"Corrie looked at the man standing in front of her. Instead of seeing his smiling face, she saw the faces of Betsie and her father. The man thrust out his hand to shake Corrie's and as he did so, hatred filled her heart. She would not and could not lift her hand to shake his. "Oh God" she prayed silently, "Help me to live my message." As she prayed those words, it was though a strong jolt of electricity had run through her body. Her arm stretched out as though she had no control over it and she took the man's hand. As she did so, all the hatred she felt melted away and she knew she had forgiven him. "Yes, it's wonderful to know that God forgives all our sins" she said, meaning every word."

~ Corrie Ten Boom, Keepers of the Angel's Den ~

to a deeper understanding of who God is, yet that understanding has had little impact on my life. And I know the problem is not with God, but with me. What Moses said is true.

  "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

Hebrews 10:31

It is a fearful thing to be exposed to a lot of biblically sound doctrines, but I don't act upon the truths heard. It is even more dangerous to teach those truths, yet my life doesn't reflect it. And the most terrifying of all, were the times my lips uttered "Lord, I love you' but my heart was busy pursuing many things other than Him. Hence, that plea from Corrie Ten Boom really sticks out to me.

  

 A Prayer :

 "Lord, I implore You. Help me also live my message. Pour Your Spirit in me. I'm incapable of imitating Jesus without Your Holy Spirit. Forbid that I'll turn to a Pharisee saying ' I believe..' but has no living  proofs of those beliefs in my Christian walk."

 ( photo from tumblr)

(photo from tumblr)

  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
~ Philippians 3:8~

As for her, she doesn’t want to content herself just knowing things about God and relying on secondhand information about His Person. She is resolved to be among those who know Him, personally and intimately. And He is letting her. He has given her firsthand access to Him. She does this not to repay Him for everything He’s done nor to gain favor in His sight. It isn’t because this is what a Christian does. Rather, because this is what a new creature in Christ is. Every fiber of her being is now dependent upon the union of her soul with Christ.

 “If my life is surrendered to God, all is well. Let me not grab it back, as though it were in peril in His hand but would be safer in mine!”
― Elisabeth Elliot“

By trying to grab fulfillment everywhere, we find it nowhere.”
― Elisabeth Elliot, Passion and Purity

   

“Until the will and the affections are brought under the authority of Christ, we have not begun to understand, let alone to accept, His lordship.”
― Elisabeth Elliot

 

 “I have one desire now - to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it.”
― Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor: 40th Anniversary Edition

I'd say that these words

 illustrate well the lives of 'Bereans' 

(those who seek God constantly)

starting from the ancient times to date.

(photo from tumblr)

(photo from tumblr/ added words mine)

Things on earth are fleeting.
It is foolishness putting a reign on them
for God gives and takes.
It is when you realize that He created you for eternity that you loosen your grip over temporary matters.

Yea, in the way of thy judgments, 

O LORD, have we waited for thee; 

the desire of our soul is to thy name, 

and to the remembrance of thee.  

Isaiah 26:8 

.

.

(photo from tumblr)

  For I determined not to know any thing among you, 

save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  

1 Corinthians 2:2

(photo from tumblr)

Let us to-day be content to remain 

ignorant of many things while
we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness : 

to-morrow, if not to-day, knowledge
and all other good things shall be added unto
us (St. Matt. 6.33 ;1 Tim. 4. 7, 8 ; 1 Cor.13. 12). 

Let us not exercise ourselves in matters
beyond our present powers of estimate, 

lest amid the shallows (not the depths) of science we make
shipwreck of our faith. 

To-day is the day of small things (see Zech. 4. 10) : 

let us to-day be content with the small things of to-day,

 knowing assuredly that all they who are Christ's are made
one with Him Who is the heir of all things
(St. John 17. 21—23 ; Heb.1. 2).

 Thus shall our path be as the shining light, 

that shineth more and more unto the perfect day (Prov. 4. 18),
while we go from strength to strength until
every one of us appear before God in Zion(Ps. 84. 7).

~ Seek and Find,p.29,Christina Rosetti ~

(photo from tumblr)

There is a way that God designed us to encounter Him: firsthand. God has always preferred and invited firsthand communication. He desires to show Himself to us, speak to us, draw us to Himself. It is we humans, the objects of His affection, who repeatedly declined. 

(Glenn Packiam, Secondhand Jesus)

(photo from tumblr)

"The greatest danger in one's Christian life is when Love becomes commonplace."

~ Paul Washer ~

(Song Title: I Knew He was Love)

I am nothing without You
O Lord, don't even let me try
To live without Your Spirit's power
For I know I'll stumble every time
Lord, I need You
I am nothing without You

~ from the song 'I'm Nothing Without You' by Leslie Ludy ~

(photo from google)

"The purity of your intention does not cancel the effect of your appearance."

~ Albert Martin~
Listen to the whole sermon here

Lord, when I cannot adore

Thee in knowledge, in ignorance I will adore Thee.

(photo from google)

Lord Jesus, Thou art God, Alone Supreme in absolute

Supremacy. As God I worship Thee.

Thou art Man, Whose is the Human Name supreme above

every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow.

As Man I worship Thee.

Thou hast created all things, and without Thee was not any

thing made that was made. As Creator I worship Thee.

Thou hast become Man, and hast taken the Manhood into

God indissolubly forever and ever. As the Firstborn of every

creature I worship Thee. ,

Thou art the Wisdom of God Whom He possessed in the

beginning of His way. As the Divine Wisdom I worship

Thee.

Thou hast made Thyself man's wisdom. As my only Hope

of wisdom I worship Thee.

Thou art the Word, God and with God. As the Divine Word

I worship Thee.

Thou art the Word speaking to us as never man spake. As

my Teacher of absolute authority I worship Thee.

Thou art the Lord Who hath declared : My ways are

not your ways. Having a good hope because of Thy word I

worship Thee.

Thou art the Way whereby alone man cometh unto the

Father. A wayfarer liable to error, beseeching safeguard, I

worship Thee.

Thou art the King of Heaven, all Whose works are truth. I,

a little one among Thy works, worship Thee.

Thou art the Truth : in Thee mercy and truth are met
together, kindness and truth are shown forth. In the paths of

Thy mercy and of Thy truth I worship Thee.

Thou art the Living God into Whose hands it is a fearful

thing to fall. Yet calling to remembrance the former days,

to-day while it is called to-day I worship Thee.

Thou art the Life. Thou Who hadst power to lay Thy Life

down and power to take it again, Who art Life manifested, and

Who givest Thy flesh for the life of the world, I worship

Thee.

O Thou Who hearest prayer, and unto Whom all flesh shall

come, draw all my brethren and all my sisters and myself

not outcast from their gracious company, to worship Thee.

Amen.

( from "The Face of the Deep" by Christina Rossetti )

Oh, let Truth, the
light of my heart,not my own darkness,
speak unto me! I have

descended to that,
and am darkened. But thence, even thence, did I love Thee. I went astray,

and remembered Thee.
I heard Thy voice behind me bidding me return, and scarcely did I

hear it for the
tumults of the unquiet ones. And now, behold, I return burning and panting

after Thy fountain.
Let no one prohibit me; of this will I drink, and so have life. Let me not

be my own life; from
myself  have I badly lived,—death was I
unto myself; in Thee do I revive.

Do Thou speak unto
me; do Thou discourse unto me. In Thy books have I believed, and

their words are very
deep.

~ Augustine, The Confessions~

(photo from google)

       John 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: 

                            the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

O God, Who hast filled us with yearnings of an infinite desire, longings insatiable, groanings that cannot be uttered;- Who providest for us here beauty and joy beset with pangs, that our eyes and ears may fail after that which they have not seen or heard, and our heart sicken with hope deferred while we conceive not that which we wait for:- O God, Whom not having seen we love, and know for that which not knowing we desire, bring us home to Thee; each of us, all of us, from any height or depth, at any time, with or without anything or all things; only bring us, ourselves, our very selves, all ourselves, to Thine own Presence which is our home, bring us home one with another, all home to Thee. By Him who is our Way and our Door, Thy Son our only hope, Jesus Christ. Amen.

~'Called to be Saints' by Christina Rosetti~

“How beautiful are the arms, which have embraced Christ, the eyes which have gazed upon Christ, the lips which have spoken with Christ, the feet which have followed Christ. How beautiful are the hands which have worked the works of Christ, the feet which treading in His footsteps have gone about doing good, the lips which have spread abroad His Name, the lives which have been counted loss for Him. How beautiful upon the mountains were the feet of them who brought glad tidings and published peace saying unto Zion 'Thy God reigneth:' how beautiful was the wisdom of those unlearned and ignorant men, whose very opponents felt that they had been with Jesus."

~'Called to be Saints' by Christina Rossetti~

(photo from google)