There Is A River!

 And Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the names by which his father had called them .Now Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of living [spring] water. Genesis 26:18-19

There are times in our lives that we go through a spiritual valley and we want to get the victory over certain things that have come against us, in our lives. We want answers to the problems and prayers that we have put forth to the throne of Grace. We want God's power to flow through us again. Oh, Lord, send the power down and anoint this feeble body of mine again.

In the scriptures we read that Isaac found springing water after digging up the wells of his father Abraham again. If you where to translate the phrase “springing water” in the Hebrew it is translated this way "mayim chayeem". It accurately means "living waters". What a lot of Christian people need to do today is to dig up those wells and get a fresh dose of that living water. We all need a good dose of that old time religion. The kind that was good enough for my father, my mother, and their mother and father!

Jesus left us a promise in the scriptures, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:38)

Those of us, who are believers in Jesus The Christ, have those living waters within us -- but we must clear out the obstacles and barriers in our lives that prevent and block those living waters from flowing! The Lord promises us rivers of living water. He did not say a swimming pool or a millpond, or a lake. He said”Rivers” These waters are not intended to be dormant, stagnant, or sluggish, and are certainly not meant to be dammed up! They need to be flowing unrestricted and limitless!
When we start to think or feel as if our spiritual walk has grown sluggish or stagnant we need to dig up the wells of living water again! Do not dam up the flow of the Living Water.

The Resume Of Jesus The Christ!

The Resume of Jesus Christ Address: Ephesians 1:20 Phone: Romans 10:13 Website: The Bible . Keywords: Christ, Lord, Savior and Jesus _____________________________________________________ Objective My name is Jesus -The Christ. Many call me Lord! I've sent you my resume because I'm seeking the top management position in your heart. Please consider my accomplishments as set forth in my resume. _____________________________________________________________________ Qualifications I founded the earth and established the heavens, (See Proverbs 3:19) I formed man from the dust of the ground, (See Genesis 2:7) I breathed into man the breath of life, (See Genesis 2:7) I redeemed man from the curse of the law, (See Galatians 3:13) The blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant comes upon your life through me, (See Galatians 3:14) _____________________________________________________________________ Occupational Background I've only had one employer, (See Luke 2:49 ). I've never been tardy, absent, disobedient, slothful or disrespectful. My employer has nothing but rave reviews for me, (See Matthew 3:15 -17) _____________________________________________________________________ Skills Work Experiences Some of my skills and work experiences include: empowering the poor to be poor no more, healing the brokenhearted, setting the captives free, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind and setting at liberty them that are bruised, (See Luke 4:18). I am a Wonderful Counselor, (See Isaiah 9:6). People who listen to me shall dwell safely and shall not fear evil, (See Proverbs 1:33 ). Most importantly, I have the authority, ability and power to cleanse you of your sins, (See I John 1:7-9) _____________________________________________________________________ Educational Background I encompass the entire breadth and length of knowledge, wisdom and understanding, (See Proverbs 2:6). In me are hid all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, (See Colossians 2:3). My Word is so powerful; it has been described as being a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path, (See Psalms 119:105). I can even tell you all of the secrets of your heart, (See Psalms 44:21). _____________________________________________________________________ Major Accomplishments I was an active participant in the greatest Summit Meeting of all times, (See Genesis 1:26 ). I laid down my life so that you may live, (See II Corinthians 5:15 ). I defeated the arch enemy of God and mankind and made a show of them openly, (See Colossians 2:15 ). I've miraculously fed the poor, healed the sick and raised the dead! There are many more major accomplishments, too many to mention here. You can read them on my website, which is located at: www dot - the BIBLE. You don't need an Internet connection or computer to access my website. _____________________________________________________________________ References Believers and followers worldwide will testify to my divine healing, salvation, deliverance, miracles, restoration and supernatural guidance. _____________________________________________________________________ Summation Now that you've read my resume, I'm confident that I'm the only candidate uniquely qualified to fill this vital position in your heart. In summation, I will properly direct your paths, (See Proverbs 3:5-6), and lead you into everlasting life, (See John 6:47 ). When can I start? Time is of the essence, (See Hebrews 3:15 ).

He Will Do IT Again!

And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. [Exodus 15:23-26]

Murmuring or complaining is one of the sins that are overlooked quite often. A lot of times people go out of their way to focus on the "much bigger sins" such as murder and adultery that we overlook the sin of murmuring and complaining,  but the Lord doesn't not over look it or give this sin a free pass. It is just the opposite. It's an   unseen destroyer of the believer! The sin of murmuring and complaining started a plague that killed thousands of Israelites! [Numbers 16]

In this chapter, we read how the Israelites, who were to a great extent thirsty, looked only at the fact that the water they had come to was undrinkable because it was bitter. Look how fast they forgot God, who had brought them out of Egypt, from their slavery and led them out from there with signs and wonders. They had, not long before witnessed the Lord’s parting of the Red Sea and obliteration of those who had enslaved and imprisoned them. But they still, so quickly returned to looking only with their natural eyes at the problem in front of them. They were completely forgetting the miracle working power of their God! They murmured against Moses, but to tell the truth, when you stop and really look at it, they were really murmuring against God? Moses once again interceded for them, once again showing them the faithfulness of God. Instead of going to the Lord the Israelites would rather cry and complain.  People are the same way today. Some things never change.

Sad to say, people in today’s world are just like the Israelites. People focus on their despairing situations with their physical eyes, and not with the eyes of a person with faith. Some people can receive a miracle one day and the very next day they are complaining about something else. This very thing (murmuring and complaining) is truly a sin that we all must guard against.

We cannot allow the sin of murmuring and complaining to grow and expand in our lives. It can very easily become a vice-like grip! The same wonder working power God used to led the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land, is still at work today, so we must not hinder God by our complaining.  Our country is in some pretty dark times right now and a lot of people, including me, complain about how things are when we should be on our knees asking God to deliver us. HE WILL DO IT AGAIN! 

THE NEXT GREAT EVENT: Are You Ready?

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also [John 14: 2-3]

No it is not about the coming of the circus or carnival, not some great sporting event, but it is the great event that is next on God’s time clock. What is this great event? It is the coming of the lord Jesus Christ for His people. These are the people who have placed their trust, faith, and hope in His death burial and resurrection.  These are the people that are looking for the promise.  God cannot and will not lie. He promised that He will return and what He has promised He will surely do.  It will be a unexpected and sudden event.  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. [1 Corinthians 15: 51-52] People will get up to go to work like they always do. Kids will go to school, people will be coming and going and then the Lord will come suddenly and take His people home with Him. Will you be one of those people?

Only those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior will be taken when Jesus comes in the air for the rapture of the church. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.   [1 Thess. 4: 14] Can you imagine the chaos that will take place when Jesus comes and takes His people out of this world, in a moment, in the twinkling of the eye? There will be panic and turmoil like this world has never seen. People will wonder where all the other people went. People from all walks of life and from every nation, will be gone. It will be a very sobering time, but the big question still remains: Will you be ready, FOR THE NEXT GREAT EVENT?

THE OLD PATHS: What America Needs!

“Thus saith Jehovah, stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest

 unto your souls: but they said, We will not walk therein (Jeremiah 6:16).

The prophet Jeremiah had one of the more difficult tasks in the history of Israel. His divine task was to give a warning to the citizens of ancient Judah to return to the Lord, from whom they had wandered. The nation was decaying under the danger of coming punishment (the Babylonian captivity), and repentance was its only hope. The Old Testament is filled with many lessons for God’s people. It was written for us to learn from. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope (Romans 15:4). It was written to warn us. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1 Corinthians 10:5) One such lesson is found in the days of Jeremiah time. There was religious and social turmoil, unrest, and disorder. The nation of Israel was being pulled in many directions. Sin was everywhere.
The Lord wanted to offer them rest for their souls. The Lord tells the nation of Israel to seek the old paths, the tried and true way, but they would not. It is the same way today, we fail to seek and ask for the old paths when we know from history that it is the tried and true way. America is following in the same path that the Jews in Jeremiah time took. The words of Jesus are pretty "old" by today's standards or that what people think. But are they?  What happened to Israel appears to be the case of America today. America needs to wake up. Just as Israel forgot God, America has done the same thing. The Lord created a highway of holiness for His people to travel on and they decided to go by the wayside.
Jesus established a "highway" for us to follow, so what happen? We went from being a holy people, ones that went to church on Sundays, Bible study, and prayer meetings, to being a people who does not go to church, a people who does not seek God, and sin abounds in the lives of the people. For us as a nation to survive we must turn to the Lord and travel that highway of holiness, we must seek and cry out for the old paths, and walk in them, because they are good.

How strange this seems to those of our present “pluralistic” society who have so much contempt  for the concept of a 

solitary “way” of truth in which all members of the human family are required to walk. The path to such rest is an old path                                                                                                                               Found only in Him who lived and died for our sins nearly 2000 years ago. Whose doctrine has been faithfully preserved in the Holy Bible. There will ever be the need to speak to disobedient and rebellious brethren, urging them to come back and reunite with their God. There are numerous passages in the New Testament that stress this concept and belief. Some of us who are older can remember our own history in the church. In those days, controversies in the church were mostly matters of disagreement as to what the Scriptures teach, all parties equally reverencing the Bible as a divine production. Now, numerous professing disciples could not care less about scriptural authority. There was a by-gone era when one could travel the country and have little concern about when he would stop for worship; nowadays he is likely to encounter anything in the church. Many of our preachers know little, if anything, about restoration history. Those who ignore history are destined to repeat its mistakes.

A second reason for returning to the “old paths” is the end result of not doing so. Jeremiah warned: “Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts”. The term “evil” has to do with a judgment from the Lord, not moral evil.
Jeremiah thus turns from the past to the future. In a word: “If you don’t reflect upon the lessons of the past, you can, in the future, reap the reward of trusting your own thoughts.” This reference obviously is to the impending captivity. This horror was to come because the people said: “We will not walk therein” This is the same words that America is saying today, We will not walk there in.
Time is running out fast for most people in America and the judgment will soon be on us. There will be no turning back then. I can tell you this, when the call goes out: WHO IS ON THE LORD”S SIDE how many will answer the call? It is time for every American to say, AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!

AMERICA: The Nation That Needs To Repent

No matter if we are talking about a person or a nation, forgiveness always follows repentance, regretting what has happened, showing sorrow and remorse for things that we as a nation and also personally have done that was not right.  True repentance means turning away from the sins that so easily beset and over whelm us, from thoughts and acts that are wrong and are displeasing to God. For our Nation to survive we must turn toward a life that reflects the Godly ways of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must have leaders in Washington and behind the pulpits of our churches that will call sin just what it is, ‘SIN’. As people of this nation we must condemn the murder of unborn babies, the pass that is given to homosexuals and their open life style. It is not a different life style as our leaders would have us to believe. It is sin. Any nation that condones this is in its last stages of moral corruption.

God has reminded His people of this relationship between forgiveness and repentance by giving his promise to heal their land as a condition. God will do nothing for a country, as a whole that will not condemn the killing of unborn babies or the lewd act of homosexuals.  We must realize that God is a Holy God and He cannot, and never will, bless sin or evil. He will not reward that type of behavior.  It just will not happen.  If He did that He would be violating His very nature. It is time for the people of this nation to wake up, to repent, and seek forgiveness.  It is time for us to get rid of any leader in Washington that condones these sins and elect God fearing leaders. It is time for the Nicolaitans of this country to stop promoting godless leaders because of their skin color or what they can do for them. I do not care what color the color of your skin is, if you are a called out people you will obey His words and His voice. If you are a Christian you will do what the word of God says. You will obey His voice.

 If we, as a nation, want the Lord’s blessings and protection we must, by all means pursue His ways. And this country as a whole is not doing that. We must become a Holy people, because He is Holy!  (Lev. 11:44) (1 Peter 1: 15-16) Can this nation do that? We must rebuild our churches, our camp meeting sites, and those old brush arbors by the side of the road. And most important we need to build a everlasting relationship with our God.

Is the promise that God made in (2 Chr. 7:14) something that we can believe and depend on today? Yes it is! It is important for us to notice and remember that God was speaking to Israel, who had a special relationship with the Lord that no other nation ever had, but when we look at (Lev. 26 and Deut 29) we can also see that it was really a restatement of that promise. Can that statement be applied to the United States or other nations today? I think that it can.  The  same principal applies that when we as believers humble, ourselves, by praying and calling out to God, confessing our sins and the sins of our nation as a whole  God will hear us, forgive our sins, and bring healing to this nation. Yes He will!

REASONS TO LOVE JESUS

 

Jesus said “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you.” - (John 14:15-16)


[1]. CAN YOU FIND A MORE EXCELLENT OBJECT FOR YOUR LOVE THAN JESUS? If you search through the whole creation, could you find any like him? Are riches, honors, pleasures, or other relationships comparable to Jesus, whom you ought to love supremely? Should not the highest good be the best object of your love? Can you love lesser things, and not the greatest good? Is not all the goodness in the creature but as a drop to the sea, as a candle to the sun, as a speck of sand to a mountain- when compared to the goodness that is in Jesus? If David were worth ten thousand other men, is not Jesus, David's Lord, better than all the world?

[2]. IS NOT JESUS THE MOST SUITABLE GOOD FOR YOU? Is liberty so suitable to a captive man, or bread to a hungry man, or health to a sick man, or ease to a suffering man, as Jesus is to a sinful man? Were you not lost, undone and in danger to be damned? Jesus was your saviour, your keeper and your redeemer. "The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost," (Luke 19:10). "Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him..." (Heb. 7:25). Jesus is "Mighty to save!"
Were you not ignorant, dark, and blind, not knowing the way to heaven and eternal happiness? Didn't you weary yourself trying to find the gate of life, and yet missed it when you had done all you could? Jesus became your Teacher and your Guide, to infallibly direct you to heaven. He anointed your eyes with his eye-salve, even though you were born blind, and then he gave you spiritual sight. Now you are able to see your lost estate, the beauty of Jesus, and the way of salvation.
Were you not sick, and full of spiritual diseases? abounding with soul-ailments? even sick unto death? near to eternal death? Jesus was your able and skillful Physician. None whom he has undertaken to cure has ever yet died under his hands. For rather than you justly die of your soul's disease, he made a potion for you, out of his own blood, which, when you drank it, you were made totally well. Therefore he came to be your soul-physician, that he might cure desperate sinners like yourself.
Were you not indebted to God? Didn't you owe millions to him, yet did not have a penny to pay? If God were to demand payment from you, would it not have proven your damnation? If his justice were to pursue you, and death arrest you, would not the demons have seized your soul, and thrown it into the prison of hell, from where you should never have been delivered, until you had paid the last penny you owe, which would never be? But now that Jesus has loved you, he has become your Surety, made payment for your debt, and given you freedom.
Were you not spiritually polluted and unclean? Had not the leprosy of sin spread over your understanding, your will, your conscience, your memory and all your affections? So that you were defiled all over, and lay wallowing in your blood, cast out because you were so loathsome to God? And in this filthy state, you could never enter into the holy kingdom of God. But Jesus loved you, took away your filthy rags, and gave you a change of clothing made of his righteousness. You said to him, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." He in love said to you, "I will, be clean". He bathed you in his own blood, and cleansed you from all your sins (1 John 1:7). Yes, though your sins were as scarlet, they became as white as snow; though they were red like crimson, they became as white as wool.
Were you not a captive to Satan and to sin? Drudging elbow deep in the loathsome service of sin? Was not your bondage worse than that of the Israelites in Egypt? And were not Satan and sin as cruel and tyrannical as Pharaoh and his task-masters? Didn't you love your chains of sin? Weren't you at ease in your shackles? Do you remember how Jesus released you from your fetters? Jesus became your Redeemer, and made you free- and then you were free indeed!
Were you not an enemy to God? You were born his enemy, and then continued to live as his adversary. Had you died in this condition, your soul would have been alienated from God forever. But now Jesus has become your blessed peacemaker, and by the blood of his cross he reconciled you to God. Were you not spiritually dead? Had you not lost the holy image of God? Though you were dead, Jesus gave you spiritual life and eternal glory.
Now, if this was your desperate condition, and Jesus helped you in every respect- then how suitable is he to you? Is not his suitableness to you a foundation for love, and a motive to love him? What an argument is this to win your heart to Jesus! You were lost, but Jesus saved you! You were ignorant, but Jesus taught you! You were sick, but Jesus healed you! You were polluted, but Jesus cleansed you! You were a captive to sin and Satan, and Jesus freed you! You were an enemy of God, and Jesus reconciled you! You were dead, and Jesus gave you spiritual life! Oh, you never found one so suitable for you! Now, even now, he should be loved by you. O, Jesus is the most excellent object for your love, and you should no longer withhold your devotion from him.

[3]. IS NOT JESUS THE MOST SATISFYING GOOD TO YOU? You were destitute, and he supplied you. You were empty, and he filled you. You were poor, and he enriched you. O to love such a Saviour!

[4]. IS NOT JESUS THE MOST DURABLE GOOD TO YOU? When your riches, pleasures, honors and friends shall fail you- Jesus will never fail you.

[5]. IS NOT JESUS A SPECIAL GOOD TO YOU? He was given by special love, to a particular people, and brings with him incredible privileges! All other things you might love are as common to lost people, as well as to the saved. Though a worldly man, whose heart and hands and house, are full of the world, might say, 'Riches are mine'- yet he cannot truly say, 'Jesus is mine'. Let Jesus have the best of your love, because you are the object of his special, electing, redemptive love!

[6]. IS NOT JESUS THE MOST NECESSARY GOOD TO YOU? Do you need food so much when you are hungry, or liberty so much when you are in prison, or medicine so much when you are sick-- as much as Jesus when you are a sinner? You could never have been truly happy, pardoned, reconciled, and forever saved without Jesus. Jesus is needful, because without him, your sin-sick soul would have no cure. He gave you the choicest and the richest cordial. And when you die, he will secure your departing soul. And after death, he will be your forever friend. When all worldly things shall leave you at your grave, Jesus will be yours forever.

[7]. IS NOT JESUS THE MOST PROFITABLE GOOD TO YOU? For when you have him, you have all. Then God is yours, and the Spirit is yours, and the promises are yours, and all the privileges of the bible are yours, and heaven itself shall be forever yours.

[8]. IS NOT JESUS THE MOST DELIGHTFUL GOOD? Some people delight in what they see, some in what they hear, some in what they taste, and some in recreation or amusements. But the delight of knowing Jesus surpasses them all! He is altogether and supremely delightful.

[9]. IS NOT JESUS A SURE GOOD? Other things God may give, and afterwards call for them back again- "Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen..." Hosea 2:9. But God never said, 'I gave such a man my Jesus, but I will take him away.' God may take riches out of your hand, but if you once receive the Lord Jesus, God will never take Jesus out of your heart.

[10]. HAS NOT JESUS DESERVED YOUR LOVE, BY WHAT HE HAS SUFFERED, DONE, GIVEN, PURCHASED, PROMISED AND PREPARED FOR YOU? Behold the wounds which he has endured for you! Behold the crown of thorns on his head, that there may be a crown of glory upon your head! Behold him dying, that you might live! Behold him suffering, that you may be saved! Behold him poor, that you may be made rich with the best, surest and most durable of riches. Behold him condemned, that you may be absolved! Behold him in an agony, that you might have rest and ease in glory. Behold him bearing the cross, and the cross bearing him, that you might not bear the curse! Behold him bearing the Father's wrath, that you might be made the subject of his grace, and the object of his love. 
And now tell me-- does not this Jesus deserve your love? Should you love any other like him, when none other has done so much for you like he has done? Does the small kindness of a fellow creature draw out your love, and shall not all these great things that Jesus has done for you, kindle a fire of love towards him? How can you bear not to love him?

[11]. IS NOT THE LOVE OF JESUS THE BEST LOVE YOU CAN ATTAIN? It is a pity, that any other object should have your greatest love.

[12]. LOVE TO JESUS IS THE SWEETEST LOVE. The one that loves other things, instead of Jesus, loves nothing but vanity-- and to love vanity will prove troublesome. He that loves riches has disturbing sorrow with this love, fretting fears, and perplexing, anxious cares. 
So without love to Jesus, love to other things will always be a bitter love. Oh now, how sorry I am that ever I loved the world as I have done- my pleasures, my sin as I have done. But you will never have cause to say, I am sorry that ever I loved Jesus. Never was such a word ever heard. Those who never repent of their love to the world and sin- their worldly love will certainly end in sorrow, and with bitterness of soul be sadly lamented in hell. But what contentment, satisfaction, delight, comfort and joy is there in the loving of Jesus! None can tell so well as you who love him.

[13]. LOVE TO JESUS IS THE SAFEST LOVE. You cannot sin in loving Jesus, except it be in the smallness of it, and not loving him more. You might have fear and trembling in loving other things, and say, 'Do not I sin in this?' But you can never love Jesus too much.

[14]. LOVE TO JESUS IS THE SUREST LOVE. Love to other things is often turned into hatred- love today, and hate tomorrow. But love to Jesus remains firm. Jesus is the surest object of your love- neither men, nor death, nor demons, can take him away from you. Though others might keep us from reading his word, none can keep us from loving Jesus.

[15]. LOVE TO JESUS IS THE NOBLEST LOVE. Love to pleasures, to the world and to sin are base and polluted loves. Love to Jesus is most sublime and lofty. Jesus is the most noble object for your love.

[16]. LOVE TO JESUS IS THE MOST ENDURING LOVE. It is a love that shall never end. Before long, everyone will be done loving this world, even those who love it most and have their hearts most set upon it. Those who now have their hearts full of earth, shall soon have their mouths full of earth, when their bodies lie rotting in the earth- then they will be done loving it. Death, which ends their life in this world, shall end their love to this world.
But you, the true lover of Jesus, shall never be done loving him. It is sweet to love Jesus, but this makes it even more sweet-- to think you shall ALWAYS love him- love him in life, love him in death and love him after death. Oh blessed love, that shall never be lost, but last forever!
While I was contemplating this, it came into my mind to consider, what those who never love Jesus in this world can love in the next world-- and I could not imagine anything which damned souls in hell can love. I thought, can they love God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, angels or believers? No, their hatred to all these is, and shall be, more deeply rooted in them, than it ever was while upon earth. Can they love their 'location' in hell? No, they will wish they never had come there. Can they love the 'pains' of hell? No, they grieve and groan under these torments, and are weary to bear them. Can they love the 'devils' in hell? No, they curse them for tempting them to the sin which brought them to their place in hell. Can they love their 'companions' in hell? No, they are an aggravation of one another's misery. Can they love their 'sin' in hell? Alas! all that was pleasurable in sin is gone, and only the pain and sting of sin remain. Can they love their 'being' in hell? They had rather die than live, and cease to be at all, than to continue to be in hell. I do not know what it is that they can love in hell. Oh loathsome place, where there is, and can be, no love! 
But Oh how lovely is heaven to us! Where love reigns and where love lives! Our life shall be forever a life of love! Dear Lord! save me from hell, because in hell there is no love to you, nor to anything that is good. Sweet Saviour! lead me in the way to heaven, and bring me there, where love to you shall live and last forever.

[17]. ISN'T IT THE WISEST CHOICE TO LOVE JESUS, AND NOT THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD? Everyone loves something. And do those act as rational creatures, as men endued with reason, who do not love Jesus, but give their affections to the world and sin? They love that which cannot love them back, nor satisfy them, and which they must soon part with. "He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loves abundance with increase. This is also meaningless," (Eccles. 5:10). "Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand." (Eccl. 5:15). "We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out".
Might you not be rich today, and poor tomorrow? Healthy today, and sick tomorrow? In honor today, and in disgrace tomorrow? Was it not so with Haman? When you have riches and love them, you are not sure to keep them- Will you set your eyes, your heart and your love, "upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings, and fly away as an eagle towards heaven" (Prov. 23:5). Death carries the lovers of this world far away from the things they love. The pleasures of sin, and also the profits of the world, are but for a season, (Heb. 11:25); and when the season is over, they are gone. But Jesus will never leave you, nor forsake you.

[18]. CAN YOU DO ANYTHING LESS THAN LOVE JESUS, AND CAN YOU DO ANYTHING MORE? Jesus has done such great things for you, is it not a small thing that Jesus should have your love in return? If Jesus had asked you to lay down your life for him, had he called you to give your bodies to be burned for him, should you not have done it? How much more when he says, "just let your hearts but burn in love unto me" -when that burning will not be painful, but delightful! When Naaman came to the prophet to be cleansed of his leprosy, being directed to go and wash in the Jordan, that he should be clean, in anger he went away. But his servant came to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says unto you- wash, and be clean?" (2 Kings 5:13). If Jesus had required some great thing, that you might escape great torments, and be partaker of his great salvation, would you not have gladly done it? How much rather, then, when he says, 'Love me, and be saved?'
When you have received a great kindness from a friend whom you cannot repay, don't you say, 'I cannot do less than love him'. Yet this small thing of loving Jesus is of greater value to him than all else. You pray to him, but to love him is better. A heart full of love means more to Jesus than a thousand prayers, full of the most eloquent expressions, without love. You hear his word, but to love him is better. You might suffer for him, but to love to him is better. Should you give all your goods to the poor, and your body to the fire for him- yet to give your heart and to love him is still better. And, indeed, except all the former things proceed from love, and are accompanied with love, they are not pleasing to Jesus.

[19]. WILL YOU LOVE WORLDLY THINGS, WHICH YOU MIGHT EASILY LOVE TOO MUCH, AND NOT JESUS WHOM YOU CAN NEVER LOVE TOO MUCH? You might love your riches, your relations, your pleasures, yourself, your liberty and your life too much. In these things your love might easily be too much, and transgress the lawful bounds. And indeed, so much love as you give to these things, more than to Jesus, is too much love. But if you were able to bear it, and could you love Jesus with as much love as all the angels in heaven love him, it would not be too much love for him. Many have complained they loved Christ too little, but no one ever said that Jesus had too much of their love. God blames you, and your conscience accuses you, for your inordinate love to things on earth. But neither God nor conscience will condemn you for the highest degrees of love to Jesus, and things that are above.

[20]. TO TRULY LOVE YOURSELVES, YOU MUST LOVE JESUS SUPREMELY. Does that man truly love himself, who does not regard the salvation of his soul? who ruins himself, and damns himself, and shuts himself out of heaven? Does that man truly love himself, who exposes himself to the wrath of God, to the damnation of hell, and to banishment from the glorious presence of the blessed God? All these things a man brings upon himself for lack of love to Jesus. If then you desire to truly love yourself, you must love Jesus supremely.

[21]. ARE NOT ALL THE DUTIES OF RELIGION SOMETIMES TEDIOUS TO YOU, FOR LACK OF LOVE TO JESUS? Do you find it a burden to pray? a burden to hear or read the word of God? Is it a burden to you to meditate upon God and Christ, and things above? It is all because of smallness of love to Jesus. For love makes hard things easy, and heavy labor to be light.

[22]. DOES NOT JESUS DESERVE YOUR LOVE? Do you not owe it to him? Is it not due to him by virtue of creation? Did not he give your being to you?
By virtue of preservation, has not Jesus kept you out of the grave and hell until this day? Justice would have hewn you down, and wrath would have condemned you long ago. And who has procured a pardon for you but Christ? That you are on this side the torments of the damned, not beyond praying, and hearing, and hoping, is all through Christ's securing for you longer time. Except by virtue of Jesus' provision for you, you would not have had a rag for your back, nor a morsel for your mouth, nor sleep for your eyes. By virtue of redemption, when you were worse than nothing, did not he lay down his soul, his life, his blood, as a ransom price for you?
If your love is due to him in so many ways, what injustice will it be for you to deny Jesus that which is his due? Are you not careful to give to everyone what you owe them? And does it not ease your mind, that though you are not rich, yet you have given every one his due? Do you not work, and care, and save to give to all what you owe them, and shall Jesus be the only one to whom you will be unjust? If you have not enough to satisfy all your creditors, yet if there is one, whom you love and bear more respect unto- how sure you will be to repay that one first. You should say, 'Though I cannot do as much as I would like, yet Jesus shall not be a loser by me. He shall have my heart and love.'

[23]. IS IT NOT GREAT CONDESCENSION IN JESUS, THAT HE WILL SO KINDLY ACCEPT YOUR LOVE? One so great, accept of the love of one so inferior? One so holy, accept the love of one that is so sinful? One so glorious, accept the love of one so vile? Do great men value the love of beggars? Do princes value the love of peasants? Would a man of noble birth and wealth allow one clothed in rags to love and marry him? Or would he not scorn and reject her love? I think, considering what Jesus is, and what you are-- that you should say, 'If Jesus will allow me, I will love him.' Allow you! Not only so, but he gives you a command to love him, and that upon pain and peril of everlasting damnation. He does not allow you to live without love to him, though for your long refusal he might have justly left you to live without love to him.

[24]. YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE ANY CAUSE OR REASON TO BE ASHAMED TO LOVE JESUS. Is not the time coming, and the day hastening, when covetous men shall be ashamed of loving the world, and voluptuous men ashamed of loving their pleasures, and ambitious men ashamed of loving their honors? For is it not a horrid shame, that a rational creature should be such a sot as to love sin which is most loathsome, and not to love Jesus who is most lovely? to love deformity, and not beauty?
Oh shame, shame! It is a shame that sin should have such esteem, and Jesus such great contempt put upon him. But shame shall before long confound these now shameless wretches, when they shall cry out, "We are ashamed that we loved profits, and not Jesus- houses, lands, lusts, and not Jesus. This is the confusion of our faces, and shame covers us-- that we should be so foolish, and so blind, that we had not sense, nor reason, to distinguish between sin, which is the greatest and most odious evil, and Jesus who is the greatest and most lovely good." But the time will never come, the day will never be, that a gracious soul shall be ashamed of his sincere love to Jesus Christ.

[25]. IS THERE ANY LOVE SO PROFITABLE AS LOVE TO JESUS? "What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:26). By loving Jesus you shall have such a gain that no man can value, that no mind can estimate, that no mathematician, by all his numbers and figures, can compute-- even pardon of innumerable sins, the favor of an infinite and holy God, deliverance from inconceivable torments, possession of endless bliss, and more than I, or any man, can describe or comprehend.

[26]. IS THERE ANY LOVE SO UNIVERSALLY NECESSARY AS LOVE TO JESUS? One man loves one thing, and a second another, and a third another. But there is no necessity that all men should love any one thing except for Jesus, and things pertaining to our having and enjoying him. Love to Jesus is absolutely necessary for poor and rich, for great and small, for noble and lowborn, for learned and unlearned, for slave and free.

[27]. LOVE TO JESUS IS THE ONE GREAT HELP AGAINST THE TEMPTATIONS OF SATAN. Is not Satan your enemy? Is not your heart sometimes anxious to yield to him? But love to Jesus would garrison your hearts, fortify your souls, and make you courageous and resolute against all the batteries of Satan and the assaults of sin. It would make you watchful against the allurements and amusements of the world, so that you would say, 'Shall I offend my dearest Lord? Shall I displease him who has done me such good, such everlasting good? Oh! how can I do this great evil, and sin against him whom I love!' Do you not find that love forbids, and exceedingly restrains, from grieving, offending or wronging the one whom you entirely love?

[28]. LOVE TO JESUS WILL HELP US TO PERSEVERE IN THE CHRISTIAN RACE. When trials, suffering and persecution come, only those who truly love Jesus will be able to endure.

CONCLUSION: What shall I say to advance Jesus in your esteem, that you might love him? Is he not a 'comprehensive' good? Eminently all? There is no goodness in the creature, but it is formally, or virtually, in Jesus. Is there wisdom in the creature? -there is more in Jesus. Is there beauty or power in the creature? -there is much more in Jesus. "For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell" (Col. 5:19). Jesus is "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). This is the One whom I beg you to love. This is he who is altogether lovely and desirable. Consider now, I plead with you-- can you ever imagine a better offer than Jesus? Can you find a better match for your soul? Can you say all this, the one half of this, any one of all these things, concerning the objects you have loved previous to Jesus? Oh then say, 'I never understood the loveliness of Christ before this!' How has sin fooled me! How has the world bewitched me! And how has my foolish wicked heart deceived me, that I have lavished my love upon the creature, and sin, when there was a Christ to love! Such a Christ to love! Such a good as is not to be found in all the world! Now he alone shall have my love, my heart-- my all.--------------   by Thomas Doolittle (1630-1707)