This gave me a chuckle.

Israeli Sense of Humour: 

An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly and made the world community smile. 

A representative from Israel began: "Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Moses. When he struck the rock and it brought forth water, he thought, 'What a good opportunity to have a bath!' 

"He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water. 

"When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Palestinian had stolen them." 

The Palestinian representative jumped up furiously and shouted, "What are you talking about? The Palestinians weren't there then." 

The Israeli representative smiled and said, "And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech."

While obviously fictitious, it's good for a laugh. :)

2 Peter 2:9a

"...then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations..."

I came across this today and I thought it was a great thought to hold on to; firstly that the Lord knows everything, and secondly that He will deliver the godly out of temptations.

I hope that realization blesses you as much as it blessed me!

Galatians 5

http://streaming.ccphilly.org/video.aspx?id=SAM871

http://streaming.ccphilly.org/video.aspx?id=SAM869

2 challenging messages from Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia.

Enjoy.

Quote from Alan Redpath

"There is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with great purpose."
                                                                                                       Alan Redpath.

This struck me as a very interesting quote. I hope I remember it when difficulties come.

Continuing on the Christian perfection theme...

Reading through the book of Hebrews the words perfect and perfection are mentioned a lot of times. (no I didn't count!). I used the cheat's version. E-Sword is very useful!
The word "perfect" occurs 99 times in Scripture. I guess we should take note of it, but it's funny how it hasn't really "jumped out" at me before reading Mr Wesley's book!

"But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen."
1 Peter 5:10 NKJV

"Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection," Hebrews 6:1

A poem

"Not a sound invades the stillness,
Not a form invades the scene,
Save the voice of my Beloved
And the person of my King.

Precious, gentle, holy Jesus,
Blessed Bridegroom of my heart,
In Thy secret inner chamber
Thou wilt whisper what Thou art.

And within those heavenly places,
Calmly hushed in sweet repose,
There I drink with joy absorbing
All the love Thou wouldst disclose.

Wrapt in deep adoring silence,
Jesus, Lord, I dare not move,
Lest I lose the smallest saying
Meant to catch the ear of love.

Rest then, oh my soul, contented,
Thou hast reached that happy place
In the bosom of thy Saviour,
Gazing up in His dear face."

found in a Smith Wigglesworth book, "Power to serve"

3 Wesley quotes

I've been reading Mr. Wesley's "Plain Account of Christian Perfection" (which I got for Christmas) Thanks Mum and Dad!
It's a very interesting and encouraging book which I'm thoroughly enjoying- sadly have nearly finished it.
3 quotes that particularly jumped out at me today:

"In the greatest temptations, a single look to Christ, and the barely pronouncing His name, suffices to overcome the wicked one, so it be done with confidence and calmness of spirit."

"God is so great, that He communicates greatness to the least thing that is done for His service."

"It is good to renew ourselves, from time to time, by closely examining the state of our souls, as if we had never done it before; for nothing tends more to the full assurance of faith, than to keep ourselves by this means in humility, and the exercise of all good works."

Hope you're encouraged as much as I was!

Keep the door of my lips.

"No prayer should be oftener spoken by us than that of David in one of his psalms: "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." There is nothing in all our life to which most of us give less heed than to our words. We let them fly from our lips as the leaves fly from the trees when the autumn winds blow. Many people seem to think that words scarcely have a moral character. They watch their acts, their conduct, and then give full license to their tongues. This is not right. A true Christian should have a Christian tongue. Words have terrific power for harm if they are wrong words, and blessed, immortal power for good if they are holy words. We need to pray continually that God would keep the door of our lips and set a watch before our mouth. Only love should be permitted to interpret itself in speech. Bitterness and all evil should be restrained." 
  "In Green Pastures" for December 16th by J.R. Miller, D.D.


Plus some Scripture on the subject. (NKJV)

"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers."
 Ephesians 4:29

"Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." Colossians 4:6

"...sound speech that cannot be condemned..." Titus 2:8

Christmas Greeting from Living Waters

"The Way to God" by D. L. Moody

"Christ is our Way; we walk in Him. He is our Truth; we embrace Him. He is our Life; we live in Him. He is our Lord; we choose Him to rule over us. He is our Master; we serve Him. He is our Teacher; instructing us in the way of salvation. He is our Prophet, pointing out the future. He is our Priest, having atoned for us. He is our Advocate, ever living to make intercession for us. He is our Saviour, saving to the uttermost. He is our Root; we grow from Him. He is our Bread; we feed upon Him. He is our Shepherd, leading us into green pastures. He is our true Vine; we abide in Him. He is the Water of Life; we slake our thirst from Him.

He is the fairest among ten thousand; we admire Him above all others. He is 'the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person'; we strive to reflect His likeness. He is the upholder of all things; we rest upon Him. He is our wisdom; we are guided by Him. He is our Righteousness; we cast all our imperfections upon Him. He is our Sanctification; we draw all our power for holy life from Him. He is our redemption, redeeming us from all iniquity. He is our Healer, curing all our diseases. He is our Friend, relieving us in all our necessities. He is our Brother, cheering us in our difficulties. "

Murray M'Cheyne's Reading Schedule for December

DECEMBER Bible Reading Schedule 4
Date	Family	-	Secret	-
1	1Chron.29	2Pet. 3	Micah 6	Luke 15
2	2Chron.1	1John 1	Micah 7	Luke 16
3	2Chron.2	1John 2	Nahum 1	Luke 17
4	2Chron.3,4	1John 3	Nahum 2	Luke 18
5	2Chron.5-6:11	1John 4	Nahum 3	Luke 19
6	2Chron.6:12-42	1John 5	Hab. 1	Luke 20
7	2Chron.7	2John 1	Hab. 2	Luke 21
8	2Chron.8	3John 1	Hab. 3	Luke 22
9	2Chron.9	Jude 1	Zeph. 1	Luke 23
10	2Chron.10	Rev. 1	Zeph. 2	Luke 24
11	2Chron.11,12	Rev. 2	Zeph. 3	John 1
12	2Chron.13	Rev. 3	Haggai 1	John 2
13	2Chron.14,15	Rev. 4	Haggai 2	John 3
14	2Chron.16	Rev. 5	Zech. 1	John 4
15	2Chron.17	Rev. 6	Zech. 2	John 5
16	2Chron.18	Rev. 7	Zech. 3	John 6
17	2Chron.19,20	Rev. 8	Zech. 4	John 7
18	2Chron.21	Rev. 9	Zech. 5	John 8
19	2Chron.22,23	Rev. 10	Zech. 6	John 9
20	2Chron.24	Rev. 11	Zech. 7	John 10
21	2Chron.25	Rev. 12	Zech. 8	John 11
22	2Chron.26	Rev. 13	Zech. 9	John 12
23	2Chron.27,28	Rev. 14	Zech. 10	John 13
24	2Chron.29	Rev. 15	Zech. 11	John 14
25	2Chron.30	Rev. 16	Zech.12-13:1	John 15
26	2Chron.31	Rev. 17	Zech.13:2-9	John 16
27	2Chron.32	Rev. 18	Zech.14	John 17
28	2Chron.33	Rev. 19	Malachi 1	John 18
29	2Chron.34	Rev. 20	Malachi 2	John 19
30	2Chron.35	Rev. 21	Malachi 3	John 20
31	2Chron.36	Rev. 22	Malachi 4	John 21

Bible Reading Schedule for November

NOVEMBER Bible Reading Schedule 4
Date	Family	-	Secret	-
1	2Kings 14	2 Tim. 4	Hos. 7	Ps.120-122
2	2Kings 15	Titus 1	Hos. 8	Ps.123-125
3	2Kings 16	Titus 2	Hos. 9	Ps.126-128
4	2Kings 17	Titus 3	Hos. 10	Ps.129-131
5	2Kings 18	Philem.	Hos. 11	Ps.132-134
6	2Kings 19	Heb. 1	Hos. 12	Ps.135-136
7	2Kings 20	Heb. 2	Hos. 13	Ps.137,138
8	2Kings 21	Heb. 3	Hos. 14	Ps.139
9	2Kings 22	Heb. 4	Joel 1	Ps.140,141
10	2Kings 23	Heb. 5	Joel 2	Ps.142
11	2Kings 24	Heb. 6	Joel 3	Ps.143
12	2Kings 25	Heb. 7	Amos 1	Ps.144
13	1Chron.1,2	Heb. 8	Amos 2	Ps.145
14	1Chron.3,4	Heb. 9	Amos 3	Ps.146,147
15	1Chron.5,6	Heb. 10	Amos 4	Ps.148-150
16	1Chron.7,8	Heb. 11	Amos 5	Lk.1:1-38
17	1Chron.9,10	Heb. 12	Amos 6	Lk.1:39-80
18	1Chron.11,12	Heb. 13	Amos 7	Luke 2
19	1Chron.13,14	James 1	Amos 8	Luke 3
20	1Chron.15	James 2	Amos 9	Luke 4
21	1Chron.16	James 3	Obad. 1	Luke 5
22	1Chron.17	James 4	Jonah 1	Luke 6
23	1Chron.18	James 5	Jonah 2	Luke 7
24	1Chron.19,20	1Pet. 1	Jonah 3	Luke 8
25	1Chron.21	1Pet. 2	Jonah 4	Luke 9
26	1Chron.22	1Pet. 3	Micah 1	Luke 10
27	1Chron.23	1Pet. 4	Micah 2	Luke 11
28	1Chron.24,25	1Pet. 5	Micah 3	Luke 12
29	1Chron.26,27	2Pet. 1	Micah 4	Luke 13
30	1Chron.28	2Pet. 2	Micah 5	Luke 14