Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Psalm 127:1.
God … desired that the earth should be filled with joy and peace. He created man for happiness, and He longs to fill human hearts with the peace of heaven. He desires that the families below shall be a symbol of the great family above.
Christian homes, established and conducted in accordance with God’s plan, are among His most effective agencies for the formation of Christian character and for the advancement of His work.
Home should be made all that the word implies. It should be a little heaven upon earth, a place where the affections are cultivated instead of being studiously repressed. Our happiness depends upon this cultivation of love, sympathy, and true courtesy to one another.
Let your home be such that Christ can enter it as an abiding guest. Let it be such that people will take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus, and have learned of Him.
The home in which the members are kindly, courteous Christians exerts a far-reaching influence for good. Other families mark the results attained by such a home, and follow the example set, in their turn guarding their homes against evil influences.
Angels of heaven often visit the home in which the will of God bears sway. Under the power of divine grace, such a home becomes a place of refreshing to worn, weary pilgrims. Self is kept from asserting itself. Right habits are formed. There is a careful recognition of the rights of others. The faith that works by love and purifies the soul stands at the helm, presiding over the entire household.
The greatest evidence of the power of Christianity that can be presented to the world is a well-ordered, well-disciplined family. This will recommend the truth as nothing else can, for it is a living witness of its practical power upon the heart.
The Faith I Live By p. 254
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Prayer Requests
—-Im asking for prayers for my family, marriage and vices that effect our lives. Please pray for us. A
—-Please pray for my wife’s mom (Chris), she is in icu. Blood sugar control issues, trouble swallowing, stomach ulcer, low heart rate. ALSO for my mom (Gail) who is in the hospital. She has an intestinal abscess. George
—-Please Please pray for my children they are in the Philippines doing a 10-year mission. With AFM Been there a year. The babies of the mountain for dying there is an epidemic of pneumonia 4 have died this week, 7 others are dying as well! Pastor G’s grandson also has it. Please ask your churches to keep them in your prayers always! Thank you so much for the prayers. Toni
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Dear Friends,
Some years ago, I overheard a man, who had just returned from a trip to the ocean, say that he didn’t like the way the waves churned up sand from the bottom because it made the water so dirty. As he waded along the shoreline, his legs got covered with a layer of sand. Since he didn’t like that feeling, he waded out a little farther to wash it off, but the more he tried to rinse the sand off, the more he was covered with the gritty stuff. Finally, in frustration, he got completely out of the water and walked up to the bathhouse which had a faucet for washing off the sand. At last, he was able to get that sand off from his legs.
How often we become covered with the filth that this world has to offer just as that man’s feet and legs had become sand-coated. How thoroughly we become defiled with the stain of sin by what appeared to be beautiful and full of pleasure. We soon find ourself in the condition that Isaiah describes, “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isa 1:5, 6; 64:6 As we look into the Ten Commandment mirror and see our condition, we long to be cleansed, but the law cannot cleanse us neither can we cleanse ourselves. We may attempt in our own power to wash away our iniquities and guilt, but the more we wash, the more we are covered with the dirt of this world. We can try to clean up the outside, but the inside is still the same.
How much we need the Saviour “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14 Only He can make us clean and pure through and through. With outstretched hands, He pleads, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa 1:16-18
The disciple John assures us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. . . . My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 1:9-2:1 Think of it! There is a way of escape! Our Dear Saviour is “the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6 On the way to Gethsemane He prayed, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth….Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” John 17:15-20
May we come to our Sin-Pardoning Saviour for the cleansing that He so freely offers. May we allow Him to dwell within us that we may keep “unspotted from the world.” James 1:27 May we share His good news of salvation with those around us is my prayer.
Rose

Let God Control