"Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." Matthew 16:24
"Follow Me," Jesus says; and we cannot but yield to His almighty voice. He draws us out of the world—and we follow Him. He leads us in at the strait gate—and we follow Him. He guides us along the narrow way—and we follow Him—our cross upon our shoulder and the crown before our eye!
Smoothness, and brightness, and greenness—are not the features of the narrow way; but rather thorns and briars, darkness and dust, and ruggedness, all along; fightings without, and fears within.
The road to Heaven is not so pleasant, and comfortable, and easy, and flowery—as many dream. It is not a bright, sunny, flowery path. It is not paved with triumph—though it is to end in victory. The termination is glory, honor, and immortality; but on the way—there is the thorn in the flesh, the sackcloth, and the cross. Recompense yonder—but labor here!
Rest yonder—but weariness here! Joy and security yonder—but here endurance and watchfulness, the race, the battle, the burden, and ofttimes the heavy heart. [HB 1808-1889]
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Proverbs 15:24 'The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath'
press on believer... [Phil. 3:20]
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Proverbs 15:24 'The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath'
press on believer... [Phil. 3:20]
2 comments :
Thanks....It made me tingle reading this.
Found this by A. Murray:
Only a true, good Christian life, which brings us nearer to God every day, makes us give up everything to have more of Him. No obedience can be too strict, no dependence too absolute, no submission too complete, no confidence too implicit to a person who is learning to count God its highest good and exceeding joy.
In entering into covenant with us, God's one object is to draw us to Himself. He wants to make us entirely dependent upon Him, to bring us into the right position and attitude so He can fill us with Himself, His love, His blessedness.
"Let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing"
1 Peter 4:19
"To choose to suffer means that there is something wrong; to choose God's will even if it means suffering is a very different thing. No healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he chooses God's will,as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. No saint dare interfere with the discipline of suffering in another saint."
"The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature in God. The people who do us good are never those who sympathize with us, they always hinder, because sympathy enervates. No one understands a saint but the saint who is nearest to the Savior. If we accept the sympathy of a saint, the reflex feeling is--Well, God is dealing hardly with me. That is why Jesus said self pity was of the devil (Matt 16:23). Be merciful to God's reputation. It is easy to blacken God's character because God never answers back, He never vindicates Himself. Beware of the thought that Jesus needed sympathy from man because He knew far too wisely that no one on earth understood what He was after. He took sympathy from His Father only, and from angels in heaven (Luke 15:10)"
"Notice God's unutterable waste of saints, according to the judgement of the world. God plants His saints in the most useless places. We say--God intends me to be here because I am so useful. Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use. God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where (or how) that is."
Oswald Chambers
Joy or suffering....His will
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