The last Difficulties

10: Concerning Temptation

"Sin makes an easy prey of a discouraged soul; so that we fall often from the very fear of having fallen."

11: Concerning Failures

"This life of union with God requires the utmost honesty with Him and with ourselves."

sooo blessed!

Today, I went shopping for shoes with my 12-yr-old brother, adopted from Russia. He was so wonderful. He kept apologizing for taking so long, but I wasn't in a hurry. He couldn't make up his mind or find his size. Poor guy had to have a cavity filled right beforehand, and he started to claim that his leg was going numb (he's still a little paranoid of the doctor/dentist!) The best part was when we got home though. A couple hours later, he came up to me and handed me three dollars. I was confused and asked what it was for. He looked at me and said, "Jesus." Misha is going to support me in my ministry as his tithe for his monthly allowance!

Nothing could bless me as much as that, but I also just found out that Dr. James White (the guy who shared the gospel when Lecrae began his relationship with Christ) is speaking at the San Diego Winter Conference!!!

I thought today was Friday

This morning God's Word just really jumped out at me.  I felt Jesus' love because of what I read about, (lately, the topic of temptation has been coming up a lot, and I love that I could learn more from the Bible on that subject today.)  On Tuesday, I asked my brother what I should read, and he said Luke.  Today I opened to Luke 4, where Jesus is tempted by Satan.  This part really made me think:

"And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, 'To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.' And Jesus answered him, 'It is written,

"You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'"

I thought, why didn't Jesus take charge of the whole world?  That would be pretty cool if Satan wasn't still ruling the earth.  But, obviously Jesus' obedience to only worship God was more important.  That made me realize that if Jesus wouldn't give in and worship anything beside God (for all the kingdoms and glory of the earth) then it is better for me not to worship anything except for my God.  

I felt the need to share these thoughts with my brother, but then I apologized for getting a little preachy.  His response was, "Yeah, I thought today was Friday"

Just now, I told him that if he hadn't suggested for me to read Luke, he wouldn't have gotten a sermon. My sister was like, "You went to church today!?"

difficulties concerning guidance and doubts

8:  "Some, however, may say here, 'But I thought we were not to depend on our unenlightened human understanding in Divine things.'  I answer to this that we are not to depend upon our unenlightened human understanding, but upon our human judgement and common sense enlightened by the Spirit of God."  

9:  "Look right at Jesus, and tell Him that you do trust Him, and that you intend to go on trusting Him.  Then let the doubts clamor as they may, they cannot hurt you if you will not let them in.  I know it will look to you sometimes as though you were shutting your door against your best friends...but deny yourself; take up your cross in this matter, and quietly but firmly refuse ever to listen to a single word."   

Difficulties...

5: "Difficulties Concerning Consecration"

"Come once more to Him, in a surrender of your whole self to His will, as complete as you know how to make it.  You must ask Him to reveal to you, by His Spirit, any hidden rebellion; and if He reveals nothing, then you must believe that there is nothing, and that the surrender is complete."  

6: "Difficulties Concerning Faith"

"You have trusted Him in a few things, and He has not failed you.  Trust Him now for everything and see if He does not do for you exceedingly abundantly, above all that you could ever have asked or even thought, not according to your power or capacity, but according to His own mighty power, working in you all the good pleasure of His most blessed will." 

7: "Difficulties Concerning the Will"

"If, therefore, you have in your will taken the steps of surrender and faith, it is your right to believe even now, no matter how much your feelings may clamor against it, that you are all the Lord's."  

The Life Defined/How to Enter In

3:  '"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee:  because he trusteth in thee.'  This is the Divine description of the life of faith about which I am writing.  It is no speculative theory, neither is it a dream of romance.  There is such a thing as having one's soul kept in perfect peace, now and here in this life; and childlike trust in God is the key to its attainment."

4:  "I wish only I could show to every one the unfathomable sweetness of the will of God...could we but for a moment get a glimpse into the mighty depths of His love, our hearts would spring out to meet His will and embrace it as our richest treasure and we would abandon ourselves to it with an enthusiasm of gratitude and joy that such a wondrous privilege could be ours."  

The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life...

...by Hannah Whitall Smith

I started this book that was lent to me by my aunt.  I hope you enjoy some of my favorite quotes from each chapter!

1:  "The cross of Christ, by the same might and decisive stroke where with it moved the curse of sin away from us, also surely moves away the power and the love of it from over us."  

2:  "Trust is the beginning and the continuing foundation; but when we trust, the Lord works, and His work is the important part of the whole matter.  And this explains that apparent paradox which puzzles so many.  They say, 'In one breath you tell us to do nothing but trust, and in the next you tell us to do impossible things.  How can you reconcile such contradictory statements?'  They are to be reconciled, just as we reconcile the statements concerning a saw in a carpenter's shop when we say, at one moment, that the saw has sawn asunder a log, and the next moment declare that the carpenter has done it.  The saw is the instrument used; the power that uses it is the carpenter's.  And so we, yielding ourselves unto God, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto Him, find that He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, and we can say with Paul, 'I labored; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.'"