“Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.” John Piper In counseling, I am often asked “how to” questions. How do I quit overeating, how do I forgive the wrongs in my past, how can I stop being so afraid, how do I stop obsessing over people and circumstances – and of course the list is as long as the maladies we experience in a world stricken with sin.
Sorted by: Margaret Ashmore
“When He saw the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. And He opened His mouth saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:1-3 Someone asked C.S. Lewis if he cared for the Beatitudes, “As to caring for it, if “caring for,” means liking or enjoying, I suppose no one cares for it. Who can like being knocked flat on his face by a sledgehammer? I can hardly imagine a more deadly spiritual condition than that of a man who can read it with tranquil pleasure.”
The Christian’s Purpose “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to
“O Lord, How lovely are Thy dwelling places! My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. The bird also has found a house, And the swallow a nest for herself – even Thine altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and my God.” This morning I watched one of my self-imposed feline residents curled up in a most agreeable spot on my back porch with the look of seraphic peace and contentment, untroubled and safe within the harbor
“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” – Exodus 14:15 “All God’s revelations are sealed to us until they are opened to us by obedience. Immediately you obey – a flash of light comes. Obey God in the thing He is at present showing you, and instantly the next thing is opened up. The tiniest fragment of obedience, and heaven opens up and the profoundest truths of God are yours straight away. God will never reveal more truth about Himself till you obey what you know already.” – Oswald Chambers Depression can be so weighty that it has its own gravitational pull, and one that has found me more than once dead center on the couch watching some mind-numbing television show. (Interesting isn’t it that the word a-muse means to “not think”?)
“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaintagainstanyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” – Colossians 3:12-15
"Lord, help me to honor Thee by believing before I feel, for great is the sin if I make feeling a cause of faith." Jonathon Edwards “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaiccalled Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?’”