Good Words for Today
"Now let us have a little talk with Jesus Let us tell Him all about our troubles He will hear our faintest cry and He will answer by and by."
Not everyone will love you when you preach the gospel. Preach it anyway.
Good news. He’s alive! Spread the word.
First the tears, then the rejoicing. You can't get to the empty tomb without first going to the cross.
Was it for crimes that I had done He groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity! Grace unknown! And love beyond degree!
Lord Jesus, deliver us from evil. Come to our aid lest, like Peter, we should boast one moment and deny you the next. Amen.
God doesn't excuse sin; he forgives it. Make sure you know the difference.
Jesus didn't die to improve us. He died to bring dead men to life.
There are plenty of grumpy people in the world. We have to deal with them, but we don’t have to spend all day with them. Find the grateful folks and hang out with them.
Too often we conclude that something can’t be done so we don’t bother trying to do it. If Moses had taken that attitude, the Jews would still be in Egypt. If Joshua had felt that way, the walls of Jericho would still be standing. If David had adopted that opinion, Goliath would still be terrorizing the Israelites. You never know in advance what God may do so don’t rule out the possibility of a miracle coming your way.
The way of salvation is the same today as it was yesterday, and it is the same today as it will be tomorrow. We are saved . . . By grace . . . Through faith . . . On the basis of the blood of Jesus Christ. That means anyone, anywhere can be saved any time.
Don’t be cranky. The world is messed up. If you can’t make it better, don’t make it worse.
If following Jesus seems easy at first, perhaps it is because we haven't followed him very far. The “Jesus road” always leads to the cross.
All of God’s sheep will make it. That’s good news for all us unruly sheep. Some of God’s sheep are sick and weak and some are unruly and a few are downright rebellious. And some of the sheep have been messing around with the goats too much and they look more like goats than like sheep. But fear not. The Lord knows his own, he knows how to find his own, and when the time comes, all of God’s sheep will make it into the fold. Not one will be lost.
God declares us righteous when we have nothing but the sewage of sin in our veins. This is the doctrine of free grace. God saves people who don’t deserve it. God saves people who actually deserve condemnation. God saves people in spite of themselves and contrary to their record. It is “pure, abounding, astounding grace!”
God’s holiness demands that sin be punished. God’s grace provides the sacrifice. What God demands, he supplies. Thus salvation is a work of God from first to last
Lord Jesus, I pray for faith to trust you even when I think I have a better plan. Amen.
The cross is the place where grace and wrath meet. When we come to God through Christ, we come to a friendly Father and not to an angry God.
Faith in Christ is not a leap into the darkness. Believing in Jesus means leaping from the darkness into the light.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.
“The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined with praise than saved by criticism.” Mark Twain
"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Note the little word “still.” We were “still” sinners when Christ died for us. He didn’t die for us while we were still “church members” or “good people” or “law-abiding citizens” or “nice neighbors” or “high achievers,” but he died for us while we were still lost in our sin and far away from God. That’s the truth about all of us. Christ died for sinners because it is only sinners that can be saved.
Our heavenly father, may your Holy Spirit draw men and women to the Savior. Grant a holy discomfort to those who do not know Jesus. Give them no rest until they find rest in him. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
The first step in salvation-the one that really matters and can never be skipped–is to understand that you desperately need saving and there is nothing you can do to save yourself. As long as we think we have a claim on God, we either will not come to Christ, or if we do, we will always secretly think that we weren’t really that bad off in the first place.
“If Satan cannot control all of your mind, he is quite content to take the part you will let him have. He knows he will get more later.” Mark Bubeck
When God saves people, he doesn’t do it because of any potential he sees in them. I think most of us secretly feel (though we would never say it) that there must have been something in us worth saving. Human pride dies hard. But it’s not as if God saw a musician and said, “We need a good piano player in the church. I think I’ll save him.” Or “She’s got a lot of money and we could use some extra cash for world missions.” Or “Those twins would make excellent ushers. I want them on my team.” No, no, a thousand times no. God doesn’t save on the basis of your potential. Apart from the grace of God, the only potential you have is the potential for eternal damnation.
“I only pray when I am in trouble. But I am in trouble all the time so I pray all the time.” Isaac Singer
Open our eyes, Lord, because we are so blind to your goodness. We take so much for granted and forget that you are the source of all our blessings. Deliver us from the sin of ingratitude. Number us not among the nine but with the one man who said, “Thank you.” Amen.
Christ is Lord over all the storms of life. He sends the storms, and he rides the waves with you. The Master of the sea is by your side. When the time has come, he will say, “Peace, be still!” and the storm will run out of breath, and the sea will become like glass. Eventually the day will break, and the sun will shine again.
O Lord, give us Christlike courage for these momentous, world-shaking, amazing days. Amen.
Here is my heart, Lord Jesus. Come in and rearrange things. Make me new from the inside out. Thank you for loving me even when I seem to lose my way. Amen.
The life of faith is inherently a life of risk. It is not for those timid souls who want to play it safe all the time. John Calvin put it this way: “How graciously Christ pours out his grace, when he finds the vessel of faith open.” Are we open to receive all that God has for us?
All truth is narrow. If something is true, then many other things must not be true. If everything is true, then nothing is true. If truth depends on your opinion or on the latest Gallup poll, we can never know the truth about anything. That is why Christians insist on the concept of absolute truth. Without it, we have no faith to believe, only some warm, fuzzy sentimental feelings in our heart. That is not enough. We need to reassert once again to this crazy, mixed-up, confused generation exactly what the Psalmist said regarding God, “All your words are true.”
Not every thought needs to be expressed. If you think it, don't say it. If you say it, don't write it. If you write it, don't be surprised.
Will you have the courage to go against the flow? Will you have the courage to stand up for what is right? Will you have the courage to go with Jesus all the way to the cross? If we live, we live. If we die, we die. But whether we live or die, we belong to Jesus. His name is on us. Our future is secure. “The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever.”
“Your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you” (1 Peter 4:4 NLT). Did you get that? Your “former friends” may not be your friends any longer because you don’t do what you used to do. You can’t have it both ways. You can either live with the pagans and adopt their morals and their lifestyle or you can live for the Lord. But you can’t do both at the same time. When you decide to go against the flow, don’t expect the world to give you a merit badge for courage.