1Sa 2.3 +

1Sa 2.3

“Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth:

for the LORD is a God of knowledge & by him actions are weighed.”

 

Read your Bible – like It’s a Legal Document – God means ALL He says.

Read your Bible – like It’s a Literary Masterpiece – God’s limitless Mind is speaking.

Read your Bible – like It’s a Love Letter – No one, but No One loves you like God does. – 2/24/20

 

“To keep the blessing, there must be steadfast, childlike faith…

Unbelief is banished. Doubts are put away.”

– Samuel L Brengle

 

Mountain – Fountain [last of longer poem]

I’ve tasted water from the ocean,

And from a hand-dug well,

Quenched my thirst from a clear stream,

And from pure snow that fell.

The Living Water that the Son gives out

Satisfies the soul.

And cleans from sin, without a doubt.

– eab, Feb. ‘73

 

“…Life must have almost burst with fullness of gladness! Walking with God! Talking with God! Communing with God!…All this by faith, by simple trust, by childlike confidence.”

– Samuel L Brengle

 

The place where two or three Believers meet becomes a sanctuary, whither white-frame, forest glen, or old brick. The meeting place is wonderfully less important than the meeting; a meeting of like-souled-saints, seeking while still on His footstool, to worship the Heavenly King high on His impossible-to-imagine throne. Enjoy His presence as you enjoy the presence of your peers; all of you met to adore the Almighty, the joy made greater by being shared. – 2/24/20

 

Mat 18.20

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name,

there am I in the midst of them.”

 

“None can believe how powerful prayer is & what it is able to effect

but those who have learned it by experience.”

– Martin Luther

 

May I, as a septuagenarian, make a request, whither you see yourself as a follower of Christ or a sinner. Please do not get a tattoo. It won’t make you richer, more fluent in speech, a better driver/pilot; in fact, I can see no place where a tattoo will improve life. No Place. But it will mark you (sadly, this is more than a pun). A tattoo marks you as a person who wants to connect with sinful surroundings. (Saints aren’t known as tattoo wearers.) A tattoo marks you as one who willingly connects with the heathen. (Heathens across yrs have tattooed.) And a tattoo marks you as one who devalues his God-made body. Do not Ink. -2/24/20

 

“…The Holy Ghost teaches, preaches & declares Christ…

we must 1^st hear the Word & then afterwards the Holy Ghost works in our hearts…”

– Martin Luther

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1Sa 2.3 +

1Sa 2.3

“Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth:

for the LORD is a God of knowledge & by him actions are weighed.”

 

46 of 46 “…Pride & arrogancy…do I hate”(Pro 8.13).

1Jo 2.16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the PRIDE of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

 

“The purpose of God is not to make you happy;

The purpose of God is to make you holy.”

– V O Agan, IHC sermon 4/21/92

 

GOD’S ART IS FLUID

Man as an artist is static.

He writes and his work is “done.”

He paints and it is “finished.”

He builds – and the prize is won.

God, by honorable, awesome contrast,

Has “art” both fluid and formal.

Today God’s works are like “so”

Tomorrow, He re-defines “normal.”

– eab, 9/14/06

 

Pray for your pastor. Remember he needs a study (at church, if that’s his preference) or room in parsonage. Don’t begrudge his time in it. John Wesley wanted his preachers reading 5 hours a day. (That, of course was reading books, not cruising the internet calling it “study-time.”) Pray God will lead him into fresh Bible truths. Now & then you need to leave the House of God saying to yourself (or family) “I never heard that before” or “I never thought of it that way” (both in positive context). If you’re not praying everyday for your pastor & his pulpit ministry, don’t complain to anyone – mate included. – 9/14/19

 

“Carnality may be bound but he is always seeking his liberty.”

– V O Agan, sermon 2/12/98

 

Pray for your pastor. Unless you’ve pastored a few yrs (being a PK doesn’t quite “cut it”) you don’t know his burdens. He’s tempted to give what he calls “encouraging messages” (others may say “sugar coated”) too frequently & avoid controversial subjects. He’s tempted to be vague about sins he sees/senses prevalent among the youth. He’s tempted to preach favorite “themes.” He’s tempted to be popular with the “ruling” church clique. He’s tempted to not make calls (If a pastor is not calling at your home, you’re both missing a blessing.) Or he’s tempted to call on certain homes too often/neglect others. – 9/14/19

 

Jam 5.16

“…Pray one for another that ye may be healed.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

 

“We’ll never reach the world except

with the message of holiness…”

– Glenn Griffith /I Sought for a Man/

 

When you exit a theater, whether players are live on stage or on film, you leave with a music theme swirling through your head. You leave with a street-scene or violence or a bedroom-scene replaying itself. Many of my readers have never been to bed with anyone than your God-given mate but the lust depicted before you tends to dirty your mind. Many by-gone souls, when becoming Christians, stopped going to the “moving-picture-shows” (as then labeled). It seems church members & even ordained preachers are now going. Why? Have we backslidden? Does God now smile on what He frowned? – 9/14/19

 

“In the spiritual realm in this day you can find many who have left Sodom but God could never get Sodom our of them.”

– Glenn Griffith /I Sought for a Man/

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1Sa 2.3 +

1Sa 2.3

“Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth:

for the LORD is a God of knowledge & by him actions are weighed.”

 

“But pride, that busy sin, spoils all that I perform…”

– Isaac Watts – quoted by A Clarke

 

22 of 46 “…Pride & arrogancy…do I hate”(Pro 8.13).

Isa 23.9 The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the PRIDE of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.

 

“Pride works frequently under a dense mask

& will often assume the garb of humility.”

– Adam Clarke, /Christian Theology/

 

PAINTED TOE

Why the painted finger nail, the painted toe?

Does paint make more healthy? Is it for show?

Paint on the body draws cheap attention.

Let your mind, & soul, be your best attraction.

– eab, 6/12/13

 

WORLD, GIRL

The world said, “Come.” The girl said, “How far?”

“Only a short way.”

“Live a little, enjoy the day.”

The girl, “I’m already quite a ways

From how I was carefully raised.”

“Tsk. Come, I can make you a star.” – eab, June 2018

 

You are a student, a farmer, an entrepreneur or a homemaker. There are 3 or 4 things you must do today, 1 of which you dread – which do You do last? Let me to encourage you – do the worst first. Get that hardest subject studied first, do the worst chore first, make yourself accomplish the toughest task first. From there “it’s all down hill.” The Triune God has made the worst first for the child of God – earth is the roughest (yes it can be hard at time) you’ll know. But if you fail to believe God & go to hell (Heaven forbid) earth’s problems will look like a picnic. – 6/12/19

 

Rom 3.4

“…Let God be true, but every man a liar…”

> Everyman: be he politician, PhD, or parent. <

 

My parents (Bless the memory of Clyde & Ruth Bryan) taught me to never call a man a liar. That was good advice – may have saved me from getting my face re-arranged. Please stop calling God a liar – – – oh, hopefully no reader does it verbally but there’s danger, a real danger, in doubting His promises, especially those which “jump off the page” for you. Believe God. Believe His Word. If/when we doubt God (that’s the opposite of belief) we are in effect saying that God is not telling the truth. That is Super Serious. – 6/12/19

 

“You have free will & if you choose you can push Me away.

But if you do not push Me away understand that I am going to see this job through…”

– C S Lewis /Beyond Personal/

 

You’ll someday no longer be worldly – not in appearance, nor attitude or nor amusement. Hopefully you will surrender these & so love Christ that they disappear from your life. Voluntarily. Or, hear it, or you die & leave all worldliness behind. (Yes, I also have seen a corpse which looked worldly, but we both know the real person was not there.) Friend, since you must – one way or the other – forsake all this world, why not do it now? Do it voluntarily, for Jesus sake, rather than have it torn from your dying fingertips?

– 6/12/19

 

“How monotonously alike all the great tyrants & conquerors have been:

how gloriously different are the saints…”

– C S Lewis /Beyond Personal/

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