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The question is not what we think, but WHAT IS TRUTH?
Proverbs 23 v23 " Buy the truth but do not sell it."
Truth can, and must be tested.
Truth overemphasised is error.
Truth detracted from is a lie.
Truth is so heavy few can carry it.
Truth must be evidenced or it is a doctrine of mythology.
Truth loves the light and is most beautiful when most naked. (Richard
Baxter)
Truth is first a doctrine we believe, then it becomes a truth
to be treasured, then it comes home to our hearts as a reality,
and so is a blessing.
Time does not give authenticity to ancient texts.
(Just because it is old it does not have to be right!)
God is greater than the sum of men's thoughts.
Faith is the bit between encounters with God
You do not get blessing without wounding
Taoist saying: The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
As knowledge increases men become more like gods.
We should go by what is written on our hearts as God has chosen
not to give us the originals.
The temple is about mercy, not sacrifice: it is a way for a sinful
people to meet with a judgmental God in loving mercy.
What is hateful to you do not do to others.
We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to
make us love one another.
Would that I loved the best of human beings as tenderly as God
loves the worst.
To truly love is to know what causes others pain.
Love divorced from duty will run riot, and duty divorced from
love will starve.
The essence of love is communication.
The apostle John writes that light (knowledge) without love is
darkness still.
I have had many things in my hands, and lost them all, but whatever
I have placed in God's hands I still possess. (Luther)
God has joined together commandment and promise.
Prayer is the pouring out of the soul to God; it is not a matter
of words.
What seem to be great disasters may be saving you from much worse.
It is at the time of the greatest disasters when the greatest
things are revealed.
When you have lost everything you risk everything because you
have nothing to lose.
Trust God when the providences (circumstances) seem to run contrary
to the promises.(Thomas Watson.)
Lord grant me wisdom to know what I have to leave you to do, and
what I have to do.
You cannot fail in the work God gives you to do.
God can make His own provision for His own work to be done.
God will only trust us with the big things of His plans when he
knows we will look on them as His not ours.
It is always "now" with God.
Isaiah 64v4:" God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him" .
All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for what I have
not yet seen.
Sabbath rest means entire abandonment to the will of God, and
absolute faith that His will is best and brings the only true happiness.
(Hannah Pearsall Smith)
Gold was given for both the calf and the lamp stand, one was an
idol, the other gave light in the sanctuary. (Philpot)
Unbelief is pride because it refuses to believe God; not finding
in itself a reason for believing. This is the height of presumption.
The stops of a good man are ordered by God just as much as his
steps. (George Muller)
The seeds of discouragement cannot grow in the heart of a grateful
person.
The burden of suffering is the necessary weight to keep down the
diver whilst he hunts for pearls. (Richter)
Shall He not do as He will with His own?
God seeks His own glory in unlikelyhoods. (Bishop Hall)
We may be wanting in our trust, but our trust will not be found
wanting. (Bishop Hall)
God cannot be less than the highest of that which we are aware.
God is greater than the sum of men's thoughts.
Men often think God is not working at all because He works so
slowly.
You do not get tunnels on sidings - they are on the main line
going to your destination - they mean you are passing through a
mountain.
The Hebrew day begins with the night
We can only see the heavenly lights when the lights of earth have
gone out or dim.
The little cloud is the earnest (promise or deposit) of the coming
blessing.
Proverbs 19v 2 "It is not good to have zeal without knowledge,
nor to be hasty and so miss the way."
We do not find fairness as our carnal mind sees it in the Bible,
but we do find mercy.
Sin is not just falling short - it is going beyond the bounds
also (trespass or transgression) Thomas Watson.
Hedges may hinder; but they also protect and prevent.
Solomon, who had it all, concluded all was vanity.
The jewel of assurance is best kept in the cabinet of a humble
heart. (Thomas Watson)
Faith without repentance is presumption, repentance (i.e. conviction)
without faith is despair. (John Owen)
Hypocrisy is a combination of the two greatest sins: unbelief
and presumption.
Humility is truth, pride is lying. (Vincent de Paul)
To fall face down is a position of self effacement. To lie on
your back is to look God straight in the eye: the pride of man.
Most morality is lack of opportunity! (Mark Twain)
God's mercy rescues sinners from the penalty for sin, but His
love is greater in making them sons.
Faith honours God : God honours faith.
Our part is to wait: his to perform.
God will not give you a shabby substitute.
The same sign at a different time can have a different meaning.
E.g. red sky at night and morning.
The problem with getting great things from God is being able to
hold on until the last half hour!
You must go first to God about men before you go to men about
God.
Not only to endure the will of God, or even to choose it, but
to REJOICE in it!
Even if it seems good is it what God has said to do?
Wait for the right time: His time.
If an act is to glorify God he must get the credit for it.
Go when He says, or you will loose the power. Do not go too soon
or it will be presumption.
He makes the way open at the right time.
Follow His instructions exactly doing ALL He says in the way He
says.
No self reliance: only faith in Him No pride before people - pleasing
them.
Desire is love in action : delight is love at rest.
God made order from chaos by dividing and separating.
If you do not understand the beginning how will you understand
the end?
Spirituality goes beyond the boundaries set by men.
Basket of fragments: part two
Words of antiquity are not always true; but the new is not always
better.
Compassion is the water of life.
True Silence is to the spirit as sleep is to the body; nourishment
and refreshment. William Penn. 1699.
The bread of heaven is the act of giving BUT sharing is greater
still.
Truth clothed in compassion is the life blood of spirituality,
but only when it is given to others who have need and would drink
from the same cup.
What is truth is not word of mouth; but comes from the heart.
Some of the greatest inhumanities have been done by those sure
they do the will of God.
The following are excerpts from the poems of the Indian poet Rabindranath
Tagore:
I shall ever try to keep all untruths out of my thoughts, knowing
that thou art that truth which has kindled the light of reason
in my mind.
The traveller has to knock at every alien door to come to his
own, and one has to wonder through all the outer worlds to reach
the inmost shrine at the end.
My eyes strayed far and wide before I shut them and said "Here
art thou!" .
I am certain that priceless wealth is in thee, and that thou art
my best friend, but I have not the heart to sweep away the tinsel
that fills my room.
Have you not heard his silent steps? He comes, comes, ever comes.
The woodlands have hushed their songs, and doors are all shut
at every house.
Thou art the solitary wayfarer in this deserted street. Oh my
only friend, my best beloved, the gates are open in my house -
do not pass by like a dream.
Through birth and death, in this world or in others, wherever
thou leadest me it is thou, the same, the one companion of my endless
life who ever linkest my heart with bonds of joy to the unfamiliar.
The flower sweetens the air with its perfume; yet its last service
is to offer itself to thee.
Now I am eager to die into the deathless.
Like a flock of homesick cranes flying night and day back to their
home in the mountain nests let all my life take its voyage to its
eternal home in one salutation to thee.
next section : Thomas Paine
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