HE
ALWAYS LEADS IN TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION
BREAD
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. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ
among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell
of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 2
Corinthians 2:14-16 (NIV)
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have
set their hearts on pilgrimage. 6 As
they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the
autumn rains also cover it with pools. 7 They
go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. Psalm
84:5-7 (NIV)
5 Trust in the LORD
with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and
he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
13 Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. Proverbs 3:13-17 (NIV)
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)
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. Proverbs 4:11-12
(NIV)
13 “In your unfailing love you will lead the people you
have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.” Exodus 15:13 (NIV)
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)
31 For
who is God besides the LORD? And
who is the Rock except our God? 32 It
is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. 33 He makes my feet like the feet of a
deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. Psalm
18:31-33 (NIV)
17 “For the Lamb at
the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will
lead them to springs of living water. And God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Revelation 7:17 (NIV)
12 “I have much more to say to you, more
than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth,
comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will
speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” John 16:12-13 (NIV)
BUTTER
“He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely
trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.”
Blaise Pascal
“So,
take a deep breath and recall this deeper secret of the Christian life: when you are in a difficult place, realize
that the Lord either placed you there or allowed you to be there, for reasons
perhaps known for now only to Himself.
The same God who led you in will lead you out.” Robert
J. Morgan
“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
“He leadeth me, O blessed thought! O words with
heav’nly comfort fraught! Whate’er I do, where’er I be Still ’tis
God’s hand that leadeth me. Sometimes
’mid scenes of deepest gloom, Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom, By waters
still, o’er troubled sea, Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me. Lord,
I would place my hand in Thine, Nor ever murmur nor repine; Content, whatever lot I see, Since ’tis my God that
leadeth me. And when my task on earth is
done, When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won, E’en death’s cold wave I will not
flee, Since God through Jordan leadeth me.
He leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He
leadeth me; His faithful foll’wer I would be, For by His hand He
leadeth me.” Joseph H. Gilmore
“I
know not the way God leads me, but well do I know my Guide.” Martin
Luther
“You can best sing ‘My Jesus, I Love You’ when
you can truly sing ‘Where He Leads Me, I Will Follow.’ For whoever does not take up his cross daily to follow Me cannot
be My disciple.” Frances J. Roberts
“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
“Thy way, not
mine, O Lord, however dark it be! Lead
me by Thine own hand, choose out the path for me.” Horatius
Bonar
“Calvary is God’s
great proof that suffering in the will of God always leads to glory.” Warren
Wiersbe
“The Holy Spirit
has promised to lead us step by step into the fullness of truth.” Leon
Joseph Suenens
“Savior like a shepherd lead us; much we need Thy tender care.” Dorothy
A. Thrupp
“God promises us
redemption, but His sacred path leads us away from safety, predictability, and
comfort. Any attempt to fly over the
dangerous terrain or make a detour to safer ground is doomed because it will
not take us to God. Instead, it leads to
a host of other idols that can’t provide us with the confidence of faith, the
dynamic of hope or the passion of love we so deeply crave. Each day we either live for God or for other
gods. In each moment of hardship we fear
either God or man. When we choose to worship
gods and fear men our lives will suffer an emptiness and turmoil that is not
much different than trying to fill our bellies with dirt. At first we may feel full, but in short order
our violation of God’s plan will lead to torment.” Dan
Allender
“Let us never despair while we
have Christ as our leader!” George
Whitefield
“However, faith
has its trials, as well as its answers.
It is not to be imagined that the man of faith, having pushed out from
the shore of circumstances, finds it all smooth and easy sailing. By no means.
Again and again, he is called to encounter rough sea and stormy skies;
but it is all graciously designed to lead him into deeper and more matured
experience of what God is to the heart that confides in Him. Were the sky always without a cloud and the
ocean without a ripple, the believer would not know so well that God with Whom
he has to do; for alas, we know how prone that heart is to mistake the peace of
circumstances for the peace of God. When
everything is going on smoothly and pleasantly—our property safe, our business
prosperous, our children carrying themselves agreeably, our residence
comfortable, our health excellent—everything in short, just to our mind, how
apt we are to mistake the peace which reposes upon such circumstances for that
peace which flows from the realized presence of Christ.” C.H. Mackintosh
“O the deep, deep love of Jesus.
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me! Underneath me, all around me, is the current
of Thy love, leading onward, leading homeward, to my glorious rest above!” Samuel Trevor Francis
HEART SAVOR
- · God will never lead you where His grace will not sustain you. He gives us grace sufficient to meet every need we will encounter. If you don’t have the need, He doesn’t waste the grace.
- · In His leading, believers are to be the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing. To one we are the fragrance of life, to the other the stench of death. And who is equal for such a task?
- · God desires to take those He has redeemed from “strength to strength” as they make their pilgrimage to their heavenly home.
