Happy SON-day!!

From my devotional this morning:

"He who cares nothing for holiness knows nothing of the love of Jesus." - Charles Spurgeon

Sin makes the cloud that darkens our Son.

Let's endeavor to remain in the light!!


For more: Faith's Checkbook

Do you have eyes that see ... the beauty of holiness?

The Beauty of Holiness

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NASB)

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

"If any professed conversion is indeed God's saving work, it always issues in the following:

• a life of growing communion with Christ ( 1Corinthians 1:9; Philippians 3:8-10)
• a life of increasing conformity to Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18)
• a life of continuous abiding in Christ (John15:1-11)
• and a life of principled obedience to Christ (John 14:21, 1 John 2:3-4)"

- Al Martin

Do you believer, frequently look at the things which are not seen, or do find yourself focusing your vision on distractions comprised of all things that are and can be seen??


Have you looked for and can you see the beauty of God's Holiness??


Can you explain what it is and looks like?




Let's pray along for:  The Spirit of Jesus


For More:

• The Beauty of Holiness, Arthur Pink
• Holiness
• The Way of Holiness



July 16th Daily Devotional



From today’s My Utmost for His Highest  devotional:

Fill your mind with the thought that God is there. And once your mind is truly filled with that thought, when you experience difficulties it will be as easy as breathing for you to remember, “My heavenly Father knows all about this!” This will be no effort at all, but will be a natural thing for you when difficulties and uncertainties arise. Before you formed this concept of divine control so powerfully in your mind, you used to go from person to person seeking help, but now you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those people who have His Spirit, and it works on the following principle: God is my Father, He loves me, and I will never think of anything that He will forget, so why should I worry?

Jesus said there are times when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but you should trust Him. At times God will appear like an unkind friend, but He is not; He will appear like an unnatural father, but He is not; He will appear like an unjust judge, but He is not. Keep the thought that the mind of God is behind all things strong and growing. Not even the smallest detail of life happens unless God’s will is behind it. Therefore, you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but is an attitude of the mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. “Ask, and it will be given to you…” (Matthew 7:7).

This reminds me of the Joan Osborne’s song – What if God was one of us  and makes me realize that even today, even among believers, we each have some idea of who God is that is not only not complete because our finite mind cannot truly ever get around an infinite Creator, but that may be warped and ultimately unbiblical because we latch on to certain revealed aspects of God while we minimize or even neglect other revealed aspects of God.  Such as God is Love, and as we focus on an entity of love we discount if not even forget His wrath.  It reminds me of the following moving scene from Talladega Nights . May we each continually look into God’s Word and never fear challenging what we think we know, as we trust in the Holy Spirit to teach us as we learn and grow.

From today’s  J.C. Philpot’s Daily Words for Zion’s Wayfarers : Click on the previous link in order to learn why the following quote was said:

“Thus those very things which seem against them are for them, and they derive their sweetest consolations out of their heaviest afflictions. They would not change their trying path, with all its bitter things, for the smooth flowery path in which they see thousands walk, knowing that a religion without trials and temptations will only lead the soul down into a never-ending hell.”

“In his book, The Vision and The Vow, Pete Greig tells of how a distinguished art critic was studying an exquisite painting by the Italian Renaissance master Filippino Lippi. He stood in London’s National Gallery gazing at the fifteenth-century depiction of Mary holding the infant Jesus on her lap, with saints Dominic and Jerome kneeling nearby. But the painting troubled him. There could be no doubting Lippi’s skill, his use of colour or composition. But the proportions of the picture seemed slightly wrong. The hills in the background seemed exaggerated, as if they might topple out of the frame at any minute onto the gallery’s polished floor. The two kneeling saints looked awkward and uncomfortable.

Art critic Robert Cumming was not the first to criticize Lippi’s work for its poor perspective, but he may well be the last to do so, because at that moment he had a revelation. It suddenly occurred to him that the problem might be his. The painting had never been intended to come anywhere near a gallery. Lippi’s painting had been commissioned to hang in a place of prayer.

The dignified critic dropped to his knees in the public gallery before the painting. He suddenly saw what generations of art critics had missed. From his new vantage point, Robert Cumming found himself gazing up at a perfectly proportioned piece. The foreground had moved naturally to the background, while the saints seemed settled – their awkwardness, like the painting itself, having turned to grace. Mary now looked intently and kindly directly at him as he knelt at her feet between saints Dominic and Jerome.

It was not the perspective of the painting that had been wrong all these years, it was the perspective of the people looking at it. Robert Cumming, on bended knee, found a beauty that Robert Cumming the proud art critic could not. The painting only came alive to those on their knees in prayer. The right perspective is the position of worship.”  - Bible in one year 2019

Please Lord, keep my perspective on You alone—“For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.”

Psalms 84:11 NLT

“A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.”

Psalms 84:10 NLT

Have a great day!!

Godspeed,

Carmine DiLello

Love: Authentic & Unhypocritical....

1. What does love WITHOUT hypocrisy… “genuine” love…look like? 
2. How do we know if we are giving God our genuine love, or loving Him just to have a good name?
3. What practical tips can you provide to help someone self-examine their true motives, or see genuine love in someone else as an example?

Genuine love:

• looks like God, for God is love (1 John 4:7-8).
• has been shown to us and seen by us in Jesus (John 14:8-9).
• has also been further defined and prioritized for us in Holy Scripture (1 Corinthians 13)
• is only possible because He first loved us (1 John 4:19)

We must ask ourselves, “Is our love for God merely akin to the “love” a tick has for a deer, dog or human that has the misfortune in crossing its path? Is our love for God any deeper and more Christ-centered than the shallow self-focused love that the crowd of 5000 people had displayed, due to miraculously fed by Christ because of one boy’s wisdom in bringing himself a lunch consisting of 5 barley loaves and two fish?” (John 6:1-15) which ultimately provoked Jesus’ gentle (and mostly un-noticed and disregarded) admonishment of them, forever recorded in John 6:26-27?

We can get a sense of the genuineness of our love by:

• Comparing ourselves (by replacing the word “love” with our own name) to the measure left for us in Scripture (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
• Assessing ourselves against the “golden rule” – Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40, 2 John 1:5-6, Deuteronomy10:12-13, 1 John 3:16-18)
• Applying ourselves to the acid test of hatred towards fellow believers (1 John 4:20-21, 1 John 5:2-3)
• taking an honest and accurate account of how:
  • we’re either bothered by or ok with sin in ourselves and others (Hebrews 1:9)
  • we’ve ministered and are still ministering to fellow believers (Hebrews 6:10)
  • we’re keeping ourselves in the love of God (Jude vs. 20-23, John 15:9-10)
  • confident we are about our own salvation (1 John 4:18)
  • how frequently we are, (or if you’ve ever have been or currently are being) reproved and disciplined by God (Hebrews 12:6, Revelation 3:19)

Looking into the mirror of God’s Word, to put together the above response, I can’t help but find myself being drawn to reconsidering  and sometimes still struggle with 1 John 3:3-10 . I also can’t help but to agreeably sympathize along with Martin Luther’s following quote: “When I look at myself, I don’t see how I can be saved. But when I look at Christ, I don’t see how I can be lost.” We also can take heart in the Holy Spirit’s exhortation made through Apostle John in 1 John 3:19-20: By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

For more:

• OnConscience and Self-Reflection
• God only knows

 

Don't Taint Your Love for God by Your Pursuit for a Good Name

" 'They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him . . . During his lifetime, Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King's Valley as a monument to himself . . . He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom's Monument to this day.' 2 Samuel 18

It has been said that every man lives for a funeral — that is, a man's funeral often tells what kind of a man he has been. Absalom had already built a splendid monument, which he meant should mark his grave. Instead, however, of being laid away to rest in honor by a weeping nation, beneath the shadows of a noble monument — his mangled body was hurled in dishonor into a pit in the forest, and covered with a large heap of rocks.

It was still true, however, that Absalom built his own monument. His own hand dug the grave of shame into which his body was cast. Sin's harvest is sure and terrible!"  

- J.R. Miller

Bible Scholars attribute the authorship for book of Proverbs to King Solomon, the world’s wisest man. In Proverbs 22:1 we are informed that a good name is to be more desired than great wealth because favor is better than silver and gold. Earlier in this book, he recounts his own father’s teaching him the importance of the values of truth and kindness, as he was instructed to “not let kindness and truth leave you” in order for “you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.” (Proverbs 3:3-4).  In the book of Ecclesiastes, also largely believed to be authored by Solomon in his old age, we find “a good name” to be better than a good ointment and the day of one’s death, better than the day of one’s birth. (Ecclesiastes 7:1)    

Though the Bible clearly speaks of the great value and benefit in possessing a good name, all human endeavor towards accomplishing this end isn’t as equally good and acceptable to God due to our inner motives that drive our efforts.  We can too easily taint our love for God by our efforts to obtain a good name for ourselves.

Romans 12:9    teaches us that love is to be genuine, without hypocrisy.  Genuine infers real, authentic, and pure. Hypocrisy infers counterfeit, fraud, and corrupt.

As quoted by John MacArthur in (What Does Love Without Hypocrisy Look like?) theologian John Murray writes, “If love is the sum of virtue and hypocrisy is the epitome of vice, what a contradiction to bring the two together.”  



John Piper, in considering this above verse (in Let Love Be Genuine) states, “Think of it. Of all the things he could have said that love should be (Let love be great, earnest, joyful, constant, bold, etc.) he says, “Let love be without hypocrisy.” Why is that even on his mind? I think it’s on his mind because it is the dead opposite of verse 3. Verse 3 says not to think of ourselves too highly, but to think with faith, that is, to think with our minds and hearts looking away to Christ for our peace and satisfaction. Verse 3 is about a wonderful self-forgetfulness in the service of Christ. And the exact opposite of that is hypocrisy. Why? Because the hypocrite is totally concerned about himself. How will I appear? is his driving question. How can I create a good impression of me? is the consuming desire.”

He also states, “The reason we look to Christ as the foundation and model and goal of the Romans 12 way of living is that the Holy Spirit is sent into the world to glorify Jesus Christ (John 16:14). If we try to live like this for our glory—even with the help of the Holy Spirit—it will not work. The Holy Spirit is not sent to give us glory, but to give Christ glory. So we pray for the help of the Holy Spirit, and we look away from ourselves to Christ for the purchase and the example and the goal of this new way of living. When we look to Christ, the Holy Spirit empowers us to live the Romans 12 way.”

We can too easily shipwreck our faith like the first century Pharisees who not only didn’t recognize Jesus as the anticipated Christ that was to come but also actively resisted him time and time again because of their self-confidence in their own efforts and knowledge of the Scripture:

John 5:39-45 (NASB)

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men; but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.

Or like Judas, happy to be closely associated with Christ, but all too willing to sell Him out for the first seemingly better offer that is presented to us. 

Or like Simon, the former Samarian magician (Acts 8:9-11) we too can unwittingly attempt to acquire God’s love and favor using the currency of our own good works instead of the cash he offered the apostle. (Acts 8:18-23).

Maybe we like the late day Israelites are treating God disrespectfully by short-changing Him by not giving Him our very best of what we have to offer. (Malachi 1:8-10)? Or worse, maybe we are like the Israelites of Isaiah’s day, whose worship consisted only of the established routines of heartless tradition and lip-service, devoid of any true, honest, and sincere essence of our very own souls (Isaiah 29:13-14).


May we be cautioned and take heed to avoid this counterfeit worship that serves to mask our insidious sin in service to the idol of "Self."



May we recollect the wise words of Hannah More, found in "PRACTICAL PIETY" (1811, Chapter 13):
"The idol Self," says an excellent old divine, "has made more desolation among men than ever was made in those places where idols were served by human sacrifices. It has preyed more fiercely on human lives than Molech." To worship images is a more obvious idolatry, but scarcely more degrading than to set up self in opposition to God. To devote ourselves to this service is as perfect slavery, as the service of God is perfect freedom. If we cannot imitate the sacrifice of Christ in His death, we are called to imitate the sacrifice of Himself in doing His will. Even the Son of God declared, "I came not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me." This was His grand lesson, this was His distinguishing character."


Also, please consider Arthur Pink’s words in his work “The Scriptures and Prayer,” in regards to the ten lepers of Luke 17:11-19  who have cried out to Jesus from their felt need.  Maybe we’re like the ungrateful nine who only “howled” instead of the grateful one that truly “prayed” and followed through by taking a moment to stop and express his heartfelt thanks and gratitude.  

Here’s the quote:

“We are profited from the Scriptures when we are made conscious of our need of the Spirit’s help. First, that He may make known to us our real needs. Take, for example, our temporal needs. How often we are in some external strait; things from without press hard upon us, and we long to be delivered from these trials and difficulties. Surely here we "know" of ourselves what to pray for. No, indeed; far from it! The truth is that, despite our natural desire for relief, so ignorant are we, so dull is our discernment, that (even where there is an exercised conscience) we know not what submission unto His pleasure God may require, or how He may sanctify these afflictions to our inward good. Therefore, God calls the petitions of most who seek for relief from external trials "howlings," and not a crying unto Him with the heart (see Hos. 7:14). "For who knows what is good for man in this life?" (Eccles. 6:12). Ah, heavenly wisdom is needed to teach us our temporal "needs" so as to make them a matter of prayer according to the mind of God.”
- Arthur Pink 1932

Therefore, I pray that all we who call on Him today, do so from deep within our hearts and not just only our lips. Yet, if by chance,  we’re truly only offering up a mere animalistic howl, that we may find ourselves as  grateful dogs who’ll gladly be contented to receive the crumbs which graciously fall from our Master’s table (Matthew 15:27)!! May we further then say with St. Augustine, “Command what you will and grant what you command,”  as we trust in God to work all things after the counsel of His will (Philippians 1:6, 2:13) for our own sincere, true and complete repentance so that no trace of hypocrisy remains in our love for God.  

Happy Mother's Day!!

The above image, “Greeting: Mary and Eve,” has been composed for a greeting card, by an unnamed sister at Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, a monastic community of Trappistine nuns of the Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance. *

 

 

Mark 3:31-35 (NASB)

 

Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

 

 

“As Mother's Day approaches, I invite you to consider the women in your life and the roles they play. No doubt, you will think of a few examples of strong, nurturing women.

 

Women were certainly important to Jesus in His time.

 

He took special notice of a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years when she touched His garment. (Mark 5:25-34)

 

When Jesus spoke about the "living water" of eternal life, the person He conversed with was a Samaritan woman drawing water at a well. (John 4:1-42)

 

Jesus' love for widows is also well known, as He demonstrated when He brought back a widow's son from the dead in the town of Nain. (Luke 7:11-17)

 

Christian women today are experiencing destructive forms of persecution that target them for their gender and for their faith. This can affect the resilience and survival of the Church as a whole, as women are cut off from their families, robbed of their hopes and dreams or unable to raise their children as Christians.

 

Yet in the midst of their suffering, God embraces them with His love and care. And I hope you will too.”

 

• Dr. David Curry, President/CEO, Open Doors USA

 

 

In the following sermon: Judges, Jephthah and Jesus, by David Murray, Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, which focuses on the story of Jephthah and his tragic vow. I’d rather like us to consider and commemorate the great faith exercised from the Christ-like, submissively loving heart of his unnamed daughter who willingly helped her father point others and us to Christ himself!!

 

Happy Mother’s Day!!

 

 

*

This little painting, executed with what looks like watercolor and colored pencil, is all over the web and showing up in unexpected places. This image has generated controversy over it’s inappropriate cutesiness regarding a meeting that never did actually occur on earth and is inappropriately depicted if intended to convey an initial meeting in paradise – (the serpent wouldn’t be there, Mary wouldn’t be pregnant, and Eve wouldn’t have a reason to still be sad/ashamed).  The greatest point of controversy is over the idea that Mary is stepping on the head of the serpent, because it appears to either be contrary to the fact, or at least minimize the willing and sacrificial work of Jesus’ submissively reverent life and atoning death on Calvary’s cross in fulfilling the gospel message of Holy Scripture that was first shared by Our Creator himself in the early chapters of Genesis.  This is known as the protoevangelium, a word derived from two Greek words that mean “first” and gospel.”  Adding further fuel to the fire of this controversy is how Genesis 3:15 is translated. Most English translations have “he” yet other versions have it translated other ways.  Therefore, is it he, she, they or we who crush the serpent’s head? I’ll leave it for you to further ponder…….

Happy Easter!!



A guy comes down to earth, takes your sins, dies, and comes back three days later. You believe in him and go to heaven forever. How do you get from that to Hide-The-Eggs? Did Jesus have a problem with eggs?

— Jon Stewart

The Prince of Preachers, Charles H. Spurgeon (6/19/1834-1/31/1892), is quoted with saying, “A time will come when instead of Shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats.”

This is reminiscent of a quote by the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool, J.C. Ryle (5/10/1816-6/10/1900), in his article, Luke Chapter 6, “We must call to mind our Lord's words on another occasion, "Beware of false prophets!" (Matthew 7:15.) We must remember the advice of Paul and John — "Prove all things." "Try the spirits — whether they are of God." (1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 John 4:1.) With the Bible in our hands, and the promise of guidance from the Holy Spirit to all who seek it — we shall be without excuse if our souls are led astray. The blindness of ministers is no excuse for the darkness of the people. The man who from indolence, or superstition, or affected humility — refuses to distrust the teaching of the minister whom he finds set over him, however unsound it may be — will at length share his minister's portion. If people will trust blind guides — then they must not be surprised if they are led to the pit!”

In “The Scriptures and the Promises”, English Bible Teacher,  Arthur Pink (4/1/1886-7/15/1952), warns us as he writes, “How terrible, then, is the blindness and how great is the sin of those preachers who indiscriminately apply the Divine promises to the saved and unsaved alike! They are not only taking "the children’s bread" and casting it to the "dogs," but they are "handling the word of God deceitfully" (2 Cor. 4:2), and beguiling immortal souls. And they who listen to and heed them are little less guilty, for God holds all responsible to search the Scriptures for themselves, and test whatever they read or hear by that unerring standard. If they are too lazy to do so, and prefer blindly to follow their blind guides, then their blood is on their own heads. Truth has to be "bought" (Prov. 23:23), and those who are unwilling to pay the price must go without it.”

Considering the timeliness of the season and the weight of the warnings provided by these renowned elder brothers in Christ who have moved on from this temporal realm, having taken their respective places amongst the great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1), there is no better time than now to go an “Easter Egg Hunt” to seek, find, contemplate and act upon God’s wonderful and eternally unfathomable promises (Romans 11:33-36, 1Corinthians 2:9) that are scattered and can be found throughout each and every page of the Holy Scriptures that have lovingly been authored by the Spirit (2 Peter 1:19-21), perfectly preserved (Matthew 24:35),  and irrevocably gifted us (Deuteronomy 29:29)!!

For more:
The Game is Afoot...and You're Already Playing!!
Communion of True Community

CORAM DEO,

Colossians 3:12-17

Carmine DiLello

An Alabaster Life

Mark 14:3  (ESV)   Jesus Anointed at Bethany   

And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.   

Verses 4 & 5 go on to further explain:  

There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her.

Isn't it amazing how some people feel the need to give full verbal expression to every thought that crosses their mind and cannot simply just hold their tongue? Now true, these historic individuals didn't have any of the modern conveniences we're accustomed to and didn't have the benefit of learning "Thumper's rule" from casually watching "Bambi" brought to us by Walt Disney, and it is also true that Ephesians 4:29 wasn't even a thought because at this time the world didn't even have an Apostle Paul, as he currently existed only as a Christian-hating Jew named Saul. However, they did have the benefit of the Old Testament and really were not left with any excuse for their sinful thoughts and actions because of the following verses of Scripture with which they should have been both, very well aware and acquainted: 

Psalm 37:30-31, Proverbs 10:31-32, Proverbs 12:13, Proverbs 15:2-4, Proverbs 15:7, Proverbs 16:21, Proverbs 25:11-12, Ecclesiastes 10:12   

Isn't it also amazing how easy it is for us to notice these specks of sawdust that are blatantly stuck in the now long dead eyes of the guests of this dinner feast, as we may be blindly unaware of the current logs lodged into our very alive and blinking eyes? (Matthew 7:1-5)  After all, it's easy to see that Mary gave Jesus her best, and that the others had sinfully judged her, exposing only their own elevated level of conceit, through their own knowledgeable insights that they were eager to display before other dinner guests through their ungracious words of scolding, spoken in a manner that is inconsistent with the Scriptures that they themselves were to actively embody.    

Yet, just as we easily see and judge the hypocrisy of these dinner guests, do we not ourselves prove Paul's remarks in Romans 2:1 by making the same unwitting mistake these dinner guests have made, when we ourselves, unlike Mary, give Our Lord and Savior, Jesus, less than our very best gifts? 

J.R Miller, (20 March 1840–2 July 1912) Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois, is quoted as saying:   

"He gave the best he had for us. He gave his life. His heart was broken, and his precious blood was poured out upon our sin-stained earth. And now from his throne of glory he lavishes the best gifts of his love upon us. He does not give us the crumbs from his table, and the worn-out garments from his wardrobe. He seeks all Heaven through for its richest, best, and most beautiful things to bestow upon us. There is nothing in all his kingdom too good or too costly to give to us."   

"And yet, is it not true that we keep our best things for ourselves — and give him the things that we will miss the least from our own stores? When our cup runs over — we give him the drops that fall from the brim. When we have eaten and are full — we sweep up the crumbs for him. We sip the honey and the sweetness out of our flowers — and give him the withered, faded leaves. We keep the bright dollars — and give him the pennies. When times are hard and we find it necessary to economize, we begin our retrenchment at the Lord's end of our income. We keep the weeks for ourselves and give him the minutes. Let us bring him our best. Let us take our dearest things and lay them on his altar. Nothing is too good or too costly — to be bestowed on such a Savior." 

Therefore, let's ensure that we don’t fall into the same pit that they themselves into which have fallen, as we learn from the lessons left for us, forever recorded in the pages of Holy Scripture. Let us always endeavor to be quick to listen and slow to speak (James 1:19-20) as we guard our tongues (Psalm 39:1) while pouring out our lives as a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. (Ephesians 5:2, Philippians 4:18)   

For more:  

• A Fit or Useful Vessel for the Lord
• Anything That Cost Me Nothing
• Disciplining a Dangerous Tongue
• How Then Shall We Live
• The Alabaster Box
• True Revival