Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains on scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did He consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop of bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
Isaiah 40:12-15

To whom then will you liken God, for what likeness compare with him?

As I crown You with glory, engrave Your name upon my heart.

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

Romans 12:16

Humble me Lord. You came to humanity and have associated yourself with us. What i can do for my fellow brethren is nothing compared to what you have done for me. Allow me to be like you. Each person is precious in your sight. Help me to see like you do. Break me Lord.

“In the garden of Eden, sin was man wanting to be like God.  Sin is man saying, “I don’t need you, God. I can be my own God.” Sin is independence from God. It wasn’t until I defined sin that I was able to see and understand why Jesus must be God, Lord, Master and Ruler in my life and heart.  Before, I had asked Jesus to be my personal savior, but I never surrendered my will and desires and life to Him. I was still occupying the throne.  I see now that that was not true repentance, and unless we repent we cannot have salvation because sin is our saying that we will run the show without God. When we come to Jesus in repentance, we are saying that we can’t do things our way, that He must have His way, and we are willing to allow Him to be in complete control.”

- Lord, I need grace to make it today. Kay Arthur

“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” 1 Timothy 1:15

“We reflect what we revere, to our own ruin or to our own redemption.”

“Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” 
― John Newton, Amazing Grace: Hymn

You continue to win me over.

Destructions working, they fight for my desire. They beckon me to come but I have set my eyes on you.
Your steadfast love has captured my heart breaking through the years of my shame. For I have set my heart towards you oh lord as I dwell in your courts forevermore. Others call my name and beckon me to come but I will always have eyes for only you.

I am my beloved’s and he is mine.

Misty Edwards: eyes for only you.

“He is an ever-shining sun; He is manna in unfailing supply; He is a rock in the desert, sending constant streams of life from His pierced side; the rain of His grace is always falling; the river of His bounty is ever-flowing, and the wellspring of His love is a constant tide.  As the King can never die, so His grace can never fail. Every passing day we are the beneficiaries of a myriad of mercies. “

Oh that my praise could be as endless as His provision.

Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening Devotional

“God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” 1 Timothy 6:17

Lover of my soul I want to tell you, only you have all of me.

I cannot contain my adoration, I’m in love so desperately.

Down upon my knees, I’m lost in worship, humbled by Your majesty.

What is there to say? But how I love you. Thank you for forgiving me.

No one is as lovely as you are. There is no one else who has my heart.

Jesus, you have me completely, every breath that I breathe, I am absolutely in love.

Jesus I am yours forever, all of me surrenders, I am absolutely in love with You.

All of me is yours.

-Starfield: Absolutely.

Jesus, be my everything.

Look at thy possessions, O believer, and compare thy portion with the lot of thy fellowmen. Some of them have their portion in the field; they are rich, and their harvests yield them a golden increase; but what are harvests compared with thy God, who is the God of harvests? What are bursting granaries compared with him, who is the Husbandman, and feeds thee with the bread of heaven? Some have their portion in the city; their wealth is abundant, and flows to them in constant streams, until they become a very reservoir of gold; but what is gold compared with thy God? Thou couldst not live on it; thy spiritual life could not be sustained by it. Put it on a troubled conscience, and could it allay its pangs? Apply it to a desponding heart, and see if it could stay a solitary groan, or give one grief the less? But thou hast God, and in him thou hast more than gold or riches ever could buy. Some have their portion in that which most men love-applause and fame; but ask thyself, is not thy God more to thee than that? What if a myriad clarions should be loud in thine applause, would this prepare thee to pass the Jordan, or cheer thee in prospect of judgment? No, there are griefs in life which wealth cannot alleviate; and there is the deep need of a dying hour, for which no riches can provide. But when thou hast God for thy portion, thou hast more than all else put together. In him every want is met, whether in life or in death. With God for thy portion thou art rich indeed, for he will supply thy need, comfort thy heart, assuage thy grief, guide thy steps, be with thee in the dark valley, and then take thee home, to enjoy him as thy portion for ever. “I have enough,” said Esau; this is the best thing a worldly man can say, but Jacob replies, “I have all things,” which is a note too high for carnal minds.

-Charles Spurgeon Morning and Evening Devotionals

“Thus there will be three effects of nearness to Jesus - humility, happiness and holiness.”

Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

1. That all of your life—in whatever calling—be devoted to the glory of God.
2. That the promises of Christ be trusted so fully that peace and joy and strength fill your soul to overflowing.
3. That this fullness of God overflow in daily acts of love so that people might see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven.
4. That you be women of the Book, who love and study and obey the Bible in every area of its teaching. That meditation on Biblical truth be the source of hope and faith. And that you continue to grow in understanding through all the chapters of your life, never thinking that study and growth are only for others.
5. That you be women of prayer, so that the Word of God would open to you; and the power of faith and holiness would descend upon you; and your spiritual influence would increase at home and at church and in the world.
6. That you be women who have a deep grasp of the sovereign grace of God undergirding all these spiritual processes, that you be deep thinkers about the doctrines of grace, and even deeper lovers and believers of these things.
7. That you be totally committed to ministry, whatever your specific role, that you not fritter your time away on soaps or ladies magazines or aimless hobbies, any more than men should fritter theirs away on excessive sports or aimless diddling in the garage. That you redeem the time for Christ and his Kingdom.
8. That, if you are single, you exploit your singleness to the full in devotion to Christ and not be paralyzed by the desire to be married.
9. That, if you are married, you creatively and intelligently and sincerely support the leadership of your husband as deeply as obedience to Christ will allow; that you encourage him in his God-appointed role as head; that you influence him spiritually primarily through your fearless tranquility and holiness and prayer.
10. That, if you have children, you accept responsibility with your husband (or alone if necessary) to raise up children who hope in the triumph of God, sharing with him the teaching and discipline of the children, and giving to the children that special nurturing touch and care that you are uniquely fitted to give.
11. That you not assume that secular employment is a greater challenge or a better use of your life than the countless opportunities of service and witness in the home the neighborhood, the community, the church, and the world. That you not only pose the question: Career vs. full time mom? But that you ask as seriously: Full time career vs. freedom for ministry? That you ask: Which would be greater for the Kingdom— to be in the employ of someone telling you what to do to make his business prosper, or to be God’s free agent dreaming your own dream about how your time and your home and your creativity could make God’s business prosper? And that in all this you make your choices not on the basis of secular trends or yuppie lifestyle expectations, but on the basis of what will strengthen the family and advance the cause of Christ.
12. That you step back and (with your husband, if you are married) plan the various forms of your life’s ministry in chapters. Chapters are divided by various things—age, strength, singleness, marriage, employment choices, children at home, children in college, grandchildren, retirement, etc. No chapter has all the joys. Finite life is a series of tradeoffs. Finding God’s will, and living for the glory of Christ to the full in every chapter is what makes it a success, not whether it reads like somebody else’s chapter or whether it has in it what chapter five will have.
13. That you develop a wartime mentality and lifestyle; that you never forget that life is short, that billions of people hang in the balance of heaven and hell every day, that the love of money is spiritual suicide, that the goals of upward mobility (nicer clothes, cars, houses, vacations, food, hobbies) are a poor and dangerous substitute for the goals of living for Christ with all your might, and maximizing your joy in ministry to people’s needs.
14. That in all your relationships with men you seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in applying the Biblical vision of manhood and womanhood; that you develop a style and demeanor that does justice to the unique role God has given to man to feel responsible for gracious leadership in relation to women—a leadership which involves elements of protection and care and initiative. That you think creatively and with cultural sensitivity (just as he must do) in shaping the style and setting the tone of your interaction with men.
15. That you see Biblical guidelines for what is appropriate and inappropriate for men and women in relation to each other not as arbitrary constraints on freedom but as wise and gracious prescriptions for how to discover the true freedom of God’s ideal of complementarity. That you not measure your potential by the few roles withheld but by the countless roles offered. That you turn off the TV and Radio and think about…

The awesome significance of motherhood

Complementing a man’s life as his wife

Ministries to the handicapped

• hearing impaired
• blind
• lame
• retarded

Ministries to the sick:

• nursing
• physician
• hospice care—cancer, AIDS, etc.
• community health

Ministries to the socially estranged:

• emotionally impaired
• recovering alcoholics
• recovering drug users
• escaping prostitutes
• abused children, women
• runaways, problem children
• orphans

Prison ministries:

• women’s prisons!
• families of prisoners
• rehabilitation to society

Ministries to youth:

• teaching
• sponsoring
• open houses and recreation
• outings and trips
• counseling
• academic assistance

Sports ministries:

• neighborhood teams
• church teams

Therapeutic counseling:

• independent
• church based
• institutional

Audio visual ministries:

• composition
• design
• production
• distribution

Writing ministries:

• free lance
• curriculum development
• fiction
• non-fiction
• editing
• institutional communications
• journalistic skills for publications

Teaching ministries:

• Sunday school: children, youth, students, women
• grade school
• high school
• college

Music ministries:

• composition
• training
• performance
• voice
• choir
• instrumentalist

Evangelistic ministries:

• personal witnessing
• Inter Varsity
• Campus Crusade
• Navigators
• Home Bible Studies
• outreach to children
• Visitation teams
• Counseling at meetings
• Billy Graham phone bank

Radio and TV ministries:

• technical assistance
• writing
• announcing
• producing

Theater and drama ministries:

• acting
• directing
• writing
• scheduling

Social ministries:

• literacy
• pro-life
• pro-decency
• housing
• safety
• beautification

Pastoral care assistance:

• visitation
• newcomer welcoming and assistance
• hospitality
• food and clothing and transportation

Prayer ministries:

• praying!!!
• mobilizing for major Concerts of Prayer
• helping with small groups of prayer
• coordinating prayer chains
• promoting prayer days and weeks and vigils

Missions:

• all of the above across cultures

Support ministries:

• countless jobs that undergird major ministries

January 1, 1995 | by John Piper | Topic: Women