Deuteronomy 28:2 – “All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God…”
Matthew 6:33 – “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these [blessings] will be added to you.”
John 6:27 – Jesus: “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
Leviticus 9:22 – “Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he stepped down….”
Luke 24:51 – “While [Jesus] was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.”
Hebrews 1:3/Hebrews 8:6 – “When He had made purification of sins, [Jesus] sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.”
2 Kings 4:4 – The widow shut the door and poured…
A miracle of divine provision.
2 Kings 4:33 – Elisha shut the door and prayed…
A miracle of divine healing.
2 Kings 6:32 – Elisha and the elders shut the door and held it…
A miracle of divine protection.
Matthew 6:6 – Jesus: “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
1 Kings 18 – Two masters, two opinions, two altars.
Ephesians 4 – One Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father.
Matthew 6:24 – Jesus: “No one can serve two masters…”
“Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.” – Jim Elliot
Genesis 3:19 – Adam the First…sweat.
Luke 22:44 – Adam the Last…sweat.
Ezekiel 44:18 – The millennial priests…no sweat!
Galatians 3:13 – “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us…”
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” – Augustine, in Confessions
John 4:14 – A well springing up in worship.
John 7:38 – A river flowing out in service.
Galatians 2:20 – “…it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…”
Luke 7:14-15 – “Young man, I say to you ‘Arise’…and he began to speak.”
Mark 5:41-43; 8:54-56 – “Little girl, I say to you ‘Arise’…and she began to walk.”
John 11:43-44; 12:1-2 – “Lazarus, come forth…and he was reclining with Jesus.”
John 11:25 – Jesus: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.”
Hebrews 7:4 – “Observe how great this man [Melchizedek] was…”
1 Chronicles 29:28 – “[David] died in a ripe old age, full of days, riches, and honor.”
Ecclesiastes 2:9 – Solomon: “Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.”
Matthew 12:42 – Jesus: “…behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”
1 Corinthians 11:3 – “…Christ is the head of every man.”
That’s individual headship.
Ephesians 1:22 – “…and gave Him as head over all things to the church.”
Colossians 1:18 – “He is also head of the body, the church…”
That’s corporate headship.
Colossians 2:10 – “…and He is the head over all rule and authority.”
That’s universal headship.
Daniel 7:27 – “Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.”
John 17:2 – Jesus was given authority, and He executed it.
John 17:4 – He was given work, and He accomplished it.
John 17:6 – He was given men, and He kept them.
John 17:8 – He was given words, and He spoke them.
John 17:6,11 – He was given a name, and He manifested it.
John 17:22- He was given glory, and He shared it.
John 18:11 – He was given a cup, and He drank it.
“That bitter cup, love drank it up; left but the love for me!” – Anne Ross Cousin
John 3:35 – “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.”
That’s trust.
John 5:20 – “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing.”
That’s communication.
John 14:31 – “But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.”
That’s obedience.
John 10:17 – “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.”
That’s resurrection glory!
I am a sinner – Matthew 3:6
I am a stranger – Hebrews 11:13
I am a voice – John 1:20
Jesus before Pontius Pilate:
I am a King – John 18:37; 1 Timothy 6:13
Attributed to “Pauline T.”, first published in 1868
My life goes on in endless song:
Above earth’s lamentation,
I hear the real, tho’ far-off hymn
That hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear its music ringing;
It sounds an echo in my soul —
How can I keep from singing?
What tho’ the tempest loudly roars?
The Lord my Savior liveth;
What tho’ the darkness ’round me close?
Songs in the night He giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm,
While to that Rock I’m clinging;
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth,
How can I keep from singing?
A Psalm of David
1I will sing of lovingkindness and justice,
To You, O LORD, I will sing praises.
2I will give heed to the blameless way
When will You come to me?
I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.
3I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not fasten its grip on me.
4A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will know no evil.
5Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy;
No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.
6My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.
7He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.
8Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
So as to cut off from the city of the LORD all those who do iniquity.
by Brother Lawrence
The whole substance of religion is faith, hope, and love…. All things are possible to him who believes, they are less difficult to him who hopes, they are more easy to him who loves, and still more easy to him who perseveres in the practice of these three virtues.
by William Temple
Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness, nourishment of mind by His truth, purifying of imagination by His beauty, opening of heart to His love, and submission of will to His purpose. And all of this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of human expressions of which we are capable.
by Angela Morgan, as adapted by Paul Billheimer
When God wants to drill a man
And thrill a man,
And skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world will be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands!
How He bends but never breaks
When his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And with every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try his splendor out —
God knows what He’s about.
by Clive Staples Lewis
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously — no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner — no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment.
by James Stewart
He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men, yet He spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God.
He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at His coming, yet He was so genial and winsome and approachable that the children loved to play with Him and the little ones nestled in His arms. His presence at the innocent gaiety of a village wedding was like the presence of sunshine.
No one was half so kind or compassionate to sinners, yet no one spoke such red hot scorching words about sin. A bruised reed He would not break, His whole life was love, yet on one occasion He demanded of the Pharisees how they ever expected to escape the damnation of hell. He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions, yet for sheer stark realism He has all of our self-styled realists soundly beaten. He was a servant of all, washing the disciples feet, yet masterfully He strode into the temple and the hucksters and moneychangers fell over each other in their mad rush to get away from the fire they saw blazing in His eyes.
He saved others, but at the last Himself He did not save. There is nothing in history like the union of contrasts which confronts us in the gospels. The mystery of Jesus is the mystery of Divine Personality.
© Copyright Dr. Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.