"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

Dear friends near and far,  Greatly rejoice and worship the one true God of our salvation. The Best is yet to come... The LORD JESUS be magnified!    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlNd22KhkIg      Ref: I Peter 5:10-11 [KJV]

"But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, even Christ." -Ephesians 4:15 [KJV] There is much good or much harm done, by public preaching and private speaking. See to it, Christians. It either makes souls grow up in self-love, self-righteousness, and self-complacency; or to grow quite out of all conceit with themselves, and to grow up into Christ in all things. Vain persons, who think themselves very handsome, are peculiarly fond of looking at themselves in a glass that flatters or deceives them. If they see a disgustful spot, or blemish in their face, their vanity prompts them to give it some better name than it deserves, that it may not bring down their high opinion of their own beauty. This is the exact case with those who are grown up in themselves, in a high conceit of their own * senseless *  perfection (see notation below.) If a spot or blemish of sin appear, O, that is only an infirmity: they do not call these th...

"Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee; the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain." -Psalm 76:10 [KJV] My soul! thou art returned from the exercises of the day;. exercises which sometimes are sharp and trying: come now into the pavilion and retirings of thy God in Christ, and take with thee this sweet scripture, and under His gracious teachings, see what beauties, by way of comfort, it affords. The Holy Ghost saith, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise the Lord."  Pause, and consider in how many ways this blessed scripture proves itself. How often is the wrath of man made to minister to the happiness of God's people! How often do they become the unconscious ministers of producing the very reverse of what they intended: and where they designed evil to the saints of God, there good is found to come! When the Lord makes our friends, in the sweet endearments of society, promote our welfare, and we find blessings spring out of the thousand, and te...

"Yet Thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by Thy name." -Jeremiah 14:9 [KJV] If the Lord has ever been in our soul to manifest there a sense of His goodness and mercy, we can then make use of this as our plea, "Yet Thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us." If He has ever heard your prayer He is with you; if He has ever given you a promise He is with you; if He has ever touched your heart with His finger He is with you; if He has ever favoured you with a smile He is with you. And though taking the general run of your experience He may be a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night, or though even as it may seem, as if He were astonied at what you are—a mighty man that cannot save, still every token for good encourages you to cling, to cleave, to hang round Him, to catch hold of His feet as the Shunamite caught Elisha by the feet, and would not be thrust away; for you cannot but feel that, with a...

‘The Christian’s victory over sin cannot be achieved by the strength of his resolutions, nor by the plainness and force of moral motives, nor by any resources in himself. He looks to Jesus Christ, and conquers in His strength.  In other words, the victory is not obtained in the way of nature, but of grace, verses 14-25 [Romans 7].’  -An Exposition of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, Charles Hodge, p.246, Robert Carver & Bros. Publishers [1859 A.D.]

Without Strength! by D G Miles McKee   ‘Without strength’ is a literal description of our state apart from Christ  (Romans 3:12; Romans 5:6) . We have no ability to save ourselves. We are utterly helpless! You may argue the point, but God won’t. In His mind it is perfectly clear. He says that we are so weak and destitute in our natural state that we cannot hear His words (see John 8:43) or even see His Kingdom (see John 3:30) .   It is when we get a sight of our utter spiritual impotence that we realize Christ alone must be our salvation: if He doesn’t save us then we will not be saved.   It is those who are without strength whom the Lord saves.  In fact, so long as we think we have some strength to perform ‘the great act of faith’ we cannot be saved. H. Bonar remarks that it is when we find out that we have no strength we will cease to work and believe!   Remember how Jesus commanded the man with the withered arm to stretch out his hand? (...