Trivium Pursuit » Devotional http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:11:33 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Nominal Profession? http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/02/08/nominal-profession/ http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/02/08/nominal-profession/#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:11:33 +0000 LaurieBluedorn http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/?p=4392 Ears from Harvested Sheaves
by J.C. Philpot

January 23

“A man’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way?”–Proverbs 20:24

Does not your heart sometimes quake with fear lest you have nothing but a nominal profession, lest the god of this world is blinding you, and lest your conscience be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin? It is good to have such fears. He who fears not, who has no solemn apprehensions, no anxious inquiries, who is never exercised with some internal trepidation of soul, it is much to be feared has never known what it is to have “the candle of the Lord searching the inward parts of the belly.”

But if God has quickened your soul into spiritual life, and you have ears to hear, I would just put two questions to you — Have you obtained righteousness by a manifestation of Christ’s righteousness; pardon by the application of Christ’s blood; love by a shedding abroad of love; deliverance by a discovery of God’s outstretched hand? My other question is this — If you have not, and let conscience bear its honest testimony — if you have never experienced righteousness, pardon, love, and deliverance, is there a cry in your soul after them? Is there anything like fervent supplication that God would bestow them? Is there anything of a groan in the depth of your spirit that the Lord would reveal them? These are marks of life; and he that has these marks will have the blessing, because God has quickened him into spiritual life. It may be long delayed, but it will come at last; “it will surely come, it will not tarry.” It may be withheld for wise purposes, and you may have to travel through many a dark season and many an anxious hour, but deliverance is sure; it is reserved for you in Christ, and you are reserved for it, kept by God himself unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

]]> http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/02/08/nominal-profession/feed/ 0 Hope http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/30/hope/ http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/30/hope/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:34:13 +0000 LaurieBluedorn http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/?p=4411 Hope is a virgin of a fair and clear countenance; her proper seat is upon the earth, her proper object is in heaven. Faith is her attorney-general, prayer her solicitor, patience her physician, charity her almoner, thankfulness her treasure, confidence her vice-admiral, the promise of God her anchor, peace her chair of state, and eternal glory her crown.

Thomas Adams

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–Thomas Brooks

]]> http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/23/faith-subject-to-shakings/feed/ 0 Some have an art to flatter and deceive http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/19/some-have-an-art-to-flatter-and-deceive/ http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/19/some-have-an-art-to-flatter-and-deceive/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:57:43 +0000 LaurieBluedorn http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/?p=4353 Truth in our words, is opposed to all deceit. The heart and tongue should go together, as the dial goes exactly with the sun. To speak fair to one’s face, and not to mean what one speaks, is no better than a lie. His words were smoother than oil —- but war was in his heart. Some have an art to flatter and deceive. Jerome, speaking of the Arians, says, they pretended friendship, they kissed my hands —- but plotted mischief against me. A man who flatters his neighbor, spreads a net for his feet. Deadly poison can be hidden under sweet honey. Falsehood in friendship, is a lie. Counterfeiting friendship, is worse than counterfeiting money.

Excerpt from
Body of Divinity
by Thomas Watson

]]> http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/19/some-have-an-art-to-flatter-and-deceive/feed/ 0 Kill Yourself With Worry? http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/16/kill-yourself-with-worry/ http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/16/kill-yourself-with-worry/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:51:58 +0000 LaurieBluedorn http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/?p=4347 When we wonder what God is doing with us, and are ready to kill ourselves with worry -— let us rest in God’s wisdom. He knows best what he has to do. “Your way went through the sea, and Your path through the great waters, but Your footprints were unseen.” Psalms 77:19. Trust his heart -— where you cannot trace his hand. God is most in his way, when we think he is most out of the way.

excerpt from The Attributes of God
by Thomas Watson

]]> http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/16/kill-yourself-with-worry/feed/ 0 Wounding the Saints http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/12/wounding-the-saints/ http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/12/wounding-the-saints/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:51:12 +0000 LaurieBluedorn http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/?p=4329 The wicked make wounds in the backs of the saints and then pour in vinegar; but God writes down their cruelty. Believers are a part of Christ’s mystical body; and for every drop of a saint’s blood spilt — God puts a drop of wrath in his vial! — Thomas Watson

]]> http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/12/wounding-the-saints/feed/ 0 The Faithfulness of God http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/10/the-faithfulness-of-god/ http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/10/the-faithfulness-of-god/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:29:13 +0000 LaurieBluedorn http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/?p=4233 What a word is that in Psalm 36:5, Thy mercy, “O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness unto the clouds.” Far above all finite comprehension is the unchanging faithfulness of God. Everything about God is great, vast, incomparable. He never forgets, never fails, never falters, never forfeits His word. To every declaration of promise or prophecy the Lord has exactly adhered, every engagement of covenant or threatening He will make good, for “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Num. 23:19). Therefore does the believer exclaim, “His compassions fail not, they are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22, 23). –Arthur W. Pink

]]> http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2012/01/10/the-faithfulness-of-god/feed/ 0 Satan’s Great Design http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2011/12/11/satans-great-design/ http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2011/12/11/satans-great-design/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:47:18 +0000 LaurieBluedorn http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/?p=4223 Satan’s great design is eternally to ruin souls; and where he cannot do that, there he will endeavor to discomfit souls by busying them about the secret decrees and counsels of God, or by engaging them in such debates and disputes that neither men nor angels can certainly and infallibly determine, that so he may spoil their comforts, when he cannot take away their crown. — Thomas Brooks

]]> http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2011/12/11/satans-great-design/feed/ 0 Reason’s Arm Is Too Short http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2011/12/11/reasons-arm-is-too-short/ http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2011/12/11/reasons-arm-is-too-short/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:37:59 +0000 LaurieBluedorn http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/?p=4230 Reason’s arm is too short to reach the jewel of assurance. This pearl of price is put into no hand but that hand of faith that reaches from earth to heaven. –Thomas Brooks

]]> http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2011/12/11/reasons-arm-is-too-short/feed/ 0 Interesting Quote http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2011/12/09/interesting-quote/ http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2011/12/09/interesting-quote/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:29:53 +0000 LaurieBluedorn http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/?p=4263 There comes a point in your life when you realize:
Who really matters,
Who never did,
Who won’t anymore… and who always will.
So, don’t worry about people from your past,
there’s a reason why they didn’t make it to your future.

–anonymous

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