God is God

Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying ' My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,' calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed it; I will also do it. ~ Isaiah 46:9-11

Oh how I've loved this passage for a long time, because it explains to us our God. How pleasantly surprised I was to find out it would be the sermon text for yesterday. How wonderful it was to reflect on:

The Person of God. God is God. What else can you say? There is no other God.

It is very necessary and important that we believe the truth that He is holy and high above all else in the universe.

If we are to live our lives as we should, we have to remember the amazing fact that God is sovereign and we are subject to His will.

What is better than that? God is God.

Complete in Christ

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. Colossians 2:9-10

Complete in Him! Oh, Lord, I flee,
Laden with this great thought, to Thee
With tears and smiles contending, cry,
Are words like these for such as I?

Complete in Him! No word of mine
is needed, Lord, to perfect Thine;
Wise Master-Builder, Let Thy hand
Fashion the fabric Thou hast planned.

Complete in Him! I nothing bring,
Am an imperfect, useless thing;
But human eyes shall joy to see
What God's dear hand shall add to me.

Complete in Him! Oh, longed-for-day,
When my poor, sinful heart can say,
Naught in myself, for ruin meet,
In Jesus Christ I stand complete!

~ From Golden Hours: Hymns and Songs of the Christian Life by Elizabeth Prentiss

Gratitude

The man believes that he is forgiven. What then? He feels gratitude to him who has pardoned him. Feeling gratitude, it is but natural that he should hate that which displeases his Saviour, and should love intensely that which is pleasing to him who saved him, so that faith operates upon the entire nature, and becomes the instrument in the hand of the regenerating Spirit by which all the faculties of the soul are put into the right condition. As a man thinketh in his heart so is he, but his thinkings come out of his believings; if he be put right in his believings, then his understanding will operate upon his affections, and all the other powers of his manhood, and old things will pass away, all things will become new through the wonderful effect of the faith, which is of the operation of God. Faith works by love, and through love it purifies the soul, and the man becomes a new creature. See ye then the wisdom of God? He may choose what way he will, but he chooses a way which at once guards his grace from our felonious boastings, and on the other hand produces in us a holiness which other wise never would have been there.

- Charles Spurgeon

VOM News

We need reminders from time to time as we go about our lives that some of our brethren follow Christ at great cost. The Voice of the Martyrs Newsletter is a good reminder for us as it comes into our home on a weekly basis. If you don't subscribe as yet, here is where you can. It's free, by the way.