Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Quotes to Ponder

"But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from the evil one" (II Thessalonians 3:3). Have you ever had someone promise you something, you believed them with all your heart and they didn't keep their promise? If you have lived very long at all, that has happened to you. However there is One who will not let you down, He is "Faithful", He keeps his Word, He is still to be believed in, as One Who is faithful to His promises (I Thess. 5:24). God will establish us and keep us from the evil one. We will comes under attack but in Christ we will come through the attack victorious. Have you noticed Paul seemed to live under attack. At the time Paul penned the above verse he was under attack, but he turns his attention to his readers in order to express his assurance of their being established in the faith, and their preservation from the evil one. When we are under attack we need to pray for others that would do tremendous damage to Satan's kingdom. I would encourage you to have some prayer targets ready, and when the enemy attacks you go to prayer. The enemies of the cross are real, the church has come under their scourge in every generation. Many unbelievers are content to simply ignore the gospel, and tolerate those who love the Lord. However there are unreasonable and violent individuals who are driven to persecute those who claim the name of Jesus. Paul himself was just one of those individuals who persecuted the church. Yet God in His mercy saved him and used him to write over half of the New Testament. As humans we tend to place our affections on the wrong things. We are driven by what we love, and we are prone to love idols. John Calvin said "The heart is a factory that makes idols." God desires to keep us from the evil one. He will reveal the hidden things in our hearts if we ask Him to bring everything that is hidden to light. The enemy is quick to work through open doors we give him through unrepentant sin in our lives. We read "Be angry and sin not, don't let the sun go down on your wrath, neither give place to the devil." The Greek word place is "Topos." We get the word topography or ground from this word. Unresolved anger and bitterness gives "Ground" to the devil. As we progress in our relationship with Jesus He will make clear to us those things that hinder our walk with Him. God will be faithful to bring up a cherished sin, a point of pride, a wrong attitude or something in our lives that is stunting our spiritual growth. This is our time for repentance and tearing down idols. This is part of God's plan to establish us in the faith. You can be rest assured He is doing His part, are you doing your part? Below are some quotes that are worth pondering. Enjoy. "Our little time of suffering is not worthy of our first night's welcome home to Heaven." - Samuel Rutherford "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go." - Abraham Lincoln "We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking only to learn that it is God shaking them." - Charles West "A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." - John Shedd "The next time you are called to suffer, pay attention. It may be the closest you'll ever get to God." - Max Lucado "If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?" - Stephen Levine. Dr. Ken Copley is available for counseling, conferences, and local church meetings.

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