Counting The Cost

Random thoughts on walking with Jesus in this turvy-topsy world

Great quotes from the "other" Napoleon

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.

 

-Napoleon Bonaparte

 

 

 

I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ was no mere man:
Between Him and whoever else in the world there is no possible
term of comparison.
 
-- Napoleon Bonaparte

posted by: Jrobbins at 21:23 | link | comments |
quotes i love

Victory even on a Monday!

To read about the man (and the Man)

behind this hymn, click HERE

 

 

 

 

Victory in Jesus

 

Words and Music by

Eugene Monroe Bartlett Sr, 1939

 

 

 

I heard an old, old story,
How a Savior came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning,
Of His precious blood's atoning,
Then I repented of my sins;
And won the victory.

O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him,
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.

 

I heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing power revealing.
How He made the lame to walk again
And caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, "Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit,"
And somehow Jesus came and brought
To me the victory.



I heard about a mansion
He has built for me in glory.
And I heard about the streets of gold
Beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing,
And the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I'll sing up there
The song of victory.

Find more hymns HERE

posted by: Jrobbins at 14:44 | link | comments |

Finding the Real Me

Not only do we not know God except

through Jesus Christ;

We do not even know ourselves except through Jesus Christ.

      -- Blaise Pascal

 

 

 

From Hannah Whitall Smith's "The God of All Comfort" (1906):

 

 

 

 

One of Job's friends said, in his arguments against Job's bitter complaints, "Acquaint now thyself with God, and be at peace"; and our Lord in His last recorded prayer said: "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent."

 

 

 

 

It is not a question of acquaintance with ourselves, or of knowing what we are, or what we do, or what we feel; it is simply and only a question of becoming acquainted with God, and getting to know what He is, and what He does, and what He feels.

 

 

 

 

Comfort and peace never come from anything we know about ourselves, but only and always from what we know about Him. We may spend our days in what we call our religious duties, and we may fill our devotions with fervor, and still may be miserable.

 

 

 

 

Nothing can set our hearts at rest but a real acquaintance with God; for, after all, everything in our salvation must depend upon Him in the last instance; and, according as He is worthy or not of our confidence, so must necessarily be our comfort.

 

 

 

 

If we were planning to take a dangerous voyage, our first question would be as to the sort of captain we were to have.  Our common sense would tell us that if the captain were untrustworthy, no amount of trustworthiness on our part would make the voyage safe; and it would be his character and not our own that would be the thing of paramount importance to us.

 

 

 

posted by: Jrobbins at 20:07 | link | comments |

Lost and Found

Excerpted from Hannah Whitall Smith's

"The God of All Comfort" (1906):

 

 

 

A wild young fellow, who was brought to the Lord at a mission meeting, and who became a rejoicing Christian and lived an exemplary life afterward, was asked by someone what he did to get converted. "Oh," he said, "I did my part, and the Lord did His."

 

 

 

 

"But what was your part," asked the inquirer, "and what was the Lord's part?" "My part," was the prompt reply, "was to run away, and the Lord's part was to run after me until He caught me."  A most significant answer; but how few can understand it! God's part is always to run after us.

 

 

 

Christ came to seek and to save that which is lost. "What man of you," He says, "having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing."  This is always the divine part; but in our foolishness we do not understand it, but think that the Lord is the one who is lost, and that our part is to seek and find Him.

 

 

 

The very expressions we use show this.  We urge sinners to "seek the Lord," and we talk about having "found" Him. "Have you found the Savior?" asked a too zealous mission worker of a happy, trusting little girl.

 

 

 

 

With a look of amazement, she replied in a tone of wonder, "Why, I did not know the Savior was lost!"

 

 

 

"Ah, yes," you say, "but how am I to get to know Him.  Other people seem to have some kind of inward revelation that makes them know Him, but I never do; and no matter how much I pray, everything seems dark to me.  I want to know God, but I do not see how to manage it."

 

 

 

 

Your trouble is that you have got a wrong idea of what knowing God is, or at least the kind of knowing I mean.  For I do not mean any mystical interior revelations of any kind. Such  revelations are delightful when you can have them, but they are not always at your command, and they are often variable and uncertain.  The kind of knowing I mean is just the plain matter-of-fact knowledge of God's nature and character that comes to us by believing what is revealed to us in the Bible concerning Him.

 

 

 

The apostle John at the close of his Gospel says, regarding the things he had been recording:  "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book: but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye might have life through his name."

 

 

 

It is believing the thing that is written, not the thing that is inwardly revealed, that is to give life; and the kind of knowing I means in the knowing that comes from believing the things that are written.

 

 

 

I mean, to be practical, that when I read in the Bible that God is love, I am to believe it, just because "it is written," and not because I have had any inward revelation that is true; and when the Bible says that He cares for us as He cares for the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, and that the very hairs of our head are all numbered, I am to believe it, just because it is written, no matter whether I have any inward revelation of it or not.

 

 

 

It is of vital importance for us to understand that the Bible is a statement, not of theories, but of actual facts; and that things are not true because they are in the Bible, but they are only in the Bible because they are true.

 

 

 

 

Click HERE to read more!

posted by: Jrobbins at 14:34 | link | comments |

When there is no hope...

If you have ever believed that you have no hope and that death is the only way out of your situation,   I would really encourage you to check out an interview series that Nancy Leigh Demoss is having with author, speaker, and quadriplegic Joni Eareckson Tada.     You can either listen online to their conversations or read the transcripts (which is my personal favorite).   Joni has been through so much in her life and she offers hope for those who are at the end of their strength.      -Joy

 

 

 

From Revive Our Hearts Ministry:

 

 

God’s Choicest Tool: April 23, 2007

 

 

A 17-year-old young woman who had just been in a diving accident thought she had no hope.

 

 

Joni Eareckson Tada: For a full year, I was stuck on a geriatric ward of a state institution. This was back in the mid ‘60s, when there wasn’t very good rehabilitation going on for young people like me, spinal cord injured.

 

 

So as I was stuck there, my spirits plummeted. I became despairing of my life. I tried to wrench my head back and forth on the pillow at night when no one was around, hoping desperately that I could break my neck at some higher level, and thereby end my life that way…. (continue)

 

 

 

 

Click HERE to read today’s interview!

posted by: Jrobbins at 15:08 | link | comments |

Calling all prayer warriors!

From Open Doors International:

Visit their website (here) for more information

 

 

North Korea Freedom Week is Here!

(April 22-29)

 

Join Us as We Begin Seven Days of Prayer

for North Korea…

 

 

Monday: Leadership

·                                 Pray that God will destroy Satan’s stronghold over the North Korean government and that He will break the regime’s fist of power over the people.

·                                 Pray that God will reveal Himself to members of the regime, and that they would use their position and influence for the glory of God and no longer for the glory of Kim Jong Il.

 

 

Tuesday: Prisoners

·                                 Pray for the release of all North Koreans who have been unjustly imprisoned.

·                                 Pray that those suffering in these camps will feel God’s presence in the midst of such injustice.

 

 

 

Wednesday: Famine

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