🍇 Fruit of The Spirit : Love

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C. S Lewis — Quotes on Love

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Fruit of The Spirit : Joy

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Self-Deception, Lies, Respect — Dostoevsky

Self-Deception, Karamazov, Dostoevsky, lies, Respect, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Truth, Love, The Brothers Karamazov,

Self-Deception, Karamazov, Dostoevsky, lies, Respect, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Truth, Love, The Brothers Karamazov,

Self-Deception, Karamazov, Dostoevsky, lies, Respect, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Truth, Love, The Brothers Karamazov,

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Don’t Lie : Dostoevsky

“Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

“Above all, do not lie to yourself. A man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into disrespect towards himself and others. Not respecting anyone, he ceases to love, and having no love, he gives himself up to the passions and coarse pleasures, in order to occupy and amuse himself, and in his vices reaches complete bestiality, and it all comes from lying continually to others and to himself.”

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Flame Of God (Poem © by Amy Carmichael)

Flame Of God (Poem © by Amy Carmichael)

 

From prayer that asks that I may be

Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,

From fearing when I should aspire,

From faltering when I should climb higher

From silken self, O Captain, free

Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

 

 

From subtle love of softening things,

From easy choices, weakening,

(Not thus are spirits fortified,

Not this way went the Crucified)

From all that dims Thy Calvary

O Lamb of God, deliver me.

 

 

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 

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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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When people cast fear to the wind … [John Piper]

 “When people cast fear to the wind and spend themselves and risk their lives and fortune in the cause of God’s truth, and in love for other people, then God is revealed for who He really is: infinitely valuable and satisfying–so much so that His people don’t need the fleeting pleasures of sin in order to be content.” — John Piper

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If I belittle those whom I am called to serve … [Amy Carmichael]

If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of their weak points in contrast perhaps with what I think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting “Who made thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou hast not received?” then I know nothing of Calvary love.” 💬 ~ © – Amy Carmichael” ~.

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Do you know what hurts so very much?

Do you know what hurts so very much? It’s love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.” – Corrie Ten Boom

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