Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the Risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to dampen you.
From 2 Corinthians 6:3-4: “We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities.”
Darkness comes by the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do as He likes with us–prepared to be separated from conscious blessings? Until Jesus Christ is Lord, we all have ends of our own to serve; our faith is real, but it is not permanent yet.
From John 16:32-33: “The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”
The one concentrated passion of the life is Jesus Christ. Whenever you meet this note in a man, you feel he is a man after God’s own heart.
From Acts 9:17: “So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.'”
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.'”
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