Abide in me.

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." John 15:4

If we are not making it a habit, a daily habit to abide in Christ, we will not bear fruit- but will be cast from Him. It doesn't say that the dry unbelievers will be cast from him, but those who profess to be Christians, who are in the inner circle of blessing. Those who, to human sight, are connected to the vine, yet are consumers and not producers. Who by their very course show they have no connection with the source of life. But to those that abide in Him and by His word he promises to purge them that they may bear more fruit, and abide in his presence forever.

Serious about souls.

It didn't matter to the shepherd that he still had ninety nine sheep; nor was the woman satisfied with nine coins while one was missing. No desert was too wide to traverse, no chasm too deep to search, no mountain too high to climb, no river too swift to cross. He must find his sheep. The woman would leave no corner unswept and no rubbish pile to impede the progress of her search. They were serious, they weren't giving up. They didn't just wait for the coin to 'turn up', or the sheep to find its way back. They stopped what they were doing, important though those duties may have been, to seek those lost.

These people make me ashamed. Yet, in my own life I can see how I've done the same, but bestowed my efforts on something of little consequence. I can put my whole heart into seeking and 'saving'... but is it a soul, or my lost moneybag...?

Don't forget either, they were searching for only one.

Well done.

All the praise, no, not all the applause, not even all the censure this world has to offer, can be compared to those two words, spoken by the One I have come to love...

....another, greater...

These thoughts came from reading Mark 16. I had come to the end of the chapter and was blessed, but didn't have anything specific I could pinpoint as my main focal point for the study. I prayed that God would give me something personal, and this was the result...

As I came to see the light of his grace, I was struck with the utter impossibility of my condition. My heart was cold, selfish, full of dead men's bones. Self was grown great as a mountain, and was blocking the entrance to my heart. “Who shall roll this great stone away”, I asked, “so that my soul may be infused with the sweet graces of His righteousness?”

Then I saw Him, He who my soul desires; come, and move that great stone, the great road-block in my journey on the highway to heaven, and sit upon it. At first the change was almost imperceptible. Gradually, as the sunlight of His love penetrated those dark corners, of what was before a granite tomb, I could see no more a cold stone sepulchre; but, to my amazement it was a marble palace.

Others came to see the sight, but my prayer was that the words would be spoken, “self is not here, but another, greater...”

Welcome to my little part of the web, where we can share and learn together, what great things God has done.
This blog has been a long time in the making (mostly in my head) but since that's where most things start ;-) it'd be safe to say it's been around for a while.

I hope you are thoroughly blessed and inspired. May we each strive to be among that number who can truly say, when the trump shall sound, and the clouds are rolled as a scroll- It is Well with My Soul...