We can never fathom the agony . . . Gethsemane and Calvary stand for something unique; they are the gateway into Life for us.
From Matthew 26:36-38: “Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated. Then He said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.'”
If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He does not ask you to put it right; He asks you to accept the light, and He will put it right.
From 2 Corinthians 3:3-5: “And you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God.”
Purity is not innocence, it is much more. Purity is the outcome of sustained spiritual journey with God. We have to grow in purity.
From Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
The greatest note of triumph ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ–“it is finished!”
From John 19:30: “When Jesus had received the wine, He said, ‘It is finished.’ Then He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”
The thing that preserves a man from panic is his relationship to God.
From Proverbs 12:25: “Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up.”
Goodness and purity ought never to attract attention to themselves, they ought simply to be magnets to draw to Jesus Christ.
From John 3:28:30: [John the Baptist is speaking] “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears Him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”
God never opens doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut, doors which need never have been shut.
From Luke 19:42: “[Jesus weeps over Jerusalem] As He came near and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.'”
The bedrock of our Christian faith is the unmerited, fathomless marvel of the love of God exhibited on the Cross at Calvary, a love we never can and never shall merit.
From Romans 8:37-38: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord. Are you in the direct line of intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit?
From Romans 8:26-27: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Take care lest you play the hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right before you worship God yourself.
From 1 John 5:16-17: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true.”
