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current favorite
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–Eternal Father,
It is amazing love,
that Thou hast sent Thy Son
to suffer in my stead,
that Thou hast added the Spirit
to teach, comfort, guide,
that Thou hast allowed the ministry of angels
to wall me round;
All heaven subserves the welfare of a poor worm.
Permit Thy unseen servants to be ever active on my behalf,
and to rejoice when grace expands in me.
Suffer them never to rest until my conflict is over,
and I stand victorious on salvation’s shore.
Grant that my proneness to evil, deadness to good,
resistance to Thy Spirit’s motion’s,
may never provoke Thee to abandon me.
May my hard heart awake Thy pity, not Thy wrath,
And if the enemy gets an advantage through my corruption,
let it be seen that heaven is mightier than hell,
that those for me are greater than those against me.
Arise to my help in richness of covenant blessings,
Keep me feeding in the pastures of Thy strengthening Word,
searching Scripture to find Thee there.
If my waywardness is visited with a scourge,
enable me to receive correction meekly,
to bless the reproving hand,
to discern the motive of rebuke,
to respond promptly, and do the first work.
Let all Thy fatherly dealings make me a partaker
of Thy holiness.
Grant that in every fall I may sink lower on my knees,
and that when I rise it may be to loftier heights of devotion.
May my every cross be sanctified,
every loss be gain,
every denial a spiritual advantage,
every dark day a light of the Holy Spirit,
every night of trial a song.Spiritual Helps
a prayer found in The Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions
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Don’t reach for your billfold; it is not close enough to your heart. Don’t raise your hand to volunteer for another committee in the ecclesiastical bureaucracy; tokenism is an unfit gift. Rather, look within. What invigorates you? What causes you to wake up before dawn with a new idea spinning in your mind? What fuels your imagination, even when you are fatigued? Here is where you will find your most valued treasure. Here is where you will find a gift worthy of your Lord.
– Robert Lupton. “Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life.” (via tdmcpherson) -
A room without books is like a body without a soul.
– Cicero -
I have been listening to this on repeat for 1 month. My mind is blown every time.
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Dear Lord,
– Henri J.M. Nouwen, Show Me the Way
Your disciple Peter wanted to know
who would betray You.
You pointed to Judas
but a little later also to him.
Judas betrayed, Peter denied You.
Judas hanged himself,
Peter became the apostle
whom You made the first among equals.
Lord, give me faith,
faith in Your endless mercy,
Your boundless forgiveness,
Your unfathomable goodness.
Let me not be tempted
to think that my sins
are too great to be forgiven,
too abominable to be touched by Your mercy.
Let me never run away from You
but return to You again and again,
asking You to be my Lord.
my Shepherd, my Stronghold, and my Refuge.
Take me under Your wing, O Lord,
and let me know that You do not reject me
as long as I keep asking You to forgive me.
Perhaps my doubts in Your forgiveness
is a greater sin
than the sins I consider too great to be forgiven.
Perhaps I make myself too important, too great
when I think
that I cannot be embraced by You anymore.
Lord, look at me, accept my prayer
as You accepted Peter’s prayer,
and let me not run away from You.
in the night as Judas did.
Bless me, Lord, in this Holy Week,
and give me the grace
to know Your loving presence more intimately.
Amen -
The person who understands the evil in his own heart is the only person who is useful, fruitful, and solid in his beliefs and obedience. Others only delude themselves and thus upset families, churches, and all other relationships. In their self-pride and judgment of others, they show great inconsistency.
– John Owen -
If you treat a man as he is, he will stay as he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become the bigger and better man.
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
