Forgiveness is in short supply in this world. It seems to be easier for some people to forgive than others. When someone spreads lies about you among friends or in the press, can you forgive them? Prominent politicians experience this regularly. What would I do in that case?
There is something deeply spiritual about being wronged or slandered. Likewise forgiveness is a spiritual experience. Can we respond with kindness borne of genuine forgiveness? Without God’s help it is impossible since it is contrary to our nature. The good news is that God understands our situation.
But it gets complicated. What about unforgiveness in families and among relatives. What about within churches or at work? My spouse hurt me deeply, and I just can’t forgive the wrong.
Whenever I think God doesn’t understand my situation, I am drawn to the cross for answers and comfort. The crucifixion was the single most unjust act in all of history. An innocent (and sinless) man was killed because of the malice and hatred of his enemies. On the cross Jesus uttered the words: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
God understands forgiveness! God can help us with forgiveness because Jesus lived it to his dying breath. As Spurgeon says, by returning kindness for evil you “heap coals of fire on the head of your foe.” Not only does forgiveness affect you, it affects others.
Dear Lord, When someone wrongs me, help me learn to forgive. Help me to be godlike, so that people may say: “He has been with Jesus.” Amen.
I hope you have been blessed by this quote and the accompanying image taken from the Spurgeon Daily Quotes iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.
What a glorious Psalm about God’s goodness. To ponder such great goodness, brings about praise as the Psalmist says: “Your saints will extol you.” Not only is God good now, but His goodness extends through all generations and beyond.
Sometimes I struggle with why so many bad things happen to me. Bad things are all around me, death of loved ones, job loss, family strife, natural disasters and so much more. How can God be good if that is the case?
In this fallen world, the real miracle is that anything good can happen at all! The good we see in this life is a glimpse of God’s goodness and love toward us. It is the undoing of the curse of sin. Many times we find that something good comes out of a seemingly bad situation. Even for this we can praise God.
If you look at the life of Jesus, you see the undoing of the effects of sin through healings, mastery over wind and waves, changed hearts and lives, and many other miracles. For the good things Jesus did, what was his reward? He was crucified by evil men.
All the evil in this world could not overcome the goodness of God however. After the crucifixion came the resurrection.
Dear Lord, Show me your goodness, that I might praise you. Save me from this sinful world through the work of Jesus on the cross. Raise me from the dead and give me new life. Amen.
I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 145 and the accompanying image taken from the Psalm Daily Quotes NIV iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.
Some people are under the impression that it is possible to be fully sanctified this side of heaven. Is it really possible to be without sin in our daily lives here on earth?
Perhaps when I am older I could isolate myself from the cares of this world. I could live without sin and temptation and simply commune with Jesus until he returns or I die. In the past, monks and nuns separated themselves from the world in order to live a more perfect life before God.
Experience, common sense, the Scriptures, and Spurgeon tell us that in this life there will always be temptation and sin. There will always be a struggle with the flesh for the christian, even after a lifetime of serving God.
Spurgeon’s imagery in this quote drives home the point! “The great dog of hell will bark at you still.” The christian cannot avoid temptation, even through seclusion. Spurgeon points out that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness while alone.
What can we do? We can pray “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” We can trust God to not let us be tempted above our ability to endure it. (I Corinthians 10:13) If we do fall, we can repent and ask for forgiveness: “forgive us our debts.” (Matthew 6:12)
Dear Lord, Help me to draw closer to you each day, so that when the “great dog of hell” barks, I may resist temptation, and if I do sin that I may find forgiveness through Jesus. Amen.
If you are struggling with sin, and don’t have a relationship with Jesus as your savior, take a moment and pray for his forgiveness and help. Begin reading the Bible. I suggest starting with the gospel of John in the New Testament. Also, ask God to lead you to other christians for fellowship.
I hope you have been blessed by this quote and the accompanying image taken from the Spurgeon Daily Quotes iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.
This is one of Will Rogers’ most famous quotes, and it’s probably just as true today as in 1930.
I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.
Well, the hyenas are laughing these days according to this Will Rogers quote! The current administration must be full of them. There’s just no other way to explain the mess we’re in.
The problem is that the idea of this being a “good administration” as Will Rogers says seems to be nothing more than an illusion. When you pull back the curtain, or even casually look into the facts we find that the Washington rhetoric doesn’t match reality.
The spin they try to put on their policies provides more material than a good humorist can possibly keep up with. Take this quote from our Vice President: “Just because the Recovery Act was a monumental failure, does not mean that it is not working.” Or how about when the former Speaker of the House said that “We need to pass this bill so we can find out what’s in it.”
We can only hope that the laughing hyenas in this “great administration” don’t cause more damage before the next election. If the “breaks” are with us, perhaps the next administration will bring back some good old common sense to government and the laughing hyenas can go laugh somewhere else.
Image Information Will Rogers is pictured on a movie set. Over his career, Will Rogers starred in 48 silent films and 21 movies with sound (talkies). At the time of his death in 1935 he was one of the top box office draws, second only to a very young Shirley Temple.
The image was taken directly from pictures at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum archive. I apologize for the quality of the image, but this is exactly what the 1920s photo looked like when I scanned it. In the hundreds of images contained in this iPhone application, I wanted to share as many different Will Rogers photos as possible from as wide a variety of times and situations – movies, cowboy, vaudeville, with famous people, and family scenes.
Will Rogers is a man worth remembering, and quoting. His wit, humor and insight into life will amaze and astonish you. His life will inspire you. Watch for new blog posts from my Will Rogers quotes collection.
I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers Daily Quotes iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.
A lot of times, I don’t think to praise God because of the cares of this world – stress, strained relationships, financial difficulties, physical pain, weariness, etc.
Elsie, the cow in this picture doesn’t seem to have any cares. She has water, grass and hay; a large green pasture and lots of friends. Even in the winter, in difficult times as far as I can tell, Elsie the cow doesn’t seem to worry. Suppose all of my worries and burdens could be lifted. Then I could freely give praise to the Lord. Sounds like heaven to me.
In Psalm 146 the Psalmist gives exuberant praise to God right here on earth – “while I have my being.” Don’t worry about other things, but freely give praise to the Lord.
Dear Lord, help me to freely praise you, in all circumstances, at all times. Amen.
I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 146 and the accompanying image taken from the Psalm Daily Quotes NASB iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.
Will RogersI’ve driven by golf courses at various times and wondered why people were out there in the middle of the work day. After reading this Will Rogers’ quote, I think I understand. They’re vagrants!
Actually, I don’t think Will Rogers was patient enough to play such a slow moving game as golf. He would much rather be spinning his lasso, riding a horse, playing polo, flying somewhere, performing for a crowd, or playing with his kids.
If all the vagrants were chased off the golf course, Will would give them a hammer, nails, barbed wire and a shovel and take them out to fix fences on the back forty. Why waste time chasing a ball around when you could be working?
Another reason I believe Will Rogers didn’t like golf is because he couldn’t take his typewriter out on the golf course. At a ball game he could at least type out his daily and weekly newspaper columns between pitches.
Well, after all these years, golf isn’t dead. The next time you drive by a golf course, wave to the vagrants, be glad you’ve got work to do, and do it with energy and passion, just like Will Rogers did.
Image Information: Will Rogers was an expert with the lasso. This image shows him performing one of his rope tricks.
The image was taken directly from pictures at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum archive. I apologize for the quality of the image, but this is exactly what the 1920s photo looked like when I scanned it. In the hundreds of images contained in this iPhone application, I wanted to share as many different Will Rogers photos as possible from as wide a variety of times and situations – movies, cowboy, vaudeville, with famous people, and family scenes.
Will Rogers is a man worth remembering, and quoting. His wit, humor and insight into life will amaze and astonish you. His life will inspire you. Watch for new blog posts from my Will Rogers quotes collection.
I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.
Being searched at the airport now days is quite an experience. Your bags are checked with X-ray machines, and full-body scans render you naked on somebody’s screen. You body and possessions are fully exposed to try and determine if you are a terrorist threat.
The one thing that they can’t do at the airport security station is determine the intent of your heart. If they could do that, no other security measure would be needed.
Exposing yourself to airport security is humiliating, which is why there is so much controversy about it. The Psalmist, however, says “Search me, O God, and know my heart.” This is a much deeper exposure and intimacy which takes a great deal of humility.
Our tendency is to want to hide ourselves from God, just like Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves in the garden after eating the forbidden fruit. Opening up to the Lord can bring great blessings though. The Psalmist asks “lead me in the everlasting way.” The image shows a beautiful, peaceful wooded path to go with this Psalm.
Dear Lord, Help me to open up to you, even if just a little. Search me and know my heart, and help me to know you better. Lead me in your path and teach me your ways. Amen.
I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 139 and the accompanying image taken from the Psalm Daily Quotes NASB iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.
A group of students from Taylor University were in Egypt for the spring semester, but their stay was cut short by the recent unrest. One of the young ladies is a friend of our family, and we followed the situation closely. We prayed for her safety as Americans were evacuated from Cairo, and the group was finally able to flee to Turkey.
The unrest in Egypt made it dangerous for foreigners and religious groups to stay. Innocent people had been killed at their place of worship. In an instant, you could become an enemy of an angry crowd because of your race or religion. You could be harmless and helpless, as the fawn in the picture, but still become the object of hatred and violence.
I’m sure that Psalm 18 becomes relevant to these students, with the possibility that violence could erupt around them at any moment. They were rescued from violent men and saved from their enemies.
The Psalmists response is praise. Exuberant praise! “O Lord; I will sing praises to your name.” I’m sure these students and their parents are praising God for their deliverance from possible harm.
Our deliverance might not be quite so dramatic, but should our praise be any less? If God can deliver us from small things, then He can deliver us from any thing. We can especially praise God each day for delivering us from our sins through Jesus.
Dear Lord, I praise you for my deliverance and protection. I praise you especially for your great salvation through Jesus Christ your son. Amen.
I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 18 and the accompanying image taken from the Psalm Daily Quotes NIV iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.
Will RogersYou’re not going to believe this, but my birthday is October 31. When I was a kid I remember getting dressed up for trick-or-treat. Actually, the costume was important for one thing, access to candy. When it was all over, the costume came off and I enjoyed the fruit of my labor.
I think Will Rogers has it just about right – combine Halloween and election day. Now days though, the politicians put on their costume for the duration of the election season. Costumes don’t come off until after election day (or after the recount). Politicians come to my door in costume asking for candy. They look for skeletons in closets. They play “tricks” on people they don’t like. Kind of scary, isn’t it?
I never tried putting a pumpkin on my head for Halloween, but some candidates seem to have the same terrifying expression frozen on their face day after day. I think they use Botox these days, but no candidate will either confirm or deny its use. I don’t think I want to be there when the pumpkin head comes off! I suppose we should just enjoy the fun as Will Rogers suggests, and be glad when the holiday is over.
I’ve heard of campaigns passing out cigarettes for votes. That won’t work for me because I don’t smoke – but I might just vote for chocolate.
Will Rogers is a man worth remembering, and quoting. His wit, humor and insight into life will amaze and astonish you. His life will inspire you. Watch for new blog posts from my Will Rogers quotes collection.
I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.
Folks, you just gotta love Will Rogers! Here’s a classic quote about war and the Federal Reserve from 1929 that still rings true today.
The Federal Reserve (The Fed) is responsible for conducting the nation’s monetary policy to help maintain employment, keep prices stable, and keep interest rates relatively low. The poor folks running The Fed have their hands full, with the prices of corn, grits and gas going up, unemployment going up, and who knows what’s going to happen with inflation and interest rates.
The Fed has to react to an administrations that is trying to run the economy by stimulatin’, regulatin’, legislatin’, and bloviatin’. Businesses don’t know where the administration will strike next.
They tried to stimulate the economy with “shovel-ready jobs,” but the president just admitted that they weren’t quite as “shovel-ready as we expected.” The EPA is going bonkers with new regulations to eliminate the threat of “global warming” by shutting down the coal and oil industry. Congress passed unconstitutional health care legislation which threatens to destroy the best health care system in the world. The bloviator-in-chief keeps proclaiming “recovery” while the vice-bloviator famously proclaimed: “Just because the stimulus was a monumental failure, doesn’t mean it’s not working.”
And what about war, or wars? This gets a bit confusing these days. Depending on how you define “hostilities” we might be in two, three or four wars. Our Nobel-Peace-Prize-Winner-in-Chief wants us to refrain from “torturing” captured enemy terrorists with water-boarding, but putting a bullet in the brain of a Osama bin Laden is ok. What’s a business to do? If you manufacture water-boards, you are going out of business, but if you make bullets you will survive.
Will Rogers is right, again! Businesses are on a wild roller coaster ride, just tryin’ to stay on the tracks. They’re watching The Fed closely and hoping we don’t get into yet another war, or even another “hostility.”
In this image, Will Rogers is holding his son and spinning his lasso at the same time.
The image was taken directly from pictures at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum archive. I apologize for the quality of the image, but this is exactly what the 1920s photo looked like when I scanned it. In the hundreds of images contained in this iPhone application, I wanted to share as many different Will Rogers photos as possible from as wide a variety of times and situations – movies, cowboy, vaudeville, with famous people, and family scenes.
Will Rogers is a man worth remembering, and quoting. His wit, humor and insight into life will amaze and astonish you. His life will inspire you. Watch for new blog posts from my Will Rogers quotes collection.
I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers Daily Quotes iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.
When I went to vote, I had to stand in line. I don’t like to wait, I’m pretty impatient. I did get to visit with friends, but I would rather have been on my way.
There’s no better picture of patience than the penguin. Male penguins sit atop their nest for weeks in order to protect their eggs. They can’t move or the eggs will freeze, so they sit patiently, through storm and bitter cold.
Waiting for the Lord is tough, but Psalm 27 admonishes us to take courage. God’s timetable is not our own and with patience He begins to align our timetable with His. We might think it is too late, but God is right on time with the answer.
Dear Lord, help me to be patient, let my heart take courage as I trust in you, even through storm and bitter cold. Amen.
I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 27 and the accompanying image taken from the Psalm Daily Quotes ESV iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.
Will Rogers is a genius! In February of 1932 he issued this quote as an observation and warning to Congress. It’s so simple: don’t spend money, until you know where it’s coming from. Even a child can figure out that you can’t spend money you don’t have.
Sad thing is, Congress never got the message. With this blog post, I’ll try and send Will’s message again. Here goes:
Hey Congress! “Every time we appropriate something we got to pass another bill along with it stating where the money is coming from.”
Up until I just resent Will’s message, you would have thought that the brilliant money men in the current administration and Congress were drunken sailors throwing money at anything and everything. They call it “stimulus” spending, but the only thing that got stimulated was the federal printing presses that churn out money.
Well, the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve said the stimulus didn’t help the economy, and the current Chairman said he doesn’t know what’s going on or how to fix it. The (formerly tax avoiding) Treasury Secretary is getting ready to jump ship, and the VP said that “just because the stimulus was a monumental failure, doesn’t mean it’s not working.” The President says we need to get used to a “new normal.”
It’s said that a fool is often parted from his money, but in this case, the fools parted us from OUR money! I hope we are able to some day soon send honest folks to Washington with some good old Will Rogers’ common sense before it’s too late.
This picture of Will Rogers entering the seaplane piloted by famous aviator Wiley Post is among the last photographs taken of Rogers before the fatal crash in Alaska on August 15, 1935.
The image was taken directly from pictures at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum archive. I apologize for the quality of the image, but this is exactly what the 1920s photo looked like when I scanned it. In the hundreds of images contained in this iPhone application, I wanted to share as many different Will Rogers photos as possible from as wide a variety of times and situations – movies, cowboy, vaudeville, with famous people, and family scenes.
Will Rogers is a man worth remembering, and quoting. His wit, humor and insight into life will amaze and astonish you. His life will inspire you. Watch for new blog posts from my Will Rogers quotes collection.
I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers Daily Quotes iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.
Our form of government is truly amazing. Power peacefully changes hands as often as every four years. Votes and not machine guns determine the outcome of elections. If you don’t approve of who is in office, there’s always the next election.
The image is from one of Rogers’ silent movies called Jubilo from February 1920. Rogers plays a lazy roving hobo who encounters a rancher’s pretty daughter and reforms, slowly, painfully, but completely.
I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.
Will RogersWill Rogers is famous for his good old-fashioned common sense. If there was ever a Will Rogers quote that highlights the utter foolishness and irresponsibility of the way the Congress has spent our taxpayer money, and borrowed against our future generations, it is here.
Since Will Rogers published this quote in 1932, Congress hasn’t learned this simple lesson – “don’t spend money, if you don’t know where it’s coming from.” I don’t know what the opposite of common sense is, but Congress has taken it to the extreme.
So how does Congress get away with such reckless spending? Easy, call it by some fancy sounding name. How about “stimulus” or Keynesian Economics.
Only the very brightest economic minds in Congress and the administration should be making such important decisions on the economy, Right? Only they are qualified to make such important economic decisions for the rest of us. In fact, right now we are hearing that the massive stimulus spending “worked” and we need to spend more to “finish” the job!
In the meantime, the rest of us balance our checkbooks every month and carry the freight for the lack of common sense in Congress.
Image Information: This picture was taken during the Will Rogers-Wiley Post ill-fated Alaska trip in August of 1935. These would be some of the last pictures of Will Rogers.
Will Rogers is a man worth remembering, and quoting. His wit, humor and insight into life will amaze and astonish you. His life will inspire you. Watch for new blog posts from my Will Rogers quotes collection.
I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.
A refuge is a place of safety and shelter. It is a place that offers protection from any dangers that may affect us from outside. It is a place where we can find rest. An example of refuge for many of us, would be the arms of our parents when we were young. They were …
This quote from Will Rogers in March of 1932 is certainly relevant today! Sometimes when I read one of his brilliant humorous quotes, I have to laugh out loud. But as I ponder the meaning, it sends a chill up my spine. This is one of those quotes. One of the reasons it costs so …
Folks, you just gotta love Will Rogers! Here’s a classic quote about war and the Federal Reserve from 1929 that still rings true today. The Federal Reserve (The Fed) is responsible for conducting the nation’s monetary policy to help maintain employment, keep prices stable, and keep interest rates relatively low. The poor folks running The …
In Will Rogers’ day, they had organized crime problems. Today, we have domestic terrorism threats. Perhaps there’s not much difference when you have people wanting to kill each other. The quote from Will Rogers indicates that the killing and hate don’t end at the prison door. Inside the prison, the hatred and struggle for power …
What a glorious Psalm about God’s goodness. To ponder such great goodness, brings about praise as the Psalmist says: “Your saints will extol you.” Not only is God good now, but His goodness extends through all generations and beyond. Sometimes I struggle with why so many bad things happen to me. Bad things are all …
We don’t think much about the importance of rivers today, as we drive comfortably across bridges in air conditioned cars sipping from a bottle of clean water. To folks in the 19th century and earlier, rivers were their source of life-giving water. To have convenient access to a clean, clear, abundant supply of river water …
Politicians and candidates that don’t tell the truth really are to be pitied. Reporters and news organizations that make up stories and repeat the lies of the candidates are also to be pitied. Interestingly, it seems that the mainstream press seems to attack, without mercy, candidates that tell the truth. Every detail of their lives, …
In this beautiful photograph you can see the effect of the sunlight as it lights up the sky. Beautiful shapes and colors emerge, where before there was nothing but blackness. We need God’s light to guide us, and we also need His truth. The Psalmist asks that they guide him to God’s dwelling. We cannot …
Have you ever felt the exuberant joy described in Psalm 47? Have you ever been overwhelmed with the wonder of the greatness of God that you just had to praise Him? I’ve been in audiences where the person on stage received a standing ovation. We clapped and shouted. Everyone had a smile on their face. …
This Will Rogers quote must be true. How else do you explain how legislators get reelected after scandalous behavior or legislating against the will of the people. It’s just astonishing that some of these politicians have any credibility left, but they keep getting elected. It’s as regular and predictable as the milking schedule on a …
