Love Defined

Photo credit: "Love" by Little Nora

Love is success,
Love is happiness,
Love is life.
God is Love.
Therefore LOVE.

--from The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond

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Wishes

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be perfect? Can you imagine a life where you had all of the answers, could slip past the problems, and be completely worry-free? Well, life is just not like that. Life is hard, you get dirty, and sometimes the hardships of daily existence look ready to crush us. But wishing to rise above the world and its woes, striving to be more Christ-like in our attitudes and actions, and worshiping Him with our whole heart and mind is what gets us through the tough times. Listen to the desires expressed in today's video. Do they reflect your own?



--Point of Grace - I Wish

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The Forever Friend

One of the greatest comforts of the Christian life is the knowledge that God is with us throughout all of it. He is there when the hurt comes as well as the joys. He is there when the tears fall and when the laughter bubbles up unbidden from our hearts. He is even there when we forget to acknowledge him. Family and friends may abandon us through death or distance, but Christ is always faithful, our forever friend.



--Mandisa - He Is With You

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Christ Formed In Us

Photo credit: Iko

We have not only Christ's life in us as a power, and His presence with us as a person, but we have His likeness to be wrought into us. He is to be formed in us, so that His form or figure, His likeness, can be seen in us. Bow before God until you get some sense of the greatness and blessedness of the work to be carried on by God in you this day. Say to God, "Father, here am I for Thee to give as much in me of Christ's likeness as I can receive." And wait to hear Him say, "My child, I give thee as much of Christ as thy heart is open to receive." The God who revealed Jesus in the flesh and perfected Him, will reveal Him in thee and perfect thee in Him. The Father loves the Son, and delights to work out His image and likeness in thee. Count upon it that this blessed work will be done in thee as thou waitest on thy God, and holdest fellowship with Him.

--from The Deeper Christian Life by Andrew Murray

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Within the Veil

Photo credit: 'Playingwithbrushes'

Accept and value your place in Christ Jesus. God delights in nothing but His beloved Son, and can be satisfied with nothing else in those who draw nigh to Him. Enter deep into God's holy presence in the boldness which the blood gives, and in the assurance that in Christ you are most well pleasing. In Christ you are within the veil. You have access into the very heart and love of the Father. This is the great object of fellowship with God, that I may have more of God in my life, and that God may see Christ formed in me. Be silent before God and let Him bless you.

--from The Deeper Christian Life by Andrew Murray

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Act One

Photo credit: Luis Montemayor

Let your first act in your devotion be a setting yourself still before God. In prayer, or worship, everything depends upon God taking the chief place. I must bow quietly before Him in humble faith and adoration, speaking thus within my heart: "God is. God is near. God is love, longing to communicate Himself to me. God the Almighty One, Who worketh all in all, is even now waiting to work in me, and make Himself known." Take time, till you know God is very near.

--from The Deeper Christian Life by Andrew Murray

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Afresh His Air to Breathe

Photo credit: weirena

The first and chief need of our Christian life is fellowship with God. The Divine life within us comes from God, and is entirely dependent upon Him. As I need every moment afresh the air to breathe, as the sun every moment afresh sends down its light, so it is only in direct living communication with God that my soul can be strong.

The manna of one day was corrupt when the next day came. I must every day have fresh grace from heaven, and I obtain it only in direct waiting upon God Himself. Begin each day by tarrying before God, and letting Him touch you. Take time to meet God.

--from The Deeper Christian Life by Andrew Murray

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Give It Up

Photo credit: Str8heated(Mark)

No burden
No concern
No care we carry
Is too great
For our Lord
To bear.

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A Choice For Life

Millions of women face the reality of an unplanned pregnancy. Within the context of marriage, the choice of the baby's future is usually clear, and one more life finds a place around the family table. But for the single mother-to-be the decision is often much harder. If you or someone you know is dealing with this issue right now and for whatever reason are not planning on keeping the child, may I offer a suggestion? Christian adoption is an opportunity to give your baby a loving, supportive home with the chance for a wonderful, joy-filled future. Listen as Mark Schultz offers us a look at the child's perspective in today's video.



--Mark Schultz - Everything To Me

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Beautiful By His Design

What does your mirror tell you? Too skinny? Too tall? Too fat? Try looking into the mirror of Christ's love for you instead and see the truth: the God who designed you loves you for who you truly are and not according to the world's shallow and skewed view of beauty.



--Jonny Diaz - More Beautiful You

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Desiring More

Photo credit: "Head Bowed" by Mark E

I am sure there are workers who often cry to God for the Holy Spirit to come upon them as a Spirit of power for their work, and when they feel that measure of power, and get blessing, they thank God for it. But God wants something more and something higher. God wants us to seek for the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of power in our own heart and life, to conquer self and cast out sin, and to work the blessed and beautiful image of Jesus into us.

There is a difference between the power of the Spirit as a gift, and the power of the Spirit for the grace of a holy life. A man may often have a measure of the power of the Spirit, but if there is not a large measure of the Spirit as the Spirit of grace and holiness, the defect will be manifest in his work. He may be made the means of conversion, but he never will help people on to a higher standard of spiritual life, and when he passes away, a great deal of his work may pass away too. But a man who is separated unto the Holy Spirit is a man who is given up to say:

"Father, let the Holy Spirit have full dominion over me, in my home, in my temper, in every word of my tongue, in every thought of my heart, in every feeling toward my fellow men; let the Holy Spirit have entire possession."

Is that what has been the longing and the covenant of your heart with your God--to be a man or a woman separated and given up unto the Holy Spirit? I pray you listen to the voice of Heaven. "Separate me," said the Holy Spirit. Yes, separated unto the Holy Spirit. May God grant that the Word may enter into the very depths of our being to search us, and if we discover that we have not come out from the world entirely, if God reveals to us that the self-life, self-will, self-exaltation are there, let us humble ourselves before Him.

--from Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray

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Rush Job

Photo credit: wojofoto

A generation of Christians reared among push buttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age methods to our relations with God. We read our chapter, have our short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar.

The tragic results of this spirit are all about us. Shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit: these and such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul.

For this great sickness that is upon us no one person is responsible, and no Christian is wholly free from blame. We have all contributed, directly or indirectly, to this sad state of affairs. We have been too blind to see, or too timid to speak out, or too self-satisfied to desire anything better than the poor average diet with which others appear satisfied. To put it differently, we have accepted one another's notions, copied one another's lives and made one another's experiences the model for our own. And for a generation the trend has been downward. Now we have reached a low place of sand and burnt wire grass and, worst of all, we have made the Word of Truth conform to our experience and accepted this low plane as the very pasture of the blessed.

It will require a determined heart and more than a little courage to wrench ourselves loose from the grip of our times and return to Biblical ways. But it can be done.

--from The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer

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If I Could Shut the Gate Against My Thoughts

Photo credit: "Sunrise Gate" by dujarandille

If I could shut the gate against my thoughts

And keep out sorrow from this room within,

Or memory could cancel all the notes

Of my misdeeds, and I unthink my sin:

How free, how clear, how clean my soul should lie,

Discharged of such a loathsome company!


Or were there other rooms without my heart

That did not to my conscience join so near,

Where I might lodge the thoughts of sin apart

That I might not their clamorous crying hear,

What peace, what joy, what ease should I possess,

Freed from their horrors that my soul oppress!


But, O my Saviour, Who my refuge art,

Let Thy dear mercies stand 'twixt them and me,

And be the wall to separate my heart

So that I may at length repose me free;

That peace, and joy, and rest may be within,

And I remain divided from my sin.


--from The Treasury of Sacred Song by F. T. Palgrave

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Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Photo Credit: "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" by Jhows

Is our Christian walk one of
Sitting on the bench while others serve,
Waiting for life's storms to pass,
And wishing we were somewhere else?

Or is our faith lived out by
Sitting at His feet in daily communion,
Waiting for His direction in all things,
And wishing to serve Him wherever He leads?

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What Do Others See in Us?

Photo credit: net_efekt

Somebody said once that some churches were too much like well-ordered graveyards: people were brought in and buried, and that was the end of it. Of course you cannot expect living people to want to take up their abodes in graveyards. We must have a fold that shows sheep in good condition if we expect outsiders to come into that fold; and if we want to attract others to the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must ourselves be able to show them that it is a satisfying and comfortable salvation. No one wants to add to their earthy discomforts by getting an uncomfortable religion, and it is useless to expect to win outsiders by the sight of our wretchedness.

Surely, if you do not care for yourselves, you cannot fail to care for the dishonor you bring upon your divine Shepherd by your poor and wretched condition. You long to serve Him, and to bring Him glory; and you can do it if you will but show to all the world that He is a Shepherd whom it is safe to trust.


--from The God of All Comfort by Hannah Whitall Smith

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No Question of His Holiness

Worship in song is a musical reminder of who we serve and why. So sit back or stand up, crank up the volume, and praise Him today as you listen to this timeless classic.



--Chris Tomlin - Holy Is The Lord

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Leading the Prodigal Home

Most of us have a prodigal somewhere in our lives, and our fervent prayers for them may sometime seem like wasted breath. This song is a call to action for us in the church to help lead them home.



--Leeland - Tears of the Saints

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The Hand of a Servant

Photo credit: batega

Can I venture to hope that it will be given to me to take that glorious, heavenly, divine Lord Jesus and to show Him to these souls, so that they can see Him in His glory? And can it be given to me to open their eyes to see that there is a Divine, Almighty Christ, who does actually come into the heart and who faithfully promises, "I will come and dwell with you, and I will never leave you?" No, my words cannot do that.

But then I thought, my Lord Jesus can use me as a simple servant to take such feeble ones by the hand and encourage and help them; to say, Oh, come, come, come, into the presence of Jesus and wait on Him, and He will reveal Himself to thee. I pray God that He may use His precious Word. It is simply the presence of the Lord Jesus. That is the secret of the Christian's strength and joy.

--from Jesus Himself by Andrew Murray

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And Greet the Light

Photo credit: .Andrew Dunn.

With beauty decked the morn ascends,

And all the earth is bright;

And lo, the sun the darkness rends,

And floods the sky with light.


All hail, Thou Sun of Righteousness,

Upon our night arisen!

May sin no more our souls oppress,

And bind in darksome prison.


Let those that lie in slumber fast,

Because the darkness reigns,

The light behold, and straightway cast

Aside their gloomy chains;


And greet the light that makes them free,

The bounding joy it brings;

And share the calm felicity,

That looks to heaven and sings.


O Jesus Christ, our hearts aglow,

Thy blessed advent hail;

On us Thy healing virtue show,

And o'er our ills prevail.


And let us walk as those whose eyes

Have seen the light of heaven,

Till light shall in our souls arise,

Whence night and gloom are driven.


--from Hymns of the Early Church by John Brownlie

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Letting Go

Photo credit: "Letting Go..." by Jason H_G Kang

"We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety; this is especially true when those treasures are loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such fears. Our Lord came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed."

--from The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer

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Illumination

Photo credit: philhotsanhao

"O Light everlasting, surpassing all created lights, dart down Thy ray from on high which shall pierce the inmost depths of my heart. Give purity, joy, clearness, life to my spirit that with all its powers it may cleave unto Thee with rapture passing man's understanding. Oh when shall that blessed and longed-for time come when Thou shalt satisfy me with Thy presence, and be unto me All in all? So long as this is delayed, my joy shall not be full."

--from The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis

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Every Child

Photo credit: subabu2002

Every child
Is loved
By the Father.

Every child
Needs to hear
God's truth.

Every child
Deserves a chance
To choose Jesus.

But do we choose
To share Life with
Every child?

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Unique in the Sea of Faces

Lest we forget, Jesus died for each and every one of us specifically. It is easy to feel insignificant, but in the crush of the crowd He still can pick us out. He sacrificed so much because he loves us with an unfathomable love and because he knew that without him we could never find our way Home.



--Kutless - Sea of Faces

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Letting Him Work

Pressure is a part of life that most of us would love to pass on. However, God frequently uses the crushing cocoon of pressure to shape us into the bright new creatures He has intended us to be. We just have to trust Him, let go of trying to deal with the stress of the situation in our own way, and let God work it out for us.



--Vickie Winans - Work It Out

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Intent on Pleasing Thee

Photo Credit: obenson

Hymn 1

“My times are in Thy hand.” — Psalm 31:15

Father, I know that all my life

Is portioned out for me,

And the changes that are sure to come,

I do not fear to see;

But I ask Thee for a present mind

Intent on pleasing Thee.

I ask Thee for a thoughtful love,

Through constant watching wise,

To meet the glad with joyful smiles,

And to wipe the weeping eyes;

And a heart at leisure from itself,

To soothe and sympathize.


I would not have the restless will

That hurries to and fro,

Seeking for some great thing to do,

Or secret thing to know;

I would be treated as a child,

And guided where I go.

Wherever in the world I am,

In whatsoe'er estate,

I have a fellowship with hearts

To keep and cultivate;

And a work of lowly love to do

For the Lord on whom I wait.

So I ask Thee for the daily strength,

To none that ask denied,

And a mind to blend with outward life

While keeping at Thy side;

Content to fill a little space,

If Thou be glorified.


And if some things I do not ask,

In my cup of blessing be,

I would have my spirit filled the more

With grateful love to Thee —

More careful — not to serve Thee much,

But to please Thee perfectly.

There are briers besetting every path,

That call for patient care;

There is a cross in every lot,

And an earnest need for prayer;

But a lowly heart that leans on Thee

Is happy anywhere.

In a service which Thy will appoints,

There are no bonds for me;

For my inmost heart is taught “the truth”

That makes Thy children “free;”

And a life of self–renouncing love,

Is a life of liberty.

--from Hymns and Meditations by Anna L. Waring

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Saintly Slumber?

Photo credit: Dusty Smith - Twitter.com/DustyAllDayLong

"No man can become a saint in his sleep; and to fulfill the condition required demands a certain amount of prayer and meditation and time, just as improvement in any direction, bodily or mental, requires preparation and care. Address yourselves to that one thing; at any cost have this transcendent character exchanged for yours."

--from The Greatest Thing in the World by Henry Drummond

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Meeting Jesus Daily

Photo credit: freestone

A man may study his Bible or his commentary carefully; he may look up all the parallel passages in the chapter; when he comes out of his closet he may be able to tell you all about it, and yet he
has never met Jesus that morning at all.

You have prayed for five or ten minutes, and you have never met Jesus. And so we must remember that though the Bible is most precious, and the reading of it most blessed and needful; yet prayer and Bible reading are not fellowship with Jesus.

What we need every morning is to meet Jesus, and to say, "Lord, here is the day again, and I am just as weak in myself as ever I was; do Thou come and feed me this morning with Thyself and speak to my soul."

Oh, friends, it is not your faith that will keep you standing, but it is a living Jesus, met Every day in fellowship and worship and love. Wait in His presence, however cold and faithless you feel. Wait before Him and say: "Lord, helpless as I am, I believe and rest in the blessed assurance that what Thou hast promised Thou wilt do for me."

--from Jesus Himself by Andrew Murray

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From Grief to Joy

Photo credit: MichaelOtero

"I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy."

--John 16:20-22 (NIV)

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Soap Bubble Prayers

Photo credit: Lua in happyland

Imagine if we could see all our prayers
rising like soap bubbles to Heaven.

Would we be embarrassed by
how few we would see?

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Changing the World

We love to complain about the problems we face in the modern world, whether it be about taxes, unemployment, or the the latest political scandal. Yet how often do we face the issues head on with the Christian's greatest problem solver? Prayer should never be seen as our last resort but instead viewed as our first line of defense. If we were to all make prayer a vital part of our lives, what might our world look like?



--Steven Curtis Chapman - Let Us Pray

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Taking Time to Reflect

Who is Christ to you? We may spend a whole lot of our Christian life listening to sermons and inspirational music about Jesus, but do we truly take the time to reflect on who He is and what He has done for us during those times? Is the truth often just so much background noise? Take a moment and really listen to what today's video has to say to us about the one we call "Lord."



--Mary Mary - I Worship You

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