Cartesian Doubt and the definition of faith.

In philosophy, there is something called "Cartesian Doubt", as Rene Descartes wrote once, that he was not convinced anything was real, and the probably he was the only real thing in the world, such that he could prove it.  "..if I've convinced myself of anything, it is that I am real."

Oh to live in such doubt!

Oh not to have the loving Father and Son helping us along!

In respect to this doubt, I am thankful so much for my faith, and its fruits of love, hope and mercy.  I love "them" and I love you all.

Paul writes that faith is "the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen."  It's antique language, but our faith is our evidence of God, and we need no "Cartesian" proofs or anything else; in our heart of hearts, we do not have to defend our faith to ourselves.

Something that bears love hope and mercy could never be in any way wrong; we are human, going through our season, and the Holy Spirit, as Christ promised, is there as a helper for God's children.

Verse of the day, July 31, 2023

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

-John 1, KJV 

Spurgeon on never is a believer rejected.

No limit is set to the duration of this promise. It does not merely say, "I will not cast out a sinner at his first coming," but, "I will in no wise cast out." The original reads, "I will not, not cast out," or "I will never, never cast out." The text means, that Christ will not at first reject a believer; and that as he will not do it at first, so he will not to the last.

But suppose the believer sins after coming? "If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." But suppose that believers backslide? "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him." But believers may fall under temptation! "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." But the believer may fall into sin as David did! Yes, but he will "Purge them with hyssop, and they shall be clean; he will wash them and they shall be whiter than snow"; "From all their iniquities will I cleanse them."

"Once in Christ, in Christ forever,

Nothing from his love can sever."

"I give unto my sheep," saith he, "eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." What sayest thou to this, O trembling feeble mind? Is not this a precious mercy, that coming to Christ, thou dost not come to One who will treat thee well for a little while, and then send thee about thy business, but he will receive thee and make thee his bride, and thou shalt be his forever? Receive no longer the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby thou shalt cry, Abba, Father! Oh! the grace of these words: "I will in no wise cast out."

-Charles Spurgeon

not being obsessed with money, from Proverbs.

 

 

 

The passage in which this verse appears looks like a guidebook for people who are invited to dine with kings.  "his food is deceitful" it says.  Its reminding us not to be impressed, to remain true to the Gospel, and not blinded by shiny things.

Its good advice, and just this morning on another page, the philosopher Seneca is being quoted saying, "draw inward to yourself as far as you can", and the philosopher Seneca was a member of Nero's court until he fell out of favor.

We have to use prayer as a guiding star, and then our recommended precepts of love and hope.

Some memes, July 30, 2023.

 

Verse of the Day, July 30, 2023

 

All are one body.

...all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body--slaves and free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does consist of one member but of many.  If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body" that would not make it any less a part of the body.  And if the ear should say, "because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body" that would not make it any less a part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?  If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?  

But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

-1 Corinthians 12:12-18.

A selection from the Psalms....

...believed they his words; they sang his praise. They soon forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel; but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul...

-Psalm 106

"Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteous will look down from the sky."  -Psalm 85

Devotional Magnetic Page Markers....

 

Verse of the Day, July 24, 2023

Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice. -Psalm 112

Verse of the Day, July 23, 2023

 

GOD is GOOD!

You, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you. …
You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity.
- Psalm 86:5, 15

Verse of the Day, July 22, 2023

..fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell...

-Matthew 10:28

Faith!

Faith(noun):

-the substance of things hoped for.

-evidence of things unseen. 

-Paul's fervent hope for us all in respect to Christ.

-faith gives us proof of what we cannot see.(CEV)

-the fundamental fact of existence is trust in God(MSG)

 

"By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." -(NIV)

"Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations--the City designed and built by God." -(MSG)

Verse of the Day, July 21, 2023

 I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.

 

Verse of the Day, July 20, 2023

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  -1 John

Verse of the Day, July 19, 2023

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.  -Isaiah 41(KJV)

 

Faith Love and Hope, as a lens towards our own sin and righteousness.

When our eyes are opened through the Lord's Faith Love and Hope, it makes our sin more plain to us, and makes more obvious, perhaps, but also staggering, the breadth of His gift of righteousness to us.

"...I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ..."  -Paul in the books of Romans.

 

Verse of the Day, July 18, 2023

I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.  -Psalm 119(KJV)

Isaiah 55: "my shall not return to me void".

Thus says the Lord:
Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
and do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
so shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
my word shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.
 

- Isaiah 55:10-11

May it be, Lord, and let us all be instruments of your will, and not instruments of Satan.  Only the Lord's Perfect Will.

Verse of the Day, July 16, 2023

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 

Augustine on Christ, writing to a student of his.

Begotten and conceived, then, without any indulgence of carnal lust, and therefore bringing with Him no original sin, and by the grace of God joined and united in a wonderful and unspeakablr way in one person with the Word, thr Only-begotten of the Father, a son by nature, not by grace, and therefore having no sin of His own; nevertheless, on account of the likeness of sinful flesh in which He came, He was called sin, that He might be sacrificed to wash away sin.

George MacDonald on Faith

To trust in spite of the look of being forsaken; to keep crying out into the vast, whence comes no returning voice, and where seems no hearing; to see the machinery of the world pauselessly grinding on as if self-moved, caring for no life, nor shifting a hair-breadth for all entreaty, and yet believe that God is awake and utterly loving; to desire nothing but what comes meant for us from His hand; to wait patiently, ready to die of hunger, fearing only lest faith should fail--such is the victory that overcometh the world, such is faith indeed.

-George MacDonald

meme about Kindness in Outreach.

 

Verse of the Day: July 15, 2023

...get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

-James 1:21 

The church collective: doubt and faith.

The average evangelical church lies under a shadow of quiet doubting. The doubt is not the unbelief that argues against Scripture, but worse than that. It is the chronic unbelief that does not know what faith means.

-AW Tozer

Meme: Proverbs 21:2 "...the Lord weighs the heart..."

 

We know God has great wrath and sits in judgement, but how many know that God's love and mercy is as great as his wrath?

Verse of the Day, July 14, 2023

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

Spurgeon on service in the Kingdom.

Yonder city of the great King is a place of active service. Ransomed spirits serve him day and night in his temple. They never cease to fulfil the good pleasure of their King. They always "rest," so far as ease and freedom from care is concerned; and never "rest," in the sense of indolence or inactivity.

-Charles Spurgeon

Free from care, but not inactive.  Most of the time isn't a pleasure, a downright source of joy, to do the work of the kingdom?

temptation is no stranger, even from the saved.

"My son, if you come forward to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for temptation."

-Sirach 2:1

"Those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and will humble themselves before Him."

-Sirach 2:17

Faith. Job and the old Devil.

“Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

-Matthew 11 

I was reading commentary on Job, and the author was flustered with the material, positively astounded that Job's friends took him to task so.  They accused him of sin, of course, with no evidence and assumed that God was visiting wrath on poor Job.

But quite not.  It was the work of the Devil, of course, and in the end, God lifted up Job and restored everything from prior, back into Job's life.  That's a sown seed: Job's faith.

Spurgeon on Anger and Sin.

"Doest thou well to be angry?" It may be that we can answer, "YES." Very frequently anger is the madman's firebrand, but sometimes it is Elijah's fire from heaven. We do well when we are angry with sin, because of the wrong which it commits against our good and gracious God; or with ourselves because we remain so foolish after so much divine instruction; or with others when the sole cause of anger is the evil which they do. He who is not angry at transgression becomes a partaker in it. Sin is a loathsome and hateful thing, and no renewed heart can patiently endure it.  

-Charles Spurgeon

Verse of the Day, July 13, 2023

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  

-Philippians 2(KJV)

On faith.

Faith is that God-given faculty which, when exercised, brings the unseen into plain view, and by which the impossible things are made possible. It deals with supernaturals. But it "grows amid storms"; that is, where there are disturbances in the spiritual atmosphere. Storms are caused by the conflicts of elements; and the storms of the spiritual world are conflicts with hostile elements. In such an atmosphere faith finds its most productive soil; in such an element it comes more quickly to full fruition.

Verse of the Day: July 12, 2023

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  

 

Psalm 127:1

 

Two verse memes and a quotation from the Book of Sirach

 Sirach 1:1-10

All wisdom comes from the Lord and is with him for ever.

The sand of the sea, the drops of rain, and the days of eternity--who can count them?

The height of heaven, the breadth of the earth, the abyss and wisdom--who can search them out?

Wisdom was created before all things, and prudent understanding from eternity.

The root of wisdom--to whom has it been revealed?  Her clever devices--who knows them?

There is One who is wise, greatly to be feared, sitting upon his throne.

The Lord himself created wisdom, he saw her and apportioned her, he poured her out upon all his works.

She dwells with all flesh according to his gift, and he supplied her to those who love him.

The heart of the Gospel message.

 Augustine speaks to a young friend, reminding him that Paul says we can only be saved by faith, and not by good deeds.  You see, Augustine says, we need a mediator in Jesus Christ, having given his precious blood for the sake of any in mankind that would only believe!

"Weights became wings..."

The birds had lovely plumage and sweet voices; they could sing, and their feathers gleamed in the sunshine, but they could not soar in the air. They hesitated at first when bidden to take up the burdens that lay at their feet, but soon they obeyed, and taking up the wings in their beaks, laid them on their shoulders to carry them.

For a little while the load seemed heavy and hard to bear, but presently, as they went on carrying the burdens, folding them over their hearts, the wings grew fast to their little bodies, and soon they discovered how to use them, and were lifted by them up into the air -- the weights became wings.

 

Verse of the Day: July 9, 2023

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  

-Ephesians 3

before the weekend.....

A popular tv pastor has "offering Friday", given over at the conclusion of his week-long teaching arc.

I decided to do something similar here, not mandatory, completely voluntary.  If you feel the need to guve to the site, do it, byt if you have any concerns at all, go with you conscience, and take it to prayer.

Paypal: @origen84

Venmo: @netmissionary

Cashapp: $origen1979

"no fear in love"

John brooks partly-mystic, saying that God is Light, God is Truth.  Christ is the Divine Word.  He gives us something more than a "daddy-motif" or the Jewish Messiah, but something that transcends those concepts, those sects, and those regions, to reach into the very concepts of nature itself.

No darkness at all in God or Christ.  No untruth at all.

Perfect Love, without fear.

Verse of the Day, July 6, 2023

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.  

-Matthew 24

Spurgeon on God's love.

Divine love is rendered conspicuous when it shines in the midst of judgments. Fair is that lone star which smiles through the rifts of the thunder clouds; bright is the oasis which blooms in the wilderness of sand; so fair and so bright is love in the midst of wrath.  -Charles Spurgeon

Verse of the Day, July 5, 2023

 One day in early summer I walked past a beautiful meadow. The grass was as soft and thick and fine as an immense green Oriental rug. In one corner stood a fine old tree, a sanctuary for numberless wild birds; the crisp, sweet air was full of their happy songs. Two cows lay in the shade, the very picture of content. Down by the roadside the saucy dandelion mingled his gold with the royal purple of the wild violet. I leaned against the fence for a long time, feasting my hungry eyes, and thinking in my soul that God never made a fairer spot than my lovely meadow.

-Samuel Rutherford

so much more, his own beloved children.

To paraphrase the KJV, "if God so clothe even the lillies of the field, how much more then, his own beloved children..."

God is good and shows care to his creation, his children.

bruising the heel and "the heart is deceitful".

Today's Bible Gateway verse of the day was from Jeremiah, saying "the heart is deceitful". Only with God's grace could we hope to break the curse of Original Sin, and put Satan under our heel. 

As the bible says, the serpent will "bruise our heel", only if we stomp on him that hard! And do it in faith!

Happy Sunday everyone.