"God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." -The Apostle Paul

God sovereignly distributes His gift of faith to undeserving sinners. What a gracious Lord we have!

It's not OUR faith, it's a gift from God. Just as it's not OUR righteousness, and it's not OUR power, and it's not OUR love, and it's not OUR holiness. It's all of God, and from God.

God commands us to believe, to love, to be righteous, and to be holy. However, we are hard hearted, and we don't want to obey God, according to his ways. We want to obey Him according to our ways. And God rejects this, and resists this, for this is human pride. And this pride is impossible to overcome for the human heart and mind.
Unless, God has mercy on us.
If that takes place, then the Lord will give us a new heart according to his grace and mercy.
This new heart will long for His forgiveness, though knowing it is undeserved. This new heart will repent, and cry out to the Lord for help, and for His mercy.
This new heart will love the Lord, because He loved us. And His love is a personal love, and it's a love that means what it says; a love that will keep it's promises.

I feel like this post is a bit confusing, but I thought I'd just do a little rambling tonight. Rambling can be a good thing sometimes, cause there's no pressure when we ramble, I guess.

"He that rejects Me, ... has One that judges him: the Word .. shall judge him in the Last Day."

"There is a last Day! The world shall not always go on as it does now. ... There is a time appointed by the Father when the whole machinery of creation shall stop, and the present dispensation shall be changed for another. It had a begining, and it shall also have an end. ...

There is a judgement coming! ... All, of every name and nation, and people and tongue, shall stand before the judgement seat of Christ. ... all shall be judged according to their works. The wicked shall go away into everlasting fire, and the righteous into life eternal.

These are awful truths! But they are truths, and ought to be told. ... Yet the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has no cause to be afraid. For him, at any rate, there is no condemnation, ... It is the man who rejects Christ, and will not hear His call to repentance,--he is the man who in the judgement-day will have reason to be cast down and afraid." -JC Ryle

Thank You Lord for taking all my thousands of sins, (which the very least of would have sent me from Your sight), upon Your precious body, and then washing my soul clean with Your priceless blood. Amen.

Between Two Worlds: Prince Caspian#links

Between Two Worlds: Prince Caspian#links

Check out this new Narnia movie coming out in May 2008. Looks like it's going to be a good one.

"And he sought to see Jesus ..."

People seek to see Jesus for a variety of reasons. Like the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18), some come to ask how they can have eternal life. Now that sounds very promising doesn't it? But this particular young ruler, after speaking with the Lord for a few moments, went away with great sorrow. So what was the real motive for seeking Jesus: The actual purpose that was in this man's heart?

Another rich man sought Jesus, a tax collector named Zacchaeus (Luke 19:3). He met with the Lord while sitting in a tree, simply curious to see what Jesus looked like. As Jesus came upon the tree, He looked up and saw Zacchaeus. Jesus knew this man's name, and called him to come down out of the tree so that they could have supper together, at Zacchaeus' house no less.
This rich man jumped for joy, and received Jesus into his home. Zacchaeus, who was a Jew, told the Lord that he would give half of his goods to the poor, and that he would restore all the money he swindled from people fourfold.
I would imagine, good old Zacchaeus was going to be left with very little after all was said and done. Salvation had come to this man. Jesus came to him. For Jesus says in verse 10 of chapter 19:

"For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

When Jesus seeks, as the Good Shepherd, the one lost sheep out of the ninety nine, then He shall find that sheep, and He will rescue it. He will even die for that sheep, for He owns that sheep, and He loves that lost sheep.

And there is this incredible truth that the Lord Jesus seeks us. He longs to find us. He goes into all the world, and He seeks us out, and gathers His lost sheep. He will bring them all into His pasture, and He will tend them, and they will follow His voice, for they are His. Just as He sought out Zacchaeus, and said to him: "This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham." (ver.9)