A Prayer from A.W.Tozer
“Father we pray: Bless thou this truth. Oh God, thy mercies are abundant. Are not thy mercies full and free, and have they not, oh God, found out me? We thank thee for thy mercies, thy many, abundant, full mercies. Now we pray that thou will help us to lean back upon thy mercy and trust, and not be afraid; heed sin and love righteousness, flee from iniquity and follow after godliness, but always know that in all that we do mercy is around us like the air; underneath us as the earth; above us as the stars, and we live in a merciful world and serve a merciful God; live and swim and move and have our being in the abundant mercies of the triune God. Graciously grant us, we pray thee, properly to understand this and to apply it to our hearts, and we give thee praise through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Related articles
Accepting Christ Means Rejecting All Else— A.W. Tozer
A. W. Tozer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A.W. Tozer:
The notion that we enter the Christian life by an act of acceptance is true, but that is not all the truth. There is
much more to it than that. Christianity involves an acceptance and a repudiation, an affirmation and a denial.
And this not only at the moment of conversion but continually thereafter day by day in all the battle of life till the
great conflict is over and the Christian is home from the wars. To live a life wholly positive is, fortunately,
impossible. Were any man able to do such a thing it could be only for a moment. Living positively would be like
inhaling continuously without exhaling. Aside from its being impossible, it would be fatal. Exhalation is as
necessary to life as inhalation. To accept Christ it is necessary that we reject whatever is contrary to Him. This
is a fact often overlooked by eager evangelists bent on getting results. Like the salesman who talks up the good
points of his product and conceals its disadvantages, the badly informed soulwinner stresses the positive side
of things at the expense of the negative.
Related articles
Remember the Lord
English: Bird of Prey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Isaiah 46:8 -13
“Remember this, and show yourselves men;
Recall to mind, O you transgressors.
Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
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.
“Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted,
Who are far from righteousness:
I bring My righteousness near, it shall
not be far off;
My salvation shall not linger.
And I will place salvation in Zion,
For Israel My glory.
All Will See Christ’s Glory
Jerusalem (Photo credit: swallroth)
Isaiah 40:1-5
“Comfort, yes, comfort My people! Says your God.
“Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare has ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the LORD’s hand
Double for all her sins.”
The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted,
And every mountain and hill shall be made low;
The crooked places shall be made straight,
And the rough places make smooth;
The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together,
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Put on the New Man
God, the Father watches us all everywhere. (Photo credit: angelofsweetbitter2009)
Ephesians 4:23-29
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.
Therefore, putting away lying, each one speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
nor give place to the devil.
Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for the necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
The Lord Shall Judge the Deceitful
God, the Father watches us all everywhere. (Photo credit: angelofsweetbitter2009)
Psalm 52
Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
The goodness of God endures continually.
Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
You love evil more than good,
And lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah
You love devouring words,
You deceitful tongue.
God shall likewise destroy you forever;
He shall take you away, and pluck you
out of your dwelling place,
And uproot you from the land of the
living. Selah
The righteous also shall see and fear,
And shall laugh at him, saying,
“Here is the man who did not make God
his strength,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his
wickedness.”
But I am like a green olive tree in the
house of God;
I trust in the mercy of God forever and
ever.
I will praise You forever,
Because You have done it;
And in the presence of Your saints
I will wait on Your name, for it is good.
Motivation of the Future Presence of Christ
folio 150 recto of the codex, with the beginning of the 1. Epistle to the Corrinthians (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Motivation of the Future Presence of Christ
2 Corinthians 5:1-8
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Faith Controls the Tongue
Faith Controls the Tongue
James 3:1-12
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.
Look aslo at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder whenever the pilot desire.
Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.
But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse me, who have been made in the similitude of God.
Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
Can a fig tree, by brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring can yield both salt water and fresh.
Faith Obeys the Word
God, the Father watches us all everywhere. (Photo credit: angelofsweetbitter2009)
Faith Obeys the Word
James 1:19-27
Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your soul.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their troubles, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Prayer of an Overwhelmed Saint
Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And let my cry come to You.
Do not hide Your face from me in the
day of my trouble;
Incline Your ear to me;
In the day that I call, answer me
speedily.
For my days are consumed like
smoke,
And my bones are burned like a hearth.
My heart is stricken and withered like grass;
So that I forget to eat my bread.
Because of the sound of my groaning
My bones cling to my skin.
I am like a pelican of the wilderness;
I am like an owl of the desert.
I lie awake,
And am like a sparrow alone on the
housetop.
My enemies reproach me all day long,
And those who deride me swear an oath
against me.
For I have eaten ashes like bread,
And mingled my drink with weeping,
Because of Your indignation and Your
wrath;
For You have lifted me up and cast me
away.
My days are like a shadow that
lenghtens,
And I wither away like grass.
But You, O LORD, shall endure forever,
And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.
You will arise and have mercy on Zion;
For the time to favor her,
Yes, the set time, has come.
For Your servants take pleasure in her
stones,
And show favor to her dust.
So the nations shall fear the name of the LORD,
And all the kings of the earth Your glory.
For the LORD shall build up Zion;
He shall appear in His glory,
He shall regard the prayer of the
destitute,
And shall not despise their prayer.
This will be written for the generation
to come,
That a people yet to be created may
praise the LORD.
For He looked down from the height of
His sanctuary;
From heaven the LORD viewed the
earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To loose those appointed to death,
To declare the name of the LORD in
Zion,
And His praise in Jerusalem,
When the people are gathered
together,
And the kingdoms to serve the LORD.
He weakened my strength in the way;
He shortened my days.
I said, “O my God,
Do not take me away in the midst of
my days;
Your years are throughout all
generations.
Of old You laid the foundation of the
earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your
hands.
They will perish, but You will endure;
Yes, all of them will grow old like a
garment’
Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed.
But You are the same,
And Your years will have no end.
The children of Your servants will
continue,
And their descendants will be
established before You.”
Psalm 71 A Prayer for the Aged
In You, O LORD, I put my trust;
Let me never be put to shame.
Deliver me in Your righteousness, and
cause me to escape;
Incline Your ear to me, and save me.
Be my strong habitation,
To which I may resort continually;
You have given the commandment to
save me,
For You are my rock and my fortress.
Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand
of the wicked,
Out of the hand of the unrighteousness and
cruel man.
For You are my hope, O Lord God;
You are my trust from my youth.
By You I have been upheld from my birth;
You are He who took me out of my
mother’s womb.
My praise shall be continually of You.
I have become as a wonder to many,
But You are my strong refuge.
Let my mouth be filled with Your
praise
And with Your glory all the day.
Do not cast me off in the time of old
age;
Do not forsake me when my strength
fails.
For my enemies speak against me;
And those who lie in wait for my life
take counsel together,
Saying, “God has forsaken him;
Pursue and take him, for there is none
to deliver him.”
O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!
Let them be confounded and consumed
Who are adversaries of my life;
Let them be covered with reproach and
dishonor
Who seek my hurt.
But I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
My mouth shall tell of Your
righteousness
And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.
I will go in the strength of the Lord
God;
I will make mention of Your
righteousness, of Yours only.
O God, You have taught me from my
youth;
And to this day I declare Your
wondrous works.
Now also when I am old and gray
headed,
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this
generation,
Your power to everyone who is to
come.
Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high,
You who have done great things;
O God, who is like You?
You,who have shown me great and
severe troubles,
Shall revive me again,
And bring me up again from the depths
of the earth.
You shall increase my greatness,
And comfort me on every side.
Also with the lute I will praise you—–
And Your faithfulness, O my God!
To You I will sing with the harp,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing
to You,
And my soul, which You have
redeemed.
My tongue also shall talk of Your
righteousness all the day long;
For they are confounded,
For they are brought to shame
Who seek my hurt.
Attitude of Servanthood
Jesus Christ in Capernaum (study) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Mark 9:33-41
Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?”
But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be greatest.
And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them,
“Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”
Now John answered Him, saying “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.”
But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me.
“For he who is not against us is on our side.
“For whoever gives you a cut of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to he will by no means lose his reward.
Sermon on Psalm 17 (God’s General) and Come to Revival
Revival begins Sunday with Pastor Bill Casey, please stop by and visit if you are in the area. God bless and please visit the church website Coal Hill Assembly of God, Coal Hill, AR.
God’s General‘s Journal – Psalms 17
Praise for Victory over Enemies Psalm 9
I will praise You, O LORD, with my
whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O
Most High.
When my enemies turn back,
They shall fall and perish at Your
presence.
For You have maintained my right and
my cause;
You sat on the throne judging in
You have rebuked the nations,
You have destroyed the wicked;
You have blotted our their name
forever and ever.
O enemy, destructions are finished
forever!
And you have destroyed cities;
Even their memory has perished,
But the LORD shall endure forever;
He has prepared His throne for
judgment.
He shall judge the world in
righteousness,
And He shall administer judgment for
the peoples in uprightness.
The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed,
A refuge in times of trouble.
And those who know Your name will
put their trust in You;
For You, LORD, have not forsaken those
who seek You.
Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in
Zion!
Declare His deeds among the people.
When He avenges blood, He remembers
them;
He does not forget the cry of the humble.
Have mercy on me, O LORD!
Consider my trouble from those who
hate me,
You who lift me up from the gates of
death,
That I may tell of all Your praise
In the gates of the daughter of Zion.
I will rejoice in Your salvation.
The nations have sunk down in the pit
which they made;
In the net which they hid, their own
foot is caught.
The LORD is known by the judgment
He executes;
The wicked is snared in the work of his
own hands.
Meditation Selah
The wicked shall be turned into hell,
And all the nations that forget God.
For the needy shall not always be
forgotten;
The expectation of the poor shall not
perish forver.
Arise, O LORD,
Do not let man prevail;
Let the nations be judged in Your sight.
Put them in fear, O LORD,
That the nations may know themselves
to be but men. Selah
The Characteristics of the Godly
A Psalm of David
LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?
He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the truth in his heart;
He who does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor does he take up a reproach
against a friend;
In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the LORD;
He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.
Victory in the Face of Defeat Psalm 3
LORD, how they have increased who trouble me!
Many are they who rise up against me.
Many are they who say to me,
“There is no help for him in God.”
But You, O LORD, are a shield for me,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
I cried to the LORD with my voice, And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah
I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the LORD sustained me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me all around.
Arise, O Lord;
Save me, O my God!
For You have struck all my enemies on the the cheekbone;
You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.
Salvation belongs to the LORD.
Your blessing is upon Your people.
Selah
Victory in the Face of Defeat Psalm 3
LORD, how they have increased who trouble me!
Many are they who rise up against me.
Many are they who say of me,
“There is no help for him in God. “
Selah
But You, O LORD, are a shield for me,
My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
I cried to the LORD with my voice,
And He heard me from His holy hill.
Selah
I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the the LORD sustained me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me all around.
Arise, O LORD;
Save me, O my God!
For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone;
You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Your blessing is upon Your people.
Selah
Coronation of the Lord’s Anointed Psalm 2
Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His
Anointed, saying,
“Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The LORD shall hold them in derision.
Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
“Ye I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”
“I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ “
Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
Thought for the Day
James 1:12
Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
Faith Obeys the Word James 1:19-27
Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For is anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Prayer for God’s Mercy Psalm 6
O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
My soul is also greatly troubled;
But You, O Lord—- how long?
Return, O Lord, deliver me!
Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!
For in death there is no remembrance of You;
In the grave who will give You thanks?
I am weary with my groaning;
All night I make my bed swim;
I drench my couch with tears.
My eye wastes away because of grief;
It grows old because of all my enemies.
Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity;
For the Lord has heard my supplication;
The Lord will receive my prayer.
Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled;
Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly.
God Shall Govern the Earth Psalm 67
God be merciful to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us. Selah
That Your way may be known on the earth,
Your salvation among all nations.
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!
For You shall judge the people righteously,
And govern the nations on earth. Selah
Let the people praise You, O God;
Let all the people praise you.
Then the earth shall yield her increase;
God, our own God, shall bless us.
God shall belss us,
And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.
Sing a New Song to the Lord Psalm 98
Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!
For He has done marvelous things;
His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
The Lord has made known His salvation;
His righteousness He has openly shown in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
Sing to the Lord with the harp,
With the harp and the sound of a psalm,
With trumpets and the sound of a horn;
Shout joyfully before the Lord the King.
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell in it;
Let the rivers clap their hands;
Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He shall judge the world,
And the peoples with equity.
The Blessedness of Forgiveness Psalm 32
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no guile.
When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said,
“I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin, Selah
For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You
In a time when You may be found,
They shall not come near him.
You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye.
Do not be like the horse or like the mule,
Which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,
Else they will not come near you.
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous;
And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
