A Reformed Christian Blog
Not what my hands have done
Can save my guilty soul
Not what my toiling flesh has borne
Can make my spirit whole
Not what I feel or do
Can give me peace with God
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears
Can bear my awful load
These guilty hands are raised
Filthy rags are all I bring
But I have come to hide beneath Your wings
These holy hands are raised
Washed in the fountain of Your grace
And now I wear Your righteousness
- Horatious Bonar
“Every appearance of hypocrisy, does not prove the person who manifests it to be a hypocrite. You should carefully distinguish between the appearance and the predominance of hypocricy. There are remains of deceitfulness in the best hearts; this was examplified in David and Peter; but the prevailing frame of their hearts being upright, they were not denominated hypocrites for their conduct.”
- John Flavel
HT: Hail and Fire
“for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.” (1 John 3:20)
“None have more pride than those who dream that they have none. You may labour against vainglory till you conceive that you are humble, and the fond conceit of your humility will prove to be pride in full bloom. It apes humility full well, and is then most truly pride. Pride is a sin with a thousand lives; it seems impossible to kill it, it flourishes on that which should be its poison, glorying in its shame. It is a sin with a thousand shapes; by perpetual change it escapes capture. It seems impossible to hold it; the vapoury imp slips from you, only to appear in another form and mock your fruitless pursuit. To die to pride and self one would need to die himself.”
- Charles Spurgeon
LORD JESUS CHRIST,
Fill me with the Spirit that I may be occupied with his presence.
I am blind – send him to make me see;
dark – let him say, “Let there be light’!
May he give me faith to behold
my name engraven in thy hand,
my soul and body redeemed by thy blood,
my sinfulness covered by the life
of pure obedience.
Replenish me by his revealing grace,
that I may realise my indissoluble union with thee;
that I may know thou has espoused me
to thyself for ever,
in righteousness, love, mercy, faithfulness;
that I am one with thee,
as a branch with its stock, as a building
with its foundation.
May his comforts cheer me in my sorrows,
his strength sustain me in my trials,
his blessings revive me in my weariness,
his presence render me a fruitful tree of holiness,
his might establish me in peace and joy,
his incitements make me ceaseless in prayer,
his animation kindle in me undying devotion.
Send him as the searcher of my heart,
to show me more of corruptions
and helplessness
that I may flee to thee,
cling to thee,
rest on thee,
as the beginning and end of my salvation.
May I never vex him by indifference
and waywardness,
grieve him by my cold welcome,
resist him by my hard rebellion.
Answer my prayers, O Lord,
for thy great name’s sake.
Have you noticed that no matter how many times charismatic televangelists make outlandish false prophecies, they never lack for followers, and they don’t stop claiming the Lord has spoken directly to them?
Benny Hinn, for example, made a series of celebrated prophetic utterances in December of 1989, none of which came true. He confidently told his congregation at the Orlando Christian Center that God had revealed to him Fidel Castro would die sometime in the 1990s; the homosexual community in America would be destroyed by fire before 1995; and a major earthquake would cause havoc on the east coast before the year 2000. He was wrong on all counts, of course.
Read the rest here.
“Many Christians have what we might call a “cultural holiness”. They adapt to the character and behavior pattern of Christians around them. As the Christian culture around them is more or less holy, so these Christians are more or less holy. But God has not called us to be like those around us. He has called us to be like himself. Holiness is nothing less than conformity to the character of God.”
Jerry Bridges
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)
“In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. “ (Isaiah 4:2)
In case you are wondering, “The Branch of the LORD” is Jesus. You can find him inscribed upon every page of the most magnificent book ever written.
If beautiful is not in your vocabulary when you speak of Jesus, it should be!
“Many Christians keep themselves in a perpetual foment by hoping they will get into a situation where they can enoy a better (and easier) Christian life. They feel enclosed in a net of circumstances from which they cannot escape. They are so wearied and baffled and beaten by the continuous pressure about them they wish and itch for things to be different, quite sure that if they were only different Christ would be more real. It has not dawned on them that at the heart of these very circumstance they are to find the Lord Jesus, find His grace sufficient, find the life more abundant.”
L.E. Maxwell
In the final chapter of Luke, Jesus appears to his disciples after being crucified. Upon seeing Jesus, the men were “startled and frightened thinking they saw a ghost.” Jesus showed them his hands and feet but Luke 24:41 confirms “they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement.” Can you even imagine the gamut of emotions they must have experienced?
I Corinthians 13:12 tells us that, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.”
A day is coming when we will see our Jesus face to face! What a marvelous thought! What a blessed hope! 1 John 3:2 holds a precious promise. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
All I can say to that is, “What a day that will be!”
