Blessed Are The Peacemakers....

"Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God." The followers of Jesus have been called to peace. When he called them they found their peace, for he is their peace. But now they are told that they must not only have peace but make it. And to that end they renounce all violence and tumult. In the cause of Christ nothing is to be gained by such methods. His kingdom is one of peace, and the mutual greeting of his flock is a greeting of peace. His disciples keep the peace by choosing to endure suffering themselves rather than inflict it on others. They maintain fellowship where others would break it off. They renounce all self-assertion, and quietly suffer in the face of hatred and wrong. In so doing they overcome evil with good, and establish the peace of God in the midst of a world of war and hate. But nowhere will that peace be more manifest than where they meet the wicked in peace and are ready to suffer at their hands. The peacemakers will carry the cross with their Lord, for it was on the cross that peace was made. Now that they are partners in Christ's work of reconciliation, that are called the sons of God as he is the son of God. -Bonhoeffer page 112-113 Cost Of Discipleship

While My Husband was Reading My Favorite book....

He came across this stellar passage....

Suffering has to be endured in order that it may pass away. Either the world must bear the whole burden and collapse beneath it, or it must fall on Christ to be overcome in him. He therefore suffers vicariously for the world. His is the only suffering which has redemptive efficacy. But the Church knows that the world is still seeking for someone to bear its sufferings, as so as it follows Christ, suffering becomes the church's lot too and bearing it, it is borne up by Christ. As it follows him beneath the cross, the church stands before God as the representative of the world.

We need your Help amongst the Christians

"Have we told you how much we need your help for the work among the heathen; but often we feel we need it almost as much for the work among the Christians. Over and over again it is told, but still it is hardly understood, that the Christians need to be converted; that the vast majority are not converted; that statistics may mislead, and do not stand for Eternity work; that many a pastor, catechist, teacher, has a name to live, but it dead; that the Church is very dead as a whole--thank God for every exception. We do not say this thoughtlessly; the words are a grief to write. We humble ourselves that it is so, and take to ourselves the blame. It is true that the corpse of the dead church is dressed, just as it is at home, only here it is even more dressed; and because the spirit of the land is intensely religious, its grave-clothes are vestements. But dressed death is still death."

--Amy Carmichael

A Marvel and A Miracle...

O my Father, it is of Your compassions alone, that I am not consumed!...The pillar of Your presence has guided me through many a perplexing path! Your love has smiled through many a threatening cloud! Your restraining grace has arrested me in many a slippery way! ....I am truly a marvel and miracle of Your preservation, patience, and mercy!

"Hold me up--and I shall be safe!" Psalm 119:117

---John MacDuff

www.gracegems.org

What Shall I Do?

So then, what shall I say to those who have thus bespattered me? Shall I threaten them? Shall I chide them? Shall I flatter them? Shall I entreat them to hold their tongues? No, not I. Were it not for that these things made them ripe for damnation, that are the authors and abettors, I would say unto them, 'Report it, because 'twill increase my glory.'

My Favorite Bible Verse

God forgive us! God Arouse! Shame us out of our callousness!

The tom-toms thumped straight on all night, and the darkness shuddered round me like a living, feeling thing. I could not go to sleep, so I lay awake and looked; and I saw, as it seemed, this:

That I stood on a grassy sward, and at my feet a precipice broke sheer down into infinite space. I looked, but saw no bottom; only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled, and great shadow-shrouded hollows, and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth.

Then I saw forms of people moving single file along the grass. They were making for the edge. There was a woman with a baby in her arms and another little child holding her dress. She was on the very verge. Then I saw that she was blind. She lifted her foot for the next step...it trod into air. She was over, and the children over with her. Oh, the cry as they went over!

Dreaming of Peace

From "things as they are":

"Sometimes as now, when we come to a new place, we dream a dream, dream that perhaps at last it may be possible to win souls peacefully. Perhaps these courteous, kindly people will welcome the message we bring them when they understand it better. Perhaps homes need not be broken up, perhaps whole families will believe, or individual members believing may still live in their own homes and witness there.

Perhaps--perhaps--!!

And snatches of verse float through our dream--

A Wedding Sermon from a Prison Cell

We have been married for 9 years today and this is the best reminder I can think of to post as a celebration not just of our marriage, but also of the institution of marriage and the grace of God.

I am so thankful for the work and faith of this man, Bonhoeffer. His book Discipleship is probably my most favorite aside from the bible, ever.

A Wedding Sermon From A Prison Cell by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Old Dudes have some Pretty Cool Words to share....

Christ went more willingly to the cross than we do to the throne of grace (Thomas Watson).

There are no crown-wearers in heaven who were not first cross bearers here below. (CH Spurgeon )

They are following Christ, and they know where they are going. And even in the dark river, in the valley of the shadow of death--they feel a confidence that their Shepherd will be with them, and that His rod and His staff will comfort them. They would all tell you that they are poor wandering sheep, ashamed of the little fruit they bear. But still, as weak as they are, they are determined to follow on to the end, and to say, "None but Christ--in life and in death, in time and in eternity!" (J.C. Ryle)

We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer. --Bonhoeffer

Obscene?

pdphoto.org

The most obscene symbol in human history is the Cross; yet in its ugliness it remains the most eloquent testimony to human dignity. —R.C. Sproul



No matter how beautiful we try to make it, the ugliness cannot be denied...the beauty lies in the God-man who took on this grotesque burden!

Command Most Often Given??

"I heard recently of a small boy asked to write down in order the worst things that humans could do, and wrote: Number 1 : Murder; Number 2: running down the school corridor. We all get things out of proportion. But this conception of God is in fact a lie. The ressurection of Jesus proves that it's a lie. Do you know what the most frequent command in the Bible turns out to be? What instruction, what order, is given, again and again,

What does it cost to be a Christian?

What does it cost to be a Christian?
(A good question not many of us ask...)

I grant freely that it costs little to be a mere outward Christian. A man has only got to attend a place of worship twice on Sunday, and to be tolerably moral during the week--and he has gone as far as thousands around him ever go in religion. All this is cheap and easy work--it entails no self-denial or self-sacrifice. If this is saving Christianity and will take us to Heaven when we die--we must alter the description of the way of life, and write, "Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to Heaven!"

But it does cost something to be a real Christian, according to the standard of the Bible. There are . . .
enemies to be overcome,
battles to be fought,
sacrifices to be made,
an Egypt to be forsaken,
a wilderness to be passed through,
a cross to be carried,
a race to be run.
Conversion is not putting a man in a soft armchair, and taking him pleasantly to Heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict, in which it costs much to win the victory. Hence arises the unspeakable importance of "counting the cost."

True Christianity will cost a man . . .
his self-righteousness,
his sins,
his love of ease, and
the favor of the world.

A religion which costs nothing--is worth nothing!

A cheap, easy Christianity, without a cross--will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown!

J.C. Ryle

www.gracegems.com

Have You Forgotten

Have you forgotten the close, the milk house, the stable, the barn, and the like, where God did visit your souls? Remember also the word, the word, I say, upon which the Lord has caused you to hope: if you have sinned against light, if you are tempted to blaspheme, if you are downed in despair, if you think God fights against you, or if heaven is hid from your eyes; remember it was thus with your father; but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

-John Bunyan

We All Need Burns?

"Before I was afflicted I went astray--but now I obey Your Word." Psalm 119:67

"It was good for me to be afflicted--so that I might learn Your decrees." Psalm 119:71

"I know, O Lord, that Your laws are righteous--and in faithfulness You have afflicted me." Psalm 119:75

"God disciplines us for our good--that we may share in His holiness!" Hebrews 12:10

Most of the great truths of God have to be learned through trials! They must be burned into us with the hot iron of affliction, otherwise we shall not truly receive them.
--Charles Spurgeon

http://www.gracegems.org/--to get these daily devotional reminders!

Courage

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. "He that will lose his life, the same shall save it," is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heros. it is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. This paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it on the precipice.

He can only get away from death by continually stepping withing an inch of it. A soldier sirrounded by enemies, is he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape.

He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indiffernce to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.

                                                                                -G.K. Chesterton

James 5

1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Fear God, Not Man

“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

the people in whose heart is my law;

fear not the reproach of man,

nor be dismayed at their revilings.

Isaiah 51:7

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 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.  Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.  Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.  Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;

I will not fear;

what can man do to me?”

Hebrews 13:2-6

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 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.  Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.  For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.  Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Hebrews 13:12-16

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The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. Proverbs 29:25

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 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,  if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.  For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.  Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

2 corinthians 5:1-10

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"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

-Jim Elliot

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If I am afraid to speak the truth lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, "You do not understand", or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the other's highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

-Amy Carmichael

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There is no more blessed way of living, than the life of faith based upon a covenant-keeping God - to know that we have no care, for He cares for us; that we need have no fear, except to fear Him; that we need have no troubles, because we have cast our burdens upon the Lord, and are conscience that He will sustain us.

The good man has his enemies. He would not be like his Lord if he had not. If we were without enemies we might fear that we were not the friends of God, for the friendship of the world is enmity to God.

-Charles Spurgeon

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Temptations which accompany the working day will be conquered on the basis of the morning breakthrough to God. Decisions, demanded by work, become easier and simpler where they are made not in the fear of men, but only in the sight of God. He wants to give us today the power which we need for our work.-Bonhoeffer

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Fear is faithlessness. -George MacDonald

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Many... would like glory, who have no wish for grace. They would [want to] have the wages, but not the work; the harvest, but not the labor; the reaping, but not the sowing; the reward, but not the battle. But it may not be.

-J.C. Ryle

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Christian, let God's distinguishing love to you be a motive to you to fear Him greatly. He has put His fear in your heart, and may not have given that blessing to your neighbor, perhaps not to your husband, your wife, your child, or your parent. Oh, what an obligation should this thought lay upon your heart to greatly fear the Lord! Remember also that this fear of the Lord is His treasure, a choice jewel, given only to favorites, and to those who are greatly beloved.

-John Bunyan

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Seeing that a pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness.

-JOhn Calvin

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Therefore, if we give into the fear of man and do not allow wisdom to rule in our hearts and manifest fear of God bringing holiness to completion then we are denying the power of the cross and saying that He has not overcome the world. Christ Himself says "DO NOT FEAR THE WORLD, FOR I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD!" How much more certainty do we need that no matter what occurs in this present season, this fleshly time, we are still held in the power of the Master who knows the paths we will tread. There is no need to dread or fear what man can do, but there is much to fear from God if we do not attribute to Him the wonders and glories due not just to His name, but also to His character!

FEAR GOD! DO NOT FEAR MAN!

Our hearts have room for only one all embracing devotion and we can only cleve to one Lord. Every copetitor to that devotion must be hated. As Jesus says, there is no alternative--either we love God or we hate him. We are confronted by an "either--or": either we love God, or we love earthly goods. If we love God, we hate the world, and if we love the world, we hate God. It makes no difference whether that love be conscious and deliberate or not; in fact it is morally certain that it will be neither, and that our conscious and deliberate desire will be to serve two masters, to love God and the good things of life. We shall indignantly repudiate the suggestion that we hate God, and will be firmly convinced that we love him, whereas by tryng to combine love for him with love for the world, we are turning our love for him into hatred. And then we have lost the single eye, and our heart is no longer in fellowship with Jesus. Our deliberate intentions make no difference to the inevitable result; Ye cannot serve two masters, if ye be followers of Jesus Christ.

-Bonhoeffer "Cost of Discipleship"

** Seriously if you call yourself a Christian you MUST read this awesome book for yourself! You cannot but profit from the wisdom of this suffering saint who really knew what the fire was like! And what the COST really meant! For him it meant everything! As it also should for us!