Growing 4 Life

Tortured for Christ

Leave a Comment / March 28, 2011 March 28, 2011

**A group of armed Muslims opened fire on Christians at an open-air prayer meeting in Pakistan this week, killing two men.

**Anti-Christian violence has increased in northern Nigeria since January of this year, when 200 armed Fulani youths attacked churches and Christian homes. Sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria began in 2001 with a large-scale riot in the city of Kaduna.

**In Uzbekistan, six Christians leading a service at a nursing home on March 13 were detained by police and charged with resisting police orders and violating procedures for conducting a meeting.

**The battle over Bibles continues in Malaysia. In January 2011, port authorities confiscated 30,000 Bibles that a branch of Gideons International had ordered.

This is a sampling of some of the news stories regarding persecution against Christians going on right now. I read another story this morning of an Egyptian Christian persecuted for helping Muslims who have converted to Christianity by hanging him upside down naked and beating him severely.

This is not hundreds of years ago. This is right now. In this world we live in. Sometimes I feel we are so sheltered in our little American world. Sure, we take some slander or we may even take some damage to our reputation if we stand for Christ. There is a cost. But the cost is minimal, if you think about many other parts of the world.

Thinking on this leads me down several different trails-

First, is my faith sure and certain, so that I will stand strong, if (some would say “when”) that day comes?

Second, am I praying for my Christians brothers and sisters who are being tortured for Christ? They are part of our heavenly family. They need our prayers!

Third, am I living with a grateful heart for the freedoms I have? For the freedom from hunger? For the freedom to worship in church without interruption from the government? For the freedom to own a Bible?

And fourth, I can’t help but think that many of the things that upset all of us…people things…circumstance things…job things…just wouldn’t be as big of an issue if we knew we might lose our life the next day. Perspective is such a big deal, isn’t it?? What am I upset or disturbed about that would really matter if I may be imprisoned tomorrow for my faith? What argument or debate (and there are some, but not as many as we think) is worth destroying a relationship with a fellow brother, if we both may be killed tomorrow?

We are free. And these questions do not haunt us the way they haunt our fellow believers. And I thank God for that. Let’s live with grateful hearts. Let’s make sure it is God’s opinions directly from His Word that we take a stand for…not our own. And let’s pray that God would give us a godly perspective on the trials and problems we face.

The above examples are from website persecution.com. They also have a sister website, prisoneralert.com, which focuses on Christians who are imprisoned for their faith. Both are a great place to go if you would like to read more about this topic.

Switching Boxes

Leave a Comment / March 24, 2011 March 24, 2011

Today is the day I switch boxes. Okay, let me explain. Think about the last survey you filled out. You know…the ones where they ask for an age range. I don’t really know any of them except for the one that says (35-44). That has been MY box to check for 9 years. Today I can no longer check that box.

I know it is inconsequential in the course of life. I do know that. But it turns my thoughts toward the brevity of life. Our days are numbered. James 4:14 says whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

As we grow older there are some questions most of us ask. Things like: Am I accomplishing anything of true value with my days? How important is physical beauty, anyway? Am I a wiser person today than I was 25 years ago?

I am trying to decide how transparent I should be. Okay, this is what I will say. These questions, along with watching my children grow up so quickly, have weighed heavily on me at times. Throw the hormonal issues in there (I read that the 40s can be compared to adolescence in how much the body is changing)…and, well, there have been some dark days. The only reason I share this is because I truly wish someone would have told me how emotionally charged the 40s would be. And just how much life would change. How much my body would change. And perhaps I am the only one who feels like this. I really don’t know.

I do know, however, that when my focus is on what isn’t going right in my life, what is changing in my life….that is when the dark moments come. When I turn my focus in the direction of others I don’t have time to think about these things. It is all a growing and learning process. But, according to my mom, I am half-way through it today! She tells me the 50s are a lot better! I hope so, but I am in no hurry to find out…

Once, very long ago, I was walking through a mall. A plaque caught my eye. I don’t buy a lot of plaques, but I did buy this one. It said “Don’t regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.” It has helped me keep perspective for many years about this growing older thing. It is a privilege to be alive…and, I, for one, am grateful for that privilege.

On Entertainment

Leave a Comment / March 21, 2011 March 21, 2011

I can take no credit for what is written below. It was written by A.W. Tozer somewhere in the mid-1900s. It is hard to believe that, even then, entertainment was taking an inappropriate priority in the lives of believers. This certainly challenged me. I hope it will do the same for you.

The Great God Entertainment

A German philosopher many years ago said something to the effect that the more a man has in his own heart the less he will require from the outside; excessive need for support from without is proof of the bankruptcy of the inner man.

If this is true (and I believe it is), then the present inordinate attachment to every form of entertainment is evidence that the inner life of modern man is in serious decline. The average man has no central core of moral assurance, no spring within his own breast, no inner strength to place him above the need for repeated psychological shots to give him the courage to go on living. He has become a parasite on the world, drawing his life from his environment, unable to live a day apart from the stimulation which society affords him.

Schleiermacher held that the feeling of dependence lies at the root of all religious worship, and that however high the spiritual life might rise it must always begin with a deep sense of a great need which only God could satisfy. If this sense of need and a feeling of dependence are at the root of natural religion it is not hard to see why the great god Entertainment is so ardently worshiped by so many. For there are millions who cannot live without amusement; life without some form of entertainment for them is simply intolerable; they look forward to the blessed relief afforded by professional entertainers and other forms of psychological narcotics as a dope addict looks to his daily shot of heroin. Without them they could not summon courage to face existence.

No one with common human feeling will object to the simple pleasures of life, nor to such harmless forms of entertainment as may help to relax the nerves and refresh the mind exhausted by toil. Such things if used with discretion may be a blessing along the way. That is one thing. The all-out devotion to entertainment as a major activity for which and by which men live is definitely something else again.

The abuse of a harmless thing is the essence of sin. The growth of the amusement phase of human life to such fantastic proportions is a portent, a threat to the souls of modern men. It has been built into a multimillion dollar racket with greater power over human minds and human character than any other educational influence on earth. And the ominous thing is that its power is almost exclusively evil, rotting the inner life, crowding out the long eternal thoughts which would fill the souls of men if they were but worthy to entertain them. And the whole thing has grown into a veritable religion which holds its devotees with a strange fascination, and a religion, incidentally, against which it is now dangerous to speak.

For centuries the Church stood solidly against every form of worldly entertainment, recognizing it for what it was—a device for wasting time, a refuge from the disturbing voice of conscience, a scheme to divert attention from moral accountability. For this she got herself abused roundly by the sons of this world. But of late she has become tired of the abuse and has given over the struggle. She appears to have decided that if she cannot conquer the great god Entertainment she may as well join forces with him and make what use she can of his powers. So today we have the astonishing spectacle of millions of dollars being poured into the unholy job of providing earthly entertainment for the so-called sons of heaven. Religious entertainment is in many places rapidly crowding out the serious things of God. Many churches these days have become little more than poor theatres where fifth-rate “producers” peddle their shoddy wares with the full approval of evangelical leaders who can even quote a holy text in defense of their delinquency. And hardly a man dares raise his voice against it.

The great god Entertainment amuses his devotees mainly by telling them stories. The love of stories, which is a characteristic of childhood, has taken fast hold of the minds of the retarded saints of our day, so much so that not a few persons manage to make a comfortable living by spinning yarns and serving them up in various disguises to church people. What is natural and beautiful in a child may be shocking when it persists into adulthood, and more so when it appears in the sanctuary and seeks to pass for true religion.

Is it not a strange thing and a wonder that, with the shadow of atomic destruction hanging over the world and with the coming of Christ drawing near, the professed followers of the Lord should be giving themselves up to religious amusements? That in an hour when mature saints are so desperately needed vast numbers of believers should revert to spiritual childhood and clamor for religious toys?
—Best of A. W. Tozer, The

Growing Up

Leave a Comment / March 17, 2011 October 1, 2014

My son wrote an essay for an English assignment the other day. The topic was something like this: “something you have done for a long time and how it has changed as you have grown up”. He picked the topic of a trade show that our family business participates in. In the essay, he shared how, when he was a little boy, he would stand in his company shirt and try to look official, desperately hoping that someone would take him seriously by asking him a question about our company. One day, someone did ask him a question– but he didn’t know the answer. He found out the answer and made sure to know it for the next time.

Fast forward to this year’s show. Not only did he get asked lots of questions, but he knew most of the answers, too. You see, in the natural progression of growing up, he has learned about our company and about the trade. He has become a young man who can talk with others about our company and even our industry quite knowledgeably.

Let’s think about that in light of our Christian walk. How many of us are growing up in our knowledge of God’s Word? How many of us still squirm when we are approached by someone who has a specific problem or question, struggling to remember the location of the verse or even which book of the Bible addresses the question? Or we have a great chance to witness, but we are shy because we are scared we won’t know what to say. When it comes right down to it, we don’t know the Bible. We say we believe it, but we are like that little boy in the company shirt, standing around looking official, but not really knowing our stuff. We may look like grown-ups but we are little children spiritually.

We blame our memories. We blame our lack of time and busy lifestyles. We blame lots of things. But maybe we need to stop worrying about why and just do something about it.

As I write this, I am condemning myself. I have been a Christian, by the incredible grace of God, for a very long time. My knowledge of God’s Word is not in accordance with how long I have been a Christian. I have recently been convicted of this and have made some changes in my Bible study time.

I want to know God’s Word. I want to be able to “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (see verse below). Because let’s face it–God blesses us by using us, but he can’t use us if we aren’t ready to be used. We need to take our focus off of our own agendas and our own busy lives and make some room in our lives to learn God’s Word. We need to stop relying on the little bits of knowledge we may have learned years ago–in Bible school or Bible quizzing or church–and start digging into the word, perhaps even memorizing some passages.

We need to start growing up in the Lord.

1 Peter 3:15
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

The surgeon’s instrument

1 Comment / March 14, 2011 March 14, 2011

The nurse held out her hand with the surgical instrument. The surgeon reached out and grabbed it without even looking at it. The patient before him was a young man. A young man in desperate need of a new kidney. But just as the surgeon was about to get started, he glanced at the tool in his hand. It was filthy. Dried blood clung to its surface. There was even a little rust on the one side. He would not be using this instrument. Instead of healing this young man, this instrument would likely cause infection, making his immune-compromised system fight a fight it was unable to fight.

Alistair Begg used this analogy yesterday in a very challenging sermon. The topic was how to prepare ourselves to tell the world about Jesus. And his first main point was this: We need to be a clean instrument. Just as a surgeon would desire sterilized instruments to perform surgery, so God would desire clean instruments to share His message.

What a challenge! Am I clean? How does the world view me?

When people think of me do they think of someone who stands boldly for Jesus? Or do they think of me as someone who will compromise my standards to be popular? Is it obvious I am a believer? Or does the conversation about me when I am not there include sentences like: “I think she is saved…I know she goes to church…She says she believes…she was ‘saved’ at camp when she was 10, but…”

Saying we are believers and acting like it are very different things. And in order to truly be useful to our Heavenly Father we need to live what we say. We need to be different. We need to continually endeavor to be like Jesus. In how we love. In how we spend our time. In standing up for the Truth.

Let’s face it…it is not our words that prove we are a clean vessel, it is our actions. Words without actions lead to a confused and angry world. All of these people say they believe Jesus died for them…but they are not living differently than me. They go to church on Sunday, but they cheat on their taxes on Monday, listen to rap music filled with filth on Tuesday, wear clothing that does not leave much to the imagination on Wednesday, lie to get their own way on Thursday…you get the idea? It leads to confusion and anger because we are saying we believe God and the Bible…but we are not living like it. The worlds asks…why does it matter? Why would I need Jesus? It is a good question. One that should never have to be asked.

I pray that today we would consider what we look like to a lost world. I pray we would reflect on how effective we can be for Jesus in our current lifestyle. I pray that we would be salt and light in a world that needs Jesus desperately (Matthew 5:13-14).

Are You Reading Your Veggies?

Leave a Comment / March 10, 2011 January 12, 2016

We know– and tell our children– that a diet made up of only desserts and candy will lead to an unhealthy body. In fact, in our current culture this has become all-important. We have recognized the need to fuel our bodies with good-for-you things like meat, vegetables and fruits, and healthy carbohydrates. There is little discussion or debate about this.

I would like to suggest that perhaps it is the same way with what we read. If you are not a reader, then I challenge you to think about what you listen to or watch and apply the same principle.

When I was fresh out of college and a young mom, a friend of mine gave me her very negative opinion about the Christian fiction that was so popular (and still continues to be popular). I was kind of offended at the time. When I had the time to read, that was what I read. I filled my mind with stories of lovely damsels in distress finding the perfect guy. But after that conversation, I found myself honestly looking at my reading habits.

Gradually, over many years time, I changed my diet from all fiction to hardly any at all. As this has evolved over the years, I have found that my desire for these types of books has dramatically decreased, as well. Have you ever talked to a person who has changed their eating habits? Several people have told me that they don’t even really desire to eat a lot of candy and desserts anymore (I am still working on that one!). I am told that their appetite for the junk food their body craved dramatically decreased when they overhauled their diet.

I believe the same thing applies to what we read.

I do enjoy an occasional Christian fiction work. There are some great authors out there who use the medium of fiction to not only tell a beautiful story, but to also teach us a lesson or cause us to think (and quite honestly, I do not put these authors in the same category as the authors of the light, fluffy stuff). However, if we are spending hours reading the typical romantic, unrealistic fluff, then we are not only wasting our time but we are developing expectations about life that aren’t real. Oftentimes, we are using it as an escape from the real world. I know this, because I did this. And, just like eating candy, reading like this is fine–in moderation. But, if this is what we are filling our mind with, then it will take up the appetite that should be used for better things–the good-for-us “mind food” that will keep us growing and challenged both spiritually and intellectually.

If you can relate to what I am saying then I would like to challenge you to read (or listen to or watch) more vegetables than you do candy. Read some biblical, sound books that will help you grow in your walk with the Lord. Read some biographies of great men and women. See how the Lord has worked in the lives of real men and women to change the world. My personal favorites are missionary biographies. How my short-sighted view on how God works has been deeply challenged by reading about the lives of believers who took a giant leap out of their comfort zone! Or pick up a good classic and stretch your mind with the vocabulary and the complexities of the story. And soon you will find that you, too, have changed your mind’s appetite for candy along with stretching your mind and growing spiritually.

Dave Ramsey says that in 5 years you will be the same person except for the people you meet and the books you read. How are the books you are reading changing you?

P.S. If you’d like a few suggestions of books to get you started, you can check out some of my favorite books here.

I don’t care what you think.

Leave a Comment / March 7, 2011 March 7, 2011

Yes, you read that correctly. Only it’s not true. I sort of wish it was true. But, even though I may state it emphatically at times…I actually DO care what you think.

I think we all care to some extent. Some of us more than others. Some of us are completely driven by what our parents…or spouse…or children…or friends THINK about us. We are concerned that they like us. We want them to think we are “relevant”, “cool”, or at the very least “intelligent”. And this is all fine and good. But not if it comes at the expense of doing the right thing according to scripture.

Caring about what people think is actually what makes sharing our faith and standing for truth most difficult. At least for me. It is easier to just not say anything. Right? Anyone agree with me? I find it so easy to focus on the present (“they will think I am too radical”; “they will think I am not cool”; “they will think I am narrow-minded and intolerant”) instead of keeping my focus on the Truth as presented in God’s Word.

There are SO many out there trying to destroy the Gospel. Through outright lies in the world or through deceptions labeled as “Christian”. We have to keep going back to God’s Word. We have to KNOW it, STUDY it, and LIVE it. We need to proclaim, as Paul did in Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

Only then will we have the confidence to stand up for Christ. Only then can we be used by Him. If we are busy trying to fit in with the world, we will lose many opportunities. If we are busy trying to separate our physical selves from anything to do with the world, we won’t even have opportunities. But if, in contrast, we are busy living lives IN the world but are not OF the world, so that people see that we are DIFFERENT…if we show that we love God and not the things of the world…if we aren’t ashamed or afraid to talk to people about it…if we don’t care what people think…well, that is when we will be most effective for Jesus Christ.

It is all in your perspective.

Leave a Comment / March 3, 2011 August 2, 2014

A dear friend of mine told me of an interesting thing that happened to her recently. Earlier in the week, she had stopped at a fast food restaurant for a quick meal. After she had placed her order, the young clerk asked her if she would like a senior citizen discount. My friend is not a senior citizen. She laughed it off–until it happened again that same week in a different scenario. Only this time she was actually given the discount. She was starting to wonder–was she not feeling well? Maybe she looked more tired than she actually felt?

But her discouragement was erased the following Friday night.

That was when an older lady she had never met asked her a few questions about herself. And then said the glorious words: You look like you are 25. Twenty-five! To this woman, my friend looked like she was 25.

It is truly all in our perspective. When I was a teenager, I thought my parents were OLD. Now that I am the same age as they were then, I still think they are old. But not me. I’m not old. Not yet. And I wonder at my naivete thinking that they were old when they were in their 40s. But I was so young. Not that I thought was young then.

I was thinking that this perspective thing might affect more than how we view someone’s age. Perhaps it transfers into other areas of life. Sometimes we can’t understand why someone responds to a tragedy or crisis in a totally different way than we think we would in the same situation. But perhaps we would respond the same way–if we were looking at it from the same perspective as they were.

A long, long time ago I had a friend who was experiencing some very serious marital issues. I told her kind of flippantly –remember I was so young and rather foolish, too– that I would just leave. I remember her sighing, “You don’t know what you would do if you were in my place.”

You don’t know what you would do.

I have remembered that all of these years. And when I see someone reacting to a situation in a way I believe to be unwise or even just plain stupid– well, I remember what she said. Maybe if I was in that situation, I would do the same thing.

That doesn’t discount our responsibility to confront sin or to come alongside and help our friends. But it should make us much more compassionate and a lot less judgmental.

Today, may we extend compassion to those around us, realizing they are seeing their situation differently than we are. And may we not give senior discounts to anyone who is not a senior!

P.S. My friend is still married to her husband. She wisely stuck it out when it didn’t look like the wise thing to do. I am so glad she didn’t listen to me when I spoke my unwise words–which I thought were so wise at the time.

Feelings…Nothing More Than Feelings

1 Comment / February 28, 2011 February 28, 2011

Do any of you remember that song of…was it the 70s?? I guess you would have to be older than 40 to remember that song. I don’t even know the rest of the song. But that first line…Feelings/Nothing more than feelings…is critical for me to remember today. Maybe for you, too?

I came off of the busiest week of my year (it is like this every year…you’d think I would get used to it!). It is full of preparation and activity and not much housework. When it is finally over and I wake up on Monday morning, I find myself feeling exhausted after all of the activity…feeling discouraged about the housework that is screaming at me to be done….feeling grumpy because I am so tired and discouraged. The question is: will I allow myself to obey those feelings? Or will I obey God’s Word? Will I be short-tempered, impatient, unloving, and selfish? Or will I be long-suffering, kind, and unselfish?

I think all of us are susceptible to giving in to our feelings. They scream inside our heads. Sometimes so loudly that we can’t hear anything else. But if we don’t heed them, it gets easier and easier to ignore them.

It makes me think of Paul and Silas in Acts 16. They were beaten with rods until they had “many stripes” and then they were thrown in prison in an inner cell with their feet in stocks. I can’t help but wonder if…had they given in to their feelings…they would have laid there plagued by discouragement and blaming God for allowing this to happen. I could just see it. “God, how could you have allowed this? We were doing YOUR work and you allowed us to get beaten, thrown in prison? What will become of us? What now? Are we going to die? Are we going to endure more beatings?” They (like I often do) could have stewed about what is to come. They could have (as I often do) dwelled on all the horrible things they had endured and were continuing to endure. They could have blamed God.

But if you read on, you see in verse 25 that they prayed and sang hymns. Prayed and sang hymns. Yes, I wrote that twice on purpose. For my own good. I don’t know about you, but when I am giving in to feelings of discouragement or depression or selfishness or anger, the last thing on my mind is praying or singing hymns (or worship songs!)

I wonder if Paul and Silas sang because they FELT like it…or if they felt like it after they started singing?

And so, today, I hope- instead of focusing on my discouragement and exhaustion…instead of complaining- I hope that I can work above my feelings and be a blessing to my family and friends. I hope you can do the same! Because, after all, they are only feelings. Nothing more than feelings.

Spiritual Wisdom Worth Remembering

Leave a Comment / February 24, 2011 February 24, 2011

H.A. Ironside (1876-1951)
Holiness the False and the True
I have been learning all along my pilgrim journey that the more my heart is taken up with Christ, the more do I enjoy practical deliverance from sin’s power, and the more do I realize what it is to have the love of God shed abroad in that heart by the Holy Spirit given to me, as the earnest of the glory to come. I have found liberty and joy since being thus freed from bondage that I never thought it possible for a soul to know on earth, while I have a confidence in presenting this precious truth for the acceptance of others that contrasts with the uncertainty of the past (p. 33-34).

Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843)
Memoirs of McCheyne, edited by Andrew Bonar
The only way to be kept from falling is to grow. If you stand still, you will fall. Read Proverbs 11:28, ‘The righteous shall flourish as a branch.’ Remember you are not a tree, that can stand alone; you are only a branch, and it is only while you abide in Him, as a branch, that you will flourish. Keep clear your sense of justification; remember it is not your own natural goodness, nor your tears, nor your sanctification that will justify you before God. It is Christ’s sufferings and obedience alone. Seek to be made holier every day; pray, strive, wrestle for the Spirit, to make you like God. Be as much as you can with God. I declare to you that I had rather be one hour with God, than a thousand with the sweetest society on earth or in heaven. All other joys are but streams; God is the fountain: ‘all my springs are in Thee’ (p. 48).
Pray much for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes, to soften your heart, to make Christ lovely and precious, to come and dwell in your hearts, and fit you for glory (p. 99).
Let your soul be filled with a heart-ravishing sense of the sweetness and excellency of Christ and all that is in Him. Let the Holy Spirit fill every chamber of your heart; and so there will be no room for folly, or the world, or Satan, or the flesh (p. 110).
You know what true holiness is. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Let Him dwell in you, and so all His features will shine in your hearts and faces. Oh, to be like Jesus! (p. 112).

Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Spurgeon on Leadership, Steve Miller
As I sat under a wide-spreading beech, I was pleased to mark with prying curiosity the singular habits of that most wonderful of trees, which seems to have an intelligence about it which other trees have not. I wondered and admired the beech, but I thought to myself, I do not think half as much of this beech as yonder squirrel does. I see him leap from bough to bough, and I feel sure that he dearly values the old beech tree, because he has his home somewhere inside it in a hollow place, these branches are his shelter, and those beechnuts are his food. He lives upon the tree. It is his world, his playground, his granary, his home; indeed, it is everything to him, and it is not so to me, for I find my rest and food elsewhere. With God’s Word it is well for us to be like squirrels, living in it and living on it. Let us exercise our minds by leaping from bough to bough of it, and find our rest and food in it, and make it our all in all. There are hiding places in it; comfort and protection are there (p. 107).

R.A. Torrey (1856-1928)
How to Bring Men to Christ
But how is one to get a love for souls? This question is easily answered. First of all, a love for souls like every other Christian grace of Christian character, is the work of the Holy Spirit. If then we are conscious that we do not have that love for souls that we should have, the first thing to do is to go to God and humbly confess this lack in our lives and ask Him by His Holy Spirit to supply that which we so sorely need, and expect Him to do it (1 Jn 5:14,15; Phil. 4:19). In the second place Jesus Christ had an intense love for souls (Matt 23:37; Lk 19:10), and intimate and constant companionship with Him will impart to our lives this grace which was so prominent in His (p. 9).

John Newton (1725-1807)
Letters of John Newton
But how then may the Lord’s guidance be expected? After what has been premised negatively, the question may be answered in a few words. In general, He guides and directs His people, by affording them in answer to prayer, the light of his Holy Spirit, which enables them to understand and to love the Scriptures. The Word of God is not to be used as a lottery; nor is it designed to instruct us by shreds and scraps, which detached from their proper places, have no determinate import; but it is to furnish us with just principles, right apprehensions to regulate our judgments and affections, and thereby to influence and direct our conduct. They who study the Scriptures, in a humble dependence upon divine teaching, are convinced of their own weakness, are taught to make a true estimate of everything around them, are gradually formed into a spirit of submission to the will of God, discover the nature and duties of their several situations and relations in life, and the snares and temptations to which they are exposed. The Word of God dwells richly in them, is a preservative from error, a light to their feet, and a spring of strength and conslotation. By treasuring up the doctrines, precepts, promises, examples, and exhortations of Scripture, in their minds, and daily comparing themselves with the rule by which they walk, they grow into a habitual frame of spiritual wisdom, and acquire a gracious taste, which enables them to judge of right and wrong with a degree of readiness and certainty, as a musical ear judges of sounds. And they are seldom mistaken, because they are influenced by the love of Christ, which rules in their hearts, and a regard to the glory of God, which is the great object they have in view (p. 81-82).

Anonymous
Sitting at the feet of Jesus, Where can mortal be more blest?
There I lay my sins and sorrows, And, when weary, find sweet rest.
Sitting at the feet of Jesus, There I love to weep and pray
While I from His fullness gather, Grace and comfort every day.
Bless me, O my Savior, bless me, As I sit low at Thy feet!
O look down in love upon me, Let me see Thy face so sweet!
Give me, Lord, the mind of Jesus, Make me holy as He is
May I prove I’ve been with Jesus, Who is all my righteousness.