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Sunday 21 July 2013

The Sayings of Samuel Godfrey George - June 2013


I do not need any Jerusalem artefact to base my faith on. What I need is to feel the consciousness of God's presence within me, to know that He dwells within me as the Holy Spirit. To cling to Him is the sole goal for this day and every other day.

Despite a sinking feeling I put my trust in God today to solve my unending problems.

The requirement of God can be met only with the help of God. When we are told to deny ourselves we are told to deny our selfish and sinful desires. But we cannot deny them in our strength. We try and fail miserably. And then we find out that only God can enable us to do such an impossible task, and that He does it not abruptly but gradually as we yield ourselves to him. Even then he does not empower us over sin completely, certainly not in this lifetime. As long as we are in the flesh we are not totally immune to its inherent sinfulness.

We tend to drift in life not caring about the bitter feelings we harbour towards certain people. We have these bitter feelings regarding them because we have not forgiven their mistakes. But we must take care to let go of these bitter feelings and forgive those people. If we don't forgive them we cannot expect God to forgive us. God has made this amply clear in his word. So to withhold forgiveness is to welcome our own punishment.

There is only one reason why we are alive today and that is to glorify God.

In this continual fight against evil I must believe that Jesus Christ is living His life in me, and thinking His thoughts in me and expressing His feelings through me and so fighting this evil with me. I must believe that I have the mind of Christ. I must believe that I have Christ Himself lodged within me. So if He is in me and I am in Him we are one. And I know that as we remain united He will help me face every challenge in my life and that I will learn to overcome every difficulty in His strength.

There is no better life than the one that is dedicated to God. There are various levels of dedication and you must find out the level that is intended for you. It cannot happen immediately. At least it should not. Even the disciples of Jesus had three years to think it through. Later the Holy Spirit guided them. You should think this matter through. And you should certainly pray about it continually. And after that if you still want to do it, you should do it.

The despair in the darkness and the dread in the silence are the ingredients of the night of faith.

God has made me a city on a hill visible to everyone. He has done this so that my faith in God is visible to everyone. This is not to glorify me but to show that God is working in me despite difficult circumstances in my life. May those who see me see God living in me.

Some strong impulses should be delayed for at least an hour.

To hang on to God despite his silence, to believe in God's goodness even though it seems unlikely, to lay down one's life and not see the desired life happen - this is the madness, this is the faith.

Evil is unmade only in the place where it was made. To overcome wrong desires and unnecessary fears we must understand them. We cannot understand them without experiencing them. We must experience them to know them and to study how they wield power over our minds and hearts. We must find out why and how they lead us into unhealthy and undesirable behaviours. It is only when we get to the roots of these desires and fears, it is only when we see their origins that we recognize their basic distortions. And when we see these distortions we can totally reject them and truly detach ourselves from the resultant compulsive desires and fears. We cannot rush this process.

It is God who planted powerful impulses in human beings. It is not his intention to direct human beings to suppress these drives. But it is human beings who in their fallen state misdirect these impulses towards sinful thoughts and actions. Therefore God requires humans to know his ways and his plan for human life, which includes the proper employment of these impulses. And humans must place their trust in God as he reveals his intentions degree by degree.

What sort of a life is a life without God? God is the best thing I know. God is the most beautiful person that I know. If you say that my life will be happier without God I say in response, "No way!"

There are many words in my vocabulary and many expressions in my speech. There are many thoughts in my mind and many feelings in my heart. But I will use very few of these, as I must be careful in what I communicate. What I say or write has the potential to build or destroy someone. I choose to build with my words. I will almost always choose not to destroy, because it is an ugly thing to cast doubt on another person's character and it is not heroic to dismantle a person's confidence. God alone is judge of the mind and the heart, so let no man usurp that role.

After many years of letting my thoughts control me I have realized that I can now control my thoughts. This is no feat of mine. It is the outcome of the realization that I have the mind of Christ. Everyone who belongs to Christ has the mind of Christ. This is a fact. However one does not discover this experientially until one exercises this mind in faith. And when one exercises this mind the thoughts of one's natural mind are undermined.

There is no desire in me that is as powerful as the desires that God feels in me. There is no thought in my head that is as powerful as the thoughts that God thinks in me. There is no act that I perform that has as great an effect on others as those acts that God performs in me. Yes God feels, thinks and acts in me. He lives in me and through me. And there is nothing in this world that can come between God and me.

You will live with the data that God has given you. You shall not remove any data, for every datum has made you what you are today. Do not forget that.

To be able to love unconditionally is a supreme privilege.

Prayer is not enough. You must show that you care by doing something about it.

Don't take pride in your humility.

Miss out on everything. But don't miss out on God.

You can't judge a person by his face. Of all deceptions the human face is mightily potent.

It is true that Jesus Christ paid for all my sins, even my future sins. I should be relieved to hear this and must not feel hopeless about sin, for in Christ I have conquered sin and am more than a conqueror. However I cannot just stop caring about sin and feel indifferent to it in my life. I am responsible for my life and what I do on this earth. Even though the Holy Spirit is in me, it is I who must consciously accommodate Him every day. I must allow Him to transform me through the power of His word, and this I must do to counteract the effects of my flesh, which is bent on evil. So I must submit to God and resist sin.

There are certain things you must force yourself to read and force yourself to think.

We're all struggling. This is a struggle. It is the truth.

If I have nothing unique to offer then I will stop working.

When an undesirable thing happens and you take it to God and it still happens, there must be a good reason for it. Just wait for God to reveal the reason in his time.

Pride is not good. It is not at all good. It keeps me from tasting the truth and living the life that God has for me. Every day God breaks my pride degree by degree. Every day God reveals to me my littleness and my wickedness. And for this I am thankful.

My deadness to sin I must declare every moment of my life. Sin must not reign in me; at least sin must never think that it has a prominent place in my life.

Wait till it happens. Then you may speak.

It is when I lose something that I pay attention to it.








Monday 1 July 2013

The Foolish Things Of The World - 2

Why are the foolish people of the world at an advantage when it comes to knowing God?

Don't Judge, Just Accept

It's best not to believe in the applicability of a generalization to every situation in life. It's best not to question the general judgements of God concerning humanity and his specific laws governing human behaviour. It's best not to judge any human being adversely or even favourably because the data is inadequate.

Give Me Oil In My Lamp

Asking God for His Spirit to fuel me today

Thanking God In Advance

If you ask God for anything and believe that you have already received it you will certainly receive it. This is the assurance of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why I thank God in advance for what I am about to receive.

How do we worship God?

Many people go to church to worship God. Denominational differences in Christianity may involve different styles of worship. But what ...