Gladly Receive Rebuke Proverbs 27:6 Psalms 141:5 Proverbs 28:23 Proverbs 1:22-23 Proverbs 8:10-11 Proverbs 27:9 2 Samuel 12:1-14 Acts 9:1-9 01.30.19

GLADLY RECEIVE REBUKE

BREAD

⁶ Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.   Proverbs 27:6 (NIV)

⁵ Let a righteous man strike me--it is a kindness; let him rebuke me--it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it. Yet my prayer is ever against the deeds of evildoers.  Psalm 141:5 (NIV)

²³ He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue.  Proverbs 28:23 (NIV)

²² “How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? ²³ If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you.”  Proverbs 1:22-23 (NIV)

¹⁰ Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, ¹¹ for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.  Proverbs 8:10-11 (NIV)

⁹ Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.  Proverbs 27:9 (NIV)

¹ The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, ³ but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”  ⁵ David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! ⁶ He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”  ⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah.  And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. ⁹ Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’  ¹¹ “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. ¹² You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” ¹³ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. ¹⁴  But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.”   2 Samuel 12:1-14 (NIV)

¹ Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. ³ As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” ⁵ “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.  ⁶ “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” ⁷ The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. ⁸ Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. ⁹ For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.  Acts 9:1-9 (NIV)

BUTTER

“It is never pleasant to see more of my own sin and to feel more of the awful weight of its consequences, but I wouldn’t trade my small army of reprovers for anything. As wisdom says, ‘Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear’ (Proverbs 25:12). I have worn my friendships with these men proudly and jealously. I have treasured the sweet aroma their hard words have produced in my faith, life, and relationships: ‘Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel’ (Proverbs 27:9).  Who in your life is mostly likely to reprove you? Are you forfeiting a gift more precious than gold, and rejecting something sweeter than oil and perfume? Have you avoided making the friends you really need, and so refused to be rebuked?  By nature, we seem to have an allergy to reproof (maybe an intolerance, at least a strong sensitivity), but Proverbs says that reproof is a rare pearl to be prized. Fools reject and avoid reproof. The wise know its preciousness, and do whatever necessary to have it. The wise man says, ‘Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid’ (Proverbs 12:1).”  Marshall Segal

“God encourages us and we are to encourage others.  We do this through the Scriptures as they are the ultimate “Paraklesis” – encouragement, aid, help, comfort, exhortation, consolation and comfort.  Are we familiar enough with God’s Word to share its life-giving, strengthening, comforting Truths?   When we know the Word we have something of infinite benefit to share with and encourage others.”  BHY

“There is only one rescuer I know,” I told Sonia and the rest of the women, “with the power to free us from the darkest prison. That rescuer is the God I love, who loves us so much he left everything to come for us, to free us. He is the one who made us, each of us, for a unique purpose and a magnificent destiny. He makes right what the world makes wrong. His plans are for good, not for evil. His ways are straight and merciful. He came to give me a hope and a future — and to give you one too. His promises are true. His love is full of forgiveness and peace, joy and kindness, grace. He is the true rescuer. He saves us from any prison, whether physical or emotional or spiritual, the ones we’re forced into and the ones we fall into on our own. He chooses us. He can make all things new. He loves us without condition, unrelentingly, forever. He loves us broken, and he loves making us whole again. And he asks those of us who love him to love others the same way. To choose them. To be agents of his hope, his forgiveness, his grace. He asks us to join him in rescuing others.  “That’s why I’m here,” I said. “That’s why I’ve come……………“If what you are telling me is true,” she yelled, “if what you say about your God is true — then where were you? Where have you been? Why didn’t you come sooner?  Why didn’t you come sooner?  I would not offer excuses…”   From Undaunted by Christine Caine

“God will not give us an assignment and then just walk away to let us do the work alone. He provides the resources we need to get the job done. He walks with us every step of the way, guiding us and encouraging us. He will never abandon us when we allow Him to work through us. In the words of the psalmist, ‘. . . you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel’ (Psalm 73:23-24).”   Michael Youssef

“Many people today feel guilty for one simple reason: they are guilty. The Bible says we are all guilty before a holy God. And all the psychological counseling in the world cannot relieve a person of that guilt. You can pretend it's not there or find someone else to blame for your problems, but the only real and effective way to remove guilt is to get to the root of the problem, which plainly is sin.  There are a lot of people today who have a guilty conscience. That is what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, discovered. One day he decided to play a joke on 12 of his friends. He sent them all a message that said, “Flee at once. All is discovered.” And within 24 hours, all 12 of his friends had left the country. I think that is having a guilty conscience. It was just a joke. Nothing was discovered. But these people felt so guilty about something that they got out as quickly as they could.  Guilt can be good—it can be God's warning system to alert us to a problem. When I am beginning to do something wrong, guilt kicks in. It says, “Stop! Red alert! Don't go any further. This is a bad thing.” Guilt is there to remind us we are crossing the line, and we should not go any further.  Do you have a guilty conscience? Maybe God is telling you something. Maybe you should pay attention to your conscience. Then you can be refreshed by the presence of the Lord.”   Greg Laurie

“Seek the advice of your betters in preference to following your own inclinations.”   Thomas a Kempis

“Do not be afraid to hear the hard.  Weigh counsel against the Truth of God’s Word.  If the shoe fits deal with it through the Holy Spirit’s power.  Wallowing in a wayward way gets you nowhere fast and keeps you from experiencing God’s best for your life – His richest blessings and peace.  ‘There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death’ (Proverbs 14:12).  Thank those who are willing to tell you the hard things – for your good, for His glory.”  BHY

HEART SAVOR

• ·         Remember wounds from a friend can be trusted.
• ·         If the exhortation fits, face it and change through the power of the Holy Spirit.  God’s children can escape all temptation, look for the way out which God will provide.  Scripture states:  ¹³  No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.  1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)
• ·         We are all in process or we would be at home with the Lord.  Don’t get discouraged though you have tried and failed and tried and failed.  Get up, turn in repentance and go forward in His power for His glory.  It is God Who arms us with strength for the battle and makes our path clear enabling us to stand firm in His good and pleasing and perfect will.

Surrender Begets Satisfaction Jeremiah 31:2-4 Psalms 63:3-8 Luke 9:23-25 John 4:10-14 John 10:10 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 Philippians 1:20-21 Galatians 2:20 Luke 18:28-30 Philippians 3:7-9 01.28.19

SURRENDER BEGETS SATISFACTION

BREAD

² This is what the LORD says: “The people who survive the sword will find favor in the desert; I will come to give rest to Israel.” ³ The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. ⁴ I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.   Jeremiah 31:2-4 (NIV)

³ Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. ⁴ I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. ⁵ My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. ⁶ On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. ⁷ Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. ⁸ My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.  Psalm 63:3-8 (NIV)

²³ Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”  Luke 9:23-25 (NIV)

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” ^{11 “}Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?” ¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:10-14 (NIV)

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  John 10:10 (NIV)

¹⁴  For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NIV)

²⁰ I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.  Philippians 1:20-21 (NIV)

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (NIV)

²⁸ Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” ^{29 “}I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God ³⁰ will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.” Luke 18:28-30 (NIV)

⁷ But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.  Philippians 3:7-9 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Jesus did not come to make bad people good or to make good people better, but to make dead people alive.”   Ravi Zacharias

“Where is God presently moving us from slavery to freedom?  We are to lay behind all which ensnares and enslaves us.  We believe this doctrinally but often functionally we forget and continue to wallow about in the mire wrapped in our chains.  Am I disobedient to the high heavenly vision and command of freedom in Christ?  Or am I devoted to my enslavement instead of my Lord?  God desires to satisfy what that enslavement can never do – the deepest hungers of our hearts.”  BHY 

“Jesus must become the still point of our turning world, the center around which our entire life revolves.”  Tim Keller

“Life is a battle against delighting in anything more than we delight in Him.”  John Piper

“This crisis of faith sent grasping hands in search of His loving grip.  Wrestling in this wasteland led me to know God in a deeper way.  Day by day I came to trust the kind of love that never fails and never leaves.  And this same love is yours in Christ too.  Even when we’re afraid.”  Jolene Underwood  

“The greatness of a man’s power is the measure of his surrender.”  William Booth

“Jesus is the One who shows us the paradoxical route to meaning in a chaotic and hostile world.  It’s the paradox of the gospel: Strength is found in weakness. Control is found in dependency. Power is found in surrender….God uses the frustrations of this life and the hurt of relationships to compel us to look beyond what we can control to the God who controls all things in order to woo us to himself. As we move from control to surrender, we move from chasing the wind under the sun to embracing God above it.”  Dan Allender

“Faith, as Paul saw it, was a living, flaming thing leading to surrender and obedience to the commandments of Christ.”   A.W. Tozer

“The condition for gaining God’s full blessing is absolute surrender to Him.”   Andrew Murray

“When you cling tightly to bitterness, anger, resentment, and unforgiveness, elevating them above your relationship with God, they become "idols" in your life. For each idol you are willing to destroy, you will gain more than you lose. Each time you surrender something to God, you will remove another hindrance to a productive life of faith and prayer. Every idol that is demolished will bring you new treasures of grace and peace.”   Michael Youssef

“What you think you can’t handle — might actually be God handing you a gift. And I think of everything I have chaffed against and railed about and howled to the heavens and who am I to know what is best or not — but when you bow and surrender to the sovereignty of God then you are in the posture to receive all as a gift.”  Ann Voskamp

“If we truly understand God’s economy, we will realize that our sacrifices are not really sacrifices at all.  The Lord will always bless the fully surrendered sacrifice.”   Michael Youssef

“The risk of grace is that we turn our lives over to God. Abandoned. Surrendered. We no longer have to defend ourselves because we are convinced that he loves us so much, but we no longer try to run our own lives. He is our Lord, our master, and the one we follow. We don't know where he will lead, but we are willing to go there because we are convinced that life in him is truly the Grand Adventure. We don’t know what he will ask us to do, but we’re willing to do it because we’re sure he knows best. We respond to him like a loved child responds to his mother [or his Grammy I would add].  We may not understand everything, and we may ask a million questions, but when we don’t get answers, we still trust our Heavenly Father because he has proven himself to us. . . The deeper we press into the price Christ paid to rescue us, the more we’ll be amazed by his love, and we’ll delight in honoring him all day, every day.” Tim Clinton & Josh Straub, God Attachment.

“God has allowed it. It’s working something in our hearts. It’s growing us as Christians. It’s softening our hearts.  It’s preparing us for Heaven.  God won’t waste our sorrows. He’s the best recycler of all. Everything is used by Him. Nothing is thrown away or wasted in our lives. He uses every small and great tear . . . every fear . . . every sorrow.”  Cathe Laurie

“Do not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart.”   Abba Poemen

“I thank You, Lord, that You have so set eternity within my heart that no earthly thing can ever satisfy me wholly.”    John Baillie

“He who is a believer in Jesus finds enough in his Lord to satisfy him now, and to content him for evermore.  The believer is not the man whose days are weary for want of comfort, and whose nights are long from absence of heart-cheering thought, for he finds in Christ such a spring of joy, such a fountain of consolation, that he is content and happy.  Put him in a dungeon and he will find good company; place him in a barren wilderness, he will eat the bread of heaven; drive him away from friendship, he will meet the ‘friend that sticketh closer than a brother.’  Blast all his gourds, and he will find shadow beneath the Rock of Ages; sap the foundation of his earthly hopes, but his heart will still be fixed, trusting in the Lord.  The heart is as insatiable as the grave till Jesus enters it, and then it is a cup full to overflowing.  There is such a fullness in Christ that He alone is the believer’s all.  The true saint is so completely satisfied with the all-sufficiency of Jesus that he thirsts no more – except it be for deeper draughts of the living fountain.”   Charles H. Spurgeon

“If you are thirsty in this life you have gone to the wrong well.”  BHY

“Because I love you, I’m asking you to guard your heart from anyone or anything that can steal you away from Me. Remember, My love, this world offers a counterfeit Life that will never fulfill you. What I create for you will satisfy your soul; what the enemy offers will satisfy your flesh for a while. However, in the end the world’s way leads to destruction. If your heart wanders and you are not equipped with My Word, you will be unable to discern the difference between real faith and counterfeit religion.”   Sheri Rose Shepherd

“Amid all this chaos of a confused, sick society, Christ comes quietly as of old and invites us to come to Him.  He invites us to follow Him.  He invites us to put our confidence in Him.  For He it is who best knows how we can be satisfied.  He knows that the human heart, the human personality, the human soul with its amazing capacity for God can never be satisfied with a substitute.  Only the Spirit and life of Christ Himself will satisfy the thirsting soul.”  Phillip Keller 

“Inauspiciously, a prayer meeting in Antioch in Acts 13:1-3 became one of the most important moments in the history of the world. With their prayers and fasting, the church leaders said, God, we want your provision, not our small plans. We want your abundance, not our small-mindedness. We want more than we know how to ask, more than we can think, more than we could expect, more than we can dream. We want you, God. We’re not satisfied with abilities and experience and what we can plan on our own and do apart from you. We want you and your leading. We don’t want to lean on our own understanding.”  David Mathis

“Pleasure can breed disproportion in us. We chase small pleasures into the trap of thinking that life is really about small pleasures — food, sex, shopping, even friendship, marriage, and parenting. We end up trying to carve a god out of our small pleasures instead of following each one up to the greatest Pleasure.  Every temporary good — and they are all temporary here on earth — is an appetizer for the eternal. Now ‘we know in part . . . but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away’ ( 1 Corinthians 13:9-10). The partial was always meant to prepare us for something perfect — someone who could satisfy us completely, someone who could make us perfectly and invincibly happy.”   Marshall Segal

“Desire only God, and your heart will be satisfied.”   Augustine

HEART SAVOR

·         Don’t seek to be satisfied with the created rather the Creator.  It won’t happen.  He alone overflows our cups.  He is our sufficiency, He is our strength, He is our fullness of joy.

·         If we are His, we are crucified with Him meaning our lives are on the altar.  We are to be living sacrifices.  The only problem with a living sacrifice is that it all too often crawls off the altar!  It is no longer to be my way or the highway, rather it is to be His way of overflowing abundance.  It is certainly not without cost or pain – conforming us into the image of His Son can place us in circumstances far beyond our ability to endure.  Yet He allows these to happen that we will not rely on self but Him Who raises the dead.  We die to self we gain abundant life in Christ.  It’s really a no-brainer.  We are the fools if we fail in this so great an endeavor.  It is taking hold of life that is truly life.

·         God is the great Giver in all things.  He never takes that He does not abundantly give.  We will never out give God.

Our Way Maker Exodus 13:21-22 Proverbs 4:10-15 2 Samuel 22:31 Psalms 32:8 Psalms 119:9 Isaiah 30:21 Isaiah 35:8 Jeremiah 6:16 Isaiah 48:17-18 John 14:6 John 14:18-21 John 15:16 Proverbs 14:12 Proverbs 12:15 01.25.19

OUR WAY MAKER

BREAD

²¹ By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.
²² Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.   Exodus 13:21-22 (NIV)

¹⁰ Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. ¹¹ I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. ¹² When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. ¹³ Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. ¹⁴ Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men. ¹⁵ Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way.  Proverbs 4:10-15 (NIV)

³¹ “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.”   2 Samuel 22:31 (NIV)

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.   Psalm 32:8 (NIV)

⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.  Psalm 119:9 (NIV)

²¹ Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”   Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)

⁸ And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.   Isaiah 35:8 (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)

¹⁷ This is what the LORD says-- your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. ¹⁸ If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.”  Isaiah 48:17-18 (NIV)

⁶  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  John 14:6 (NIV)

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”   John 14:18-21 (NIV)

¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.  John 15:16 (NIV)

¹² There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.   Proverbs 14:12 (NIV)

¹⁵ The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.  Proverbs 12:15 (NIV)

BUTTER

“It is natural for us to wish and to plan, and it is merciful of the Lord to disappoint our plans and to cross our wishes.  For we cannot be safe or happy until we are weaned from our own wills and made simply desirous of being directed by His guidance.  Although we understand this we seldom learn to put it into practice without being trained for a while in the school of disappointment.  The schemes we form look so plausible and convenient that when they are broken we are ready to say, ‘What a pity!’  We try again, and with no better success; we are grieved, and perhaps angry, and plan another, and so on; eventually, in the course of time, experience and observation begin to convince us that we are no more able than we are worthy to choose correctly for ourselves.  The Lord’s invitation to cast our cares upon Him, and His promise to take care of us, appear valuable; and when we have done planning, His plan in our favor gradually opens, and He does more and better for us than we could either ask or think.  I can hardly recollect a single plan of mine, which if it had taken place in the time and the way I wanted would, humanly speaking, have proved my ruin; or at least would have deprived me of the greater good the Lord had designed for me.  We judge things by their present appearance; but the Lord sees them in their consequences.  If we could do the same we would be perfectly of His mind; but since we can’t, it is an unspeakable mercy that He will manage for us, whether we are pleased with His management or not; and it is regarded as one of His heaviest judgments when He gives any person up to the way of their own hearts, and to walk according to their own wisdom.”  John Newton       

“He knows the way He taketh,” even if for the moment we do not.”  J.I. Packer

“I am waiting on Thee, Lord, to open the way.”  J. Hudson Taylor  

“We must remember that God will never drag us along the path of true-hearted discipleship. This would greatly lack the moral excellency which characterizes all the ways of God. He does not drag, but draws us along the path which leads to ineffable blessedness in Himself; and if we do see that it is for our real advantage to break through all the barriers of nature, in order to respond to Gods’ call, we forsake our own mercies. But alas! Our hearts little enter into this. We begin to calculate about the sacrifices, the hindrances, and the difficulties, instead of bounding along the path, in eagerness of soul, as knowing and loving the One whose call has sounded in our ears”. C H Macintosh

“Give me the love that leads the way, The faith that nothing can dismay, The hope no disappointments tire, The passion that will burn like fire, Let me not sink to be a clod: Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.” Amy Carmichael

“I know not the way God leads me, but well do I know my Guide.”  Martin Luther

“Every revelation of God is a demand, and the way to knowledge of God is by obedience.”
William Temple

“We as Christians know that faith is taking God at His Word.  And we realize that faith does not get us around our problems, but it gets us through them.  Such a promise is found in Psalm 48:14, ‘For this is God, our God forever and ever.  He will be our guide even to death.’  His promise then is no matter how difficult we may find life to be, He will guide us all the way home.  Isaiah 42:16 ‘And I will bring the blind by a way they know not.  I will lead them in paths that they have not known.’  This is the way God leads His own.  You and I are blind to the future, but He is not, and He has promised to lead all who will put their trust in Him.  Sometimes, because our circumstances are totally out of our control, we not only have to believe these promises, but we must put them to the test.”    Wales Goebel

“Most of us go through life praying a little, planning a little, jockeying for position, hoping but never being quite certain of anything, and always secretly afraid that we will miss the way.  There is a better way.  It is to repudiate our own and take instead the infinite wisdom of God…..God has charged Himself with full responsibility for our eternal happiness and stands ready to take over the management of our lives the moment we turn in faith to Him.”   A. W. Tozer

“God is wonderful in all his doings, his ways are past finding out; at the end we can see best the wise and gracious steps he took with us:  therefore, when things take such a wonderful turn that we are quite at our wits’ end, and do not know which way to go, we may believe the hand of the Lord is in it, and some good will come of it at last.  As we experience the name of Christ to be wonderful at such times, we may well expect that he will show himself to be our Counsellor and mighty God also.  At first, everything may seem to be against us, and go quite contrary; but at last, we see plainly that it was highly needful that it should go contrary to our corrupt nature, and that thus it went well; for though the ways of God are marvelous, yet they are glorious.”   K. H. Von Bogatzky

“We sometimes seem to forget that what God takes He takes in fire; and that the only way to the resurrection life and the ascension mount is the way of the garden, the cross, and the grave.  Think not, O soul of man, that Abraham’s was a unique and solitary experience.  It is simply a specimen and pattern of God’s dealings with all souls who are prepared to obey Him at whatever   cost.  After thou hast patiently endured, thou shalt receive the promise.  The moment of supreme sacrifice shall be the moment of supreme and rapturous blessing.  God’s river, which is full of water, shall burst its banks, and pour upon thee a tide of wealth and grace.  There is nothing, indeed, which God will not do for a man who dares to step out upon what seems to be the mist; though as he puts down his foot he finds a rock beneath him.”   F. B. Meyer

“In our walk with God we are told explicitly by Christ Himself that it would be His Spirit who would be sent to guide us and to lead us into all truth (John 16:13).  This same gracious Spirit takes the truth of God, the Word of God, and makes it plain to our hearts and minds and spiritual understanding.  It is He who gently, tenderly, but persistently says to us, ‘This is the way – walk in it.’  And as we comply and cooperate with His gentle promptings a sense of safety, comfort and well-being envelops us.”   Phillip Keller

“We should follow Christ in simplicity and faith, because the paths in which He leads us all end in glory and immortality.  It is true they may not be smooth paths – they may be covered with sharp flinty trials, but they lead to the ‘city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.’  ‘All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of His covenant.’  Let’s put full trust in our Leader, since we know that, come prosperity or adversity, sickness or health, popularity or contempt, His purpose shall be worked out, and that purpose shall be pure, unmingled good to every heir of mercy…..His dear love will make us far more blessed than those who sit at home and warm their hands at the world’s fire.”   Charles H. Spurgeon

HEART SAVOR

• ·         God lovingly directs His people – sometimes “Go”, sometimes “Stay”, sometimes “Wait and Wait and Wait”.  He is never early nor is He ever late - His timing is always perfect - everything occurring in His “Fullness of time”.  He is ever guiding our feet into the path of peace.
• ·         His ways are good and pleasing and perfect even though our circumstances could shout otherwise.  He always has the best interest at heart for every child of the King.    
• ·         ¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, ³ he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. ⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ⁶ Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.   Psalm 23:1-6 (NIV)