SANCTIFICATION

Sanctification is progressive; if it does not grow it does not live. ---- Thomas Watson

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is has been crucified unto me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14).

LOVE

Love to God is armour of proof against error. For want of hearts full of love, men have heads full of error; unholy opinions are for want of holy affections. ---- (Thomas Watson).

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. (I John 4:18-19).

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle, to the glory of God: Fountain of Never-Ceasing Grace(Augustus M. Toplady, --1778).

FORGIVE

(Forgive? Forgiven!)  We need not climb up into heaven to see whether our sins are forgiven; let us look into our hearts, and see if we can forgive others. If we can, we need not doubt but God has forgiven us. --- Thomas Watson.

If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Matthew 6:14-15).

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors (Matthew  6:12).

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: Forgive Our Sins As We Forgive. Rosamond E. Herklots, 1969) 

DO

Doers of the Word are the best hearers. --- Thomas Watson.

 

Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1:22)

 

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to God's glory: Break Thou the Bread of Life, Mary A. Lathbury, 1877.

FAITHFULNESS

God's faithfulness. God's promises are the cork to keep faith from sinking in prayer ---- Thomas Watson, Puritan Minister.

 

Hear,  LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer! You have said, "Seek my face," My heart says to You, "Your face, LORD, do I seek." Hide not your face from me, turn not Your servant away in anger, O You who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in(Psalm 27:7-10).

 

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle, to the glory of God: Take Me, O My Father, Take Me.

Take me, O my Father, take me; take me, save me, through Thy Son; ...let Thy will in me be done....thorny proved the way I trod; weary come I now, and praying, take me to Thy love, my God." (Ray Palmer, 1864)

FAITH

Faith. Where reason cannot wade, there faith may swim. --- Thomas Watson

 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

 

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: By Faith I Am an Heir of Heaven. "By grace! These precious words remember when sorely by your sins oppressed, when Satan comes to vex your spirit, when troubled conscience sighs for rest; what reason cannot comprehend, God does to you by grace extend" (3rd. stanza). Christian L. Scheidt, 1742.

Two Testaments

The two Testaments are the two lips by which God has spoken to us. 

---- Thomas Watson

 

Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them. If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead (Luke 16:29-31).

 

And are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20).

 

Our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand...as...do...the other Scriptures (II Peter 3:15-16). 

 

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: O God of Light, Your Word, a Lamp Unfailing. "From days of old, through swiftly rolling ages, You have revealed Your will to mortal men, speaking to saints, to prophets, kings, and sages, who wrote the message with immortal pen (second stanza)."

Christlikeness

A true saint is a divine landscape or picture, where all the beauties of Christ are lively portrayed and drawn forth. He has the same judgment, the same will with Christ. Thomas Watson. 

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith ---- that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-19). 

A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of Christ: MORE ABOUT JESUS WOULD I KNOW

The Blood of Christ

Good morning!

Mercy swims to us through Christ's blood. ---- Thomas Watson

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood (Acts 20:28).

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God (Romans 5:9). 

....and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). 

A hymn to read, sing, hum or whistle to the glory of God: Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness(Trinity Hymnal, 520). 

Thoughtfulness

Good morning!

Malice is mental murder. ---- Thomas Watson.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:31-32).

A hymn to be read or sung in worship to God: BLEST BE THE TIE THAT BINDS.