Two Quotes That Ring Through My Soul

During the unfolding months of 2013 these two quotes have returned to me again. I have had to go look them up, repeatedly, and am now trying to secure them for the reader and myself.

 

 

"Perseverance is a long obedience in the same direction" said Eugene Peterson.

Here is the cross stitch on my kitchen bulletin board inspired by this quote.

 

 

Guess I need to sew this one next.

"It's not my grip of Christ, but Christ's grip of me," said an old Scotswoman long ago.

Ephesians chapter one has one of the prayers Paul prayed for other believers. It is a prayer for us, too. It is a comfort to think of Paul and Jesus lifting us in prayer!

He wrote that he was praying constantly that the Father would give these believers spiritual wisdom and insight so they could GROW in their knowledge of God.

Ephesians 1:18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called—His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance.

Part of that light brings us to understand what the old Scotswoman said. Verse 19 asks us to understand the "incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe" the same power that raised Christ from the dead. Hold up, what? The same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to you and me. Jesus was dead, dressed for death in shroud and spices, lifeless.

 

Douay-Reims 1899 reads: "And what is the exceeding greatness of His power towards us, who believe

according to the operation of the might of His power" not our grasp upon Him, but His power at work in and for us.

So often we come to believe that our faith is determined by our behavior and our grasp upon God. Nothing could be further from the truth. When circumstances of life move us into places of helpessness and hopelessness we are brought nose to nose with the fallacy. His grip upon me is the thing that matters most.

 

 

 

I am beginning to get the picture!

 

 

Posted with Blogsy