Resisting Temptation

SO LONG as we live in this world we cannot escape suffering and temptation. Whence it is written in Job: “The life of man upon earth is a warfare.”4 Everyone, therefore, must guard against temptation and must watch in prayer lest the devil, who never sleeps but goes about seeking whom he may devour, find occasion to deceive him. No one is so perfect or so holy but he is sometimes tempted; man cannot be altogether free from temptation.

Yet temptations, though troublesome and severe, are often useful to a man, for in them he is humbled, purified, and instructed. The saints all passed through many temptations and trials to profit by them, while those who could not resist became reprobate and fell away. There is no state so holy, no place so secret that temptations and trials will not come. Man is never safe from them as long as he lives, for they come from within us—in sin we were born. When one temptation or trial passes, another comes; we shall always have something to suffer because we have lost the state of original blessedness.

Many people try to escape temptations, only to fall more deeply. We cannot conquer simply by fleeing, but by patience and true humility we become stronger than all our enemies. The man who only shuns temptations outwardly and does not uproot them will make little progress; indeed will quickly return, more violent than before. Little by little, in patience and long-suffering you will overcome them, by the help of God rather than by severity and your own rash ways. Often take counsel when tempted; and do not be harsh with others who are tempted, but console them as you yourself would wish to be consoled.

The beginning of all temptation lies in a wavering mind and little trust in God, for as a rudderless ship is driven hither and yon by waves, so a careless and irresolute man is tempted in many ways. Fire tempers iron and temptation steels the just. Often we do not know what we can stand, but temptation shows us what we are. Above all, we must be especially alert against the beginnings of temptation, for the enemy is more easily conquered if he is refused admittance to the mind and is met beyond the threshold when he knocks.

Someone has said very aptly: “Resist the beginnings; remedies come too late, when by long delay the evil has gained strength.” First, a mere thought comes to mind, then strong imagination, followed by pleasure, evil delight, and consent. Thus, because he is not resisted in the beginning, Satan gains full entry. And the longer a man delays in resisting, so much the weaker does he become each day, while the strength of the enemy grows against him.

Some suffer great temptations in the beginning of their conversion, others toward the end, while some are troubled almost constantly throughout their life. Others, again, are tempted but lightly according to the wisdom and justice of Divine Providence Who weighs the status and merit of each and prepares all for the salvation of His elect. We should not despair, therefore, when we are tempted, but pray to God the more fervently that He may see fit to help us, for according to the word of Paul, He will make issue with temptation that we may be able to bear it.

Let us humble our souls under the hand of God in every trial and temptation for He will save and exalt the humble in spirit. In temptations and trials the progress of a man is measured; in them opportunity for merit and virtue is made more manifest. When a man is not troubled it is not hard for him to be fervent and devout, but if he bears up patiently in time of adversity, there is hope for great progress.Some, guarded against great temptations, are frequently overcome by small ones in order that, humbled by their weakness in small trials, they may not presume on their own strength in great ones.

Taken from the Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis

Update ~ Aug 8th

i just posted 3 new videos called, Reflections, Your Beautiful and Altitude. You can watch these videos by clicking on the Videos & Music page on the upper right of my sidebar.

OH BTW, did you notice the NEW LOOK? i hope you really like it. : ) Netty who is a dear friend and precious sister in Christ helped me with this new template and did some marvelous touch ups on some of the pics you see on my sidebar. She also did the dove with a rose, the acoustic guitar at the top and made the Name blend in better with the new template. i SO APPRECIATE the gifts of Abba's Body when they flow by His Wondrous Spirit.\0/

i had planned on recording the new song Abba gave me two weeks ago called ~ Holy, Worthy, Glory, Honor and Praise, but i have been very sick to where i was unable to talk for over a week. My voice is still not where i am able to record, but i am hoping next weekend i will be well enough with my voice back to normal to record the new song. When the Holy Spirit makes a Way then it will all come together in HIS perfect time.


May all who come by to read these blogs and explore further on the deep things of Abba Father be comforted and spurred on to Love and good works in Christ. Pray fervently, walk in obedience and keep your hearts open, humble and ready for these times of persecution that will catch MANY off guard and cause MANY to fall away.


Endure with Abba Father in Yehshua Jesus by His indwelling Holy Spirit till the end. Only those of His who endure till the end will be saved.


May His perfect Love cast out ALL your fear. Do NOT be weary in well doing for in due time you will receive your reward. Do NOT faint for fear when times get really dark and very hard, but trust in the Lord with your whole heart. Don't try to understand the trials and sufferings that are not strange to His followers. As Yehshua was persecuted so will we be. As He was hated by the world and the religious leaders who sought the praise of men so will we who follow closely to Him. Fix your spiritual eyes ALWAYS on Jesus who is the author and finisher of your faith. Love  Abba Father with ALL your heart and being, because He first loved you and gave His life for you. He will NEVER leave or forsake you so don't ever leave or forsake Him when you suffer for righteousness sake.


Linda Rose ~ Spiritsong

Tearing Down the Altar of Baal by David Wilkerson

To Live the Truth is better than Knowing it

O God, You Who are the truth, make me one with You in love everlasting. I am often wearied by the many things I hear and read, but in You is all that I long for. Let the learned be still, let all creatures be silent before You; You alone speak to me.
The more recollected a man is, and the more simple of heart he becomes, the easier he understands sublime things, for he receives the light of knowledge from above.

The pure, simple, and steadfast spirit is not distracted by many labors, for he does them all for the honor of God. And since he enjoys interior peace he seeks no selfish end in anything. What, indeed, gives more trouble and affliction than uncontrolled desires of the heart? A good and devout man and woman of God arranges in their mind the things they have to do, not according to the whims of evil inclination but according to the dictates of right reason. Who is forced to struggle more than he who tries to master himself? This ought to be our purpose, then: to conquer self, to become stronger each day, to advance in virtue.

Every perfection in this life has some imperfection mixed with it and no learning of ours is without some darkness. Humble knowledge of self is a surer path to God than the ardent pursuit of learning. Not that learning is to be considered evil, or knowledge, which is good in itself and so ordained by God; but a clean conscience and virtuous life ought always to be preferred. Many often err and accomplish little or nothing because they try to become learned rather than to live well. If men and women used as much care in uprooting vices and implanting virtues as they do in discussing problems, there would not be so much evil and scandal in the world, or such laxity in religious organizations.

On the day of judgment, surely, we shall not be asked what we have read but what we have done; not how well we have spoken but how well we have lived. Tell me, where now are all the masters and teachers whom you knew so well in life and who were famous for their learning? Others have already taken their places and I know not whether they ever think of their predecessors. During life they seemed to be something; now they are seldom remembered. How quickly the glory of the world passes away! If only their lives had kept pace with their learning, then their study and reading would have been worth while.

How many there are who perish because of vain worldly knowledge and too little care for serving God. They became vain in their own conceits because they chose to be great rather than humble. He is truly great who has great charity (love). He is truly great who is little in his own eyes and makes nothing of the highest honor. He is truly wise who looks upon all earthly things as folly that he may gain Christ. He who does God’s will and renounces his own is truly very learned.

Taken from the Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis

                                                      ~ Click Here ~

Singing in the Ways of the Lord

No music that goes up to the Throne of God is sweeter in Jehovah’s ears than the song of suffering saints. They shall praise Him upon their beds and sing His high praises in the fire! To go right through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and sing all the way. To climb Hill Difficulty and to sing up its crags—to pass by Giant Grim and even by the Castle of Giant Despair and through the Enchanted Ground and still keep singing—and to come to the river’s brink and descend into it still singing is lovely in a Christian! May the statutes of the Lord be our songs in the house of our pilgrimage till we mount to sing above!
 

You have safety, also, for in the ways of the Lord all His servants are protected from danger. On the king’s highway “no lion shall be there, neither shall any ravenous beast go up thereon.” You shall be “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” in the ways of the Lord. Well may that traveler sing who is perfectly safe! He holds his tongue if there are thieves about and robbers likely to pounce upon him. But when he feels that he is under the guardian care of the Lord of the Ways who has given His angels charge over him to keep him—yes, when he feels that the Lord, Himself, is round about him like a wall of fire—he must sing in the ways!
 
Strength and safety are ours & therefore, let us sing! We will sing of the ways of God in the application of Redemption to us, His people—how He convinced us of sin and led us to the Savior—and how, since then, He has led us by a right way, helped us, comforted us, chastened us, directed us, opened all His rich treasures to us, communed with us, told us the very secret of His soul, wiped our tears away, removed our fears, charmed our hearts! This is a long, long story, and each Believer sees a new phase of it in his own experience. Surely, the mere hints I have given are enough to show that we may well sing of the ways of the Lord! And you never need be ashamed to sing of those ways.

 

 The saddest saint is, after all, happier than the most glad sinner! The best house in the City of Destruction, where all is to be burnt with fire, is not equal to the poorest shanty on the road to Heaven, where, if the pilgrim fares hard, he is on the way to Glory! When we think of where we used to be—of the city from where we came. When we think of Egypt and the iron furnace, the bondage and the slavery from which God has brought us out with a high hand and an outstretched arm—why, we ought to sing in the ways of the Lord!
 

That is the point about all God’s people. We know where we are going and we can sing in the ways of God because we know where the road ends. Unconverted men and women, every step you take, you are a step nearer Hell. It is a very solemn thought, but I want you to remember it. Every hour that you unconverted people live, you are an hour nearer to the pit that burns with the wrath of God! Oh, I pray you, think of that! But the man who is a Believer is on a road which brings him, every step, nearer Heaven! I do not know a sweeter hymn than that which we sometimes sing—
 

“And nightly pitch our moving tent
A day’s march nearer Home.”
 

And what a Home it is! Oh, if our way Home lay through 7,000 Hells, yet the end would be worth it! If we had to pass through deaths as many as the hairs of our head, yet five minutes with Christ would make up for all our pain! I am sure that it is so! Let us, therefore, press forward singing, because we are getting nearer to the place where song shall be our element forever.
 

THOSE WHO SING IN THE WAYS OF GOD ALSO SING OF THE LORD OF THE WAY. “They shall sing the ways of the Lord.” And then some read it, “That great is the glory of the Lord.” That is the subject of their song. When they sing about the Lord of the Way, this Psalm supplies us with the points of their song. Kindly open it and keep your eyes upon it. “I will praise You with my whole heart. Before the gods will I sing praise unto You.” What for? “I will worship toward Your holy temple and praise Your name.” What for, David? “For Your loving kindness.” God is kind, but He is more than that. It is loving kindness. A man breaks a leg and the surgeon sets the bone. That is kindness. But suppose the man’s mother could set the bone? Oh, how she would do it with loving kindness! When the surgeon’s own son is under his hand and the surgeon is dealing with a broken bone, it is not only kindness, but loving kindness—the sweetest of the sweet—the kindest of the kind!
 

Now, that is how God has dealt with us. Oh, how tenderly! “Your gentleness has made me great.” He has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Was there ever a God so good to anybody as God has been to us? I reckon myself to be the darling child of His Providence and I think I hear many of you say, “And so are we!” Some of you, perhaps, have had more whipping than others—not so much because you deserved it but because, “Whom the Lord loves He chastens.”
 
Often the master is hardest with that boy in the school who is getting on best because chiding will make him grow. He will find no fault with a dull, stupid boy-he never - can make much of him - but the very one who does the best is he whom he drives on the most vigorously, for he means to make a senior wrangler of him.
 

So, perhaps, you, dear Friends, are having more pruning than anybody else because you are a branch that will grow with pruning and will bring forth better grapes. There is more love in the chastening that you get than in the gentler way in which God deals with others. Come, let us bless His name! He is a loving God! Let us sing in His ways and chant the tune of His loving kindness. And what next? “For Your loving kindness and for Your truth.” Ah, that is a blessed thing—a faithful God, a true God, a God that cannot lie—a God that cannot fail His people, a God that never breaks His promise or forgets it. Oh, come, let us sing unto His name while we are in His ways! Let us tell the world that men of high degree are vanity and men of low degree are a lie, but our God is true!
 

David goes on to say, “In the day when I cried, You answered me and strengthened me with strength in my soul.” Answered prayers make a fine set of hymns! Old prayers make new songs! When God hears prayers, we should let Him hear them again! When He has heard them as prayers, then let Him hear them as praises! We are often faulty here. I am afraid that we go to God with our errands when we are in need, for we have a cupboard love for Him. We are like many a dog to his master— he loves his master for the bones he gives him.
 

I do not say that we ever rise above that - we love the Lord because He has heard our prayers and our supplications, but let us sometimes go to the Lord wholly to praise Him. Say, “Lord, this time I will not ask anything of You except a grateful heart. And if You give me that, then I will praise You and praise You, and praise You because my soul is wholly taken up with adoring gratitude for what I have received. You may be poor; you may have little talent; you may be quite unknown, but though the Lord is on high, yet has He respect unto the lowly! 


He hears the praises of the unknown! Wonderful is the power of “the great unknown.”
 

When you do not seem to have anything to sing about, today, sing about what is going to be tomorrow! And if there seems to be nothing on earth to sing about, sing about the everlasting future! Soon you shall never be tempted to say, “What shall I eat, and what shall I drink, and with what shall I be clothed?” You shall have no cares to fret you, nor sins to repent of, for you shall be perfect before the Throne of God, clean escaped from all the dangers and the trials of the way! Come, let us sing for what will be! “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me.”
 

Our singing should be such that God hears it with pleasure—singing in which there is not so much art as heart—not so much of musical sound as of spiritual emotion. They shall sing to the glory of God! Legions of flies are caught by this honey! Many are brought to God by the sweet lives of His people. If we can always rejoice in the Lord, we shall bring many to God who otherwise would have turned on their heels and said, “We will have nothing to do with these dull dreamers. We are too young to lose all our joy in life.” 

~ Spurgeon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 This morning in my prayer worship time the Holy Spirit gave me a new song. i hope i can get the opportunity to record it this weekend. i will post the words up now.

Stay tuned in to the recording that will be posted by this time next week. : )

Holy, Worthy, Glory, Honor and Praise

Holy, Yahweh Holy

Your Holy, Yahweh Holy

Holy, Yahweh Father God

Worthy, Yahweh Worthy

Your Worthy, Yahweh Worthy

Worthy of all our praise

(1st Chorus)

You are my Lord, My Father Yahweh God.

Draw me deep into Your Holiness.

You guide me in the Way, without ceasing i will pray. i love You more and more everyday.

Glory, honor and praise

All glory, honor and praise

Are Your's alone Yahweh God

Righteous, Yahweh Righteous

Your Righteous, Yahweh Righteous

You work Your Righteousness in me

(2nd chorus)

You are Alive, You are the Living Word

i hunger and thirst for Your righteousness

You are my daily Bread, by Your Spirit i am fed. You fill and satisfy this longing in my heart.

Highest, Yahweh Most High

Your highest, Yahweh Most High

Yahweh, Your high and lifted up

Sovereign, Yahweh Sovereign

Your Sovereign, Yahweh Sovereign

You reign and rule over my soul

(3rd Chorus)

Your Holy, Abba Father Worthy to receive all glory, honor and praise. Your lifted ever higher, Your my burning desire.

Oh Holy, Sovereign, Majestic, Awesome God

Holy, Worthy, Glory, Honor and Praises, to You Yahweh Father God (Repeat)

Praises to You Yahweh Father God (Repeat)

Spiritsong Update ~ 7/22

 i found out about a site called Godly Christian music from Netty (Wholly Sanctified) that offered free music and downloads. When i went there to check it out i really liked how it was set up and some of the music i was beginning to explore on that site. i noticed as i explored further that they had a contact e-mail for those godly musicians who wanted to offer their own music for others to listen to and download. 

i sent an e-mail with my revernation link for the admin to sample and download some songs for their review and approval. i hadn't heard back and it was about 10 days since my inquiry. i wrote back to find out about my status. This was the e-mail i received in reply.

"Hi Linda,

Yes, I got a chance to download some of your music and you definitely will be able to post your music on GodlyChristianMusic.com.  You have done a wonderful job with your music.  I have just been really busy lately and I haven't got a chance to set up your account.  I am working on things right now and I should have your account up sometime in the next couple days.

Lord Bless,

Peter Schrock"

Since we went camping this week for a few days i didn't get to set up my account and music till late last night. i got over 50 songs downloaded with over half of the songs that i posted lyrics to. 

In all the places where i have had the music of Spiritsong up, this is the first place i have gotten more downloads on the songs then i have ever gotten since they have been made public. Most who have listened to the music have not downloaded them. I already have 337 downloads in less than 20 hours of posting the songs. i will post the link here and also put it up on my sidebar to make it available for those are led to check it out.

             Spiritsong on godly Christian Music ~ Click Here

 

It's You i Want to See

i just recently recorded a new song that i had not planned on doing. It was an unexpected surprise. i posted the song at the bottom of my last blog called, "Draw Near to Me." With a loving nudge of encouragement from a friend i was talking to on the phone,  i felt i should share how it all came about.  i don't know why i didn't think to do it as i have done with most of the songs i have posted in previous blogs. 
 

i had planned on going out with my husband and daughter on Sunday, but i was putting a teaching and word on my blog Abba put on my heart from some scriptures He led me to in my prayer time and i felt strongly led to stay home. This song i had gotten a few months back, but i never got to record it. i just happen to pull it out several days ago when i was singing songs to Abba and i said to Him when i was looking over the song, " Lord i really need to record this one."
 

About an hour after my husband and daughter left i heard Father say, "go ahead and record the song now."  In all honesty, my response was not a favorable one.  "Oh Lord i really don't feel like it doing it right now. :( " i  heard nothing back and my own conscience was nagging at me. How could i tell Abba NOT NOW? With a sigh i said to Abba, ok, even though i don't feel like doing it, i'll get everything together to record.
 

i got everything all set up.  i felt with this song the reverb should be at the lower end then i had been recording with the previous ones . As i was doing a dry run of the song, i broke into prayer. About halfway through the recording, i could sense Abba was pleased. The feeling i got was just so sweet!  The song in it's entirety took less than an hour to put together. The timing with this song is very special to me. i have felt the Holy Spirits calling to not just pray but also to sing to Him more. The singing to Abba hasn't been a part of my prayer time in quite a while. 

When i heard Abba say to me last week, "pick up your guitar and sing to Me," it brought back those sweet memories of the deeper intimacy that has come about from those earlier days when He apprehended me. To return back to our first Love is the admonishment of the Holy Spirits calling to my heart for the troublesome and very dark days ahead.  Abba Father is SO PRECIOUS and LOVING! Even after all these years of following Him, i get so AWE STRUCK  to think that He fervently desires intimacy with me. It's all about keeping it simple from a pure heart and the desire to minister to HIM in what He calls me to do. If there are those who are  ministered to in addition to Abba being FIRST in my desire to serve and please Him, then that is but an added blessing. \0/

Love the Lord your Father God with all your heart, all your mind, all your might and all your soul! Love one another as He loves and gave His Life for us.

Linda Rose