“The devil’s strategy is not always to provoke, but to darken. He blinds the soul through pleasures, until what is sweet becomes bitter, and what is bitter becomes sweet.” —Bernard of Clairvaux

“Christ did not redeem and save poor souls by sitting in majesty on his heavenly throne, but by hanging on the shameful cross, under the tormenting hand of man’s fury and God’s just wrath. And therefore the poor soul, that would have pardon of sin, is directed to place his faith not only on Christ, but on bleeding Christ, Rom. 3:25: ‘Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.’” — William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armor

“Churches that accommodate the surrounding culture’s moral assumptions tend to empty out within two or three generations… Theological substance — creation, fall, redemption, resurrection, judgment, human dignity, sexual ethics, and the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ — is precisely what makes Christianity worth believing. Strip that away in the name of openness, and you’ve kept the brand while destroying the product.” Andrew T. Walker

Grace makes every condition work glory to God, as God makes every condition work good to them who have grace. ~Joseph Caryl (1602-1673)

Fight when necessary Have a life marked by a pattern of prayer Relentlessly and faithfully build for the future By John Moody We are working through Daniel as a family. We have spent a great deal of time the past few years in the OT historical books - Daniel, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah. I love these books because few books in the Bible describe what I would call “every day godliness” like these. Books full of faithfully caring for your family and people. Full of day and in day out average ho hum doldrum work and life. Now first, let’s start with something important. These books are selective snippets of these folks lives. By this I mean, when you are reading Daniel, the lion’s den and fiery furnace and giant stature and standing before the king giving a prophetic word… those are the exception, not the norm. It is 1/1500 of his life. But those books make clear, that exceptional day was made possible by all the mundane, faithful, ho-hum days in between. All those days where no one could find fault with Daniel and he was studying the Bible. All those days Mordecai faithfully took care of his niece because her parents were no longer in the picture. All those days Nehemiah was making sure the stones and bricks and similar things were being done right. I think you can learn a great deal what our lives should look like from these books if you read them right. Build. Pray. Fight. In that order. None of these folks turned down a fight… when it was necessary. But they didn’t go out of their way to look for one (and they had plenty of opportunity…). Daniel served across two empires and multiple kings… and openly confronted them just twice. Mordecai wouldn’t bend the knee to Haman, but he was otherwise known as a wise and good man at the city gates and didn’t pick a single other public fight we know of his entire life. All these stories show a good life is marked by a pattern of prayer. Pray protects us in the fight and empowers us for the slow, grinding work of building. But prayer isn’t a place these people hide. They are known for their pattern of prayer, but like in the NT, the amount of time they spend in prayer is quite small, their prayers shockingly short (like the Lord’s prayer). As Spurgeon put it ““If you are very busy, think and pray all the more, or your work will wear and weary you, and drag you away from God. For your work’s sake, break away from it, and give the soul a breathing time. “ At the same time, Spurgeon as a general rule never prayed for more than five minutes… but quipped he never went more than five minutes without praying. Then, build. In all of these stories, this is the gem most miss. Daniel faithfully served across kings, kingdoms, and almost a century to help see the day when his people could return to their place. Nehemiah spend decades preparing for and then years rebuilding the city of his people. Their lives are the lives of builders - the slow, unremarkable, dulldrum, brick by brick, stone by stone, day by day, week by week lives of faithful people who truly fear God. Another eight hour at the job. Another sink full of dishes and load of laundry. Another set of homework for school. Another forty minutes in the gym. Another having some friends over for fellowship. A good life is a life spent building. This also means you can quickly get a handle on someone by if their life is marked by a biblical balance of the above. Is their time, energy, priorities slanted and tilted towards building. Fight when you have to have (But its far less often than most admit) Have a life marked by a pattern of prayer And relentless build for the glory of God.

“But peace like happiness always eludes men when they make it a goal of human endeavor. Peace and happiness are by-products of other goals. We cannot make ourselves truly happy by deciding we need to be happy. Happiness is a product of work well done, of a life lived in successful community, of peace with God, and of much more. Men make happiness a goal when they have failed miserably in all other objectives, and what they then mean by happiness is really a narcotized state wherein they feel no griefs and can enjoy some very limited pleasures of play. Similarly, peace is a by-product of a general success in one's relationships to God and man, in one's calling, and in a confident prospect concerning the future. Peace implies a harmony of affairs and a general harmony of personal and social interests. What most people mean by peace is an attitude of, 'Leave me alone, and don't bother me with the problems of the world,' or, Do anything, but get rid of all these problems, and leave me to enjoy myself. Peace in this sense is a retreat. It is more than that: it is a form of suicide, a surrender of life for a retirement to the sidelines of life.“ ~ R.J. Rushdoony

In February of 1996, Paul Harvey told the story of Pastor Joe Wright's invocation to the Kansas state legislature. Pastor Joe Wright was the Pastor of Wichita Central Christian Church. His prayer follows: Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness, and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good.' And that's exactly what we've done. We've lost our spiritual equilibrium. We've inverted our values. We confess that we've ridiculed the absolute Truth of Your Word in the name of moral pluralism. We've worshiped other gods and called it 'multiculturalism.' We've endorsed perversion and called it 'alternative lifestyle.' We've exploited the poor and called it a 'lottery.' We've neglected the needy and called it 'self preservation.' We've rewarded laziness and called it 'welfare.' Father, in the name of 'choice,' we have killed our unborn, and then in the name of 'right to life,' we've killed abortionists. We've neglected to discipline our children and called it 'building esteem.' We have abused power and called it 'political savvy.' We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it 'taxes.' We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it 'freedom of expression.' We've ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it 'enlightenment.' Search us, O god, know our hearts today, try us and show us any wickedness in us. And then cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas and who have been ordained by You to govern this great state. Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your will. I ask it in the name of Your Son the Living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

“Prayer pulls the rope below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God.” Charles Spurgeon

"God is on the lookout today for a man who will be quiet enough to get a message from Him, brave enough to preach it, and honest enough to live it." ~ Vance Havner

That is the warning and declaration of God: "Righteousness (submission to God's Law) exalts a nation but sin (disobedience to God's Law) is a disgrace to any people." “I am not one of those who underrate the value of civil and political liberty; but I am well assured that it is only the principles of Christianity which can impart true security, prosperity, and happiness either to individuals or to nations.” Thomas Chalmers

I have heard said that there are really only two kinds of prayers. One is "help me, help me." The other is "thank you, thank you." It is my belief that for every "help me" prayer there should be at least ten "thank you" prayers.

The more you read the Bible, and the more you meditate upon it, the more you will be astonished with it. He who is but a casual reader of the Bible, does not know the height, the depth, the length and breadth of the mighty meanings contained in its pages. There are certain times when I discover a new vein of thought, and I put my hand to my head and say in astonishment, "Oh, it is wonderful I never saw this before in the Scriptures." You will find the Scriptures enlarge as you enter them; the more you study them the less you will appear to know of them, for they widen out as we approach them. Especially will you find this the case with the typical parts of God's Word. Most of the historical books were intended to be types either of dispensations, or experiences, or offices of Jesus Christ. Study the Bible with this as a key, and you will not blame Herbert when he calls it "not only the book of God, but the God of books." One of the most interesting points of the Scriptures is their constant tendency to display Christ; and perhaps one of the most beautiful figures under which Jesus Christ is ever exhibited in sacred writ, is the Passover Paschal Lamb. – C.H. Spurgeon, December 2, 1855, 1 Corinthians 5:7, New Park Street Pulpit Volume 2.

Grace burst forth spontaneously from the bosom of eternal love and rested not until it had removed every impediment and found its way to the sinner's side, swelling round him in full flow. Grace does away the distance between the sinner and God, which sin had created. Grace meets the sinner on the spot where he stands; grace approaches him just as he is. Grace does not wait till there is something to attract it nor till a good reason is found in the sinner for its flowing to him... It was free, sovereign grace when it first thought of the sinner; it was free grace when it found and laid hold of him; and it is free grace when it hands him up into glory. -Horatius Bonar

"As a rule, I believe congregations get out of a minister what they put into him; that is to say, if they pray much for him, God will give him much blessing for them." — Charles Spurgeon

“A holy life is made up of a number of small things: little words, not eloquent speeches or sermons; little deeds, not miracles or battles; not one great heroic act or mighty martyrdom, make up the true Christian life. The little constant sunbeams, not the lightening-the waters of Siloah, that go softly in their meek mission of refreshment, and not the waters of the rivers, great and many, rushing down in torrent and noise and force-are the true symbol of a holy life.” -Andrew Bonar Scottish Minister

Love shows the true character of a man, according to the object which he loves more than anything else: for as is the love, so is the man. According to his love, so might you confidently designate the man. If he is a lover of honour, he is an ambitious man; a lover of pleasure, a sensual man; and if he chiefly love the world, he is a covetous man. If a man loves righteousness, he is a religious man; if the things above, a heavenly-minded man; and if he love Christ with a pre-eminent love, he is a sincere man: "Rightly do they love you.," Song of Songs 1:4. If Christ has our love, he has our all; and Christ never has what he deserves from us, till he has our love. True love withholds nothing from Christ, when it is sincerely set upon him. If we actually love him, he will have our time, and he will have our service, and he will have the use of all our resources, and gifts, and graces; indeed, then he shall have our possessions, freedom, and our very lives, whenever he calls for them. In the same way, when God loves any of us, he will withhold nothing from us that is good for us. He does not hold back his own only begotten Son, Rom.8:32. When Christ loves us, he gives us everything we need-- his merits to justify us, his Spirit to sanctify us, his grace to adorn us, and his glory to crown us. Therefore, when any of us love Christ sincerely, we lay everything down at his feet, and give up all to be at his command and service: "And they loved not their lives unto the death," Rev. 12:11. ~ Thomas Doolittle, 1630-1707

"Study the Word, that your faith may not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God!" — Charles Spurgeon

The living God often seems remote from us because his living Word is remote from us. No Christian saturated in the Bible feels far from God. P. Andrew Sandlin

"The most fearless prayers aren’t those asking God to help us adjust to circumstances. The most fearless prayers are those asking God to change the circumstances. The great answered prayers in the Bible are not when God changes attitudes, but when he changes history." P. Andrew Sandlin

“There beats a heart in Heaven that always loved us; an arm that always reaches for us; a tongue that always pleads for us.” —Charles Spurgeon

“Our thoughts are like Jacob and Esau. Spiritual and carnal thoughts struggle together in the same womb. Often the Esau of carnal thoughts will come out first and for a while seem to carry the birthright. But where reverence for God has “cast out the bondwoman and her son” (Gal 4:30), the mind will be free to fix itself on spiritual things.” -John Owen English Pastor, Theologian 1616-1683

"Let me tell you, the more labour you have put forth for the Kingdom of heaven, the more degrees of glory you shall have." (Thomas Watson)

"Here God gives his people some taste, that they may not faint; and he gives them but a taste, that they may long to be at home, that they may keep humble, that they may sit loose from things below, that they may not break and despise bruised reeds, and that heaven may be more sweet to them at last." - - Thomas Brooks