When you have loved somebody for a very long time, it is a special relationship. Perhaps it is a spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling, or childhood friend that you have known and loved for decades. You share lots of memories and events between you that nobody else can enjoy in the same way. In some cases, that person knew you, before you knew them, as in the case of parents.
In this quote, Spurgeon points out that our relationship with our Savior, Jesus, is special. He knew us, loved us, died for our sins, and chose us, before we knew Him. In Romans 5:8 it says that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
As we look back into the ancient past, we see that “broad stream of our gracious Lord” flowing to us. This is love so deep that we should seek to nurture the relationship to our Savior with great passion and energy.
Dear Lord, As I continue to grow into a greater understanding of what you have done for me down through the ages, and how you have loved me before I even knew you, help me to respond with praise and thanksgiving for such a wonderful gift. 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.
These past years have been a financial struggle for us, as it has for many of you. Financial struggles, however, seem to teach us how to depend on God to meet our needs.
One of the things we did was to drop the cable TV expense. Interestingly, my wife and I, and three kids don’t seem to miss it much. We are finding more time to play games, read and be with friends. Let me mention here guys, that we aren’t sports fans, so the withdrawal wasn’t as painful as it could have been.
As we learn to depend on God for our needs, many times there are side blessings and benefits. A little humility or sacrifice isn’t a bad thing in terms of growing in Christ.
Dear Lord, help us to understand that your grace is sufficient for all our needs. Let deeper dependence on you bring forth fruit that will glorify you. Amen.
Charles H. Spurgeon, 1834-1892, was the foremost preacher of the 19th century. His many sermons, devotions, and books bring a unique, inspiring, and spiritual significance to biblical truth. What is most surprising is that Spurgeon had no formal theological training. Even so, he became widely recognized for his insight and prowess in biblical teaching.
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.
Sometimes is doesn’t happen right away – turning mourning into dancing. A deep grief, difficult situations, or failure can take a while to work through.
An encouraging word from my precious wife, kids or friends helps a great deal. After time, the sackcloth is loosed and I can begin to dance, like the sea otters dancing in the water in the picture.
Helping others also works its wonders in my own heart. It helps me to be clothed with gladness, as the Psalmist says. Notice that praise and thanks are products of this change from mourning to dancing.
Dear Lord, help me to dance, and help me to be an encouragement to others, so that we may sing your praise and give thanks to you forever! Amen.
I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 30 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 delivers another zinger with this quote. He had a genius for teasing politicians without offending. We also find Rogers’ quotes as relevant today as they were in the 1930s. I don’t like to fish myself, but I’m sure that if I did it would keep me out of trouble!
I took this picture at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, OK this spring. It was a beautiful sunrise behind the statue of Will Rogers.
The museum is a great family destination. The exhibits are great. I couldn’t walk by one of the video exhibits without stopping to watch for a few minutes. It featured a movie showing some of Will Rogers’ roping tricks. Some of his tricks have never been duplicated.
I spent three days in the archives collecting images for the iPhone app. The staff was great and without their help the project wouldn’t have been possible.
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.
It constantly amazes me that the Psalmist can capture our deepest emotions in words across the ages. “Out of the depths” describes so many situations in my life – financial problems, relationship issues, dangerous situations, etc. “Lord, hear my voice!”
But, I also know that God is a holy God. I don’t want to approach Him when I am ashamed of the sin in my life. It takes faith to believe that “there is forgiveness with You,” as the Psalmist says. We know that forgiveness before God comes from the work of Jesus on the cross.
It’s hard to have faith from the depths, but God hasn’t left us alone. The Holy Spirit can help us and comfort us – he can even give us the faith we need. The image on the left is from a deep canyon filled with broken rocks. Let’s ask the Lord to help lift us up and set things right.
Dear Lord, out of the depths I call upon you! Give me the faith to believe you have provided forgiveness through Christ. Help me through these difficult situations. Amen.
I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 130 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.
When you are in the military, water is important, just like it was to the children of Israel. It is necessary to sustain life, and must be supplied for an army to move. In the Navy, water must also be controlled and used as part of everyday operations. Ships float above it, submarines travel beneath it, giant propellers move it, and reactors are cooled by it.
The young cadet in this dramatic image is learning first-hand about the power of water, and how to bring it back under control. The training is messy and challenging, but vital to the safety of the crew and conduct of their mission.
In Exodus 6:7 God promised to bring His people into the promised land, but once on their way, the multitude needed help to sustain life. They needed food and water every day. If God were to fulfill His promise, He had to provide a way for them to get to the land of promise. If the children of Israel were to get to the promised land, they had to trust in God’s promise.
The desert is a barren place, with lots of rocks strewn about. It’s an unlikely place to find water, but the children of Israel had to have water. If they all died of thirst in the desert, then God’s holy promise would not be fulfilled. Did Israel learn a lesson about faith that day?
Even though the Children of Israel grumbled against God in Exodus 17 because there was no water to drink, God, in His mercy, still provided. God controlled the water by opening the rock, and kept His promise.
Dear Lord, I have many needs, and I don’t always trust you. Help me to have faith that you are God, my God, and that you will provide all of my needs as I travel this earthly path to heaven, my promised land. You are the water of life (John 4:14). Amen.
Psalm 105:41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river. 42 For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant. 43 So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing. Image info: NORFOLK (Dec. 7, 2009) Junior ROTC cadets from Virginia Beach, Va. receive hands-on training inside the Damage Control Wet Trainer at the Submarine Learning Facility in Norfolk. The trainer is designed to help submariners prepare for deployments by simulating flooding in a controlled environment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael Billings/Released)
I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 105:41 and the accompanying image taken from the Navy 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.
When I was young, I was a Navy brat. My father was a career military man and we lived in a number of different places, including abroad. We also travelled across Europe, following his ship from port to port.
I’ve seen the beautiful cathedrals, Roman ruins and great works of art. I’ve also observed the cultures, but there’s something truly special about being an American.
As usual, Will has a great point to make with the accompanying quote. If we truly understand the greatness of our country by not only seeing our national parks, Washington, D.C., etc., but also understanding the uniqueness of our form of government and the freedoms we have, it will help us put things in better perspective when we travel abroad. Not that we should be filled with an arrogant pride, but rather that we should be filled with thanksgiving for the blessings God has given us.
Will was a true cowboy. He loved roping and herding cattle, but I don’t think he ever worked a steer as large as “Big Jim” in this image.
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 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.
It’s not popular to directly talk about and deal with sin in our lives, but in this quote, Spurgeon admonishes us to deal with it head on. We shouldn’t even laugh at it.
The sea otter in the image is always playful and upbeat. We should be too, but it shouldn’t include dabbling in sin, even as a joke. Folks, I’m preaching to myself too! Our sinful nature tries to justify and overlook it. It’s a constant struggle, isn’t it?
We don’t have to look further than the TV or a click of the mouse to know that we are bombarded with images and situations promoting sinful thoughts and action. Movie and TV producers seem to promote compromising or sinful situations as normal or humorous.
In our struggle with sin, we must understand that we are not alone. The Holy Spirit can bring us strength, help and comfort, plus we can pray with and for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Also, we must be humble enough to admit to God that we have a sin problem. Finally, we must realize what the stakes are. Spurgeon says we must “evidence the possession of holiness, without which no man can see the Lord.” Are we growing in grace each day?
Dear Lord, Come to my aid in the battle against sin in my life. Sins roots go deep, but your love goes deeper. Help me grow in grace each day. 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.
Will RogersAfter being focused “like a laser beam” on jobs, this administration finally gave up and told us that high and rising unemployment was going to be the “new normal.” The “substantial help,” as Will Rogers puts it in his quote, was to keep extending unemployment benefits.
Common sense from Washington has always been in short supply, but do you suppose that injecting uncertainty into the economy might have something to do with many of our problems. Uncertainty over healthcare, drilling, energy, trade relations, manufacturing, insurance, banking, etc. are killing jobs.
If you don’t slop the hogs every day, they start to get cranky, and if businesses can’t depend on reliable and predictable policy coming from Washington, they get cranky too. They have to lay off people to survive.
People are getting cranky too. After so many broken promises, they don’t have much faith in the rhetoric coming from Congress. Perhaps that’s why they voted to throw so many politicians out of office in the last election. They should have known that if you can’t slop a hog right, you don’t know how to treat people right.
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.
About three months ago [August 2010] I became a grandpa. Our oldest daughter and son-in-law had their first baby. Staying up through the night will be part of their lives for a period of time, and I remember the days when our daughter kept us up at night. To be honest, my wife usually stayed up.
I got to hold my grandson for the first time recently. There was a feeling of contentedness and thanksgiving to God for such a wonderful blessing.
Caring for children is the high calling of parenthood. Praying for your child as you “serve by night” can make it a special time. Praise goes with it as you consider the blessings of being a parent. Bless the Lord!
May the Lord bless you young parents! “He who made heaven and earth.”
I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 134 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.
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I like the way this image and quote match. Trying to count grains of sand scooped up in your hand is difficult. Trying to count grains in mile upon mile of desert sand is a number so vast we can’t comprehend it. Even so are the precious thoughts of God toward us as the Psalm brings to our mind.
This quote and image are from the Psalm Daily Quote NIV iPhone app available on the Apple iTunes Store. I hope it will be a blessing to you.
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.
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 arms that would comfort us when upset, and protect us when threatened. It is the instinct of a parent to protect a child from harm by wrapping their arms around the child, in times of trouble.
To a young child, the arms of the parent are strong. To the child, a father’s arms are the strongest in the whole world. The same arms that can lift heavy weights and wield hammer and tong, can gently lay a sleeping child to rest.
In this picture, there is power to destroy in the waves and rocks. No ship would dare to venture there. On our TV sets, we can witness first-hand the power of nature in natural disasters. We can see and feel the fear from events such as earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, tsunamis, and great storms.
Yet even in the midst of such violent natural disasters, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” If God cares about us in the midst of big events, perhaps He even cares about all the little things that happen to us.
Dear Lord, Wrap me in your arms, not only during the times of turmoil, but also during the little trials that come during each day. Be my refuge during them all. Amen.
I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 46 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.
My prayers always seem to be most earnest when I’m in the midst of a difficulty, when I’m sinking, or when I’ve gone under. When Peter was distracted by the wind and waves in Matthew 14 he began to sink. At that point Peter cried out for Jesus to save him.
I’m so thankful that even when we get distracted, Jesus is merciful and hears our frantic prayers. May the Lord help us to remain focused on Him!
I chose this picture of the walrus to go with the Spurgeon quote. This strange creature doesn’t look like it should float, yet it is perfectly adapted for the water.
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.
How hard is it to seek God? How hard is it to praise God? It takes some effort, but that effort is pleasing to God. Plus, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Anyone can seek God. No matter the situation. Start by prayer, reading the Scriptures, look for Christian fellowship, listen to …
I forget lots of things, people’s names, phone numbers, where I left the keys, important papers, etc. I didn’t mention family birthdays, because some things you don’t dare forget! Things that are close to me, aren’t forgotten as easily, like family relationships. When others become a part of my circle of friends, it takes a …
Will RogersLike Will Rogers says, when Congress adjourns you can count it a blessing. Well, almost. You see, the problem is that during their recess, they all return to their districts where they stir up trouble with fundraising and campaign speeches. The only way to get rid of them is for them to return to …
“Before the first of the stars began to shine!” We were on God’s mind in eternity past, when the covenant was formed, and Jesus expressed his love for each of us (his elect) as he became party to it. Can we even begin to comprehend ages so vast, or love so deep? Words and images …
Will RogersIt’s impossible to add much to a Will Rogers quote like this one! Over the past couple of years, we have watched an overactive congress pass a boatload of some of the most controversial and unpopular legislation ever. Along with that, they have spent and borrowed more money than even a drunken sailor could imagine. …
There’s just something about the word “duty” that bugs me. It conjures up endless drudgery and work, that takes me away from other things I would rather be doing. Yet there is something important that comes of duty. John Quincy Adams said: “Duty is ours, results are God’s.” What we do in service to God, …
Will RogersWill Rogers was a champion of the downtrodden and unfortunate who suffered in the aftermath of economic downturns and hardships. He tirelessly raised money for the Red Cross to help those who had been affected by natural disasters, especially farmers who suffered during the “dust bowl.” In spite of his fame, Will Rogers was …
Don’t you wish you could be like the sea otter in the picture? Not a care in the world. Even catching food looks like a game for these fun-loving creatures. Burdens come in many forms, relationships, financial, school work, pressure at the job, child rearing, and many others. They stick to us like Velcro to …
Will RogersThe week prior to the date of this quote was the week the stock market crashed in 1929. Leave it to Will Rogers to find a bit of humor in such times. The Roaring ’20s was a time of prosperity and optimism that expressed itself in not only the culture, but the rising stock …
When I think of the the “love of God,” I find it easy to let the thought pass without much reflection. Three words that make up a simple, well worn phrase just don’t seem to carry much weight in our culture these days. Spurgeon’s quote gives us a view of the infinitely vast reach of …
