Getting Through the Day - Sarah Young

Let Me help you get through this day.

There are many possible paths to travel between your getting up in the morning and your lying down at night.

Stay alert to the  many choices along the way, being continually aware of My Presence.

You will get through this day one way or the other.

One way is to moan and groan, stumbling along with shuffling feet.

This will get you to the end of the day eventually, but there is a better way.

You can choose to walk with Me along the path of Peace, leaning on Me as much as you need.

There will still be difficulties along the way, but you can face them confidently in My strength.

Thank Me for each problem you encounter, and watch to see how I transform trials into blessings.

                     -- From Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young

...to guide our feet into the path of peace.

     Luke 1:79

What is impossible? - Sarah Young

It is impossible to praise or thank Me too much.

As it is written: I inhabit the praises of My people.

Sometimes your adoration is a spontaneous overflow of Joy, in response to radiant beauty or rich blessings.

At other times your praise is more disciplined and measured --- an act of your will.

I dwell equally in both types of praise.

Thankfulness, also, is a royal road to draw near Me.

A thankful heart has plenty of room for Me.

When you thank Me for the many pleasures I provide, you affirm that I am God, from whom all blessings flow.

When adversity strikes and you thank Me anyway, your trust in My sovereignty is a show-piece in invisible realms.

Fill up the spare moments of your life with praise and thanksgiving.

This joyous discipline will help you live in the intimacy of My Presence.

Praise the LORD, O my soul,

I will praise the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Psalm 146:1-2

Give thanks in all circumstances,

For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Walk in the Light - Sarah Young

Seek Me with your whole being.

I desire to be found by you, and I orchestrate the events of your life with that purpose in mind.

When things go well and you are blessed, you can feel Me smiling on you.

When you encounter rough patches along your life journey, trust that My Light is still shining upon you.

My reasons for allowing these adversities may be shrouded in mystery, but My continual Presence with you is an absolute promise.

Seek Me in good times; seek Me in hard times.

You will find Me watching over you all the time.

  -- From Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young

But if from there you seek the LORD our God,

you will find Him if you look for Him

with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 4:29

The LORD watches over all who love Him.

Psalm 145:20

Let us hold on to the hope we profess,

 for He who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 10:23

Memoir of McCheyne - Preparing for Revival

Thoughts from Rev. Robert McCheyne (1813-1843)


I ought to go to Christ for the forgiveness of each sin. In washing my body, I go over every spot, and wash it out: should I be less careful in washing my soul?


I ought to see the stripe that was made on the back of Jesus by each of my sins. I ought to see that in Christ's blood shedding there is an infinite overpayment for all my sins....


I feel, when I have sinned, an immediate reluctance to go in Christ. I am ashamed to go. I feel as if it would do no good to go--as if it were making Christ a minister of sin, to go straight from the swine trough to the best robe--and a thousand other excuses; but I am persuaded they are all lies, direct from hell.


John argues the opposite way: "If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father."


I am sure there is neither peace nor safety from deeper sin, but in going directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God's way of peace and holiness. It is folly to the world and the beclouded hearts, but it is the way.


I must never think a sin too small to need immediate application to the blood of Christ.  I must never think my sins are too great, too aggravated, too presumptuous--as when down on my knees, or in preaching, or by a dying bed, or during dangerous illness--to hinder me from fleeing to Christ. The weight of my sins should act like the weight of a clock, the heavier it is, it makes it go the faster.

Bunyan's Abominations and Voddie Baucham

During one of John Bunyan's imprisonments (in the mid 1660's) he wrote Grace Abounding. (This was his first major work. Pilgrim's Progress was written later during another imprisonment.) In this book he acknowledged that when someone makes a commitment to Jesus Christ, he becomes more aware of his own miserable condition.

Near the end, he listed "seven abominations that still lingered in my heart."

They were:

(1) An inclining to unbelief
(2) Suddenly to forget the love and mercy that Christ manifests
(3) A leaning to the works of the law
(4) Wanderings and coldness in prayer
(5) To forget to watch what I pray for
(6) Aptness to murmur because I have no more and yet ready to abuse what I have
(7) I can do none of those things which God commands me to without my corruptions thrusting themselves in, just as Saint Paul said in Romans 7:21: "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me."

All seven of these "abominations" weigh heavily on me. too. Especially #7.

Later he concluded that maybe these issues could have a divine purpose.

That idea reminds me of the DVD Bro Mike showed us a month or so ago -- Voddie Baucham's message on Psalm 51 and how our memory of our own sins does serve a divine purpose.

That message really changed my life in many ways. To remember our past sins leads us to rely more on Christ's presence in our lives -- a reminder of how close we are to sin -- only a breath away from disobedience. And how thankful we are for God's grace when we recall our past sins.

"There is a name for people who don't remember their past sins," Baucham said. "It's called 'amnesia.'"

I also loved the way he talked about the "sissy Jesus" we tend to worship and adore...when what we really need to see and worship is that "Warrior on the White Horse!" in Revelation. "You can have your sissy Jesus if you want. But as for me, I want that Rider on the White Horse" and that's how he ended his message.

OK, that part about Voddie Baucham is a "by the way."

Here is how John Bunyan perceived possible divine purpose in the remembrance of his sins:

1. They make me abhor myself.
2. They keep me from trusting my heart.
3. They convince me of the insufficiency of all inherent righteousness.
4. They show me the necessity of flying to Jesus.
5. They press me to pray to God.
6. They show me the need to watch and be sober.
7. They provoke me to pray to God, through Christ, to help me and carry me through the world.


I think Vodie Bauchman would like this list.