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Quotes to Ponder
The Heart of the Matter
"Lord, in my struggle, help me find the time to spend with you regularly, constantly, to live before your Holy Presence--fasting, praying, studying and meditating on your Word." This prayer went to the heart of the matter - I was aching to find the time to spend with God regularly, constantly, to live before His Holy Presence!!!
Do you remember the part in Robinson Crusoe when Robinson Crusoe first starts to read the Bible, really read the Bible? ...
July 4. - In the morning I took the Bible, and beginning at the New Testament, I began seriously to read it, and imposed upon myself to read awhile every morning and every night, not tying myself to the number of chapters, but as long as my thoughts should engage me. It was not long after I set seriously to this work, but I found my heart more deeply and sincerely affected with the wickedness of my past life. ...
This was the first time that I could say, in the true sense of the words, that I prayed in all my life; for now I prayed with a sense of my condition, and with a true Scripture view of hope founded on the encouragement of the Word of God; and from this time, I may say, I began to have hope that God would hear me.
It isn't just making the time to read the Bible or to pray, it is the seriousness of that commitment, the condition of my heart. I grew up with a Bible on my nightstand, my mother reading us Bible stories, and hearing the Scriptures read every week in church. When I was born of the flesh the Bible was just a storybook, but now that I am born of the Spirit, the Word of God is living, productive, piercing, critical of my heart, and penetrating, as Dr. David Jeremiah of Turning Point, a wonderful radio ministry program, recently preached.
There is an hunger that a Christian has for the Word of God, for time spent before His Holy Presence. Why do we have this hunger? In Lord, Only You Can Change Me , one of Kay Arthur's wonderful study guides from the "Lord" series, Kay Arthur writes,
It's true, only God can change you. And He not only can, but He will. It is the strong desire of His heart. As you pursue Him with all your might, you will find that He is the One who has been pursuing you!
The Lord pursuing us, giving us a heart full of desire for Him and His Word! God bless you this week as you spend time in His Holy Presence!!
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. - Psalm 51:6
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. - Genesis 17:1
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. - Isaiah 55:11
December 14, 1998
© 1998 by Kathy Ridpath
Please ask for permission to reprint this article, ridpath@chfweb.com. Thank you!
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Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
Illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
I love this edition of Robinson Crusoe which is illustrated by N.C.Wyeth. This has been a huge success as a family read aloud. Having read an abridged version as a child, I felt as though I was reading this story for the first time through this unabridged, illustrated edition. --Kathy Ridpath
School & Library Binding:
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Lord, Only You Can Change Me
('Lord' Bible Study Series)
by Kay Arthur
Paperback:
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"And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord;
and great shall be the peace of thy children."
Isaiah 54:13
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