I've been reading a book by Charles Spurgeon called All of Grace.
After I posted my previous post, I read chapter 7 which really pinpointed an area I've been having struggle with.
It's focus is on the grace of God and how faith is just a conduit of that grace.
My focus has been too much on whether I feel faith which could be leading towards making an idol out of "faith" itself rather than focusing on God's grace and Christ Himself.
The fountain of God's grace is like a heart pump sending blood through the blood vessel of faith to me (my soul) from God.
Spurgeon says,
"The peace within the soul is not derived from contemplation of our own faith. It comes to us from Him who is our peace - the hem of whose garment faith touches - and virtue comes out of Him into the soul..
See, then, that the weakness of your faith will not destroy you. A trembling hand may receive a golden gift."
Spurgeon also says,
"The power lies in the grace of God and not in our faith. Great messages can be sent along slender wires. The peace-giving witness of the Holy Spirit can reach the heart by means of a threadlike faith which seems almost unable to sustain its own weight."
My focus then needs to be on Jesus, and also on His grace which saves.
Spurgeon says,
"Yet, the power is not in the faith but in the God in whom faith relies."
My Dad has also recommended the book The Valley of Vision from which the song I shared came from (a CD that Sovereign Grace Music did based on that book).
I also read my Bible with some of the study Bible notes (as I have been doing), but God can also encourage through fellow Christians who can help me to understand and apply the Scriptures as fellow strugglers who have gone before me on this journey have done. Even those of us who have been Christians for years go through valleys, but He doesn't let us walk alone.
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
Psalm 43:5
After I posted my previous post, I read chapter 7 which really pinpointed an area I've been having struggle with.
It's focus is on the grace of God and how faith is just a conduit of that grace.
My focus has been too much on whether I feel faith which could be leading towards making an idol out of "faith" itself rather than focusing on God's grace and Christ Himself.
The fountain of God's grace is like a heart pump sending blood through the blood vessel of faith to me (my soul) from God.
Spurgeon says,
"The peace within the soul is not derived from contemplation of our own faith. It comes to us from Him who is our peace - the hem of whose garment faith touches - and virtue comes out of Him into the soul..
See, then, that the weakness of your faith will not destroy you. A trembling hand may receive a golden gift."
Spurgeon also says,
"The power lies in the grace of God and not in our faith. Great messages can be sent along slender wires. The peace-giving witness of the Holy Spirit can reach the heart by means of a threadlike faith which seems almost unable to sustain its own weight."
My focus then needs to be on Jesus, and also on His grace which saves.
Spurgeon says,
"Yet, the power is not in the faith but in the God in whom faith relies."
My Dad has also recommended the book The Valley of Vision from which the song I shared came from (a CD that Sovereign Grace Music did based on that book).
I also read my Bible with some of the study Bible notes (as I have been doing), but God can also encourage through fellow Christians who can help me to understand and apply the Scriptures as fellow strugglers who have gone before me on this journey have done. Even those of us who have been Christians for years go through valleys, but He doesn't let us walk alone.
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
Psalm 43:5
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