Pearls Plucked from the Depths

I didn't get saved until I first got lost, and God showed me that not only was I on my way to hell, but that I deserved to go there. The day Christ became my all was the day I gave him my all. The biggest thief in life is time squandered in sin.

My biggest regret in life is not trusting him more. God cannot be explained, but he can be experienced. If you want more of Jesus, then be prepared to have more of his cross.

We cannot make God move, but he can move us. It is not the amount of prayer, but the agony in prayer that gains his ear. The best of men are only men at best.

A true repentance is a grieving time because you are grieving the death of an old companion. Revival is not only possible, it is probable as long as we are expendable. There is a vast difference between preaching about revival and preaching for revival.

The former is popular preaching. The latter will get the good deacons mad at you. I used to believe that 10 percent of all church members were lost.

Now I believe only 10 percent are saved. Most men just talk about doing great things for God. God does great things through men of action.

Whitfield went out into the open air to preach and was pelted with rotten eggs as he shook two continents for God and revival. Luther nailed his thesis to the Wittenberg door, arousing the rage of a pope against him while starting a reformation. Moody couldn't spell, but he was a man of action, so God allowed him to hold the attention of 10,000 hearers at a time for months at a time in Scotland, the land of eloquent preaching, and England, the seat of kings and queens.

God is not impressed by talkers but by doers of his word. God builds his servants through his divine process of reducing and decreasing. Gold must be reduced to its purity in the furnace of affliction.

A branch must be trimmed back and decreased before it can grow more fruit. If we desire further usefulness to God, then we must submit both to the refiner's fire and the divine pruning knife. If you want to be greatly used of God, be willing to be reduced to nothing so he can be everything through you.

When tragedy strikes, the devil will mock you and the world will seem uninhabitable, but there's plenty of room under the shadow of the Almighty. God's word is true, and God is true to his word. Matthew 16, 25 states, For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

I pondered that verse years ago, back when I had wealth and a reputation. I made a vow to God that day by the following words I put in a poem and wrote in the fly leaf of my Bible. What is my life, that I should keep it, selfishly for me? I choose to lose it so completely, and have it found in thee.

God has allowed this to become a reality in my life, for the pearl of great price is worth selling all for and losing all for, so he may be gained. Jesus is not only worthy, he is worth it. Let us pray.