Quotables #9

Here are the last few months of quotes that I've collected from modern and not-so-modern theologians. I'd like to hear from you as to which ones you found most inspiring, memorable, convicting, or thought provoking. 

My favorites are #2, 5, 7, and 9.  Which are yours? I'd love to hear from you in the comments section below this post, or by email if that's easier.

1. "Never, never, let us forget that children for whom many prayers have been offered, seldom finally perish... Such prayers are heard on high. Such prayers will often bring down blessings... Let us pray more for our sons and daughters."  J.C. Ryle

2.  "Anxiety is living out the future before it gets here. Faith is trusting that when the future comes, our Father will be there to give us what we need."  Kevin De Young

3. "There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge; that is curiosity. There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others; that is vanity. There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve, that is love."  Bernard of Clairaux

4.  "How great is the blessing which the soul obtains by trusting in God and waiting patiently." George Muller

5. "You can draw near to God even though you cannot say a word. A prayer may be crystallized in a tear. A tear is enough water to float a desire to God."  Charles Spurgeon

6.  "Our heart is restless until it rests in you."  Saint Augustine

7.  "There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice." John Calvin

8.  "God has a right to take from us what He will, for all our joys and treasures belong to Him and are only lent to us for a time. It was in love that He gave them to us; it is in love that He takes them away. When we cease our struggle, and in faith and confidence submit our will to His, peace flows into our heart and we are comforted."  J.R. Miller

9.  "If you are in the hands of Him who is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, there are no legitimate reasons to worry."  Elisabeth Elliot

10.  "The highest degree of faith is to be able to wait, sit still, and not complain."  J.C. Ryle  

11.  "Most of us go through life worrying people will think too little of us. Paul worried people would think too much of him."  D.A. Carson

12.  "He who counts the stars and calls them by their names is in no danger of forgetting His own children."  Charles Spurgeon

13.  "It is not the experiences of our lives that change us; it is our response to those experiences."  Elisabeth Elliot

14.  "Most men need patience to die, but a saint who understands what death admits him to should rather need patience to live."  John Flavel

15.  "I don't always feel His presence, but God's promises do not depend upon my feelings; they rest upon His integrity."  R.C. Sproul

59 Minutes Of Truth and Encouragement

Many of my CandyceLand readers know my favorite authors by now: Nancy Guthrie, Paul Tripp, Alastair Begg, Randy Alcorn, and various Puritan writers. In the past few years I have added a new name to this list: Vaneetha Rendall Risner. I was first introduced to her years ago through GriefShare - she was a contributor to the videos and her story was (is!) so compelling that I purchased her first book, published in 2016, entitled The Scars That Have Shaped Me: How God Meets Us In Suffering. I found it to be so readable, so authentic, so honest about her struggles with faith through many horrible sufferings she has experienced in her life. I have gifted this book to others that needed inspiration and comfort.

Last Tuesday she released her 2nd book, Walking Through Fire: A Memoir of Loss and Redemption.  She also put together a one-hour online event that same evening featuring interviews with Joni Eareckson Tada, Paul Tripp, Randy Alcorn, and someone new to me, Katherine Wolf. Perhaps it was because I had never heard of Katherine that I was particularly blessed by her story of affliction.

Although the video is 59 minutes long, I can assure you that you will not regret listening. Steve and I were blessed watching the live event, but I plan to listen again. I know you all are super busy, but perhaps you can listen while doing the dishes or driving in the car?  There are also a couple of technical issues in this recording, but they are very brief. 

Enough said - I'd rather you spend time with Vaneetha and her friends than read what I have to say! 

Click Here To Watch Video

Our Adoption Into An Eternity Of Love

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved."  Ephesians 1:3-6

Adoption has always held a special space in my heart, and only increased with the adoption of a precious nephew from Romania by my brother and sister-in-law about 30 years ago. Steve and I then tried for 3 years to adopt a sibling group of 5 from Romania, one with special needs. It's a long and complicated story, but while every step of the process seemed blessed by God, we were literally "shut down" by both the American and Romanian Embassies at the last moment. In fact, my only trip to see these kids (known by Steve for several years) was to tell them in person we could not, in fact, make the adoption happen. Steve and I were devastated, but they were okay with the news, having already experienced many disappointments in their young lives.

These precious memories were rekindled this morning as I came across a quote by J.I. Packer in Knowing God. It is perhaps the finest and most encouraging definition of adoption I have personally ever read, and so I wanted to share this with my CandyceLand readers as well. Packer writes:

"Adoption, by its very nature, is an act of free kindness to the person adopted. If you become a father by adopting a child, you do so because you choose to, not because you are bound to. Similarly, God adopts because he chooses to. He had no duty to do so. He need not have done anything about our sins save punish us as we deserve. But he loved us so; he redeemed us, forgave us, took us as his sons and daughters, and gave himself to us as our Father.

"Nor does his grace stop short with that initial act, any more than the love of human parents who adopt stops short with their completing of the legal process that makes the child theirs. The establishing of the child's status as a member of the family is only a beginning. The real task remains: to establish a genuinely filial relationship between your adopted child and yourself. It is this, above all, that you want to see. Accordingly, you set yourself to win the child's love by loving. You seek to excite affection by showing affection. So with God. And throughout our life in this world, and to all eternity beyond, he will constantly be showing us, in one way or another, more and more of his love, and thereby increasing our love to him continually. The prospect before the adopted children of God is an eternity of love."

Candy's final thoughts: My response to this is to increase my prayers to our Heavenly Father, first in gratitude for his adoption of me as a daughter. Secondly, we can all pray for others around us who do not appear (yet?) to know God, that they would, through saving grace, become a part of his family. Finally, the doctrine of adoption reminds me to intercede continually on the behalf of Monica, Ionel, Mihai, Elena, and Vasile, that they too may be adopted by God into an "eternity of love." 

The Lord's Prayer and Christian Identity

"Therefore you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

Spurgeon's thoughts: "These verses come from the Lord's prayer, and each element can be divided into most instructive heads.

"Our Father in heaven" - I am a child away from home.

"Your name be honored as holy" - I am a worshiper.

"Your kingdom come" - I am a subject.

"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" - I am a servant.

"Give us today our daily bread" - I am a beggar.

"And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors" - I am a sinner.

"And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" - I am a sinner in danger of being a still greater sinner.""

Candy's thoughts: WOW - I have studied the Lord's prayer many times, and even taught a book on it years ago during Women's Bible Study. Only God knows how many times I have prayed this prayer and yet just recently I read these comments of Spurgeon's on the Lord's prayer and continue to be amazed at how simply, briefly, and beautifully this man of God can cut to the core of any passage of Scripture. 

Much of our present world is obsessed with identity politics to the point of absurdity. But above all that there is a much more basic and satisfying of all identities: to be a Child, Worshipper, Subject, Beggar, and Sinner, redeemed by the Lamb. Amen to that!

What's Your Plan?

For the past 25 years or so I have read through the Bible every year. A few years ago I decided to skip the formal reading-through-the-Bible plan and just concentrate on accomplishing the task of actually reading through the stack of what I call "God Books" that I have collected through the years. This idea was short-lived, though, because it just didn't feel right to NOT read the Bible daily, and so I changed my mind and in March of that year started back on January 1st and had lots of reading to catch up on!

So I've worked out a new plan for 2021 and here it is: I will read 3 chapters of the Bible daily, one Old Testament chapter, one Psalm (twice through the Psalter per year), and one New Testament chapter as well. This year I will use the The Spurgeon Study Bible and will read all the accompanying notes of Spurgeon's which are taken from various sermons he preached on those particular passages. (Last year I used the Prayer Bible.) The second part is that I have chosen to read two "God Books" and do one chapter each day of those. I will also read one prayer from Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans. Lastly I will be reading one of Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions which should take under 30 seconds each day. And for journalistic integrity I did indeed time myself to come up with 'under 30 seconds.' 😉

I've done the math and if all goes well I will still go through the Bible in 396.333 days - so a little bit more than a year. The potential benefit is that hopefully I will read more 'devotionally' each day plus I will be finally reading the books that have been calling to me from every table and nightstand in our house for a long, long time. Plus who wouldn't benefit from reading one resolution each day from someone with a much bigger perspective on the Christian life? My thanks to one CandyceLand reader who has agreed to keep me accountable by reading Edwards with me. (I won't mention Doris's name because I don't want to embarrass her.)  😂

Finally, I would LOVE to hear of all of your plans to stay connected to God through the reading of the Bible and other writings!  What have been your plans in the past? What is your plan for 2021? Whatever you decide, remember to enjoy your time with God. After all, "the joy of the Lord is your strength."  Paul writes, "Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say, rejoice!" So find the great blessing that God has for you as you spend time in His Word.