From: "Phil Rembleski" <PHIl@rescuechurchofchrist.org>

To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"

Cc:

Sent: Fri, Jul 21, 2023 at 5:38 AM

Subject: 7-21-23 THOUGHTS

7-21-23   THOUGHTS

The thoughts are not mine this morning.  I am endeavoring to absorb them in some full sense!  The power of God’s Word in a man or woman, and the need for us to have God’s mind is advocated in the writing below.  
1Pet 1:23   for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, [that is,] through the living and enduring word of God.

“No subject of contemplation will tend to more humble the mind, than thoughts of God….”
“But while the subject humbled the mind, it also expands it.  He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe……. The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead, in the glorious Trinity.  Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing will so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.
And, whilst  humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory.  Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares?  Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth, as from a couch of rest, refreshed, and invigorated. I know nothing which can do comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout, musing up on the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.”            J.I. Packer, Knowing God (page 18)

A prayer of Paul for the Church at Ephesus...   Eph 3:16-19    that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18  may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19  and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

My Prayer:
May we have no casual acquaintance with You, O God.  We know that if we will draw near to You, You will draw near to us.  Absorb us in this process, O Lord.   You have called awesomely, help us to respond with a greater quality and diligence. Help us have great desire to know You fully and maturely.  Too often we are novices spread thin with double-mindedness.  May that cease now, O God.  May we actively and powerfully seek You, the Rock of all ages.  May Your nature and love and compassion in Jesus be imprinted on our hearts.   In His name,   amen.