Quotes for Reflection

In the past couple of days I've been using a resource that I used a lot in my Carson Newman days for papers and as funny as it sounds Instant Messenger away messages. The resource is quoteland.com.

Here are a few that I have run by that I found very insightful and gave pause for reflection.

Blaise Pascal:

"In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't."

"Human beings must be known to be loved, but God must be loved to be known."

C.S. Lewis:

"There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done' and those to whom God says, 'All right, then, have it your way."

Augustine of Hippo:

"There remains a restlessness within us, until we find our rest in God."

John Calvin:

"No man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is set open unto all men: neither is there any other thing which keepeth us back from entering in, save only our own unbelief."

Wanting Resolution.......

This week has been a hard one on the mental faculties, I feel I've been 15 rounds with the champ and I'm wearied and tired. So tired, that things are beginning to happen in my life that I'm afraid that will have irreparable results.

Like a wound that is bleeding out of control, I'm hoping to find the tourniquet that will bring relief.

This is plea for grace, a plea for forgiveness(actual forgiveness, not lip service) a call for love just as Christ has loved us.

I must confess that anger has gotten the best of me at times it sin, I confess that I have been fighting for something, something that was special to me, something that I want back, but at this point in my life God has it in his pleasing perfect will for me to grow on a individual basis.

A Song for Reflection....

Nothing fancy or insightful today just the lyrics to a song that has always blessed me and remind me our Great God who is Mighty to Save. It's times in my life like this that I love that I have songs like this to run back to.

"Rock of Ages"
by: Augustus Toplady

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And See Thee on Thy Judgement Throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

Anxiety Muddles the Mind

This from my devotional:

Text: Job 38:1-2

I find that the more earnest and sensitive a believer is, the more likely he or she is to be hung up somewhere about guidance. Why is this? we ask. The answer does not seem to be far to seek. The source of anxiety is threefold: a desire for guidance, uncertainty of about how to get it, and fear of the consequences of not getting it. Such anxiety has an unhappy way of escalating. Anxious people get allured by any and every of certainty that offers itself, no matter how irrational; they become vulnerable to strange influences and do zany things. Over the past 150 year there was been a most unhelpful buildup of tension to a point where it muddles minds, darkens counsel, and obstructs maturity in a way that is Spirit-quenching, and scandalous.

This past year I can really identify with this and totally agree. Anxiety can be crippling and it can overwhelm you to the extent that it leads to full blown fear. Unbridled fear can make you do anything in an attempt to eliminate the said fear. The worst of times is when the fear will not dissipate. The redeeming factor is the God of this Universe who is sovereign in all things and the true friends within the body of Christ that can and will come to the aid of those who are suffering.

Let Us Begin Again.....

It's the start of a new year for a lot of people it means a fresh start and clean slate an opportunity to kick an old habit or lose some weight. Sadly, for a lot of those same people the "newness" of this year will slowly fade, the resolutions will fall by the wayside, and they will be left with the same old day to day drudgery.

Now you might be saying, "Gosh Jared what way to start off your 2009 blogging." I would agree with those who might be thinking that, but here comes the redeeming factor in all of this.

We as Christians however at least those who are living in the victory of the cross of Jesus Christ always have a fresh start, its called GRACE, how awesome is that. The fact and truth that you don't have to wait till the start of a New Year to change. The result of the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Christ we can be resolved, renewed, and restored whenever and wherever you might be.

Praise Be To God for this truth.

Psalms 8:3-4

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

How awesome that the God who did in fact create the moon and stars and as big as he is pauses and is mindful of us.