence, there is only one end, destruction.
There is a more excellent way, but it is too narrow to admit the trailing garments of passionate desire, too narrow for pride, self-indulgence, greed, and avarice, it is the Way of the Cross, but it leads to Life! We all want to see life, and the remarkable thing is that those who expect to get most out of it by self-indulgence miss everything; whilst those who seem to curtail their lives by following Christ, win everything. Few find and enter this path, is the lament of our Lord. Let us put our hand in His, that He may lead us into the path of life, "that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
PRAYER
Dear Lord, as Enoch walked with Thee of old, so would we walk each day, choosing the narrow path; order our steps in Thy way, and graciously walk with us. AMEN.]
Praise God, I am now on the narrow path of life, a life with Him. What is most interesting is that many in my life are still walking the wider path. every now and then we kind of meet at the cross walk, but I choose to go in the direction with my Savior. Though my heart cries out for those on "destruction highway" to join me on the path of light, they must choose their life's path. All I can do is show by my example that Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Him!" (John 14:6)
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
by [F. B. Meyer]
Matthew 7:13 Go in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in through it.
Matthew 7:14 Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
I am always amazed as I look back on the paths that I chose in my 66+ years that I have been blessed to be on this earth. Yes, paths, for I have switched directions in the latter years. Though like many, some decisions I probably would want to take back but I chose the paths as F. B. Meyers describes in this devotional. I am amazed for the good Lord lets us decide. Also once we do it is up to us if we want to stay on that path.
[AT THE beginning of life, each soul stands before these two paths. In each of us the love of life is strong, and in each is the desire to get as much as possible out of the years which may be given. Amiel expresses this strong passion for life when he says: "A passionate wish to live, to feel, to express, stirred the depth of my heart. I was overpowered by a host of aspirations. In such a mood one would fain devour the whole world, experience everything, see everything, learn everything, tame everything, and conquer everything."
In our early years each of us wakes up to the throb of strong natural impulses, and we are tempted to argue, if God has given me these strong desires, why should they not be gratified? Why should I not throw the reins on the necks of these fiery steeds, and let them bear me whither they may? To do this, is to go through the wide gate, and to take the broad road. It is the way of society, of the majority--the "many" go in there, It is pre-eminently the way of the world, and no one who goes by this way, allowing his course to be dictated by strong natural impulses, need fear that he will be counted strange or eccentric!
It must be admitted that, in its first stages, the broad way is generally easy and rather delightful. The boat launched on the flowing stream sweeps merrily and pleasantly along the gradient of the road slopes so as to make walking easy, the sun shines, and the path is filled with bright flowers. But to a life given up to self-indulgence, there is only one end, destruction.
There is a more excellent way, but it is too narrow to admit the trailing garments of passionate desire, too narrow for pride, self-indulgence, greed, and avarice, it is the Way of the Cross, but it leads to Life! We all want to see life, and the remarkable thing is that those who expect to get most out of it by self-indulgence miss everything; whilst those who seem to curtail their lives by following Christ, win everything. Few find and enter this path, is the lament of our Lord. Let us put our hand in His, that He may lead us into the path of life, "that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
PRAYER
Dear Lord, as Enoch walked with Thee of old, so would we walk each day, choosing the narrow path; order our steps in Thy way, and graciously walk with us. AMEN.]
Praise God, I am now on the narrow path of life, a life with Him. What is most interesting is that many in my life are still walking the wider path. every now and then we kind of meet at the cross walk, but I choose to go in the direction with my Savior. Though my heart cries out for those on "destruction highway" to join me on the path of light, they must choose their life's path. All I can do is show by my example that Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Him!" (John 14:6)
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Mirror, mirror on the wall!
The Mirror of Truth
[by F. B. Meyer]
James 1:23-24 For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man studying his natural face in a mirror. For he studied himself and went his way, and immediately he forgot what he was like.
Interesting as James writes about a person who is exposed to the Word of God, then does not act on it. I also love the Message translation of Matthew 5:16 14-16 "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. This my friends explains the God's Love Outreach Ministry. A few months back in a program we presented a song that most adults remember from their childhood, "This Little Light of Mine." One of the lyrics states, "Hide it under a bushel, no, I'm going to let it shine!" I had a gentleman yesterday after a program say, "I love how you tied everything together and point it to God!" Yes, it is His light shining through me. We cannot, nor should not, or want not to tell someone about Christ when the Holy Spirit dwells within us.
I found this devotional by F. B. Meyer yesterday.
[THERE IS an old fable of a palace, in which one room was remarkable above all others because it was lined with glass of a special quality. Whenever a person entered whose life was inconsistent with truth, a mist blurred the surface of the mirrors so that he was unable to see himself clearly. It was when the Apostle Paul compared" his own self-centered goodness with the love and purity of Christ, he lost all hope of justifying himself, and confessed that the things which he had counted gain were only loss.
Truth and Love are indissolubly connected. Love is of God, and so is Truth. If you have the one, the other must follow. If the soul, looking into the mirror of God's Word, perceiving that there is a blur, and sets itself to remove all that has caused it; and if it continues in this attitude, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer that works, he shall be "blessed in his doing."
The blessedness of doing and becoming. It is only as we do, that we become. Even to behold Christ will not make us Christ-like in character, unless we translate into action what we have discovered in Him. The impressions made on the hearer through the ear are very vagrant, like the breeze on the water. We look at ourselves in the mirror held up before us, and straightway go off and forget what manner of persons we were. It is only as we cease to be hearers who forget, and become doers that work, that we can make any progress in the Christian life and walk.
Listen attentively to the Word of Truth, written or spoken. Be quick to notice the smallest symptom of inconsistency between your life and the perfect beauty of Jesus, and set yourself immediately to correct it. Be merciful to the failings of everyone else, but be merciless to your own. Let no fault remain uncorrected, and no call to duty unanswered. For you to live, let it be Christ. Your blessedness and happiness will come in choosing the Christ-life, in doing, and continuing to do what He would have you do.
PRAYER
Help us to cast out all those things which are contrary to Thy peace, or that are not according to Thy will, so that ours may be the quiet life of trust, and faith, and obedience, longing for Thy truth, and walking in the light thereof. AMEN.]
I will always remember about a year ago we had a guest Pastor speaking at our church, because our Pastor was on vacation. The guest Pastor came up to me and said, "I know you are good speaking in front of people, (because of my involvement with the God's Love Outreach Ministry), would lead the service up to my sermon?" Well, even though we were in a house of God, my mind went off of God to myself. Very shortly God let me know it doesn't work that way. I had trouble just getting words to come out of my mouth. Remember what the Message translation stated above, We are to be lights, bringing out Gods-colors. When you look in the mirror I pray that the reflection you see is Jesus!
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
[by F. B. Meyer]
James 1:23-24 For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man studying his natural face in a mirror. For he studied himself and went his way, and immediately he forgot what he was like.
Interesting as James writes about a person who is exposed to the Word of God, then does not act on it. I also love the Message translation of Matthew 5:16 14-16 "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. This my friends explains the God's Love Outreach Ministry. A few months back in a program we presented a song that most adults remember from their childhood, "This Little Light of Mine." One of the lyrics states, "Hide it under a bushel, no, I'm going to let it shine!" I had a gentleman yesterday after a program say, "I love how you tied everything together and point it to God!" Yes, it is His light shining through me. We cannot, nor should not, or want not to tell someone about Christ when the Holy Spirit dwells within us.
I found this devotional by F. B. Meyer yesterday.
[THERE IS an old fable of a palace, in which one room was remarkable above all others because it was lined with glass of a special quality. Whenever a person entered whose life was inconsistent with truth, a mist blurred the surface of the mirrors so that he was unable to see himself clearly. It was when the Apostle Paul compared" his own self-centered goodness with the love and purity of Christ, he lost all hope of justifying himself, and confessed that the things which he had counted gain were only loss.
Truth and Love are indissolubly connected. Love is of God, and so is Truth. If you have the one, the other must follow. If the soul, looking into the mirror of God's Word, perceiving that there is a blur, and sets itself to remove all that has caused it; and if it continues in this attitude, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer that works, he shall be "blessed in his doing."
The blessedness of doing and becoming. It is only as we do, that we become. Even to behold Christ will not make us Christ-like in character, unless we translate into action what we have discovered in Him. The impressions made on the hearer through the ear are very vagrant, like the breeze on the water. We look at ourselves in the mirror held up before us, and straightway go off and forget what manner of persons we were. It is only as we cease to be hearers who forget, and become doers that work, that we can make any progress in the Christian life and walk.
Listen attentively to the Word of Truth, written or spoken. Be quick to notice the smallest symptom of inconsistency between your life and the perfect beauty of Jesus, and set yourself immediately to correct it. Be merciful to the failings of everyone else, but be merciless to your own. Let no fault remain uncorrected, and no call to duty unanswered. For you to live, let it be Christ. Your blessedness and happiness will come in choosing the Christ-life, in doing, and continuing to do what He would have you do.
PRAYER
Help us to cast out all those things which are contrary to Thy peace, or that are not according to Thy will, so that ours may be the quiet life of trust, and faith, and obedience, longing for Thy truth, and walking in the light thereof. AMEN.]
I will always remember about a year ago we had a guest Pastor speaking at our church, because our Pastor was on vacation. The guest Pastor came up to me and said, "I know you are good speaking in front of people, (because of my involvement with the God's Love Outreach Ministry), would lead the service up to my sermon?" Well, even though we were in a house of God, my mind went off of God to myself. Very shortly God let me know it doesn't work that way. I had trouble just getting words to come out of my mouth. Remember what the Message translation stated above, We are to be lights, bringing out Gods-colors. When you look in the mirror I pray that the reflection you see is Jesus!
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Monday, December 7, 2009
A sinner I was!
1Corinthians 1:28 and God has chosen the base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things which are not, in order to bring to nothing things that are;
What an awesome scripture that Charles Spurgeon chose to speak on. As you begin to read Spurgeon's morning devotional for this morning let his words bring your heart and mind into one accord. For sinners, we all are or were, at one point in our lives.
[Charles Spurgeon]
[Walk the streets by moonlight, if you dare, and you will see sinners then. Watch when the night is dark, and the wind is howling, and the picklock is grating in the door, and you will see sinners then. Go to yon jail, and walk through the wards, and mark the men with heavy over-hanging brows, men whom you would not like to meet at night, and there are sinners there. Go to the Reformatories, and note those who have betrayed a rampant juvenile depravity, and you will see sinners there. Go across the seas to the place where a man will gnaw a bone upon which is reeking human flesh, and there is a sinner there. Go where you will, you need not ransack earth to find sinners, for they are common enough; you may find them in every lane and street of every city, and town, and village, and hamlet.]
My friends before Christ I was just like all that Charles Spurgeon wrote of. Did I do what these individuals did? No. But what we all would have in common is what we start as, "sinners!"
[It is for such that Jesus died. If you will select me the grossest specimen of humanity, if he be but born of woman, I will have hope of him yet, because Jesus Christ is come to seek and to save sinners. Electing love has selected some of the worst to be made the best. Pebbles of the brook grace turns into jewels for the crown-royal. Worthless dross he transforms into pure gold. Redeeming love has set apart many of the worst of mankind to be the reward of the Saviour’s passion. Effectual grace calls forth many of the vilest of the vile to sit at the table of mercy, and therefore let none despair.]
The ending to this powerful devotional I can hear Spurgeon's plea to turn to Christ. Read slowly as he describes Jesus love for us. I also join with Charles Spurgeon and plead, "Do not turn away as though it was nothing!"
Yes, I was a sinner, but now praise God, I am a Saint!
[Reader, by that love looking out of Jesus’ tearful eyes, by that love streaming from those bleeding wounds, by that faithful love, that strong love, that pure, disinterested, and abiding love; by the heart and by the bowels of the Saviour’s compassion, we conjure you turn not away as though it were nothing to you; but believe on him and you shall be saved. Trust your soul with him and he will bring you to his Father’s right hand in glory everlasting.]
I guess this would be a good time to revisit a blog the Lord blessed me with on September 25th of this year. http://godsloveoutreachministry.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-was.html
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
What an awesome scripture that Charles Spurgeon chose to speak on. As you begin to read Spurgeon's morning devotional for this morning let his words bring your heart and mind into one accord. For sinners, we all are or were, at one point in our lives.
[Charles Spurgeon]
[Walk the streets by moonlight, if you dare, and you will see sinners then. Watch when the night is dark, and the wind is howling, and the picklock is grating in the door, and you will see sinners then. Go to yon jail, and walk through the wards, and mark the men with heavy over-hanging brows, men whom you would not like to meet at night, and there are sinners there. Go to the Reformatories, and note those who have betrayed a rampant juvenile depravity, and you will see sinners there. Go across the seas to the place where a man will gnaw a bone upon which is reeking human flesh, and there is a sinner there. Go where you will, you need not ransack earth to find sinners, for they are common enough; you may find them in every lane and street of every city, and town, and village, and hamlet.]
My friends before Christ I was just like all that Charles Spurgeon wrote of. Did I do what these individuals did? No. But what we all would have in common is what we start as, "sinners!"
[It is for such that Jesus died. If you will select me the grossest specimen of humanity, if he be but born of woman, I will have hope of him yet, because Jesus Christ is come to seek and to save sinners. Electing love has selected some of the worst to be made the best. Pebbles of the brook grace turns into jewels for the crown-royal. Worthless dross he transforms into pure gold. Redeeming love has set apart many of the worst of mankind to be the reward of the Saviour’s passion. Effectual grace calls forth many of the vilest of the vile to sit at the table of mercy, and therefore let none despair.]
The ending to this powerful devotional I can hear Spurgeon's plea to turn to Christ. Read slowly as he describes Jesus love for us. I also join with Charles Spurgeon and plead, "Do not turn away as though it was nothing!"
Yes, I was a sinner, but now praise God, I am a Saint!
[Reader, by that love looking out of Jesus’ tearful eyes, by that love streaming from those bleeding wounds, by that faithful love, that strong love, that pure, disinterested, and abiding love; by the heart and by the bowels of the Saviour’s compassion, we conjure you turn not away as though it were nothing to you; but believe on him and you shall be saved. Trust your soul with him and he will bring you to his Father’s right hand in glory everlasting.]
I guess this would be a good time to revisit a blog the Lord blessed me with on September 25th of this year. http://godsloveoutreachministry.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-was.html
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Saturday, December 5, 2009
A prelude to Christmas day and life!
"With a perfect heart to make David King" (I. Chronicles. xii. 38).
[A. B. Simpson]
["What is the supreme purpose of our life? They were all of one heart to make David king." Is this our purpose, to prepare the Bride, to prepare the world, to prepare His way? Does it dwarf and dim all other ambitions, all other cares?]
The purpose statement of our church is "Knowing Him and making Him known!" As I read the first part of Mr. Simpson's devotional for today that is what came to mind. How devoted are you to Jesus?
[Does it fill and satisfy every capacity, every power, every desire? Does it absorb every moment, every energy, every resource? Does it give direction and tone to every plan and work of life?]
Now if your life fits into that category, wow! For me all I can say is I try, Lord I am trying. I think about Him all the time.
[Does it decide for us the education of our children]
What do you teach or let teach your children? Television is gradually poisoning their minds.
[, the investment of our means]
Do you give and tithe to the Lord? It's all His and He asks for 10% to be returned to His church so His work can be accomplished.
[, the friendships and associations of life,]
This is what our Pastor has been preaching about for a few Sundays, "Fellowship"! Just as the saying goes, "You are what you eat", you also live by whom you associate with!
[the whole activity, interest and outlook of our being? Are we in it, spirit, soul and body, all we are, all we do, all we hope for--OF ONE HEART TO MAKE JESUS KING?]
Yep, that is the question. For some they are a few steps closer or miles away, than others. In twenty more days we celebrate the birth of Christ. To me this little poem below should be our cry as Christian soldiers united in the army of Jesus!
[We're going forth united
With loyal heart and hand,
To bear His royal banner
Aboard o'er every land.
From every tribe and nation
We'll haste His Bride to bring.
And Oh, with what glad welcome
We'll make our Jesus King.]
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
[A. B. Simpson]
["What is the supreme purpose of our life? They were all of one heart to make David king." Is this our purpose, to prepare the Bride, to prepare the world, to prepare His way? Does it dwarf and dim all other ambitions, all other cares?]
The purpose statement of our church is "Knowing Him and making Him known!" As I read the first part of Mr. Simpson's devotional for today that is what came to mind. How devoted are you to Jesus?
[Does it fill and satisfy every capacity, every power, every desire? Does it absorb every moment, every energy, every resource? Does it give direction and tone to every plan and work of life?]
Now if your life fits into that category, wow! For me all I can say is I try, Lord I am trying. I think about Him all the time.
[Does it decide for us the education of our children]
What do you teach or let teach your children? Television is gradually poisoning their minds.
[, the investment of our means]
Do you give and tithe to the Lord? It's all His and He asks for 10% to be returned to His church so His work can be accomplished.
[, the friendships and associations of life,]
This is what our Pastor has been preaching about for a few Sundays, "Fellowship"! Just as the saying goes, "You are what you eat", you also live by whom you associate with!
[the whole activity, interest and outlook of our being? Are we in it, spirit, soul and body, all we are, all we do, all we hope for--OF ONE HEART TO MAKE JESUS KING?]
Yep, that is the question. For some they are a few steps closer or miles away, than others. In twenty more days we celebrate the birth of Christ. To me this little poem below should be our cry as Christian soldiers united in the army of Jesus!
[We're going forth united
With loyal heart and hand,
To bear His royal banner
Aboard o'er every land.
From every tribe and nation
We'll haste His Bride to bring.
And Oh, with what glad welcome
We'll make our Jesus King.]
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Jesus is my all in all!
“Behold, all is vanity.”
- Ecclesiastes 1:14 I have seen it all, and everything is just as senseless as chasing the wind.
[Charles Spurgeon]
[Nothing can satisfy the entire man but the Lord’s love and the Lord’s own self.]
I will always remember as a young man having a conversation with my oldest brother. I felt that there was something special that I was missing in my life. Now mind you I was saved as a teenager at 15 years of age but broke away from the church after coming finishing my military service. Please read as Charles Spurgeon speaks of the wisest man Solomon, and how he finally understood everything he did was vanity. Solomon finally understood that Christ is the only "all in all!"
[Saints have tried to anchor in other roadsteads, but they have been driven out of such fatal refuges. Solomon, the wisest of men, was permitted to make experiments for us all, and to do for us what we must not dare to do for ourselves. Here is his testimony in his own words: “So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.” “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” What! the whole of it vanity? O favoured monarch, is there nothing in all thy wealth? Nothing in that wide dominion reaching from the river even to the sea? Nothing in Palmyra’s glorious palaces? Nothing in the house of the forest of Lebanon? In all thy music and dancing, and wine and luxury, is there nothing? “Nothing,” he says, “but weariness of spirit.” This was his verdict when he had trodden the whole round of pleasure. To embrace our Lord Jesus, to dwell in his love, and be fully assured of union with him-this is all in all. Dear reader, you need not try other forms of life in order to see whether they are better than the Christian’s: if you roam the world around, you will see no sights like a sight of the Saviour’s face;]
Now read this last part of today's evening devotional as Charles Spurgeon describes if you lost everything but win Christ it is a paradise. Just as the lyrics for the song You Are My All In All states;
Your are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all
Seeking You like a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I'd be a fool
You are my all in all
Jesus, Lamb of God
Holy is Your name
Taking my cross, my sin, my shame
Raising again I praise Your name
You are my all in all
When I fall down you pick me up
When I run dry you fill my cup
You are my all in all
[If you could have all the comforts of life, if you lost your Saviour, you would be wretched; but if you win Christ, then should you rot in a dungeon, you would find it a paradise; should you live in obscurity, or die with famine, you will yet be satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord.]
Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Praise Him!
Psalm 107:8 You should praise the LORD for his love and for the wonderful things he does for all of us.
[Charles Spurgeon]
[If we complained less, and praised more, we should be happier, and God would be more glorified.]
I love that first line of this evenings devotional. Charles Spurgeon really had a way with words. Now stop and think for a moment which do you do most of the day, complain or praise? If you are praising more, are you more happy? I know I am.
[Let us daily praise God for common mercies-common as we frequently call them, and yet so priceless, that when deprived of them we are ready to perish. Let us bless God for the eyes with which we behold the sun, for the health and strength to walk abroad, for the bread we eat, for the raiment we wear.]
For all those items Charles Spurgeon stated, items we take for granted and most of us don't even consider them blessings. No not until we lose one or all. Then its back to complaining!
[Let us praise him that we are not cast out among the hopeless, or confined amongst the guilty; let us thank him for liberty, for friends, for family associations and comforts; let us praise him, in fact, for everything which we receive from his bounteous hand, for we deserve little, and yet are most plenteously endowed.]
Yes, we deserve little but because of God's love for us, His children, we are so blessed. What do we do in return? Is there praise? Are you a one-day a week praise person? What if God blessed us according to our praises that we lift up to Him?
[But, beloved, the sweetest and the loudest note in our songs of praise should be of redeeming love. God’s redeeming acts towards his chosen are for ever the favourite themes of their praise. If we know what redemption means, let us not withhold our sonnets of thanksgiving. We have been redeemed from the power of our corruptions, uplifted from the depth of sin in which we were naturally plunged. We have been led to the cross of Christ-our shackles of guilt have been broken off; we are no longer slaves, but children of the living God, and can antedate the period when we shall be presented before the throne without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Even now by faith we wave the palm-branch and wrap ourselves about with the fair linen which is to be our everlasting array, and shall we not unceasingly give thanks to the Lord our Redeemer? Child of God, canst thou be silent? Awake, awake, ye inheritors of glory, and lead your captivity captive, as ye cry with David, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” Let the new month begin with new songs.]
My friends, how can we be silent? How can we not daily sing the songs of praise and not just on Sunday in the house of God. That should be the day we gather in fellowship and sing, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above thee heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!"
Amen!!!!
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
[Charles Spurgeon]
[If we complained less, and praised more, we should be happier, and God would be more glorified.]
I love that first line of this evenings devotional. Charles Spurgeon really had a way with words. Now stop and think for a moment which do you do most of the day, complain or praise? If you are praising more, are you more happy? I know I am.
[Let us daily praise God for common mercies-common as we frequently call them, and yet so priceless, that when deprived of them we are ready to perish. Let us bless God for the eyes with which we behold the sun, for the health and strength to walk abroad, for the bread we eat, for the raiment we wear.]
For all those items Charles Spurgeon stated, items we take for granted and most of us don't even consider them blessings. No not until we lose one or all. Then its back to complaining!
[Let us praise him that we are not cast out among the hopeless, or confined amongst the guilty; let us thank him for liberty, for friends, for family associations and comforts; let us praise him, in fact, for everything which we receive from his bounteous hand, for we deserve little, and yet are most plenteously endowed.]
Yes, we deserve little but because of God's love for us, His children, we are so blessed. What do we do in return? Is there praise? Are you a one-day a week praise person? What if God blessed us according to our praises that we lift up to Him?
[But, beloved, the sweetest and the loudest note in our songs of praise should be of redeeming love. God’s redeeming acts towards his chosen are for ever the favourite themes of their praise. If we know what redemption means, let us not withhold our sonnets of thanksgiving. We have been redeemed from the power of our corruptions, uplifted from the depth of sin in which we were naturally plunged. We have been led to the cross of Christ-our shackles of guilt have been broken off; we are no longer slaves, but children of the living God, and can antedate the period when we shall be presented before the throne without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Even now by faith we wave the palm-branch and wrap ourselves about with the fair linen which is to be our everlasting array, and shall we not unceasingly give thanks to the Lord our Redeemer? Child of God, canst thou be silent? Awake, awake, ye inheritors of glory, and lead your captivity captive, as ye cry with David, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” Let the new month begin with new songs.]
My friends, how can we be silent? How can we not daily sing the songs of praise and not just on Sunday in the house of God. That should be the day we gather in fellowship and sing, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above thee heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!"
Amen!!!!
From God's heart, to mine, to yours,
Ed Shagott
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