Devotional Treasures @DevotionalTreasures@dingdash.com

John 15:12-15
12)“This is My commandment, that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another, just as I have loved you.
13)No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends. 14)You are my friends if you keep on doing what I command you.
15)I do not call you servants any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you [My] friends, because I have revealed to you everything that I have heard from My Father.

"Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves."
Philippians 2:3 NLT

#Apologetics https://bcooper.wordpress.com/2021/04/27/is-the-bible-a-love-letter-from-god-to-us/

A Chinese Christian leader recently told his congregation:

“Of course the government is watching you, and even listening to you in your own home! So make sure that what they are seeing is a true disciple of Christ!”

This is the attitude to take. We are not backing down. We are fully trusting in God’s sovereignty over what they do or don’t do to us. We are in the hands of the risen Jesus and He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Be bold.

I never yet have heard of a good man having fallen when he was trying to do Christ's will and trusting on Christ's help. Every fall without one exception came from venturing upon sinful ground or from venturing upon self-support.
Theodore L. Cuyler

What is the cause of most backslidings? I believe, as a general rule, one of the chief causes is neglect of private prayer.
J. C. Ryle

Enthusiasm is more active than faith, though enthusiasm cannot remove mountains nor call into action any of the omnipotent forces which faith can command. Activity is often at the expense of more solid, useful elements, and generally to the total neglect of prayer. To be too busy with God's work to commune with God, to be busy with doing church work without taking time to talk to God about His work, is the highway to backsliding, and many people have walked therein to the hurt of their immortal souls.
Edward McKendree Bounds

Genuine evidence of the Holy Spirit’s influence in a believer's life is not excitement, experience, or emotionalism.

Instead, it’s sanctification producing a Christlike character. - Dustin Benge

#Apologetics https://bcooper.wordpress.com/2021/04/26/the-maze-of-off-ramps/