An Insightful Dozen From Andrew Murray

Andrew MurrayI love the insight of this godly man, and I hope you enjoy these quotes too…

“God, as Creator, formed man to be a vessel in which He could show forth His power and goodness. Man was not to have in himself a fountain of life or strength or happiness. The ever-living and only living One was intended each moment to be the communicator to man of all that he needed.” 

“The blessing of God’s Word is only to be known and enjoyed by obeying it: ‘If you love Me, you will obey what I command’ (John 14:15). Keeping His Word is the only proof of a genuine saving knowledge of God, of not being self-deceived in our faith, of God’s love being experientially known and not merely imagined.”

“The person who reads his Bible with longing and determination to learn and to obey every commandment of God is on the right path to receiving all the blessing the Word is meant to bring.”

“The New Testament standard of Christian commitment is barely realized in the church today. Its whole tone is intensely supernatural. Christian commitment and devotion involves a life totally identified with the life of Christ. It must be a life in the continual presence and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

“Many pray for the Spirit that they may make use of Him and His power for their work. This is an entirely wrong concept. It is He who must use you.”

“Unless we are willing to pay the price, to sacrifice time and attention and seemingly legitimate or necessary tasks for the sake of the spiritual gifts, we need not look for much power from above in our work. God’s call to much prayer need not be a burden or cause for continual self-condemnation. He intends it to be a joyful task. He can make it an inspiration. Through it He can give us strength for all our work and bring blessing to others by His power that works in us.”

“Let our lack of prayer convict us of the coolness in our Christian life that lies at the root of it. God will use the discovery to bring us not only the power to pray that we long for but also the joy of a new and healthy life of which prayer is the spontaneous expression.”

“Our prayers must not be vague appeals to His mercy or indefinite cries for blessing, but the distinct expression of a specific need. It is not that Jesus’ loving heart does not understand our cry or is not ready to hear, but He desires that we be specific for our own good. Prayer that is specific teaches us to better know our own needs.”

“Do you see what holiness is and how it is to be found? It is not something formed in you. It is not something put on you from without. Holiness is the presence of God resting on you. Holiness comes as you consciously abide in that presence, doing all as a sacrifice to Him.”

“The connection between the prayer life and the Spirit life is close and indissoluble. … Learn from our Lord Jesus how impossible it is to walk with God, obtain God’s blessing or leading, or do His work joyously and fruitfully apart from close, unbroken fellowship with the One who is our living fountain of spiritual life and power.”

“His blood is the eternal and undeniable proof that God the Father and Christ will do for you all that is needed, and that they will not forsake you until they have accomplished their work in you from beginning to end.”

“Live your daily life in full consciousness of being righteous in God’s sight, an object of delight and pleasure in Christ. Connect every view you have of Christ in His other graces with this first one: Christ Jesus—our righteousness from God. This will keep you in perfect peace.”

9 More Quotes From “The Blood Of The Cross”

The Blood Of The CrossThere were way too many quotes from The Blood Of The Cross by Horatius Bonar that I wanted to share, so here is the second installment. You can read the first set of quotes by clicking here, and you can read my review of this must-read book by clicking here.

“It is not my looking to the blood in conjunction with my looking to my own act of seeing that brings this peace. It is my simple and direct looking to the blood. It is in looking that I am blessed; not in thinking about my looking. To look to the blood is to be cleansed; to look away from the blood, or too self, or to the world, or to sin, is to arrest the cleansing process and to neutralize the healing power. The more I see of the matchless value of that blood, and understand the substitution of life for life, which that blood proclaims, and to which it is ever pointing, the more will my peace be like a river.”

“The Lamb has been slain, the Lamb of God, as it is written, ‘It pleased the Lord to bruise Him’ (Isaiah 53:10). His blood has been shed, and sprinkled, and accepted; and that shed blood is for the remission of sin, and for reconciling us to God. That blood is intended to set us in the place of the innocent; to bring us nigh to God just as if we had never separated; to be our recommendation to God, so that coming with it as our plea, we may expect to be treated by God as HE is treated Whose blood we thus recognize and rest on.”

“To come with anything else than the blood as our introduction is most certainly to secure or for ourselves rejection; but to come with it alone is to ensure that blessed welcome which the blood has never yet failed to obtain for the vilest sinner that ever went to God with it as his only plea.”

“That blood is valuable enough to answer for yours, and God is willing to accept the exchange. Nay, it was He Who first proposed it; it is He Who is pressing this exchange upon your notice and entreating you to receive it, so that there maybe nothing left for you to pay.”

“It loses none of its efficacy by time or repetition. It is the same in this age as when it was shed at first. It is the same today as when first we applied to it for healing and for cleansing. Nothing can rob it of its potency. It has cleansed millions; it can cleanse millions more; it has washed out stains, in number past calculation, in dye most thoroughly crimson. Yet it is unpolluted. It has taken on no stain. It is still as able to pacify the conscience and to release the soul from guilt.”

“Realizing these things, the saint moves on his joyful course. The blood is ALL to him. It is his peace; it is his medicine; it is his daily comforter. And resting in it he rejoices in hope hope of the glory to be revealed.”

“Thou hast gone near enough to the gates of hell; yet go not in. Turn back. It is not yet too late. Even thou mayest be saved. The gate of light stands as widely open as the gate of darkness. The way of life, the narrow way, is as free to thee as is the way of death. There is still forgiveness. And the glad tidings of it are as glad as ever. No sin of thine has altered that gladness or made the tidings a forbidden joy to thee. We can tell you as truly as ever that ‘these things are written that thou mightest believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that believing thou mayest have life through His name’ (John 20:31).”

“That nonconductor is unbelief. It interposes between the soul and all heavenly blessing, all divine intercourse. It may seem a thing too slight to effect so great result; yet it does so inevitably. It shuts off the communication with the source of all glad tidings. It isolates man, and forbids the approach of blessing. That conductor is faith. In itself it is nothing, but in its connection everything. It restores in a moment the broken communication; and this, not from any virtue in itself, but simply as the conducting link between the soul and the fountain of all blessing above.”

“In Jesus there is salvation—salvation without a price—salvation for the most totally and thoroughly lost that this fallen earth contains. Go and receive it.”

8 Quotes From “The Blood Of The Cross”

The Blood Of The CrossAs I said in my book review of The Blood Of The Cross by Horatius Bonar (which you can read by clicking here), I have never read such a penetrating look at the beyond-all-measurement value of the blood Jesus Christ shed on the Cross. An absolutely fascinating read! There are way too many quotes from this book to share them all now, so this is the first set of quotes I’d like to share with you.

“Nothing now will keep us, but certainty. Such a storm will need a sure anchor. A man may cheat his soul into tranquility when days are prosperous and skies are blue. He may say, ‘I hope it will go well with me at last,’ and sit down contented with his meager hope. But when heaven and earth are shaken, he cannot but tremble. His peace gives way at the first ruffle of the tempest. He had no certainty to lean upon, and his false security was broken in an hour. … It is not yet too late. The Cross is still standing on the earth. The Crucified One is still upon the mercy seat. If the favor of God has hitherto been a dark uncertainty, it may yet been made sure. The way of reconciliation through the blood is as open as ever.”

“If God and we, then, are at variance, how is this variance to cease? Is it by His adopting our judgment, or by our adopting His? It cannot be the former. … What thank you, then, of the blood of Christ? Is that which is so precious in God’s eyes as precious in yours? Has the controversy between Him and you upon this point been solidly adjusted? And are you at one with Him in His estimate of the blood of His dear Son? If so, it is well. For this is faith; and it is by this faith that you are saved.”

“Most men imagine that they know its value sufficiently already, and that what they need is not a higher estimate of the blood, but a deeper impression wrought in them by the estimate which they now possess. But is it so? Is this the whole evil? Is this its root? No. Whatever they may now suppose that they have, let them know this, that it is just in their estimate of the blood that they are deficient.”

“The new estimate which God enables us to form of this at once infuses peace. If that estimate which God had given of it be true, then all that is needful for our peace has been accomplished. That infinitely precious blood sheds peace and sunshine into our souls. We see that blood as God sees it, and our consciences are unburdened—our souls are set at rest. … The blood of His Cross has finished our peace. And that finished peace is all we need to banish every fear.”

“What does God thinks of this blood? He counts it as infinitely precious—more precious than all corruptible things such as gold and silver. Its value can only be measured by the greatness of Him from Whom it flowed.”

“If a sinner of old might come into the courts of the Lord as an accepted worshipper, simply because presenting to God the blood of bulls and goats, may not a sinner now come into the real, the immediate presence of Jehovah, with still greater certainty of acceptance, simply making mention of that divine blood which has flowed from the Lamb of God—the Word made flesh—Who made His soul an offering for sin, and gave His life a ransom for the sins of many (Isaiah 53:10; Matthew 20:28)?”

“And now it is safe for the sinner to enter in, and it is honorable for God to admit him. The sanctuary is not defiled by his entrance, for the blood is there to prevent this. He does not need to be alarmed, or shrink back, for that blood which opens the way gives him also liberty and boldness in coming in, removing that terror of a guilty conscience which would keep him back, and enabling him to come ‘with a true heart, and in full assurance of faith, having his heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and his body washed with pure water’ (Hebrews 10:22).”

“It is the sprinkling of the blood upon the soul (which takes place so soon as we take God’s Word for its efficacy) that makes it fit for being the tabernacle of the Holy One. It is the sight of this blood that makes the sinner feel safe and happy in such near contact with God; for otherwise how could he feel at home with such a Guest—the unholy with the Holy?”

** Look for another set of quotes from this book later this week. **

…And Then A Miracle Occurs

The Miracle of JesusLast week I shared how important it is for us to remember what we were before meeting Christ, and what we now are after meeting Him (you can click here to read that post). But we need to spend some time looking at how we went from “were” to “are.”

First, we need to recall how bad we really were without Christ. We were…

  • …dead (Ephesians 2:1)—this is a rotting corpse.
  • …separated (2:12)—we faced a gaping, unbridgeable, uncrossable chasm.
  • …alienated (4:18)— we were completely shut-out from fellowship with God.
  • …given over (4:19)—this implies an open betrayal which resulted in us running the opposite direction from God.

“The man on the street would simply shrugged his shoulders at this charge and say, ‘Sure, no one’s perfect.’ Even we Christians talk about failures and defeats, but the Bible uses other terms. It speaks of wickedness and rebellion (Leviticus 16:21). The Bible speaks of King David as despising God (2 Samuel 12:9-10). It charges another man of God with defying the word of the Lord… (1 Kings 13:21). It is evident by these descriptive synonyms for sin—rebellion, despising, defying—that God takes a far more serious view of sin than the man on the street or even most Christians.” —Jerry Bridges, in Transforming Grace (bold font added)

…and then a miracle occurs! You who once WERE far away [dead, separated, alienated, disgustingly sinful] HAVE BEEN brought near through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13). Jesus Himself becomes our salvation … He IS the miracle! Notice the wording here—

  • He Himself IS our peace (v. 14a)
  • HE has made the two one (v. 14b)
  • abolishing IN His flesh (v. 15a)
  • create IN Himself (v. 15b)
  • IN this one Body…by which HE put to death their hostility (v. 16)
  • THROUGH Him we both have access to the Father (v. 18)

Jesus Himself IS (1) our peace, (2) our reconciliation, and (3) our atonement.

Not only must we always remember what we WERE and what we ARE, but remember the MIRACLE whereby this transformation could happen: The blood of Jesus spilled for us on the Cross!

We’ll be continuing our walk through the Book of Ephesians next Sunday, and I’d love to have you join us.

Now What?

Christmas Day 2014 has come and gone … now what? My Mom forwarded a picture to me that might be a pretty good place to start—or should I say to keep the Christmas spirit alive.

Here’s your post-Christmas Day “To Do” List—

After the holidays To Do list

What would you add to this list?

Poetry Saturday—Don’t Look Back

John WoodenThe years have left their imprint
On my hands and on my face.
Erect no longer is my walk
And slower is my pace.

But there is no fear within my heart
Because I’m growing old
I only wish I had more time
To better serve my Lord.

When I’ve gone to Him in prayer
He has brought me inner peace
And soon my cares and worries
And other problems cease.

He has helped in so many ways,
He has never let me down,
Why should I fear the future
When soon I could be near His crown.

Though I know down here my time is short
There is endless time up there
And He will forgive and keep me
Forever in His loving care.

May I not waste an hour
That’s left to glorify the Name
Of the One Who died, that we might live
And for our sins, took all the blame. —John Wooden

 

Zig Ziglar On Money & Success

Inspire To Be GreatZig Ziglar was a highly successful salesman, which opened the door for him to have a successful second career as a motivational speaker. His insight into money and success is well worth paying attention to—

“I define success as having acquired some of the things that money will buy and all of the things that money won’t buy—while maintaining balance in your life.” 

“Money bought me the house, but it won’t buy me a home. It’ll buy me a companion, but it won’t buy me a friend. It’ll buy me a good time, but it won’t buy me peace of mind. It’ll buy me a bed, but it won’t buy me a good night’s sleep.”

“Don’t count the things you do. Do the things which count.”

“In America, we have become greedy. We are bombarded with so many ads that say, ‘You gotta have this car! You gotta wear these clothes! You gotta take this vacation trip! You gotta have that second home at the beach,’ and all of these absurd things. Over the years, I have noticed this—that if standard of living is your number-one objective, your quality of life almost never improves. But if quality of life is your number-one objective, standard of living invariably goes up. That kinda contradicts what a lot of people believe.”

“Until you are happy with who you are, you will never be happy because of what you have.”

These quotes are from the book Inspire To Be Great. You can read my review of that book by clicking here. I shared some of my other favorite quotes from this book earlier, and you can read them by clicking here.

Links & Quotes

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“With such prayer it is an absolute certainty that I must succeed with God in prayer. If my prayer were my own prayer, I might not be so sure of it, but if the prayer which I utter be God’s own prayer written on my soul, God is always one with Himself, and what He writes on the heart is only written there because it is written in His purposes.” —Charles Spurgeon, commenting on Jude 20

“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them.” —C.S. Lewis

Dr. James Dobson has 8 reminders for stressed parents.

“We must stand on every promise and pray in faith, effectually, fervently, without doubt, and then wait and rest, trusting the Lord to do what is right, in His time and His way. Few Christians today wait with patience for God to work in His time. The more it is delayed, the angrier some get. Some finally give up, thinking God doesn’t answer.” —David Wilkerson

A university scientist is fired for publishing a peer-reviewed paper in a respected scientific journal that dares (gasp!) to mention that the biblical Flood might account for a specific finding he had made. The scientific community is becoming more and more touchy about anything that disproves their tenuous beliefs in an Earth that is anything less than billions of years old.

Continue to pray for Asia Bibi, who is appealing her death sentence in Pakistan. Her crime? She is a Christian. Also please consider supporting the American Center for Law & Justice who is helping Asia, and many others like her.

[INFOGRAPHIC] Have I mentioned that I am a huge fan of The Overview Bible Project? I love this infographic and insight into the biblical authors.

 

Poetry Saturday—I Met God In The Morning

photo 1I met God in the morning
When my day was at its best,
And His Presence came like sunrise
Like a glory in my breast.

All day long the Presence lingered,
All day long He stayed with me,
And we sailed in perfect calmness
O’er a very troubled sea.

Other ships were blown and battered,
Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seemed to drive them
Brought to us a peace and rest.

Then I thought of other mornings,
With a keen remorse of mind,
When I, too, had loosed the moorings
With the Presence left behind.

So I think I know the secret,
Learned from many a troubled way;
You must seek Him in the morning
If you want Him through the day. —Ralph Cushman

 

Links & Quotes

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Some great reading and watching from today…

[VIDEO] Thanks to my friend Rich for telling me about the friendliest restaurant in America.

“No state is so blessed as that wherein one is free from sin, is filled with innocence, and is fully supplied with the grace of God.” —Ambrose

[VIDEO] John Maxwell has a good reminder about the power of personal discipline.

There are few who can express the love of God as Charles Spurgeon in The Glorious Love Of The Father.

Tim Elmore shares some counter-intuitive thinking for preparing our kids for success.

“If you want to hear from Heaven you must seek it on your knees.” —D.L. Moody

“Don’t be forced into this false dichotomy. Truth and love are not at odds. Rather, for the sake of love, cherish the truth. Let this love for truth and truth for love govern the use of language….” —John Piper

“Who will grant me to find peace in You? Who will grant me this grace, that You would come into my heart and inebriate it, enabling me to forget the evils that beset me and embrace You my only good?” —Augustine 

Don’t buy into it when Islam is called a religion of peace: ISIS terrorists targeting Christians in Iraq.