Spend Your Time In...

"Spend your time in nothing which you know must be repented of.  In nothing on which you might not pray for the blessing of God.  In nothing which you could not review with a quiet conscience on your dying bed.  In nothing which you might not safely and properly be found doing if death should surprise you in the act."

~Anonymous

On the 'Praise or Blame' and 'Stars or Dots' of Men

OR 

"He has great tranquility and peace of heart who does not regard praise or blame, and he will soon be at peace and content who has a good conscience.  You are not the better because you are praised, or the worse because you are blamed, for as you are, you are, and whatever is said of you, you are no better than Almighty God, the Searcher of men's hearts, will testify that you are.  If you behold well what you are inwardly, you will not care much what the world says of you outwardly.  Man sees the face, but God beholds the heart; man beholds the deeds, but God beholds the intention of the deeds.  It is a great sign of a humble heart that a man will do well, yet think that he has done but little; and it is a great sign of purity of life and of an inward trust in God when a man takes his comfort from no creature.  When a man seeks no outward witness for himself, it appears that he has wholly committed himself to God.  Also, as St. Paul says: He who commends himself is not justified, but he whom God commends.  He who has his mind lifted up constantly to God and is not held by any inordinate affection is in the degree and in the state of a holy and blessed man."

"The glory of a good man is God's testimony that he has a good conscience.  Therefore, have a good conscience, and you will always have joy.  A good conscience can bear many wrongs and is constantly merry and glad in adversities, but an evil conscience is always fearful and unquiet.  You will rest sweetly and blessedly if your own heart does not reprove you."

~from "The Imitation of Christ", by Thomas a Kempis

"what I think is more important than what they think. The stickers only stick if you let them...The stickers only stick if they matter to you. The more you trust my love, the less you care about their stickers." -Your Maker

~from "You Are Special" by Max Lucado

He "turns toward" the prayer of whom?

"He has regarded the prayer of:

the DESTITUTE (Hebrew 6199= "utterly stripped, laid bare")

and has not despised their prayer."  Psalm 102:17

Am I?

Because...I Love Him

"I want passionate feelings to characterize my relationship with the Lord Jesus. Of course, I want to be perfectly obedient to the Lord, but I want the obedience to spring out of a passionate love for him. I want to obey Jesus not simply out of discipline of duty, or because of some reward or fear of punishment. I want to serve Him simply for the joy of being able to please the one I love so much. If discipline is what ultimately drives us in our pursuit of Jesus, eventually we will give up that pursuit. But a man in love, or a woman in love will never quit.... I want my life to be characterized by an unrestrained affection for the Son of God" ~J. Deere

Answers To Prayer

"There are four ways God answers prayer: 1) No, not yet; 2) No, I love you too much; 3) Yes, I thought you'd never ask; 4) Yes, and here's more."  ~Anne Lewis

Response To Your Thorn

"I sat not in the assembly of those who make merry, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because Your [powerful] hand was upon me, for You had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you indeed be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail and are uncertain?

Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: 'If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God's faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece. ...And I will make you to this people a fortified, bronze wall; they will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you to save and deliver you, says the Lord.'" Jeremiah 15:17-20 Amplified

"Jeremiah sank.  He sank in despair and bitterness in his difficulties and troubles, but Paul, in the same difficulties, wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 12:19 'We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed' 'And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.'" ~ Keith Daniel

Listen:

The Thorn In The Flesh - Keith Daniel

A "Set Apart Thot"

www.setapartgirl.com/set-apart-thots.html

Do I Love My Shepherd Like This?

 

From The Amplified Bible Translation of Song of Solomon

• Does my spirit crave the Divine Shepherd, even in the presence of the best that the world can offer me?  

1:7 "[Addressing her shepherd, she said] Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon. For why should I as I think of you] be as a veiled one straying beside the flocks of your companions?"

•  Do I have a constant sense of my Shepherd's presence, regardless of my surroundings? 

2:6 "[I can feel] his left hand under my head"

• Do I take time to meet my Good Shepherd each day, letting Him tell me of His love, and cheering His heart with my interest in Him? 

2:13 "Arise...my fair one, and come away"

• Do I realize that my voice lifted in praise and song is sweet to Him, or do I withhold it? 

2:14 "[So I went with him, and when we were climbing the rocky steps up the hillside, my beloved shepherd said to me]...[while you are here] in the seclusion of the clefts in the solid rock, in the sheltered and secret place of the cliff,...let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet"

• What is my greatest concern, the thing about which most of all I want Christ's help? When He asks to hear my voice, what do I tell Him? 

2:15 "[My heart was touched and I...sang to him my desire] Take for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards"

• Do I heed Christ when He bids me to come away from the lions' den of temptation and dwell with Him? 

4:8 "Come away with me from Lebanon, my [promised] bride, come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the top of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards."

• Am I willing to have the north wind of adversity blow upon me, if it will better fit me for Christ's presence and companionship? 

4:16 "[You have called me a garden, she said] Oh, I pray that the [cold] north wind and the [soft] south wind may blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out [in abundance for you in whom my soul delights]. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat its choicest fruits."

• In my weariness from earthly cares, do I hesitate to answer when the Divine Shepherd knocks at my door, and so turn Him from me? 

5:3 "[But weary from a day in the vineyards, I had already sought my rest] I had put off my garment--how could I [again] put it on? I had washed my feet--how could I [again] soil them?"

• Is my Savior unquestionably the One altogether lovely, the One above all others most precious to me? Can I tell how and why Christ is more to me than any human being or than all earthly possessions? 

5:16 "His voice and speech are exceedingly sweet; yes, he is altogether lovely [the whole of him delights and is precious]. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!"