Surrender not only what the Lord does to you, but surrender your reaction to what he does.
~Madame Jeanne Marie de La Mothe Guyon (1648-1717)
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.
~ from 2 Chronicles 16
Oh beloved, it is true. He is arbitrary. For the G_d of the universe is exactly as advertised: He is G_d.
His terms for a relationship with Him have already been modeled by Himself. The terms are absolute surrender. This fool of a writer has had a day where some major stuff has been torn out of his hands. In the natural, i would even be called a fool for letting them go.
And the question is, on days like these, whose are we anyway?
My strength is gone, and it seems on days like these, that it is better to let others speak.
My goal is God Himself.
Not joy. Not peace.
Not even blessing, but Himself, my God
It is His to lead me there not mine but His
At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.
So faith bounds forward to its goal in God and love can trust our Lord to lead her there.
I pray by Him my soul will follow hard ’til God has at last fulfill my deepest prayer
No matter if the way become sometimes dark.
No matter if the cost be often great.
He knoweth how I best should reach the mark.
The way that leads to Him must need be straight
One thing I know, I can not say Him nay.
One thing I do, I press toward my God
The secret of the life of the apostle was this – you want to know – it’s this one thing I do – he never got into sidetracks.
He never got into business like so many preachers do.
This one thing I do, it will be hell to get there.
I forget – one of the old puritan preachers said in the 1600s – you have to go through hell to get to heaven.
You have to lose everything in order to become the part of the Bride of Jesus Christ.
One thing I know, I can not say Him nay.
One thing I do, I press toward my Lord.
My God, my glory here from day to day.
And in the glory then, my great reward.
~ Leonard Ravenhill
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you just to know that your sins are forgiven doesn’t constitute your salvation.
The fact that you happened to be on the way to hell and don’t now don’t happen to be on the way to hell that doesn’t constitute your salvation.
Your salvation of course derives from the fact that as a redeemed sinner no longer on the way to hell, but already on the way to heaven, Jesus Christ as God Creator has come to invade your humanity to play that role in you for which you were created.
To give him the right 24 hours a day in your business;
In your home;
In your school;
In your college campus;
Whether you are on recreation;
In vacation;
In business;
No matter at any time, under any circumstances;
24 hours in every day;
7 days in every week;
You give Jesus Christ as God the right to be God in you without reserve.
Then you [begin] to get saved.
That’s what it means to become a Christian.
We’ve conveniently reduced salvation to a moment in time – when we raised a hand walked down the front or get baptized or have our name put upon a church roll – and we call that salvation.
Nothing of course is farther from the truth.
That is totally divorced from the revelation given to us in the word of God, which is our sole guide in every matter of faith.
Salvation involves the reoccupation by God of a guilty sinner in such a way, that Jesus Christ has the unchallenged, absolute, perpetual right to dictate the terms whereby that individual henceforth will run his life.
For instance, where he’s going to buy his new home;
What vocation his going to study as a student;
Where he is going to go next year on vacation;
How he’s actually going to spend his money;
Who’s really going to run the church that he goes to;
All this is embraced in his salvation, and nothing less than that, of course, will do.
Anything less than that shortchanges Jesus Christ and cheats Him of that for which His blood was shed.
~ Major Ian Thomas
Whose are we? This is the question.
