Bible Verses: Acts 2:32-47
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For Reading and Meditation: Ecclesiastes 3:2-4a
Perhaps no better cross-section of life can be found anywhere than in these beautiful and poetic verses. Solomon unfolds for us the variety of life, all of which takes place under the providential hand of God. There are fourteen contrasts. (1) There is a time to be born and a time to die. No one can negotiate his or...
Bible Verses: Ecclesiastes 3:2-4
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It probably comes as a shock to anyone reading this verse that the fearful and unbelieving are listed together with what we would think of as outrageous, vile sinners, and that they will share the same punishment for all eternity.
It probably comes as an added surprise to note that the fearful are listed first. This should be tremendously sobering to any who excuse their timidity as a trifling matter. Perhaps they are afraid to accept the Lord Jesus because of what their friends might...
Bible Verses: Revelation 21:8John 5:40
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Humiliation of soul always brings a positive blessing with it. If we empty our hearts of self God will fill them with his love. He who desires close communion with Christ should remember the word of the Lord, "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." Stoop if you would climb to heaven. Do we not say of Jesus, "He descended that he might ascend?" so must you. You must grow downwards, that you may grow upwards; for the sweetest...
Bible Verses: Proverbs 15:33
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Since true faith rests upon what God is, it is of utmost importance that, to the limit of our comprehension, we know what He is. "They that know thy name will put their trust in thee" (Psalms 9:10). The name of God is the verbal expression of His character, and confidence always rises or falls with known character. What the psalmist said was simply that they who know God to be the kind of God He is will put their confidence in Him. This is not a...
Bible Verses: Psalms 9:101 John 5:10
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When the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God …” He answered and said, “It is written … It is written … It is written … ” Then the devil left Him.“I cannot return with you. For I have been told by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there … ’” He said to him, “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (He was...
Bible Verses: Genesis 3:1Matthew 4:3Matthew 4:7Matthew 4:10Matthew 4:111 Kings 13:161 Kings 13:171 Kings 13:181 Kings 13:191 Kings 12:26Galatians 1:8Psalms 119:11
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Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; though they join forces, none will go unpunished.O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever; indeed, please look—we all are Your people! § You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; restore me, and I will return, for You are the Lord my God. Surely, after my turning, I repented; and after I...
Bible Verses: 1 Peter 5:6Proverbs 16:5Isaiah 64:8Isaiah 64:9Jeremiah 31:18Jeremiah 31:19Lamentations 3:27Job 5:6Job 5:7
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Christ prayed for his people that they might be with him where he was (" where I am") and behold his glory. Christ is formed in us, the hope of glory; glorious now as revealed by faith, so that we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; but immeasurably more glorious upon the throne of the heavenly majesty, entrancing the universe with the image of the invisible God.
I shall he satisfied: let a man look into his heart and see how much is comprehended in this. He imagines...
Bible Verses: Psalms 17:15
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WHY then do you despond? Why are you satisfied to live so far below your privileges? The Holy Spirit is promised to teach us all things; to testify of Jesus to our hearts; to help our infirmities, to comfort us by taking of the things of Christ, and showing them to us; and to lead us in the way everlasting. Do we experience His love in these particulars? If not, what is the cause? "Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?" NO. But do we sow to the Spirit? Do we pray for the Spirit? Do we expect...
Bible Verses: Micah 2:7
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We see in Simon's carrying the cross a picture of the work of the Church throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer after Jesus. Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer.
But let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in Simon's, it is not our cross, but...
Bible Verses: Luke 23:26
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. . . Well, here are some suggestions which anyone can follow and which, I am convinced, will result in a wonderfully improved Christian life. . . .
3. Put yourself in the way of the blessing. It is a mistake to look for grace to visit us as a kind of benign magic, or to expect God's help to come as a windfall apart from conditions known and met. There are plainly marked paths which lead straight to the green pastures; let us walk in them. To...

God places the lonely in families. (Psalm 68:6 NLT)
The higher position of "Ephesians" is this – that now, being quickened and raised together with Christ and seated in the heavenlies is a matter of relatedness to other believers, and in that relatedness, you are going to find your fullness. You are never going to find spiritual enlargement just as an isolated, separate individual, but in relation with other...
Bible Verses: Psalms 68:6
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In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thess. 5:18).
Relief from pressure may seem merciful, but support in the pressure produces growth and maturity.
""There is a greater blessing for us than relief; there is the Father's support, for it imparts to you an...
Bible Verses: 1 Thessalonians 5:18Deuteronomy 33:27
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"For Thou wilt light my candle." Psalms 18:28
It may be that my soul sits in darkness; and if this be of a spiritual kind, no human power can bring me light. Blessed be God! He can enlighten my darkness and at once light my candle. Even though I may be surrounded by a "darkness which might be felt," yet He can break the gloom and immediately make it bright around me.
The mercy is that if He lights the candle none can blow...
Bible Verses: Psalms 18:28
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Acts 2:32-47
Everyone had a theory of the strange things that had happened. Some accepted the events as divine manifestations. Some mocked and ridiculed. Some said the disciples had been drinking wine too freely. Peter spoke to the throng and explained the meaning of the wonderful event. He brushed away the thought that the disciples were drunken, by reminding them of the early hour. He suggested the importance of the matter by saying it...