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

"For a godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation…for behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge" -II C ORINTHIANS 7:10-11 [KJV] Now Paul gives us seven evidences of true, sincere and genuine-godly repentance; that is the gift of God [ACTS 11:18 ] . 1). What carefulness ( eagerness, diligence and haste ) it wrought in you; to correct our behavior before God and to avoid future offences, diligence and carefulness; as opposed to our past negligence in the gospel and in spiritual matters [I THESSALONIANS 1:4-9 ] . 2). What clearing of yourself; not by denying our sin ( what we are before God ) and our guilt (b ecause of our transgressions against God ), but rather by confessing and owning them and seeking forgiveness for them only through Christ [I JOHN 1:7-9; H ...

"And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the L ORD , and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him." -Z ECHARIAH 3:1 [KJV]   It is the object of Satan to keep those secure who are safe in his hands; nor does God see fit to disturb their quiet. But on the other hand, where Satan perceives a work of grace going on, where he sees the eyes sometimes filled with tears, where he hears the sobs heaving from the contrite heart, where he observes the knees often bent in secret prayer, where his listening ear often hears the poor penitent confess his sins, weaknesses, and backslidings before God, (for by these observations we have reason to believe Satan gains his intelligence,) wherever he sees this secret work going on in the soul, mad with wrath and filled with malice, he vents his hellish spleen against the objects of God's love. Sometimes he tries to ensnare them into sin, sometimes to harass them with temptation, sometimes to...