There are many things in my life that I do not want to put under the gaze of… – (R. C. Sproul) – El Roi –

In writing about El-Roi in “The Character of God,”  R. C. Sproul said: 

“There are many things in my life that I do not want to put under the gaze of Christ. Yet I know there is nothing hidden from Him. He knows me better than my wife knows me. And yet He loves me. This is the most amazing thing of all about God’s grace. It would be one thing for Him to love us if we could fool Him into thinking that we were better than we actually are. But He knows better. He knows all there is to know about us, including those things that could destroy our reputation. He is minutely and acutely aware of every skeleton in every closet. And He loves us.”

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That we must love one God only is a thing so … (©Blaise Pascal)

That we must love one God only is a thing so evident that it does not require miracles to prove it. – Blaise Pascal 

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The Treasure of Time (©by Martha Kilpatrick)

The Treasure of Time 

from Adoration – Mary of Bethany – The untold story 

by Martha Kilpatrick

 

Time is the treasure of life. Time IS life. 

Time is the willing sacrifice that you offer up to 

the worship of what you love. 

Don’t tell me what you love. Tell me where you spend your 

TIME and I’ll tell YOU what you love.

 

The dispensing of time, the investment of time 

is the exposure of what you truly love. 

You give your time to your cherished treasure. You do.

 

Frenzy says that there is no time left for God. 

Hurry cannot live the life of Mary.

 

Haste insults HIM. It says there are 

other important, more urgent activities than being with 

the Lord of the Universe.

 

It takes giving the costly gift of time to find Him, 

to hear His heart, 

to gain the wisdom of where to spend your 

riches of time.

 

Many give their lives to Him, 

who do not give their time.

 

To the frantic, Mary’s life was a waste. 

The waste of time and energy on Jesus.

 

To the busy, time is always critically short. 

There is not enough time for the ambitious…and the worried. 

Their many works are more than their shoulders can 

carry, more than their hours can cover.

 

They are like Martha, always behind and 

even in self pity because of it.

 

Their efforts are their own. 

Jesus did not call for them 

and cannot be blamed when the efforts 

do not succeed or give fulfillment.

 

Time is the shining jewel Satan steals. 

We do not understand its value as much as he does. 

If he can get your time, he has… you… without God. 

Your time is your life. 

So by noble demands and foolish distractions, 

he ekes away the minutes of your eternity.

 

There is all out war for your time, 

a relentless and clever scheme to fill 

your days with what is not God – 

what is not for Him or even about Him.

 

Martha was the unwitting instrument of that fiendish enemy 

to call foolish and irresponsible in Mary what was really… 

God’s highest and best.

 

Thus it always will be. 

There is a fight to be a Mary. 

And it takes a strong-hearted resistance 

to defend the preciousness of your own time.

 

To lose your time is to lose your destiny. 

To squander time is to waste your only wealth.

 

There is abundant time for your assignment… 

for God’s authentic will.

 

Plenty of time to listen and ample time to accomplish. 

God set the earth on the axis of Time 

and when He rules it, 

it is – like all His gifts – an extravagant supply.

 

God requires in this day, the offering of time. 

Give time to God and you become rich in Him. 

For to give time is to give your self 

and He gives HIMSELF in return.

 

God is ever real about time and humanity’s limited span. 

So whatever is given to Him is multiplied by the mystery of 

His transcendence over Time and Space. 

Time given to Him is returned enlarged, expanded by a 

multiplication that cannot be comprehended.

 

Mary lavished time on Him… 

because she deemed Him worth it. 

Martha had no time for Him, only a period to work 

for Him, a labor He 

rejected as a real… waste of time.

 

To Martha, Jesus was not worthy of her focused attention, 

and this He painfully knew by watching how 

she spent her… time.

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Wait – (Poem © by Russell Kelfer)

Wait

by Russell Kelfer

 

 

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried; 

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied. 

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . . 

And the Master so gently said, “Wait.” 

 

“Wait? you say wait?” my indignant reply. 

“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why! 

Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard? 

By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming your Word. 

 

“My future and all to which I relate 

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait? 

I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign, 

Or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign. 

 

“You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe, 

We need but to ask, and we shall receive. 

And Lord I’ve been asking, and this is my cry: 

I’m weary of asking! I need a reply.” 

 

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate, 

As my Master replied again, “Wait.” 

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut, 

And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting for what?” 

 

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . . 

and He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign. 

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun. 

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run. 

 

“I could give all you seek and pleased you would be. 

You’d have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me. 

You’d not know the depth of my love for each saint. 

You’d not know the power that I give to the faint. 

 

“You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair; 

You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there. 

You’d not know the joy of resting in Me 

When darkness and silence are all you can see. 

 

“You’d never experience the fullness of love 

When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove. 

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start, 

But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart. 

 

“The glow of my comfort late into the night, 

The faith that I give when you walk without sight. 

The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask 

From an infinite God who makes what you have last. 

 

“You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee, 

What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee. 

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true, 

But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I’m doing in you. 

 

“So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see 

That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me. 

And though oft My answers seem terribly late, 

My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait.”

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We need never shout across the spaces to an (©A.W. Tozer)

“We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts”
― A.W. Tozer

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Atheists express their rage against …

“Atheists express their rage against God although in their view He does not exist.” – C.S. Lewis

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God has been good and He will continue to … [Francis Frangipane]

“God has been good and He will continue to manifest His goodness. Let us approach these days expecting to see the goodness of the Lord manifest. Let us be strong and of good courage, for the Lord will fight for us if we stand in faith. 💬 ~ © Francis Frangipane ~

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Spiritual Warfare: Christians, Demonization and Deliverance [Karl Payne]

 ““Unconfessed sin gives demonic spirits a foothold or ground against a believer. Holding ground is a phrase used by demons to explain their ability to exercise limited control over a place, space, territory, or specific area of a Christian’s life. Once a person is willing to confess his sins and ask God to cancel the ground held against him, the battle is relatively simple. The believer has in effect given an eviction notice to an unwanted renter or swatted a bloodsucking leech. God, who is omnipotent, has no problem enforcing the eviction notice for an individual who submits to Him with clean hands and a pure heart.” 💬  ~ Karl I. Payne,

““Christians who choose to give footholds to Satan through unconfessed sin, possibly thinking it is just a game, are potentially surrendering areas of their lives to demonic control one room at a time. Jesus’ lordship over every area of our lives is not just a game. Usually the longer an owner allows a bad renter to destroy rooms, the more rooms he will destroy. Failure to confront a problem in our lives is usually an invitation for more problems.”
💬 ~ © ― Karl I. Payne,
<Karl I. Payne, Spiritual Warfare: Christians, Demonization and Deliverance” ~>

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Doth not all nature around me praise God? … [Charles Spurgeon]

Doth not all nature around me praise God? If I were silent, I should be an exception to the universe. Doth not the thunder praise Him as it rolls like drums in the march of the God of armies? Do not the mountains praise Him when the woods upon their summits wave in adoration? Doth not the lightning write His name in letters of fire? Hath not the whole earth a voice? And shall I, can I, silent be?” — Charles Spurgeon

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God, you have made us for yourself… [Augustine of Hippo]

“God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.” — Augustine

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”  — Augustine of Hippo, –Confessions

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