Love does not say, 'Give me', but 'Let me give you'. ---- Jill Briscoe
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (I John 4:7-11).
Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (Matthew 25:40).
A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle, to the glory of God: O God of Mercy, God of Might (Godfrey Thring, 1877).
If the service of God is worth anything, it is worth everything. -- Charles Spurgeon
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ...anyone of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple(Luke 14:26-27, 33).
Consecration is resolution that is not afraid of sacrifice. -- Anonymous
When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, [Jesus] set His face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). (Cf. Isaiah 50:7)
[Jesus said] "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised" (Luke 9:21-22).
Father, the hour is come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You, since you have given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom You have given Him" (John 17:1-2).
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said..."It is finished," and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit (John 19:28, 30).
How wonderfully doth the new-born soul differ from his former self. He liveth a new life, he walketh in a new way, he steereth his course by a new compass and towards a new coast. His principle is new, his pattern is new, his practices are new, his projects are new, all is new. He ravels out all he had wove before, and employeth himself wholly about another work. ---- George Swinnocke, 1660.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come (I Corinthians 5:14-15, 17).
A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle, to the glory of God: Be Thou My Vision (ancient Irish poem, ca. 8th. century).
A colloquialism: "There's a first time for everything." -- pgs
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).
And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light (Genesis 1:3).
And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the water from the waters." And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven (Genesis 1:6-8).
And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters...He called seas (Genesis 1:9-10b).
And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind..." And it was so (Genesis 1:11).
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so (Genesis 1:14-15).
And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth. So God created...every living thing that moves (Genesis 1:20-21).
And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds..." And it was so(Genesis 1:24,25).
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.... And it was so. (Genesis 1:26-28, 30b).
And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day (Genesis 1:31).
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy... (Genesis 2:2-4).
A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle, to the glory of God: I sing the Almighty Power of God (Isaac Watts, 1715).
God's love for sinners is very wonderful, but God's patience with ill-natured saints is a deeper mystery [Henry Drummond].
There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab...he acted very abominably in going after idols. And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite saying, "Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son's days I will bring the disaster upon his house." (I Kings 21:17-29).
The servant girl at the door said to Peter, "You also are not one of the this man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not." (John 18:17).
Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, "You also are not one of his disciples, are you?" He denied it and said, "I am not." One of the servants of the high priest....asked, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?" Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed (John 18:25-27).
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to Him,"Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17).
And after saying this He said to him, "Follow me." (John 21:19b).
A hymn to read, sing, hum, or whistle to the glory of God: Not Worthy Lord! (Edward Bickersteth, 1872).
