REPENTANCE

This is another excerpt from My Utmost for His Highest... "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation." 2 Corinthians 7:10 Conviction of sin is best portrayed in the words - "My sins, my sins, my Saviour, How sad on Thee they fall." Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses a man's conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God - "against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight." The marvels of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven man who is the holy man, he proves he is forgiven by being the opposite to what he was, by God's grace. Repentance always brings a man to this point: I have sinned. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says that and means it. Anything less than this is remorse for having made blunders, the reflex action of disgust at himself. The entrance into the Kingdom is through the panging pains of repentance crashing into a man's respectable goodness; then the Holy Ghost, Who produces these agonies, begins the formation of the Son of God in the life. The new life will manifest itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way about. The bedrock of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a man cannot repent when he chooses; repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for "the gift of tears." If ever you cease to know the virtue of repentance, you are in darkness. Examine yourself and see if you have forgotten how to be sorry.

Deny Yourself...

God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself He cannot. "Let him deny himself" - deny his independent right to himself, then the real life has a chance to grow. (Oswarld Chambers)

THE GREAT LIFE

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: . . Let not your heart be troubled." John 14:27
My utmost for His Highest excerpt-

Whenever a thing becomes difficult in personal experience, we are in danger of blaming God, but it is we who are in the wrong, not God, there is some perversity somewhere that we will not let go. Immediately we do, everything becomes as clear as daylight. As long as we try to serve two ends, ourselves and God, there is perplexity. The attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. When once we get there, there is nothing easier than living the saintly life; difficulty comes in when we want to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit for our own ends.
Whenever you obey God, His seal is always that of peace, the witness of an unfathomable peace, which is not natural, but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, tarry till it does or find out the reason why it does not. If you are acting on an impulse, or from a sense of the heroic, the peace of Jesus will not witness; there is no simplicity or confidence in God, because the spirit of simplicity is born of the Holy Ghost, not of your decisions. Every decision brings a reaction of simplicity.
My questions come whenever I cease to obey. When I have obeyed God, the problems never come between me and God, they come as probes to keep the mind going on with amazement at the revelation of God. Any problem that comes between God and myself springs out of disobedience; any problem, and there are many, that is alongside me while I obey God, increases my ecstatic delight, because I know that my Father knows, and I am going to watch and see how He unravels this thing.

Libera - Silent Night

Merry christmas!!!!

BY THE GRACE OF GOD I AM WHAT I AM

1Cor. 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

The way we continually talk about our own inability is an insult to the Creator. The deploring of our own incompetence is a slander against God for having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining in the sight of God the things that sound humble before men, and you will be amazed at how staggeringly impertinent they are. "Oh, I shouldn't like to say I am sanctified; I'm not a saint." Say that before God; and it means - "No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are chances I have not had; so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn't possible." That may sound wonderfully humble before men, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.

Again, the things that sound humble before God may sound the opposite before men. To say Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified is in the sight of God the acme of humility, it means you have so completely abandoned yourself to God that you know He is true. Never bother your head as to whether what you say sounds humble before men or not, but always be humble before God, and let Him be all in all.

Birthdays!

Still Human!

I was reading in my upmost for his highest, the verse it was based on was 1 Cor.10:31 ... do all to the glory of God .. which we all know ( since it was the camp theme verse!) But the book was saying how its one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through each day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one is paying even the slightest bit of attention to us. we want something that will make people say "what a wonderful woman of prayer she is" or whatever. We sometimes refuse to be shallow, not out of our deep devotion to God but because we wish to impress other people with the fact that we are not shallow. This is a sure sign of spiritual pride.
It really is easy to want to be godly just so other people will see it and not really because we want to please God.
If we are properly devoted to Christ you have reached the height where no one would ever notice you personally. All that is noticed is the power of God coming through you all the time!
Praying for you,
Rachel

Memories

servants to sin... or God?

today I was reading the last part of chapter 6... and verses 20-22 say:
20For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

I thought it was interesting how it says We are NOW ashamed of those things we did when we were slaves to sin. But, now that we are servants to Christ we are seeing the fruits of holiness! people who are servants to sin aren't even ashamed of it and their end is death! So why is it "worth" it to be servants to sin? ( exactly my point ... its not!) Anyways... I thought that was interesting... Romans is a really good practical book. It is really down to the point. I have been learning so much from it!
Continue thou in the things thou has't learned!

God answers Prayer!

The Lord has answered our prayers!!!! Chris woke up this morning thinking it was time to go get his wisdom teeth pulled. He remembers everything before Monday, but nothing since Monday. So on this snowy morning, let's rejoice with those who are rejoicing, and praise the One who has graciously answered our prayers.

Pray!!!!

Remember Chris in your prayers! Pray that God will restore his memory. Pray for the Read family, that the Lord will comfort them and trust in Him to work out His perfect plan. He has a reason for this even thought we may not understand it... Keep praying!

Honoring...

Last night at the bible study I go to we were learning about honoring our mom. We hear a lot about obeying them, but not enough about honoring them. They are special dont forget it. Here is a little story that I thought you all would enjoy!
A 14 year old boy walked into the kitchen where his mom was making supper. He slapped down a piece of paper on the counter and sat down at the table. When his mother finished her work she went over and picked it up. This is what it read:

What I did: Amount owed:
Mowed the lawn: $10
Did the dishes: $ 5
Cleaned my room: $ 7.50
Vacuumed the carpet: $ 5
Cleaned the Garage: $ 10
Total Amount due: $37:50


The mother finished reading it aand then picked up a pencil and started writing. She finished and set it back down on the counter. The boy curious, rose and picked it up. Here is what it said:

What I did: Amount owed:
Gave birth to you: Free of charge
Changed your smelly Diapers: Free of charge
Potty trained you: Free of charge
Fed you: Free of charge
Taught you how to read: Free of charge
Much, much more Free of charge
Total Amount due: $0.00

The boy quickly pulled out his pen and turning the paper over scratched out the bill and wrote: PAID IN FULL

Then he turned to his mother, gave her a hug and whispered “I love you”

Don't forget to tell your mom how much you love her! ( It can apply to your father as wel!)
Rachel

Prayers!!

I have to admit that I have been really discouraged this past few days, and would really appreciate your prayers. I haven't been able to have a really good devotional time, and I see how that can make a difference. But I must lean on the Lord to help me back up again. It's amazing how you can easily know what to do, but how hard it is to do it. So if you could pray that I would again be experiencing that outrageous contagious joy!
I know the effect a praying teen can have on the lives of others! So pray for me as often as you think of me!

Thankful Heart!

Thanksgivings coming up and I am realizing all the blessings God has given me! I am so grateful for a godly family, a great church/youth group/Pastor. And i am so thankful that God is forgiving because I don't know where I would be right now if he weren't

Psalm 37:7

My life verse is Psalm 37:7-
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.