Monday, August 31, 2009

team hoyt



yeah, i can't possibly imagine how much our father in heaven loves us. He showed us through his son, Jesus Christ.

love - jaesonma

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Ephesians 6:10-18

The Armor of God

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Let us be equipped through the holy spirit and with the word of God to stand firm with our breastplate of righteousness, sword of the spirit, belt of truth, helmet of salvation, and the shoes of the gospel of peace in readily position. Christians, we are in a battle for the souls of men.

Greatest Love

John 16:1-4

1"All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. 2They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. 3They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you."

I believe this time will come soon for Christians in America. We have been warned. We must stand firm because many will come to kill/imprison us for our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ like how others around the world are being killed for their faith. We must stand firm for truth and fight for truth even until the point of death. May the Holy Spirit conform us to be like Christ so that we can lay our lives down for nonbelievers just like how the God in the flesh laid down his life for us.

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
-John 15:13

morning devotional


"On mine arm shall they trust."—Isaiah 51:5.
In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father's arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in Him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as He built the heavens and the earth, glorify Himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you to rest in Jesus this closing day of the month.

-Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotionals

Friday, August 28, 2009

Chosen, holy, loved

“The gospel of Christ’s painful death on our behalf has a way of breaking our pride and our sense of rightful demands and our frustration at not getting our way. It works lowliness into our souls. Then we treat each other with meekness flowing out of that lowliness. The battle is with our own proud, self-centered inner person. Fight that battle by faith, through the gospel, in prayer. Be stunned and broken and built up and made glad and humble because you are chosen, holy, loved.”

- John Piper, This Momentary Marriage (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2009), 56.

Psalm 51:1

"Have mercy upon me, O God." --Psalm 51:1

When Dr. Carey was suffering from a dangerous illness, the enquiry was made, "If this sickness should prove fatal, what passage would you select as the text for your funeral sermon?" He replied, "Oh, I feel that such a poor sinful creature is unworthy to have anything said about him; but if a funeral sermon must be preached, let it be from the words, 'Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.'" In the same spirit of humility he directed in his will that the following inscription and nothing more should be cut on his gravestone:--

WILLIAM CAREY, BORN AUGUST 17th, 1761:
DIED - -

"A wretched, poor, and helpless worm
On Thy kind arms I fall."

Only on the footing of free grace can the most experienced and most honoured of the saints approach their God. The best of men are conscious above all others that they are men at the best. Empty boats float high, but heavily laden vessels are low in the water; mere professors can boast, but true children of God cry for mercy upon their unprofitableness. We have need that the Lord should have mercy upon our good works, our prayers, our preachings, our alms-givings, and our holiest things. The blood was not only sprinkled upon the doorposts of Israel's dwelling houses, but upon the sanctuary, the mercy-seat, and the altar, because as sin intrudes into our holiest things, the blood of Jesus is needed to purify them from defilement. If mercy be needed to be exercised towards our duties, what shall be said of our sins? How sweet the remembrance that inexhaustible mercy is waiting to be gracious to us, to restore our backslidings, and make our broken bones rejoice!

-Morning and Evening devotionals - Charles Spurgeon

Monday, August 24, 2009

"Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him." - James 1:12

Monday, August 17, 2009

the more you see Jesus


“The more I see of Jesus, the more He opens to me His loving heart, the deeper is my sorrow for sin. I lie down in the dust of His feet closer than ever I did before. I can truly say I abhor myself in dust and ashes before Him. My heart seems ready to melt into contrition in view of the ten thousand thousand sins, willful and aggravating, that I have committed against Him, who loved me with an everlasting love, and with loving kindness drew me to Himself.”

- Mary Winslow

God, help me to get to this point.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Monday, August 3, 2009

Live or Perish.

“Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them…If ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 3:14–15).

Daniel’s friends were facing the worst possible crisis any human could face. If God didn’t come and deliver them by a miracle, they were dead!

What will bring Christ into your crisis? He comes when you make the same commitment the three Hebrew children made: “[They]…said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand…But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (verses 16–18).

In other words: “It looks hopeless. If God doesn’t perform a miracle for us, we are dead. Yet our God is able to deliver us from this fiery crisis! But even if he doesn’t, we still will not quit on him. Live or die, we will trust him!”

Beloved, this is the kind of faith that causes angels to rejoice and blesses the very heart of God. It is a faith that says, “Lord, I am convinced, fully persuaded, that you are able to deliver me. If you just speak a word, it will all be over.”

“But, if not, I’m not going to run. I won’t accuse you of abandoning me. I will remain faithful and true. Your ways are higher than mine, Lord – and my life is in your hands. Though you slay me, yet will I trust you!”
This is what brings Christ into our crisis—the full confidence that he is able to rescue and deliver us out of any crisis! It is a confidence that, no matter what comes, we are in his hands.

-David Wilkerson.