Different

#1756

²⁶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

²⁷ But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

²⁸ And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

²⁹ That no flesh should glory in his presence.

³⁰ But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

³¹ That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (1 Corinthians Chapter 1)

Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:

Thomas Watson's choice excerpts on Scripture
Play Audio! Download Audio

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We soon grow dull, cold, lifeless, and inactive!

(James Smith, "The Great Comforter" 1858)

"It is the Spirit who quickens; the flesh profits nothing." John 6:63

All real religion begins with the quickening of the Spirit. When we experience this . . .
  we begin to breathe after spiritual things; 
  we open our eyes in a new world; 
  we hunger and thirst after righteousness; 
  and at length taste that the Lord is gracious. 
We then have . . .
  new thoughts, 
  new desires, 
  new hopes, 
  new fears, 
  new joys, and 
  new sorrows. 
The eye fixes on Christ, 
the heart goes out to Christ, and 
the chief desire of the soul is to be like Christ. 

The Spirit not only quickens us at first--but all through life we need and are dependent on the Spirit's quickening. He quickens us to pray, and He quickens us in prayer. It is His quickening which puts . . .
  life into our graces,
  energy into our prayers,
  confidence into our expectations, and
  enables us to resist Satan, steadfast in the faith.

If His quickening power is withheld--we soon grow dull, cold, lifeless, and inactive! We have . . .
  no power in prayer,
  no enjoyment in ordinances,
  no liberty in speaking to the saints,
  nor profit in reading God's Word. 
Every duty becomes a task, 
every privilege becomes a burden, and 
every cross appears insupportable!

While under the quickening operation of the Spirit--we can do all things; but without His quickening--we can do nothing. 

Often, very often, have we to cry out from bitter experience, "My soul cleaves unto the dust; quicken me according unto Your Word!" Psalm 119:25

Quickening Spirit, daily quicken my soul!

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We have published J.R. Miller's helpful short article, "The Cure for Weariness".

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Feel free to forward these gems to others who may be encouraged or profited by them!

Dr. Morris-

      This writer, like most people I have encountered inside the church house, caught in the same satanic trap- snare- plight of not wanting to be "different" from those outside the church house. Our lives have been tainted by the need for acceptance of Satan's crowd... Our dress- language- idols. We had rather be popular- proud- peculiar, than show the born again righteousness of Christ which should be shown in any person who has experienced true repentance, lost that old life of sin and indifference. God inhabits the praise of his people (Psalm 22:3).

      Real Christians, different people, care little about the "acceptance" of an unsaved world. Every minute of every day, I want acceptance of a holy God. We find this in prayer. It is a lifelong learning experience that, when you have notoriety, education accomplishment, success in business, houses and lands, even family and friends, you have what THEY can do. But, when you have a daily minute by minute experience with the holiness of God through prayer, than you have what God can do.

      Look around, look at the news, look at what is happening to our world, WE NEED, WHAT GOD CAN DO.

Anxiety

#1751

Are you not put to shame by every little bird that sits upon the bough and sings, though it has not two grains of barley in all the world?

(Charles Spurgeon, "A Good Start!")

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life--what you will eat or drink; or about yourbody--what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns--and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire--will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For thepagans run after all these things--and your heavenly Father knows that you need them." Matthew 6:25-32

Undue anxiety is very common among the unsaved--I suppose they cannot help it. Yet Christiansmust help it; for the Lord's precept is plain and binding: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus!"Philippians 4:6-7

Fretful anxiety is forbidden to the Christian! 

It is needless. "Look at the birds of the air," said Christ: "they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" If you have a Father in Heaven to care for you--are you not put to shame by every little bird that sits upon the bough and sings, though it has not two grains of barley in all the world? God takes charge of the birds of the air, and thus they live exempt from anxious care--why do not we?

Our Lord also taught that such anxiety is useless as well as needless; for, with all our care, we cannot add a single hour to our life!

Can we do anything else by fretful care? What if the farmer deplores that there is no rain? Do his fears unstop the bottles of Heaven? Or if the merchant sighs because the wind detains his ship laden with goods--will his complainings turn the gale to another quarter? 

We do not better ourselves a bit, by all our fretting and fuming. It would be infinitely wiser to do our best--and then casts our care upon our God!

Prudence is wisdom--for it adapts means to ends. 
But anxiety is folly--for it groans and worries, and accomplishes nothing! 

Besides, according to our Savior, anxiety about worldly things is heathenish: "For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them!" They have no God and no providence--and therefore they try to be a providence to themselves. Let the heir of Heaven act a nobler part than the mere man of the world--who has his portion in this life, and lives without God and without hope. 

Our distrust of our God is both childish and dishonoring. I was driven through the streets one day by a friend in a four-wheeled carriage, and he, being a good driver, must needs drive into narrow places, where it seemed to me that we would be crushed by the vans and omnibuses. I shrank back in my timidity, and expressed my unwise alarms so freely, that with a smile he laid the reins in my hand, and said, "If you cannot trust me--would you like to drive yourself?" From that ambition I was wholly free, and I assured him that he might drive as he liked, rather than make me the charioteer!

Surely, the great God might well put the same proposal to those who are complaining of His providence. If we cannot trust Him--could we manage better ourselves? 

If we are Christians, let us believe in our God, and leave the governance of the great world to the Lord God, our heavenly Father, who will surely cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him!

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Anxiety

The question and mystery of my lifetime, should I prepare, work hard, go through all the trials and turmoil of living a responsible- productive- accumulating life, or just throw up my hands, and say, "God will provide." I truly believe that God equips us to have the intelligence to do the best we can with what we have... To make preparations for what we can. The Roman soldiers carried barley and other food with them. Soldiers in Americas wars, revolution- civil-Spanish, did not have the "backup" of those in more recent 20th century wars. Even the modern farmer provides irrigation.

There is no way that we can discount the providence of creator God. This week, Elizabeth Elliot was buried. She, like most missionaries, depended on the sovereignty of God. In this sightless mans daily life, as I face the anxiety of making a living, the anxiety of problems on every hand, the anxiety of old age, with Gods anointing, I press on. 

Veteran's Memorial (2011)

In the modern lifestyle, we major on minor things. We often count numbers, when we should make numbers count.

The Pythagorean Theorem has 24 words, our Lord's prayer has 66 words, the Ten Commandments has 179 words, the Declaration of Independence has 170 words, the Constitution of the United States has 7,800 words including the 27 amendments, the federal regulation controlling the sale of cabbage has 26,000 words. This regulation, as well as every other regulation controlling the life of the American citizen, is just one of our many problems.

The average salary for a Washington bureaucrat is $126,000 per year. One of my friends, now deceased, Robert Futrell, a congressman's assistant, told me, without hesitation, that most bureaucrats spend their days planning for inactivity... mostly attending cocktail parties and sumptuous buffets provided by lobbyists to whom they must go for funds to support their candidates. The veteran, a type enslavement, never recovers from his time of subservient encasement. Certainly, as an officer, and in this time of volunteerism, he must prove his abilities with testing, license, memberships, etc. The bureaucrat just “knows someone”.

If not killed, disabled, the veteran is very much on his own, expected to pickup the pieces and “keep on keeping on”... paying the taxes in order that the government can keep sending out entitlement checks to 49 percent of the population.

This totally blind, 100% disabled, service connected, medical officer, veteran of the Korean Era, to date has never been afforded by the government even a white cane or talking watch. The disabled veteran in supposed to have an allotment for adaptation of his home. I have offered to give $1000.00 to anyone, anywhere, that can show that this veteran has ever received anything at all from any veterans group, civic club, church, or even family member, in recognition of my service. That is alright, at the sunset of my life, I did not serve for recognition.

My friend Doris, was born and raised on a farm in south Georgia. Her father was a veteran of Korea. At age 16, her mother died. She said, “I never thought I could stop crying.” and then, a few years later, her father died, leaving she and a younger brother. While she was away in business college, her brother went to Vietnam. He returned, head wounds, loss of one eye but, he married a beautiful girl he had met while stationed in North Carolina. She moved to North Carolina to be with them and this is when I met Doris.

On the 2^nd anniversary of her brother’s marriage, his wife gave birth to a son, and the beloved wife died 10 days later. Doris began caring for this small boy, Zach, when he was ten days old. Two years later, her only brother died and then it was just she and her nephew. Graduating from High School, age 18, Zach joined the military. He was killed in Iraq. She wrote me, at least I do not have to go through another military funeral, the handing of another flag to me, drenched with my tears.

Don't allow the enemy to set the perimeters of your faith. There are times in the blackness of blindness, the depths of despair over world conditions, that you want to step into a manhole and pull the cover over it... to just escape it all. God does not put anything on us that we cannot handle... He was there before us... is always at the intersections of your life before you get there. Perhaps, several hundred times, in leading prayers at public functions, I have prayed, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16) With veterans, their families, all hard-working, God-fearing, tax-paying Americans, when you have government, you have what government can do. When you have war, you have what war can do. When you have prosperity or even depression, you have what they can do, but when you have prayer, and the grace of God, you have what God can do. With veterans, in this time of American history, we want what God can do.