The Greatest 1 Corinthians 13:3 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 1 John 4:7-8 1 John 3:11 1 John 4:16 John 3:16-17 Galatians 5:6 Psalms 100:5 05.29.15

THE GREATEST

BREAD

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.   1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.   1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8 (NIV)

11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.   1 John 3:11 (NIV)

16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.   1 John 4:16 (NIV)

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”   John 3:16-17 (NIV)

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.   Galatians 5:6 (NIV)

5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.   Psalms 100:5 (NIV)

BUTTER

“A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.”  Charles H. Spurgeon

“Truth and love are the characteristics which build up the church, especially in association with each other. Yet this combination is rare in the contemporary church. Some leaders are great champions of the truth and anxious to fight for it, but display little love. Others are great advocates of love, but have no equal commitment to truth...Truth is hard if it is not softened by love and love is soft if it is not strengthened by the truth.”     John Stott

“He who is filled with love is filled with God Himself.”   Augustine

“A perfect man would never act from sense of duty…Duty is only a substitute for love.”   C.S. Lewis

“He alone loves the Creator perfectly who manifests a pure love for his neighbor.”   Venerable Bede

“The end of learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love Him and imitate Him.”   John Milton

“Obedience to God is the most infallible evidence of sincere and supreme love for Him.”   Nathanael Emmons

“To love God, to serve Him because we love Him, is…our highest happiness…Love makes all labor light.  We serve with enthusiasm where we love with sincerity.”   Hannah More

“Love one another that it may at last be said of Christians as it was at first:  ‘Behold how they love one another.’”   Ralph Venning

HEART SAVOR

• ·       God is love.
• ·       God’s love gives sacrificially and my love is to be given sacrificially as well.
• ·       True love makes labor light.

The Grossness Of Greed The Glory Of Giving Leviticus 19:9-12 1 Corinthians 4:6-7 Romans 1:28-32 Luke 12:15 Ephesians 5:3 Colossians 3:5-6 Luke 6:38 05.27.15

THE GROSSNESS OF GREED THE GLORY OF GIVING

BREAD

9 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God. 11 Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another. 12 Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.’”    Leviticus 19:9-12 (NIV)

7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?   1 Corinthians 4:6-7 (NIV)

28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.   Romans 1:28-32 (NIV)

15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”  Luke 12:15 (NIV)

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.   Ephesians 5:3 (NIV)

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.  Colossians 3:5-6 (NIV)

38 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  Luke 6:38 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Sharing, caring and giving trumps self-centered, narcissistic and selfish every time.”   Anonymous

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”  Amy Carmichael

“Giving is true having.”  Charles H. Spurgeon

“To sacrifice something is to make it holy by giving it away for love.”    Frederick Buechner

“I laid aside My glory and became a man for thee; I gave My life for thee; and if I did all this, I will surely help thee now.  In helping thee, I am giving thee what I have bought for thee already.  If thou hadst need of a thousand times as much help, I would give it thee; thou requirest little compared with what I am ready to give.”   Charles H. Spurgeon 

“God has given us two hands:  one for receiving and the other for giving.”   Billy Graham

“Jesus is the great teacher of lowliness of heart. Witness the Master taking a towel and washing His disciples' feet! Isn't it true to say that on earth He was always stripping off first one robe of honor and then another until, naked, He was fastened to the cross and emptied Himself, pouring out His lifeblood, giving it up for all of us, until they laid Him penniless in a borrowed grave?”  C. H. Spurgeon

“I can clearly and distinctly conceive how the giving of Christ is the perfect expression of love, as the greatest expense in a lover.  For the incarnation expresses the love of God in a way that is exceedingly noble and excellent and agreeable to the glorious perfections of God.”         Jonathan Edwards

“We ask God for the money and He doesn't give us cash; instead, so to speak, He gives us the bank...He delights in giving us Himself....The resources of heaven are ready and waiting for the people of God who desire to make much of him in this world.”  David Platt

“God is ever giving to His children, yet hath not the less.  His riches are imparted, not impaired.”   Thomas Watson

“When we have exhausted our store of endurance, When our strength has failed ere the day is half done, When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, Our Father’s full giving is only begun.  His love has no limit; His grace has no measure.  His pow’r has no boundary known unto men; For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!”   Annie Johnson

“God never tires of giving.”   William Still

HEART SAVOR

·       God loves a cheerful giver.

·       Manna horded turned to maggots.  The same holds true today.

·       God is a Giver.  Giving gives God glory.  We are never more like God than when we give.

Rest Exodus 33:13-14 Joshua 21:43-45 Jeremiah 46:27-28 Jeremiah 6:16 Psalms 94:11-14 Psalms 62:1-2 Psalms 91:1-2 Isaiah 32:17-18 Matthew 11:28-30 05.25.15

REST

BREAD

13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people." 14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”    Exodus 33:13-14 (NIV)

43 So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44 The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord handed all their enemies over to them. 45 Not one of all the Lord's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.   Joshua 21:43-45 (NIV)

27 “Do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, O Israel. I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid. 28 Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, for I am with you,” declares the Lord.    Jeremiah 46:27-28 (NIV)

16 This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”   Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)

11 The Lord knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile. 12 Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord, the man you teach from your law; 13 you grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked. 14 For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.   Psalms 94:11-14 (NIV)

1 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.   Psalms 62:1-2 (NIV)

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  Psalms 91:1-2 (NIV)

17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. 18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.   Isaiah 32:17-18 (NIV)

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”   Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Knowing that we are fulfilling God’s purpose is the only thing that really gives rest to the restless human heart.”   Chuck Colson

“Faith raises the soul above the difficulty, straight to God Himself, and enables one to stand still.  We gain nothing by our restless and anxious efforts……It is therefore true wisdom, in all times of difficulty and perplexity, to stand still - to wait only upon God, and He will assuredly open a way for us.”   C.H. Mackintosh

“This invitation to walk with God is an invitation to humility.  It’s an invitation to rest from the struggle to look like you’ve got it all together.  It’s an invitation to lay aside the burden of always having to be right.  This is an invitation to be who you are – warts and all – without excuse, or apology, or feeling like you have to live up to someone’s standard in order to be loved or respected.  It’s an invitation to cease the futile struggle to earn respectability and to enter God’s rest.”  Chuck Swindoll

“To every toiling, heavy-laden sinner, Jesus says, ‘Come to me and rest’.  But there are many toiling, heavy-laden believers, too.  For them this same invitation is meant. Note well the words of Jesus, if you are heavy-laden with your service, and do not mistake it. It is not, ‘Go, labor on,’ as perhaps you imagine. On the contrary, it is stop, turn back, ‘Come to me and rest.’  Never, never did Christ send a heavy laden one to work; never, never did He send a hungry one, a weary one, a sick or sorrowing one, away on any service. For such the Bible only says, ‘Come, come, come.’”   Hudson Taylor

“We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul.  If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by ‘looking unto Jesus’.  Keep thine eye simply on Him; let His death, His sufferings, His merits, His glories, His intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to Him; when thou liest down at night look to Him.  Oh!  Let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after Him, and He will never fail thee.”     C. H. Spurgeon

“In Christ the heart of the Father is revealed, and higher comfort there cannot be than to rest in the Father’s heart.”   Andrew Murray

HEART SAVOR

·       In God’s Presence is perfect peace.  He brings calm to any storm.

·       Jesus promises rest to all who come to Him.

·       It is God’s desire for me to live a peaceful life – undisturbed and untroubled by any of life’s circumstances.

The Powerful Blessing Of Praying In Accordance To God's Will Matthew 6:5-6 Luke 11:9-13 James 5:16 Mark 11:22-25 Philippians 4:6-7 Jeremiah 33:2-3 05.22.15

THE POWERFUL BLESSING OF PRAYING IN ACCORDANCE TO GODS WILL

BREAD

5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”   Matthew 6:5-6 (NIV)

9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”   Luke 11:9-13 (NIV)

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.   James 5:16 (NIV)

22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”  Mark 11:22-25 (NIV)

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

2 “This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it--the Lord is his name: 3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’”   Jeremiah 33:2-3 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Prayer is always the preface to blessing.  It goes before the blessing as the blessing’s shadow.  When the sunlight of God’s mercies rises upon our necessities, it casts the shadow of prayer far down upon the plain.  Prayer is thus connected with the blessing to show us the value of it.  If we had the blessings without asking for them, we should think them common things; but prayer makes our mercies more precious than diamonds.”  Charles H. Spurgeon

“There comes a time, in spite of our soft, modern ways, when we must be desperate in prayer, when we must wrestle, when we must be outspoken, shameless and importunate.  Many of the prayers recorded in Scripture are ‘cries,’ and the Hebrew and Greek words are very strong.  Despite opinions to the contrary, the Bible recognizes such a thing as storming heaven- ‘praying through.’  The fervent prayer of a righteous man is mighty in its working.”  Cameron Thompson 

“Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons; but they are helpless against our prayers.”   J. Sidlow Baxter

“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”   Samuel Chadwick 

“Philippians 4:6 instructs us to pray about everything. If Paul had wanted us to limit our praying to everything big, he certainly would have told us. God is as interested in your small, seemingly insignificant requests as he is your kingdom-level, life changing needs. God’s interest in your prayers isn’t dependent upon their relative kingdom weightiness. Its’ based on his love for and interest in you.”  Anonymous

     

“‘Dost thou want nothing, O poor soul?  Hast thou nothing to ask?  Oh yes!  You say, a great deal.  Well then, draw near to thy gracious King and Bridegroom without fear.  Lo!  He holds out His golden scepter to thee, saying, ‘Only ask:  not the half, but the whole of My kingdom shall be granted; nay, I will give myself unto thee!’  O dear soul, pray, and tell Him everything that is wanting, be it ever so great or ever so small.  His loving-kindness will hear even the least petition; nay, He will seem to be ignorant of what thou dost not tell Him.  But whatever is poured out before Him is actually addressed and lodged in its proper place, and does not lie upon thy heart any longer, but upon His heart, which cannot rest till you are relieved.  And if you have experienced His help aforetime in great or small things, you may depend on His readiness to help you out of troubles hereafter; only be earnest in prayer for His help.  We often imagine we were willing and drawing near to Him, but He was unwilling, and refused our request; but it is not so:  He rather draws us, and desires our relief more than we do; for it is He that works even this willing mind.”     K.H. Von Bogatzky

“Do not think that your prayer, however weak or trembling, will be unregarded.  Our God not only hears prayer but also loves to hear it.  ‘He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.’  True, He does take into consideration haughty looks and lofty words; He doesn’t care for the pomp and pageantry of kings; He doesn’t listen to the swell of martial music; He doesn’t regard the triumph and pride of man; but wherever there is a heart big with sorrow, or a lip quivering with agony, or a deep groan, or a penitential sigh, the heart of Jehovah is open; He marks it down in the registry of His memory; He puts our prayers, like rose leaves, between the pages of His book of remembrance, and when the volume is opened at last, a precious fragrance will release itself from it.”   Charles H. Spurgeon

“The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer but unoffered prayer.”  F. B. Meyer

HEART SAVOR

·       Prayer precedes the blessing.  I can know for certain that God’s Word is His will therefore I pray back with certainty the precious promises of Scripture.

·       The adversary trembles when I pray.

·       The all powerful, all knowing, ever present loving and faithful God is available to me twenty four hours a day through prayer.  It is a great tragedy of life if my petitions remain unoffered. 

Forgiven Isaiah 43:25 Psalms 32:1-5 Romans 3:23 Romans 6:23 Romans 5:8 Ephesians 2:8-9 Colossians 1:21-23 05.20.15

FORGIVEN

BREAD

25 “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”  Isaiah 43:25 (NIV)

1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. 3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah   Psalms 32:1-5 (NIV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  Romans 3:23 (NIV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23 (NIV)

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.   Romans 5:8 (NIV)

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.   Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.  Colossians 1:21-23 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Christianity simply does not make sense until you face the sort of facts I have been describing. Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness.  It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know that they have anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need any forgiveness. It is after you have realized that there is a real moral law and a power behind the law and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that power - It is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk...(Christianity) tells you how the demands of this law, which you and I cannot meet, have been met on our behalf. How God himself becomes a man to save man from the disapproval of God. It is an old story...All I am doing is to ask people to face the facts - to understand the questions which Christianity claims to answer. And they are very terrifying facts. I wish it was possible to say something more agreeable. But I must say what I think true. Of course, I quite agree that the Christian religion is, in the long run a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay I am describing and it is no use at all to go on to that comfort without first going through that dismay. In religion, as in war and everything else comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: If you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth. - only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end despair.” CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

“I realize that I am not used to the image of God throwing a party. It seems to contradict the solemnity and seriousness I have always attached to God. But when I think about the ways in which Jesus describes God’s Kingdom, a joyful banquet is often at its center…This invitation to a meal is an invitation to intimacy with God…Celebration belongs to God’s Kingdom. God not only offers forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing, but wants to lift up these gifts as a source of joy for all who witness them.”  Henri Nouwen

“Grace remits sin and peace quiets the conscience. Sin and conscience torment us, but Christ has overcome these fiends now and forever. Only Christians possess this victorious knowledge given from above. These two terms, grace and peace, constitute Christianity. Grace involves the remission of sins, peace and a happy conscience. Sin is not canceled by lawful living, for no person is able to live up to the law…the fact is the more a person seeks credit for himself by his own efforts, the deeper he goes into debt. Nothing can take away sin except the grace of God. In actual living, however it is not so easy to persuade oneself that by grace alone, in opposition to every other means, we obtain the forgiveness of our sins and peace with God.”  Martin Luther

“The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ.  There is no other way!  Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary.  We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.  Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace.  The cost to God was the Cross of Christ.  To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid.  Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement.  The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive – He would contradict His nature if He did.  The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross.  God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm……Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.”  Oswald Chambers

“I was the enemy of God.  I was stamping through God’s universe, shaking my fist in His face.  And in the very moment when I was shaking my fist in God’s face and tramping through the Creator’s universe, muddying all His streams, that’s when Jesus died for me.  And if this is when Jesus died for me, what hope it gives me now!  Now, even when I fall, the blood of Jesus is enough.  He didn’t save me because I was strong; He saved me when I was weak. He didn’t save me when I was a pretty thing; He saved me when I was a mess. On the basis of this reality, I can have comfort.”  Francis Schaeffer

HEART SAVOR

• ·       Through belief on the atoning sacrifice of Christ on my behalf, my sins are forgiven.
• ·       I was once an enemy of God BUT now I am reconciled through faith.
• ·       Sin and conscience torment while grace and peace quiet my soul.

More Than Conquerors Romans 8:31-39 2 Corinthians 2:14 Psalms 37:28-29 Psalms 20:6-8 1 John 5:3-5 05.18.15

MORE THAN CONQUERORS

BREAD

31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.   Romans 8:31-39 (NIV)

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.   2 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)

28 For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off; 29 the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.  Psalms 37:28-29 (NIV)

6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. 8 They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.  Psalms 20:6-8 (NIV)

3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.   1 John 5:3-5 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Sometimes the enemy seems to get an advantage over us; but the battle is not over yet.  At last thou shalt have the victory, and carry the day for all that.  In hard struggles remember the power of Christ, who, in his resurrection, broke through everything.  With him thou canst also break through, and be more than conqueror.  Yea, in every conflict, if thy faith be firm, thou canst be sure of victory beforehand; for faith engages Christ’s power, and his power ensureth victory; it is as impossible for thine enemies to keep thee always in bonds, as it was impossible that Christ could be kept in the grave by the stone, seal, and keepers.  Nay, the greater their force is, the more glorious will be the victory of Christ over them.”  K. H. Von Bogatzky

“But the battle is the Lord’s, and He will conquer.  We may fail – do fail continually – but He never fails.”    Hudson Taylor

“So often I hear Christians say ‘we are more than conquerors!’ You can only say that if you are part of the battle.”  Paul Estabrook

“What we feed our minds and hearts on will determine whether we live a life of faith or a life of fear. …The more time we spend with God and His Word, the more our faith develops and our fear diminishes….Faith in God conquers fear every time. The God who has redeemed us and cares for us is trustworthy. Our Creator God will never abandon us, and He has our best interests at heart. ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging’ (Psalm 46:1-3).”   Michael Youssef

“Faith does not shirk the fight; she longs for it, because she foresees the victory.”   Charles H. Spurgeon

“There are two ways of getting out of a trial.  One is to simply try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over.  The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of divine grace.  Thus even the adversary becomes an auxiliary, and the things that seem to be against us turn out to be for the furtherance of our way.  Surely, this is to be more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”   A. B. Simpson

“You can fight with confidence where you are sure of victory.  With Christ and for Christ, victory is certain.”   Bernard of Clairvaux

HEART SAVOR 

• ·       If God is for me, who can be against me? 
• ·       With Christ, victory is secure.
• ·       Faith foresees the victory.