Keep Sweet

"It is not possible for us to know each other except as we manifest ourselves in distorted shadows to the eyes of others. We do not even know ourselves; therefore, why should we judge a neighbor? Who knows what pain is behind virtue and what fear behind vice? No one, in short, knows what makes a man, and only God knows his thoughts, his joys, his bitternesses, his agony, the injustices committed against him and the injustices he commits...God is too inscrutable for our little understanding. After sad meditation it comes to me that all lives, whether good or in error, mournful or joyous, obscure or of gilded reputation, painful or happy, is only a prologue to love beyond the grave, where all is understood and almost forgiven." (Seneca)

" KEEP SWEET "

How these words help us! Think of them when people rasp you, when the devil pricks you with his fiery darts, when your sensitive, self-willed spirit chafes or frets. Let a gentle voice be heard above the strife, whispering, "Keep sweet, keep sweet!" And, if you will but heed it quickly, you will be saved from a thousand falls and kept in perfect peace.
True, we cannot keep ourselves sweet, but God will keep us if He sees that it is our fixed, determined purpose to be kept sweet, and to refuse to bear a grudge or retaliate. The trouble is, we may at times enjoy a little irritation and morbidness. We want to cherish the little grudge, and sympathize with our hurt feelings and nurse our little grievance.
God will give us all the love we really want and honestly choose. We can have our grievance, or we can have the peace that passeth all understanding, but we cannot have both.

Wish you the most blessed of days ahead Blogger Friends!

Yours,

Ophelia Jane Julia

When I Was A Child....

DEEP, DEEP THINGS!

When I was small, I used to ask this question to my dad, " Daddy, where did God come from and where is heaven?" A simple question from a small child but to have to attain the answer to it, one has to deal with the profound things and mysteries of faith. I have always been deep into spiritual things since small which I simply couldnt hide. Life is not just "eat, drink and be merry" but deeper than that is the soul's yearning for its rest. For in the center of every man's heart is a great void which no one or nothing can fill but the Almighty. No matter how successful, contented or happy a person can be, that deep spiritual void is ever present awaiting to be filled. I have always been a lover of nature and i always find solace in its glory, the bright skies, the star-filled sky at night, the cold breeze, gentle and fierce winds, swaying leaves, sunrise and sunset. I can find beauty in everything even in a withered leaf. I can make out a paradise out of a solitary and lonely place. I am thankful I am blessed with this keen and positive perception of things.As to the deep and mysterious and spiritual things I have always been unceasing in seeking answers to all the profound questions seated deeply in my mind. I could still remember myself trying to absorb the following excerpts at the age of 11!

"In the beginning God..." There was a time, if "time" it could be called, when God in the unity of His nature (though subsisting equally in three divine person) dwelt all alone. "In the beginning God" There was no heaven, where His glory is now particularly manifested. There was no earth to engage His attention. There were no angels to hymn His praises; no universe to be upheld by the word of His power. There was nothing, no one, but God; and that, not for a day, a year or an age, but "from everlasting." During eternity past, God was alone: self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied, in need of nothing! Had a universe, had angels, had human beings been necessary to Him in any way, they also had been called into existence from all eternity. The creating of them when He did, added nothing to God essentially. He changes not (Mal. 3:6), therefore His essential glory can neither be augmented nor diminished.

God was under no constraint, no obligation, no necessity to create. That he chose to do so was purely a sovereign act on His part, caused by nothing outside Himself, determined by nothing but His own mere good pleasure. That He did create was simply for His manifestative glory. God is no gainer even from our worship. He was in no need of that external glory of His grace for He is glorious enough in Himself without that! Had God so pleased, He might have had continued alone for all eternity without making known His glory unto creatures. Whether He should do so or not was determined solely by His own will. He was perfectly blessed in HImself before the first creature was called into being. Such an One is to be revered, worshipped, adored. He is solitary in His majesty! unique in His excellency! peerless in His perfections! He sustains all, but is Himself independent of all. He gives to all, but is enriched by none!"

Excerpts taken from "The Attributes of God" by Arthur W. Pink

DEEP THINGS ABOUT PRAYERS (Auntie, check this out...these excerpts are good for your HPN...means, HYPERanxiety tension...lol)

"Prayer is a disinfectant and a preventative. It purifies the air; it destroys the contagion of evil. Prayer is no fitful, short-lived thing. It is no voice crying unheard and unheeded in silence. It is a voice which goes into God's ear, and it lives as long as God's ear is open to holy pleas, as long as God's heart is alive to holy things. God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God's heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world. The possibilities of prayer are the possibilities of faith. Prayer and faith are Siamese twins. One heart animates them both. Faith is always praying. Prayer is always believing. Faith must have a tongue by which it can speak. Prayer is the tongue of faith. Faith must receive. Prayer is the hand of faith stretched out to receive. Prayer must rise and soar. Faith must give prayer the wings to fly and soar. Prayer must have an audience with God. Faith opens the door, and access and audience are given. Prayer asks. Faith lays its hand on the things asked for. When God's promise and man's praying are united in faith, then ...."nothing shall be impossible!" (E.M Bounds)

"Pray alone. Let prayer be the key of the morning and the bolt at night. (Philip Henry)