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

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."   -1 Peter 5:8, 9 [KJV] My soul, thou knowest, and hast long known, from the many wounds given thee by Satan, what a cruel, insidious, and powerful enemy thou hast to contend with; and thou too truly knowest, also, how sadly unequal thou art in thyself to resist his wiles. He is a prince of the power of the air: he is by nature, a spirit, and therefore invisible; thou seest not his approaches; he is a tremendous foe, full of envy, malignity, subtilty, craft, and design: and what renders him yet more formidable is, that in the corruptions and unbelief' of thy fallen nature, he hath but too many confederates in thine own heart, to aid him in his diabolical designs.   Where then is thy strength to resist him? It cannot be in thyself...

"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"   - Amos 3:3 [KJV]  There was a time, child of God, when the world held in your heart the chief place. It was not so in God's heart. You and He were therefore at variance. But now, through grace, you are brought to make eternity your chief concern. You and God are agreed there; for in the mind of God eternity as much outweighs time as the stars in the midnight sky outweigh a grain of dust. There was a time when you loved the world and the things of time and sense; and earth and earthly things were your element and home. You and God disagreed upon that matter; because the Lord saw that the world was full of evil, whilst you saw it full of good. The Lord saw the world under His curse, and you loved its favour and its blessing—seeking madly and wickedly to enjoy that which God had denounced; therefore you could not agree.   Thus you see that in order to be agreed with God, we must have God's thoughts in our heart, God's...