4/19/2012
The Fire That Consumes You
By Max Lucado
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10”
What is the fire that consumes you? Write it down: Jesus comes to set you on fire!
He walks as a torch from heart to heart, warming the cold and thawing the chilled and stirring the ashes.
Do you have a passion to sing? Then sing.
Are you stirred to manage? Then manage.
Do you ache for the ill? Then treat them.
Do you hurt for the lost? Then teach them.
The fire of your heart is the light of your path. Disregard it at your own expense! Blow it. Stir it. Nourish it. Cynics will doubt it. Those without it will mock it! Those who know it, those who know Him, will understand it.
To meet the Savior is to be set aflame. To discover the flame is to discover his will. To discover his will is to access a world like none you’ve ever seen.
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"Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him" (Ps. xxxvii. 7).
It is a very suggestive thought that it is in the Gospel of Mark, which is the Gospel of service, we hear the Master saying to His disciples, "Come ye apart into a desert place, and rest awhile." God wants rested workers. There is an energy that may be tireless and ceaseless, and yet still as the ocean's depth, with the p...eace of God, which passes all understanding. The two deepest secrets of rest are, first, to be in harmony with the will of God, and, secondly, to trust.
"Great peace have they that love Thy law," expresses the first. "Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee," describes the second. There is a good deal in learning to "stay." Sometimes we forget that it literally means to stop.
It is a great blessing even to stop all thought, and this is frequently the only way to answer the devil's whirlwind of irritating questions and thoughts, to be absolutely still and refuse to even think, and meet his evil voice with a simple and everlasting "No!" If we will be still God will give us peace.
A. B. Simpson
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Delayed
"Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs; . . . they shall afflict them four hundred years; . . . and afterward they shall come out with great substance" (Gen. 15:12-14).
An assured part of God's pledged blessing to us is delay and suffering. A delay in Abram's own lifetime that seemed to put God's pledge beyond fulfillment ...was followed by seemingly unendurable delay of Abram's descendants. But it was only a delay: they "came out with great substance." The pledge was redeemed.
God is going to test me with delays; and with the delays will come suffering, but through it all stands God's pledge: His new covenant with me in Christ, and His inviolable promise of every lesser blessing that I need. The delay and the suffering are part of the promised blessing; let me praise Him for them today; and let me wait on the Lord and be of good courage and He will strengthen my heart. --C. G. Trumbull
Unanswered yet the prayer your lips have pleaded
In agony of heart these many years?
Does faith begin to fail? Is hope departing?
And think you all in vain those falling tears?
Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer;
You shall have your desire sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Nay do not say ungranted;
Perhaps your work is not yet wholly done.
The work began when first your prayer was uttered,
And God will finish what He has begun.
If you will keep the incense burning there,
His glory you shall see sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered,
Her feet are firmly planted on the Rock;
Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted,
Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock.
She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer,
And cries, "It shall be done"--sometime, somewhere.
--Miss Ophelia G. Browning
Streams in the Desert
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I have separated you from the peoples, that ye should be Mine. Lev 20:26 (R. V.)
"Separate me Barnabas and Saul," said the Holy Ghost. And in after days Paul spoke of himself as being separated unto the Gospel of God. It is a mistake to make the act of separation our own resolve and deed. We shall inevitably drop back unless God has come into the transaction, and has set us apart for Himself. We must be separated from sin and sinners unto a holy God.
We are needed for a specific purpose. - God can bless men only through men. As once He used the Jews to be the medium of communicating His truth to men, so now He is eager to use His Church; if only she will allow Him to deliver her from the taint of sin and the world, and separate her for a peculiar possession unto Himself. Let us individually yield ourselves to the blessed influences of the Holy Spirit, that He may realize in us the purpose for which He has called us.
We are required to satisfy God's heart. - He needs love for love. Throughout the world He seeks for those who can afford Him pleasure, as His enclosed gardens, His sealed fountains, His peculiar treasure.
This separation is effected by the Holy Ghost, and is referred to in the word "sealing." "He hath sealed us unto the day of redemption."
What an honor is this! To be for God Himself: to do His errands, to fulfill His behests and give Him pleasure! Rejoice greatly when God says, "Thou art Mine." We also can take up His words, and answer back, "Thou also art mine." Let us be glad, if we know that the oil of separation has come on our heads, and let us walk worthily of our high calling, separated to the Holy Ghost, and counting it sacrilege to be used for any unholy purpose.
F. B. Meyer
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"The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." Romans 11:7
Those that are blinded by the god of this world, have no knowledge of what power and feeling and savour and dew are; they see not these things, they are blind to their reality, they are dead to their importance; but the living family of God, who are brought by his blessed Spirit into some apprehension of eternal realities, have eyes to see what power is, and hearts too, to desire to feel its manifestation. Nay, it is the very seeing what reality and power are which makes them desire to experience the savour of eternal things in their conscience; and because they do not feel them as they wish, it makes them often fear that they are blind altogether (Isaiah 59:10). But the very inquiry, the very anxious cry, the very groaning desire, the very fervent supplication to the Lord that he would not let them live and die without a testimony from himself, that he would lift up the light of his countenance and grant them the life of his favour--these very cries are a proof of life. Were you blind, you would not see these things; were you deaf, you would not spiritually hear these things; were you dead, you would not feel these things. And, therefore, that which you seem to take as an evidence against you, is, in reality, an evidence for you; and the very sensations of trepidation, anxious inquiry, godly fear, and the crying out before the Lord that he would search and try you and really make your heart right in his sight--these very things are the symptoms of life, the evidences of a work of grace upon the heart, and are the spiritual breathings of the quickened soul, the Lord himself having communicated these feelings unto it.
J. C. Philpot
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NEW AGE DECEPTION
1 Timothy 2:5
There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus
The fourth unifying factor of the New Age Movement is a cosmic evolutionary optimism . There is a New Age coming. There will be a new world order with a one-world government. New Agers believe in a progressive unification of world consciousness eventually reaching the "omega point." This is a counterfeit kingdom and we know who its prince is.
Fifth, New Agers create their own reality . They believe they can determine reality by what they believe, so by changing what they believe, they can change reality. There are no moral absolutes because there is no distinction between good and evil.
Sixth, New Agers make contact with the kingdom of darkness . Calling a medium a "channeler" and a demon a "spirit guide" has not changed the reality of what they are. They are in contact with the god of this world instead of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Recently I received a call from a lady who was concerned about the turn of events in a small group she was attending. It had started out as a group of supposedly Christian women. The one woman began to function as a medium, and they thought they were hearing from God. They recorded six hours of videotape, and in that six hours, five different personalities can be identified in the medium. The group was convinced they were hearing from God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and two angels.
The lady functioning as a medium was later identified as not being a Christian. In the tape her eyes roll back in a trancelike state. At one point a voice says through her, "It's going to snow here tomorrow." I'm surprised that when it didn't snow the next day, they couldn't see the snow job being done on them!
How can a thinking person, professing to be a Christian, consider this as anything other than demonization? But it isn't just lonely homemakers who are being deceived. This deception is invading every area of society today.
Prayer: Father, keep me alert to the deception of New Age thinking around me, and help me dismiss the darkness I encounter with the light of Your truth.
Neil T. Anderson
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An Expert Searcher
"For thus saith the LORD God; Behold, I, even I, will both search My sheep, and seek them out" (Ezekiel 34:11).
This He does at the first when His elect are like wandering sheep that know not the Shepherd or the fold. How wonderfully doth the LORD find out His chosen! Jesus is great as a seeking Shepherd as well as a saving Shepherd. Though many of those His Father gave Him have gone as near to hell-gate as they well can, yet the LORD by searching and seeking discovers them and draws nigh to them in grace. He has sought out us: let us have good hope for those who are laid upon our hearts in prayer, for He will find them out also.
The LORD repeats this process when any of His flock stray from the pastures of truth and holiness. They may fall into gross error, sad sin, and grievous hardness; but yet the LORD, who has become a surety for them to His Father, will not suffer one of them to go so far as to perish. He will by providence and grace pursue them into foreign lands, into abodes of poverty, into dens of obscurity, into depths of despair; He will not lose one of all that the Father has given Him. It is a point of honor with Jesus to seek and to save all the flock, without a single exception. What a promise to plead, if at this hour I am compelled to cry, "I have gone astray like a lost sheep!"
Charles Spurgeon
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4/18/2012
An Uncommon Call
By Max Lucado
“For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philippians 2:13”
God doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called!
Don’t let Satan convince you otherwise. He’ll try. He’ll tell you God has an IQ requirement or an entry fee. He’ll tell you God employs only specialists and experts. When Satan whispers such lies, dismiss him with this truth: God stampeded the first century society with swaybacks, not thoroughbreds.
Before Jesus came along, the disciples were loading trucks, coaching soccer, and selling Slurpee drinks at the convenience store. Their collars were blue and their hands calloused. There’s no evidence that Jesus chose them because they were smarter or nicer than the guy next door.
What about you? As God calls, he equips. Our maker gives assignments to people. What have you done well? What have you loved to do? Stand at the intersection of your affections and successes and find your uniqueness.
You have one. An uncommon call to an uncommon life.
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"They shall mount up with wings" (Isa. xl. 31).
"They shall mount up with wings as eagles," is God's preliminary; for the next promise is, "They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." Hours of holy exultation are necessary for hours of patient plodding, waiting and working. Nature has its springs, and so has grace.
Let us rejoice in the Lord evermore, and again we say, rejoice. And let us take Him to be our continual joy, whose heart is a fountain of blessedness, and who is anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. We must not be disappointed if the tides are not always equally high. Even at low tide the ocean is just as full. Human nature could not stand perpetual excitement, even of a happy kind, and God often rests in His love. Let us live as self-unconsciously as possible, filling up each moment with faithful service, and trusting Him to stir the springs at His will, and as we go on in faithful service we shall hear, again and again, His glad whisper: "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
A. B. Simpson
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He Refines Them
"God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. 6:14).
They were living to themselves; self with its hopes, and promises and dreams, still had hold of them; but the Lord began to fulfill their prayers. They had asked for contrition, and had surrendered for it to be given them at any cost, and He sent them sorrow; they had asked for purity, and He sent them thrilling anguish; they had asked to be meek, and He had broken their hearts; they had asked to be dead to the world, and He slew all their living hopes; they had asked to be made like unto Him, and He placed them in the furnace, sitting by "as a refiner and purifier of silver," until they should reflect His image; they had asked to lay hold of His cross, and when He had reached it to them it lacerated their hands.
They had asked they knew not what, nor how, but He had taken them at their word, and granted them all their petitions. They were hardly willing to follow Him so far, or to draw so nigh to Him. They had upon them an awe and fear, as Jacob at Bethel, or Eliphaz in the night visions, or as the apostles when they thought that they had seen a spirit, and knew not that it was Jesus. They could almost pray Him to depart from them, or to hide His awfulness. They found it easier to obey than to suffer, to do than to give up, to bear the cross than to hang upon it. But they cannot go back, for they have come too near the unseen cross, and its virtues have pierced too deeply within them. He is fulfilling to them His promise, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32).
But now at last their turn has come. Before, they had only heard of the mystery, but now they feel it. He has fastened on them His look of love, as He did on Mary and Peter, and they can but choose to follow.
Little by little, from time to time, by flitting gleams, the mystery of His cross shines out upon them. They behold Him lifted up, they gaze on the glory which rays from the wounds of His holy passion; and as they gaze they advance, and are changed into His likeness, and His name shines out through them, for He dwells in them. They live alone with Him above, in unspeakable fellowship; willing to lack what others own (and what they might have had), and to be unlike all, so that they are only like Him.
Such, are they in all ages, "who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth."
Had they chosen for themselves, or their friends chosen for them, they would have chosen otherwise. They would have been brighter here, but less glorious in His Kingdom. They would have had Lot's portion, not Abraham's. If they had halted anywhere--if God had taken off His hand and let them stray back--what would they not have lost? What forfeits in the resurrection? But He stayed them up, even against themselves. Many a time their foot had well nigh slipped; but He in mercy held them up. Now, even in this life, they know that all He did was done well. It was good to suffer here, that they might reign hereafter; to bear the cross below, for they shall wear the crown above; and that not their will but His was done on them and in them. --Anonymous.
Streams in the Desert
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I am the Lord your God. Lev 19:3
This is the refrain of the entire chapter; count how many times it recurs. Evidently the thought of God should ring in our lives, as a perpetual chime.
Sometimes as an inspiration to duty. We should seek to be holy because He is holy. "Imitators of God." Or as a remonstrance against yielding to temptation. Lo, God is in this place; His pure eye is upon me: how can I do this great wickedness! Or as an incentive to liberality. We can afford to be generous to the poor and hireling, because we are children of so great and rich a parent. Or as a reason for mercy and gentle kindness. How can we act otherwise than lovingly, when His love encompasses us with its persuasive bands?
Thus the perpetual consciousness of God becomes the source of holy and happy living. But how may it become ours? We may make many resolutions, only to break them. We forget after our most definite purposing. There is no help but in the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance. He is able also to help our infirmity: "for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."
In the morning let the thought of God's presence with you in your secret closet sink well into your heart. Wait till His presence is made real to you, and you cry, Lo, God is here. Then entrust yourself to the Holy Spirit, asking Him to keep you in the current of the love and thought of God. Reckon on Him to do so. Now and then in the course of daily duty stop and remember God. Thus you will live in His fear and love all the day long.
F. B. Meyer
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Can God Be Love and Punish?
I fancy our other profound difficulty is this. How can God be love? How can God care and be a Father and wish us well and have the power to give us the best, and yet forever have creatures in hopeless misery? Again there is no answer, but again does not this present world suggest that it may be possible? Is not God love today? Is not God infinitely kind tod...ay? And yet today are there none who have committed the unpardonable sin which can never be forgiven, neither in this life nor the life to come? May there be forgiven, neither in this life nor the life to come? May there not be a fixity of heart, a deadness like that of the nether millstone, owing to our free will working as well as the love of God? There is not one of us in pew or pulpit, who does not long with all the passion of his heart for universal restoration; there is not one who does not crave that ultimately all should be blessed; but the Lord has been our light, the Lord has been the Revealer of the Father, and it is the Lord who says, "Where their worm dieth not and the fire is never quenched." It is the Lord who says, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." I want to speak in the right tone, I don't want to speak harshly. I am like a man groping in the dark, but with one hand I grip Christ, and I say, Brother, would not it be awful to awaken and find that you were wrong and the Lord was right? "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him."
George H. Morrison
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"But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble." Psalm 37:39
Times of trouble try the saint of God, and they are meant to do so; that is the very purpose why they are sent, for "the Lord trieth the righteous." Still the promise holds good: "he is their strength in the time of trouble." When he breaks up the fountains of the great deep of sin and iniquity, he strengthens his people that they may not be carried away by the flood. When he hides his face, he strengthens them to say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." When temptation besets them sore, when they are put into the furnace, the Lord is with them there, as he was with the three men whom Nebuchadnezzar cast in. The Son of God is there with them, so that not a hair of their head is singed, nor does the smell of fire pass upon them (Dan. 3:27). In all their afflictions he is afflicted, and by sharing it with them supports them under it. He is thus their strength; for he strengthens them with strength in their soul. He enables them to bear the weighty cross--to sustain the heavy load of trial and affliction--to put their mouth in the dust as needing and deserving his chastising strokes, and submit to his righteous dispensations and dealings as plainly sent by a gracious and loving hand. And ever and anon he drops in a sustaining word, gives an encouraging look, bestows a soft and healing touch, and thus helps them to wait in faith and hope until in due time he sends full deliverance. Thus he helps and delivers, and will do so in every time of trouble down to their dying-bed, when he will give them their full and final deliverance from the body of sin and death and a world full of iniquity and sorrow.
J. C. Philpot
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NEW AGE THINKING
Psalm 83:18 NIV
Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD--that you alone are the Most High over all the earth
The New Age Movement is very attractive to the natural man who has become disillusioned with organized religion and Western rationalism. He desires spiritual reality but doesn't want to give up materialism, deal with his moral problems, or come under authority.
I've discovered six unifying factors in New Age thinking. We will consider three of them today and three tomorrow.
The first is monism --the belief that all is one and one is all. It says we all swim in one great cosmic ocean. History is not the story of humanity's fall into sin and its restoration by God's saving grace. Rather, it is humanity's fall into ignorance and the gradual ascent into enlightenment.
Monism is a counterfeit to the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17:21. That unity is possible only when we are united together in Christian fellowship.
Second, all is God . If all is one, including God, then one must conclude that all is God--trees, snails, books and people are all of one divine essence. A personal God is abandoned in favor of an impersonal energy force or consciousness, and if God is no longer personal, He doesn't have to be served.
New Agers say, "When I was a little child, I believed in God. When I began to mature, I stopped believing in God. Then I grew up and realized that I was God."
A third unifying factor refers to a change in consciousness . If we are God, we need to know we are God. We must become cosmically conscious, also called "at-one-ment" (a counterfeit of atonement), self-realization, god-realization, enlightenment, or attunement. Their faith has no object, neither does their meditation, so it becomes an inward journey. To us, the essential issue is not whether we believe or mediate, but who we believe in and what we meditate upon. We believe God and meditate upon His law day and night.
Prayer: Lord, I affirm that I am nothing, can do nothing, and will amount to nothing apart from You. You are the object of my faith and life today.
Neil T. Anderson
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The Lie of Self
by Joyce Meyer
For we [Christians] are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit and by the Spirit of God and exult and glory and pride ourselves in Jesus Christ, and put no confidence or dependence [on what we are] in the flesh and on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances. —Philippians 3:3
Self-confidence is the buzzword of today’s culture. Society proclaims a basic need to believe in oneself and that you need to feel good if you are ever going to accomplish anything in life. Too many believe that lie.
Many people spend their lives climbing the ladder of success only to reach the top and discover their ladder was propped against the wrong building. Others strive to perform perfectly, only to endure repeated failures. The result is always the same—emptiness and misery.
You don’t need to believe in yourself—you need to believe in Jesus in you. You do not need self-confidence. You need God-confidence!
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He Never Fails
"l will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee" (Joshua 1:5).
This word to Joshua is often quoted; it is the basis of that New Testament word "He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
Beloved, a life of warfare is before us, but the LORD of Hosts is with us. Are we called to lead a great but fickle people? This promise guarantees us all the wisdom and prudence that we shall need. Have we to contend with cunning and powerful enemies? Here is strength and valor, prowess and victory. Have we a vast heritage to win? By this sign we shall achieve our purpose; the LORD Himself is with us.
It would be woe to us indeed if Jehovah could fail us; but, as this can never be, the winds of disquietude are laid to sleep in the caverns of divine faithfulness. On no one occasion will the LORD desert us. Happen what may, He will be at our side. Friends drop from us, their help is but an April shower; but God is faithful, Jesus is the same forever, and the Holy Spirit abideth in us.
Come, my heart, be calm and hopeful today. Clouds may gather, but the LORD can blow them away. Since God will not fail me, my faith shall not fail; and as He will not forsake me, neither will I forsake Him. Oh, for a restful faith!
Charles Spurgeon
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4/17/2012
Pray About Everything
By Max Lucado
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7”
Rather than worry about anything—pray about everything!
Everything? Diaper changes and dates? Business meetings and broken bathtubs?
Philippians 4:6 says, “In everything, let your requests be made known to God.”
When we lived in Brazil, I would take my daughters on bus rides. For a few pennies, we could ride all over the city. It may sound dull to us, but when you’re two years old, it’s World Cup excitement! The girls did nothing. I bought the token, carried the backpack and chose the route. My only request? “Stay close to me!” I knew the kind of characters who might board a bus. And God forbid my daughters and I get separated.
God makes the same request. Stay close. Talk to me. Breathe me in and exhale your worry. God knows what can happen on this journey, and he wants to bring us home.
Pray about everything!
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"He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city" (Prov. xvi. 32).
Temperance is true self-government. It involves the grace of self-denial and the spirit of a sound mind. It is that poise of spirit that holds us quiet, self-possessed, recollected, deliberate, and subject ever to the voice of God and the conviction of duty in every step we take.
Many persons have not that poise and recollected spirit. They are drifting at the impulse of their own impressions, moods, the influence of others, or the circumstances around them. No desire should ever control us.
No purpose, however right, should have such mastery over us that we are not perfectly free. The pure affection may be an inordinate affection. Our work itself may be a selfish passion.
That thing that we began to do because it was God's will, we may cling to and persist in ultimately, because it is our own will. Lord, give us the spirit ever controlled by Thy Spirit and will, and the eye that looks to Thee every moment as the eyes of a servant to the hands of her mistress. So shall Thy service be our perfect freedom, and our subjection divinest liberty.
A. B. Simpson
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Satan's Tools
"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and, let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Heb. 12:1).
There are weights which are not sins in themselves, but which become distractions and stumbling blocks in our Christian progress. One of the worst of these is despondency. The heavy heart is indeed a weight that will surely drag us down in our holiness and usefulness.
The failure of Israel to enter the land of promise began in murmuring, or, as the text in Numbers literally puts it, "as it were murmured." Just a faint desire to complain and be discontented. This led on until it blossomed and ripened into rebellion and ruin. Let us give ourselves no liberty ever to doubt God or His love and faithfulness to us in everything and forever.
We can set our will against doubt just as we do against any other sin; and as we stand firm and refuse to doubt, the Holy Spirit will come to our aid and give us the faith of God and crown us with victory.
It is very easy to fall into the habit of doubting, fretting, and wondering if God has forsaken us and if after all our hopes are to end in failure. Let us refuse to be discouraged. Let us refuse to be unhappy. Let us "count it all joy" when we cannot feel one emotion of happiness. Let us rejoice by faith, by resolution, by reckoning, and we shall surely find that God will make the reckoning real.--Selected
The devil has two master tricks. One is to get us discouraged; then for a time at least we can be of no service to others, and so are defeated. The other is to make us doubt, thus breaking the faith link by which we are bound to our Father. Lookout! Do not be tricked either way.--G.E.M.
Gladness! I like to cultivate the spirit of gladness! It puts the soul so in tune again, and keeps it in tune, so that Satan is shy of touching it--the chords of the soul become too warm, or too full of heavenly electricity, for his infernal fingers, and he goes off somewhere else! Satan is always very shy of meddling with me when my heart is full of gladness and joy in the Holy Ghost.
My plan is to shun the spirit of sadness as I would Satan; but, alas! I am not always successful. Like the devil himself it meets me on the highway of usefulness, looks me so fully in my face, till my poor soul changes color!
Sadness discolors everything; it leaves all objects charmless; it involves future prospects in darkness; it deprives the soul of all its aspirations, enchains all its powers, and produces a mental paralysis!
An old believer remarked, that cheerfulness in religion makes all its services come off with delight; and that we are never carried forward so swiftly in the ways of duty as when borne on the wings of delight; adding, that Melancholy clips such wings; or, to alter the figure, takes off our chariot wheels in duty, and makes them, like those of the Egyptians, drag heavily.
Streams in the Desert
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Therefore shall ye keep My charge. Lev 18:30 (R. V.)
Literal obedience was God's perpetual demand of His chosen people. Why should we claim to be exonerated from an equally exact obedience to the commands of Jesus? And yet how few of us do exactly as He has bidden! Let us take some tests.
The Lord's Supper is a case in point. In the present day there are many who, from ye...ar's end to year's end, never go to the Table, though Jesus said that His disciples were to do it in remembrance of Him.
Baptism is another. Christians shelter themselves under the excuse that it is not essential, and therefore may be omitted. But what do they mean by essential? It is not essential to salvation, because that has been achieved by our Lord; but it may be essential to show that we love Him, that we have a genuine faith, that we are ready to take Him as King. Surely a soldier is not freed from obeying the command of his officer because he cannot see it to be essential!
Going to law is another. If there is one thing clearer than others, it is the reiterated charge of the New Testament that we should rather suffer wrong than avenge ourselves. Yet how many professing Christians will this day issue a County Court summons against defaulters!
Forgiveness is another. "If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Yet there are hundreds of Christ's professing followers who are at feud with their relatives or fellow members.
Let us remember the imperative tone of these words, and ask God to work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
F. B. Meyer
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"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 2 Timothy 2:3
We often get into states and frames of mind, where we need something else besides consolation. A child would not grow, if it were always fed upon sweetmeats. It must have exercise, and be exposed to the weather, and have the cold winds blow upon its face, and be hardened, so as to enable it to bear the chill winter and the nipping frosts. So the child of God is not always petted, and fed upon love-tokens. He is not always carried in the warm bosom, or sucking the breasts of consolation, but he has to learn lessons to fit him to be a soldier. The soldier, we know, has to endure hardships. He has to lie all night upon the wet grass; to be pinched with hunger, parched with thirst, and nipped with cold; to make harassing marches; to hear the roar of the cannon and the whistling of the bullets, "the thunder of the captains and the shouting;" to see the flash of the sabre uplifted to cut him down, and the glitter of the bayonet at his breast, aye, and to feel painful and dangerous wounds. So with the spiritual soldier in God's camp. He has to hunger and thirst, to suffer cold, nakedness, and hard privations, to be shot at by the arrows of calumny and the fiery darts of Satan, to make harassing marches through an enemy's country, to suffer painful wounds, and by these very exercises learn to be a soldier. Only so far as he is thus exercised spiritually can he learn the art of war, can he know how to fight and make effectual battle under the banners of the Lord against the enemies of his salvation.
J. C. Philpot
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God Gives Us All We Need
by Joyce Meyer
And they who know Your name [who have experience and acquaintance with Your mercy] will lean on and confidently put their trust in You, for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek (inquire of and for) You [on the authority of God’s Word and the right of their necessity]. —Psalm 9:10
In His Word God has given us the tools we need to help us through each new day. He has given us “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:3 KJV). So, when you wake up in the morning, decide that no matter what happens, you will not be depressed today.
Put on the garment of praise first thing in the morning. Listen to worshipful music, read the Word, and renew your thoughts to bring them into line with what God says you are—righteous and blessed. You can think right, talk right, and act right all day, if you spend time with God before trials come your way.
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Enemies at Peace
"When a man's ways please the LORD, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Proverbs 16:7).
I must see that my ways please the LORD. Even then I shall have enemies; and, perhaps, all the more certainly because I endeavor to do that which is right. But what a promise this is! The LORD will make the wrath of man to praise Him and abate it so that it shall not distress me.
He can constrain an enemy to desist from harming me, even though he has a mind to do so. This He did with Laban, who pursued Jacob but did not dare to touch him. Or He can subdue the wrath of the enemy and make him friendly, as He did with Esau, who met Jacob in a brotherly manner, though Jacob had dreaded that he would smite him and his family with the sword. The LORD can also convert a furious adversary into a brother in Christ and a fellow worker, as He did with Saul of Tarsus. Oh, that He would do this in every case where a persecuting spirit appears!
Happy is the man whose enemies are made to be to him what the lions were to Daniel in the den, quiet and companionable! When I meet death, who is called the last enemy, I pray that I may be at peace. Only let my great care be to please the LORD in all things. Oh, for faith and holiness; for these are a pleasure unto the Most High!
Charles Spurgeon
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Drinking from my saucer (A very spiritual and true poem)
I've never made a fortune, and it's probably too late now.
But I don't worry about that much, I'm happy anyhow
And as I go along life's way,
... I'm reaping better than I sowed.
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.
Haven't got a lot of riches,
and sometimes the going's tough
But I've got loving ones all around me,
and that makes me rich enough.
I thank GOD for his Blessings,
and the Mercies HE's bestowed.
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.
I remember times when things went wrong,
My faith wore somewhat thin.
But all at once the dark clouds broke,
and the sun peeped through again.
So LORD, help me not to gripe,
about the tough rows I have hoed.
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.
If GOD gives me strength and courage,
When the way grows steep and rough.
I'll not ask for other blessings,
I'm already Blessed enough.
And may I never be too busy,
to help others bear their loads..
Then I'll keep drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.
Author unknown
When I think of how many people in this world have it worse than I do, I realize just how BLESSED we really are.
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4/16/2012
Finishing the Race
By Max Lucado
The Lord said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
Derek Redmond was favored to win the 400 meter race in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Halfway into his semi-final heat, he suffered a torn hamstring. Even as the medical team was approaching, he pushed away to finish the race. A big man pushed through the crowd.
“You don’t have to do this,” he told his weeping son.
“Yes, I do.” Derek declared.
“Well, then,” he said, “we’re going to finish this together.”
And they did! His dad wrapped Derek’s arm around his shoulder and helped him hobble to the finish line. What made him do it? His son was hurt so the father came to help him finish.
God does the same. Our attempts may be feeble. Our prayers may seem awkward. But And He comes to help us finish the race!
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"Quit you like men" (I. Cor. xvi. 13).
Be brave. Cowards always get hurt. Brave men generally come out unharmed. Jeremiah was a hero. He shrank from nothing. He faced his king and countrymen with dauntless bravery, and the result was he suffered no harm, but came through the siege of Jerusalem without a hair being injured. Zedekiah, the cowardly king, was always afraid to obey God and be true, and the result was that he at last met the most cruel punishment that was ever inflicted on human heart.
The men and women that stand from the beginning true to their convictions have the fewest tests. When God gives to you a good trial, if you can stand the strain, He is not always repeating it. When Abraham offered up his son Isaac at Mount Moriah, it was a final testing for the rest of his life. Do not let Satan see that you are afraid of him, for he will pursue to the death if he thinks that he has a chance of getting you.
Be true, be true,
Whether friends be false or few,
Whatsoe'er betide, ever at His side,
Let Him always find you true.
A. B. Simpson
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Broken Things
"By reason of breakings they purify themselves" (Job 41:25).
God uses most for His glory those people and things which are most perfectly broken. The sacrifices He accepts are broken and contrite hearts. It was the breaking down of Jacob's natural strength at Peniel that got him where God could clothe him with spiritual power. It was breaking the surface of the rock at Horeb, by the stroke of Moses' rod that let out the cool waters to thirsty people.
It was when the 300 elect soldiers under Gideon broke their pitchers, a type of breaking themselves, that the hidden lights shone forth to the consternation of their adversaries. It was when the poor widow broke the seal of the little pot of oil, and poured it forth, that God multiplied it to pay her debts and supply means of support.
It was when Esther risked her life and broke through the rigid etiquette of a heathen court, that she obtained favor to rescue her people from death. It was when Jesus took the five loaves and broke them, that the bread was multiplied in the very act of breaking, sufficient to feed five thousand. It was when Mary broke her beautiful alabaster box, rendering it henceforth useless, that the pent-up perfume filled the house. It was when Jesus allowed His precious body to be broken to pieces by thorns and nails and spear, that His inner life was poured out, like a crystal ocean, for thirsty sinners to drink and live.
It is when a beautiful grain of corn is broken up in the earth by DEATH, that its inner heart sprouts forth and bears hundreds of other grains. And thus, on and on, through all history, and all biography, and all vegetation, and all spiritual life, God must have BROKEN THINGS.
Those who are broken in wealth, and broken in self-will, and broken in their ambitions, and broken in their beautiful ideals, and broken in worldly reputation, and broken in their affections, and broken ofttimes in health; those who are despised and seem utterly forlorn and helpless, the Holy Ghost is seizing upon, and using for God's glory. "The lame take the prey," Isaiah tells us.
O break my heart; but break it as a field Is by the plough up-broken for the corn; O break it as the buds, by green leaf seated, Are, to unloose the golden blossom, torn; Love would I offer unto Love's great Master, Set free the odor, break the alabaster.
O break my heart; break it victorious God,
That life's eternal well may flash abroad;
O let it break as when the captive trees,
Breaking cold bonds, regain their liberties;
And as thought's sacred grove to life is springing,
Be joys, like birds, their hope, Thy victory singing.
--Thomas Toke Bunch
Streams in the Desert
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The life of the flesh is in the blood. Lev 17:11
There is probably a deeper truth in these words than man has ever fathomed. The R. V. marg. translates "life," soul. Why that reverence for blood; that horror when it is unrighteously shed and gurgles forth; that perpetual reference of Scripture to the blood of Christ? Probably the answer to such questions would be given, if we perfectly understood the affirmation of this remarkable verse.
When Jesus gave His blood, He gave His life, the life of His holy soul. - We are accustomed often to speak about the blood of Christ, by which we mean the life of Jesus, shed forth for us substitutionally and sacrificially. The sinner takes this blood, this life, in his hands, and presents it to God as his plea. Does the broken law require satisfaction, homage, acknowledgment? Here it is in this priceless, pure, and sinless blood, never infected by pollution, never heated by passion. Let this shed life atone for thee! "God be propitious (because of the sacrifice on the altar) to me the sinner."
Five bleeding wounds He bears,
Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers,
They strongly plead for me:
"Forgive him, oh, forgive," they cry,
"Nor let that ransomed sinner die."
When we are bidden drink His blood, it is of His life that we partake. - At the table of our Lord we symbolically drink of His blood; in doing this we identify ourselves with His death, and give up our self-life to the cross. Yea, we do more; we testify our desire to receive into our natures more and more of the soul and life of our Blessed Lord, so that we may dwell in Him, and He in us.
F. B. Meyer
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The Lowly Duty of Fidelity
Thou hast been faithful over a few things--Mat 25:21
Fidelity Can Be Anybody's Virtue
It was very like our Lord to make fidelity the test of life. He was quick to recognise the lowly virtues. Just as He took obscure and lowly men when He wanted to build up a kingdom, so did He take obscure and lowly virtues when He wanted to build up a character, and this not merely because they were obscure, but because they were within the range of all, and His was to be a universal Gospel. There is nothing dazzling in fidelity. It is not at all a rare and splendid gift. It has no power to arrest the eyes, nor get itself chronicled in any newspaper. And it is singularly like the Lord, with His passion for undistinguished people, that He should crown a virtue such as that. Some of my readers never can be brilliant. They serve in the great army of the commonplace. But there is one thing within the compass of them all, and that is the steady practice of fidelity. And the inspiring thought is that our Lord should take a thing within the reach of everybody, and make it the criterion of character.
Fidelity Is Associated with Joy
We shall not forget how our Lord associates fidelity with joy. "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Tell me, is not that profoundly true? Here are two men engaged in the same task, both intelligent and skillful workmen. But the one is careless, and he scamps his work; the other is laboriously faithful. At the end of the day, when work is over, and there stretches ahead the leisure of the evening, which of these two workmen is the happier? "Flowers laugh before thee in their beds," says Wordsworth of the man who is found faithful. Unfaithfulness moves towards the dark. Fidelity pitches its tent towards the sunrise. Be thou faithful, and when the task is over, and the morning breaks upon the farther shore, thou shalt enter into the joy of thy Lord.
George H. Morrison
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"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Hebrews 13:8
The eye of our faith must be ever fixed on Jesus, for the Person of Christ is the grand object of faith, and to lose sight of him is to lose sight of the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Is he not the same Jesus now that he was on earth? He is exalted, it is true, to an inconceivable height of glory, so that when John saw him, even as if in some measure veiled, he fell at his feet as dead. But he is the same Jesus now as when he was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as he wears the same human body, so he has the same tender, compassionate heart. All that he was upon earth as Jesus, he is in heaven still. All that tenderness and gentleness, all that pity to poor sensible sinners, all that compassion on the ignorant and on those that are out of the way, all that grace and truth which came by him and were manifest in him, all that bleeding, dying love, all that sympathy with the afflicted and tempted, all that power to heal by a word all manner of sickness and disease, all that surpassing beauty and blessedness whereby he is to those who have seen him the chiefest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely, he not only retains in the highest heavens, but is, so to speak, endowed with greater capacity to use them, for all power is given to him in heaven and earth, and all things are put under his feet, and that not only for his own sake, but that he might be the Head over all things to the Church.
J. C. Philpot
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Actions Speak Louder Than Words
by Joyce Meyer
If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands. —John 14:15
Obeying God is the way we show our love for Him. Talk is easy, but actions speak much louder than words. I believe that the more we get to know God and experience His faithfulness in our lives, the more we willingly respond with prompt obedience to Him. It’s easy to sing songs about our love for God, but we must ask ourselves, “Am I being obedient to God’s will?”
Everything God asks us to do is something that will ultimately work out for our benefit. When we truly believe that, it becomes much easier to obey Him promptly. God is never trying to take anything away from us unless it is something that will be harmful to us. He never asks us to obey Him in anything unless it will benefit us in the long run.
I encourage you to make a new commitment today to obey God in little things as well as big things. Brother Lawrence said that he delighted in picking up a straw from the ground for the love of God. Let’s develop that kind of devotion to our Lord.
Jesus loved His heavenly Father so much that He was obedient even unto the point of death (see Phil. 2:8). Are we willing to love Him enough to at least be obedient enough to say “no” to ourselves if that is what’s necessary for us to obey Him?
The Holy Spirit is in our lives to lead and guide us into the perfect will of the Father. Let’s pray for His infilling daily. He will be glad to help you do it if you’ll simply ask.
Love God Today: “Lord, today I will obey You in the little things as well as the big.”
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A SOLID BELIEF SYSTEM
Romans 8:15
You have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"
Claire attended a church college ministry I was involved in several years ago. On a physical, material level, Claire had absolutely nothing going for her. She had a dumpy figure and a bad complexion. Her father was a drunken bum who had deserted his family. Her mother worked two menial jobs just to make ends meet. Her older brother, a drug addict, was always in and out of the house.
When I first met Claire I was sure she was the ultimate wallflower. I didn't think there was any way she could compete for acceptance in a college-aged society which is attracted to physical beauty and material success. But to my delight, I learned that everybody in the group liked Claire and loved to be around her. She had lots of friends. And eventually she married the nicest guy in our college department.
What was her secret? Claire simply believed what she perceived herself to be: a child of God. She accepted herself for who God said she was in Christ, and she confidently committed herself to God's great goal for her life: to be conformed to His image and to love people. She wasn't a threat to anyone. Instead, she was so positive and caring toward others that everyone loved her.
Claire's experiences illustrate the importance of establishing our Christian lives on what we believe instead of how we behave. She knew that she couldn't compete with the world, so she gladly accepted her spiritual heritage, believed God, and lived accordingly. We need a firm grip on God's Word before we will experience much success at practical Christianity. We need to understand who we are as a result of who God is and what He has done. A productive Christian behavior system is the byproduct of a solid Christian belief system, not the other way around.
Prayer: Thank You for the Claires in my world, Lord, who reflect Your beauty. Forgive me for focusing on myself instead of looking to You and seeking Your eternal qualities.
Neil. T. Anderson
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All Turned to Holiness
"In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness Unto The LORD" (Zechariah 14:20).
Happy day when all things shall be consecrated, and the horses' bells shall ring out holiness to the LORD! That day has come to me. Do I not make all things holy to God? These garments, when I put them on or take them off, shall they not remind me of the righteousness of Christ Jesus my LORD? Shall not my work be done as unto the LORD? Oh, that today my clothes may be vestments, my meals sacraments, my house a temple, my table an altar, my speech incense, and myself a priest! LORD, fulfill Thy promise, and let nothing be to me common or unclean.
Let me in faith expect this. Believing it to be so, I shall be helped to make it so. As I myself am the property of Jesus, my LORD may take an inventory of all I have, for it is altogether His own; and I resolve to prove it to be so by the use to which I put it this day. From morning till evening I would order all things by a happy and holy rule. My bells shall ring -- why should they not? Even my horses shall have bells -- who has such a right to music as the saints have? But alt my bells, my music, my mirth, shall be turned to holiness and shall ring out the name of "the happy God."
Charles Spurgeon
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4/15/2012
The Cross
By Max Lucado
“And Jesus, bearing his cross, went out to the Place of a Skull which in called in Hebrew,Golgotha, where they crucified him.. John 19:17-18”
We cannot ignore it. The cross…
My, what a piece of wood! History has idolized it and despised it, gold-plated it and burned it, worn and trashed it. History has done everything to it but ignore it.
That’s the one option the cross does to offer. No one can ignore it!
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"Rooted and grounded in love" (Eph. iii. 17).
There is a very singular shrub, which grows abundantly in the west, and is to be found in all parts of Texas. It is no less than the "mosquito tree." It is a very slim, and willowy looking shrub, and would seem to be of little use for any industrial purposes; but is has extraordinary roots growing like great timbers underground, and possessing such qualities of endurance in all situations that it is used and very highly valued for good pavements. The city of San Antonio is said to be paved with these roots. It reminds one of those Christians who make little show externally, but their growth is chiefly underground--out of sight, in the depth of God. These are the men and women that God uses for the foundation of things, and for the pavements of that city of God which will stand when all earthly things have crumbled into ruin and dissolved into oblivion.
Deeper, deeper let the living waters flow;
Blessed Holy Spirit! River of Salvation!
All Thy fulness let me know.
A. B. Simpson
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Desperate Situations
"The angel of the Lord came upon him (Peter) and a light shined in the prison; and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off" (Acts 12:7).
"And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. . . . And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and every one's bands were loosed" (Acts 16:25, 26).
This is God's way. In the darkest hours of the night, His tread draws near across the billows. As the day of execution is breaking, the angel comes to Peter's cell. When the scaffold for Mordecai is complete, the royal sleeplessness leads to a reaction in favor of the favored race.
Ah, soul, it may have to come to the worst with thee ere thou art delivered; but thou wilt be delivered! God may keep thee waiting, but he will ever be mindful of His covenant, and will appear to fulfill His inviolable Word. --F. B. Meyer
There's a simplicity about God in working out His plans, yet a resourcefulness equal to any difficulty, and an unswerving faithfulness to His trusting child, and an unforgetting steadiness in holding to His purpose. Through a fellow-prisoner, then a dream, He lifts Joseph from a prison to a premiership. And the length of stay in the prison prevents dizziness in the premier. It's safe to trust God's methods and to go by His clock. --S. D. Gordon
Providence hath a thousand keys to open a thousand sundry doors for the deliverance of His own, when it is even come to a desperate case. Let us be faithful; and care for our own part which is to suffer for Him, and lay Christ's part on Himself, and leave it there.--George MacDonald
Difficulty is the very atmosphere of miracle--it is miracle in its first stage. If it is to be a great miracle, the condition is not difficulty but impossibility.
The clinging hand of His child makes a desperate situation a delight to Him.
Streams in the Desert
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"And so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish." Esther 4:16
When we are in darkness, under distress of conscience, or when guilt lies hard and heavy upon the soul, these things do, and must until removed, keep us back from the Lord. But are we ever to give heed to these enemies of our soul's peace? Are we never to press through the crowd? How was it with the man who was paralyzed for so many years? He might for ever have lain helpless upon his bed, had he not been brought into the presence of Jesus. How with the woman with the issue of blood? She might for ever have tarried on the skirts of the crowd, a poor, polluted, self-condemned wretch. But she pressed through the crowd, and got to touch the hem of Jesus' garment. So with us. Shall we ever dwell in the outskirts--in the outer court of the temple? Shall we merely walk round Zion's bulwarks and tarry at her doors, or shall we venture into the holiest itself? Shall we, driven out by fear, act like Cain, and go out from the presence of the Lord? Or shall we, with all our sins and discouragements, still draw near? The Apostle encourages us to come with holy boldness to the throne of grace, and to venture into the presence of the King of kings. Esther would have ruined herself and all her nation had she given way to the weakness of the flesh; but she said, "I will go in unto the king; and if I perish, I perish." She went in with that resolution.
The king held forth the sceptre; Esther touched it, and she and the people were saved. So in grace. Shall we ever keep away through guilt, and sin, and shame? Now the Holy Ghost not only in the word of truth, encourages, but he himself from time to time enables us to draw near. And when we draw near under his divine operations, we feel the blessedness of so doing. Liberty is given, access, holy freedom, a spirit of prayer, power to take hold of God, to wrestle for the blessing, and sometimes to agonize with earnest sighs and groans and the energy of one of old: "I will not let thee go except thou bless me."
J. C. Philpot
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SATAN'S VOICE
1 John 4:1
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Paul warned us against the deception which comes through demonic influence (1 Timothy 4:1). John also cautioned us to test the spirits and to distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of error (1 John 4:1-6). Satan's demonic forces are at work attempting to pollute your mind with lies in order to keep you from walking in the truth. Hannah Whitehall Smith wrote:
There are the voices of evil and deceiving spirits, who lie in wait to entrap every traveler entering these higher regions of spiritual life. . . . These spiritual enemies, whoever or whatever they may be, must necessarily communicate with us by means of our spiritual faculties, and their voices, as the voice of God, are an inward impression made upon our spirit. Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit may tell us by impressions what the will of God is concerning us, so also will these spiritual enemies tell us by impression what is their will concerning us, though not, of course, giving it their name" (Quoted from Martin Wells Knapp, Impressions , Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishing, Inc., 1984, pp. 14-15).
Due to the deceptive nature of his impressions, Satan's voice may not always be detected objectively. You need to pray in order to disassociate yourself from deceiving spirits.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I commit myself unreservedly to Your will. If I have been deceived in any way, I pray that You will open my eyes to the deception. I command in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that all deceiving spirits depart from me, and I renounce and reject all counterfeit gifts (or any other spiritual phenomena). Lord, if it is from You, bless it and cause it to grow that Your body may be blessed and edified through it.
Neil T. Anderson
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Be Responsible
by Joyce Meyer
She looks well to how things go in her household, and the bread of idleness (gossip, discontent, and self-pity) she will not eat. —Proverbs 31:27
Our friend in Proverbs is a responsible woman. She stays alert to how things go in her household, she refuses to be idle, and she doesn’t waste her time in things such as sitting around gossiping or wallowing in self-pity. She is not discontented. She appreciates life, and I believe she celebrates it fully each day. Idleness, waste, self-pity, gossip, and discontentment are thieves of the great life Jesus died to give you.
The apostle Paul gave this exhortation to some members in the church in Thessalonica, “Indeed, we hear that some among you are disorderly [that they are passing their lives in idleness, neglectful of duty], being busy with other people’s affairs instead of their own and doing no work” (2 Thessalonians 3:11). Don’t allow these sins to rule you. When you maintain a positive attitude, you will enjoy more confidence.
Doing what one believes to be right will always increase confidence. You can’t go wrong when you keep God as the focus of your life. Follow the example of the Proverbs 31 woman. She gives us tremendous insight in how to be the best and most confident homemaker, wife, and mother we can be.
Lord, I never want to waste my life and all the blessings You have given me. Help me to find my contentment in walking with You and following hard after You in service. Amen.
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Desires of Righteous Granted
"The desires of the righteous shall be granted" (Proverbs 10:24).
Because it is a righteous desire it is safe for God to grant it. It would be neither good for the man himself, nor for society at large, that such a promise should be made to the unrighteous. Let us keep the LORD's commands, and He will rightfully have respect to our desires.
When righteous men are left to desire unrighteous desires, they will not be granted to them. But then these are not their real desires; they are their wanderings or blunders, and it is well that they should be refused. Their gracious desires shall come before the LORD, and He will not say them nay.
Does the LORD deny us our requests for a time? Let the promise for today encourage us to ask again. Has He denied us altogether? We will thank Him still, for it always was our desire that He should deny us if He judged a denial to be best.
As to some things, we ask very boldly. Our chief desires are for holiness, usefulness, likeness to Christ, preparedness for heaven. These are the desires of grace rather than of nature -- the desires of the righteous man rather than of the mere man. God will not stint us in these things but will do for us exceeding abundantly. "Delight thy self also in the LORD, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." This day, my soul, ask largely!
Charles Spurgeon
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4/14/2012
Space For Us
By Max Lucado
“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:25”
When we welcome Him, He welcomes us. Jesus goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter . . .
Every so often, he is welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise: “In my Father’s house are many rooms.” “I have ample space for you,” he says . . .
We make room for him in our hearts, and he makes room for us in his house.
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"I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto Me" (John xii. 32).
A true and pure Christian life attracts the world. There are hundreds of men and women who find no inducements whatever in the lives of ordinary Christians to interest them in practical religion, but who are won at once by a true and victorious example. We believe that more men of the world step at a bound right into a life of entire consecration than into the intermediate state which is usually presented to them at the first stage.
In an audience once there was a man who for half a century or more had lived without Christ, and who was a very prominent citizen, a man in public life, of irreproachable character, lofty intellect, and a most winning spirit and manners, but utterly out of sympathy with the Christian life.
At the close of a service for the promotion of deeper spiritual life he rose to ask the prayers of the congregation, and before the end of the week he was himself a true and acknowledged follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, as he went home that night, "If that is the religion of Jesus Christ, I want it."
A. B. Simpson
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In Everything
"In nothing be anxious" (Phil. 4:6).
No anxiety ought to be found in a believer. Great, many and varied may be our trials, our afflictions, our difficulties, and yet there should be no anxiety under any circumstances, because we have a Father in Heaven who is almighty, who loves His children as He loves His only-begotten Son, and whose very joy and delight it is to succor and help them at all times and under all circumstances. We should attend to the Word, "In nothing be anxious, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."
"In everything," that is not merely when the house is on fire, not merely when the beloved wife and children are on the brink of the grave, but in the smallest matters of life, bring everything before God, the little things, the very little things, what the world calls trifling things--everything--living in holy communion with our Heavenly Father, arid with our precious Lord Jesus all day long. And when we awake at night, by a kind of spiritual instinct again turning to Him, and speaking to Him, bringing our various little matters before Him in the sleepless night, the difficulties in connection with the family, our trade, our profession. Whatever tries us in any way, speak to the Lord about it.
"By prayer and supplication," taking the place of beggars, with earnestness, with perseverance, going on and waiting, waiting, waiting on God.
"With thanksgiving." We should at all times lay a good foundation with thanksgiving. If everything else were wanting, this is always present, that He has saved us from hell. Then, that He has given us His Holy Word--His Son, His choicest gift--and the Holy Spirit. Therefore we have abundant reason for thanksgiving. O let us aim at this!
"And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." And this is so great a blessing, so real a blessing, so precious a blessing, that it must be known experimentally to be entered into, for it passeth understanding. O let us lay these things to heart, and the result will be, if we habitually walk in this spirit, we shall far more abundantly glorify God, than as yet we have done. --George Mueller, in Life of Trust
Twice or thrice a day, look to see if your heart is not disquieted about something; and if you find that it is, take care forthwith to restore it to calm.--Francis De Sales
Streams in the Desert
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The ordinary processes of life are not necessarily clean because they are natural. The foul heart may vitiate the most natural functions. We must bring the thought of God into the simplest, the commonest, and the most secret acts. Nothing is outside His jurisdiction. Though hid from sight, yet He is ever near the child of God. His grace, and blood, and cleansing, are always requisite, and ever ready. Amidst and after every act, incident, and episode of life, we should be quiet before God, considering if we have aught to confess, and asking to be ever kept from staining our white robes.
F. B. Meyer
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"As having nothing, and yet possessing all things." 2 Corinthians 6:10
How do we possess all things? In possessing Christ who is heir of all things. If we possess Christ, what have we not in him? We have wisdom to teach us, righteousness to justify us, sanctification to make us holy, and redemption to deliver us from sin, death, and hell. If we have him, we have the favour and love of God; we have the pardon of our sins, the reconciliation of our persons, the casting behind God's back of all our backslidings, and a title to a heavenly crown. If we have him, we have everything in him, for Christ is ours, and Christ is God's. Therefore in him we possess all things. We shall have in providence things sufficient to carry us to the grave. He will give us everything that is for our good, and keep back nothing that is for our benefit. If we possess him, what have we not in him? Now the world, when death comes, what has it? Nothing to look to but the anger of God, and a fearful judgment. But the saint of God, when death comes to him, what has he to look to? A crown of life, a mansion in the skies, a smiling God, and a blessed assurance that he shall sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Thus though the saints of God have nothing, yet they possess all things; and possessing a heavenly crown, what can God give them more?
J. C. Philpot
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THE POWER OF THE BELIEVER
John 8:32
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free
When I was a boy on the farm, my dad, my brother and I would visit our neighbor's farm to share produce and labor. The neighbor had a yappy little dog that scared the socks off me. When it came barking around the corner, my dad and brother stood their ground, but I ran. Guess who the dog chased! I escaped to the top of our pickup truck while the little dog yapped at me from the ground.
Everyone except me could see that the little dog had no power over me except what I gave it. Furthermore, it had no inherent power to throw me up on the pickup; it was my belief that put me up there. That dog controlled me by using my mind, my emotions, my will, and my muscles, all of which were motivated by fear. Finally I gathered up my courage, jumped off the pickup, and kicked a small rock at the mutt. Lo and behold, it ran!
Satan is like that yappy little dog: deceiving people into fearing him more than God. His power is in the lie. He is the father of lies (John 8:44) who deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9), and consequently the whole world is under the influence of the evil one (1 John 5:19). He can do nothing about your position in Christ, but if he can deceive you into believing his lies about you and God, you will spend a lot of time on top of the pickup truck! You don't have to outshout him or outmuscle him to be free of his influence. You just have to outtruth him. Believe, declare, and act upon the truth of God's Word, and you will thwart Satan's strategy.
I have learned from the Scriptures and my experience that truth is the liberating agent. The power of Satan is in the lie, and the power of the believer is in knowing the truth. We are to pursue truth, not power.
Prayer: Father God, when Satan is badgering and confusing me, remind me that Your Holy Spirit within me is greater than all the evil around me.
Neil T. Anderson
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Our Best Help
by Joyce Meyer
As Joyce often says, “Go to the throne, not the phone!”
I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. —Psalm 121:1–2 NKJV
We should be maturing in our faith to the point that we don’t run to someone else every time we need to know what to do. I am not implying that asking for a word of counsel from people we feel are wiser than we are is wrong, but I do believe asking for people’s opinions excessively and relying on them too heavily is wrong and insulting to God.
As you can tell from today’s verses, David sought God first and knew God was his only help. The same is true for us, so we must be like David and always look to God first. We need to develop a habit of seeing God as our “first choice” for advice, not as our last resort.
God may use a person of His choice to clarify things, offer additional insight, or confirm what He has already told us, so seek Him first and if He leads you to a person, follow His leading.
In Numbers 22:22–40, God even used a donkey to speak to someone. He wants to speak to us so much that He will use whatever means is necessary. You can be assured that if you are trusting God to speak that He will find a way to get His message through to you.
God’s word for you today: Ask for God’s help first.
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My Choice Is His Choice
"He shall choose our inheritance for us" (Psalm 47:4).
Our enemies would allot us a very dreary portion, but we are not left in their hands. The LORD will cause us to stand in our lot, and our place is appointed by His infinite wisdom. A wiser mind than our own arranges our destiny, The ordaining of all things is with God, and we are glad to have it so; we choose that God should choose for us. If we might have our own way we would wish to let all things go in God's way.
Being conscious of our own folly, we would not desire to rule our own destinies. We feel safer and more at ease when the LORD steers our vessel than we could possibly be if we could direct it according to our own judgment. Joyfully we leave the painful present and the unknown future with our Father, our Savior, our Comforter.
O my soul, this day lay down thy wishes at Jesus' feet! If thou hast of late been somewhat wayward and willful, eager to be and to do after thine own mind, now dismiss thy foolish self, and place the reins in the LORD's hands. Say, "He shall choose." If others dispute the sovereignty of the LORD and glory in the free will of man, do thou answer them, "He shall choose for me." It is my freest choice to let Him choose. As a free agent, I elect that He should have absolute sway.
Charles Spurgeon
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Willing to Travel Under Sealed Orders
“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” Hebrews 11:8
Who knows what marvelous opportunity God has waiting for you if you are sensitive enough to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you right now. Don’t say, “Show me what You want me to do; then I’ll decide whether or not to do it.” Instead, we need to say, “I’ll do it—whatever it is. You tell me. If You explain it, fine. If You don’t explain it, fine. But God, I’m going to do it.” It’s just as bad to run ahead of God as it is to run behind Him. The Bible says that Abraham went out without knowing where God was sending him. Are you ready to travel under sealed orders?
Are you married? Talk to your spouse this week about your availability to God. Are you willing to sell your home, take your children, and go to the remotest corner of the world to share God’s plan of salvation if He called you there? If not, ask God to change your heart. He is the potter; you are the clay.
Adrian Rogers
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4/13/2012
What’s Separating You From Joy?
By Max Lucado
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3”
How would you finish the statement: “I’ll be happy when….” With your answer firmly in mind, answer this question. “What’s the one thing separating you from joy?”
What if your ship never comes in, if your dream never comes true? If the situation never changes, could you be happy? If not, then you’re sleeping in the cold cell of discontent. You’re in prison. And you need to know what you have in your Shepherd!
You have a God who hears you; the power of love behind you; the Holy Spirit within you; and all of heaven ahead of you. If you have the Shepherd, you have grace for every sin, direction for every turn, a candle for every corner, and an anchor for every storm.
You have everything you need.
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"Rejoice evermore" (I. Thess. v. 16).
Do not lose your joy whatever else you lose. Keep the spirit of spring. "Rejoice evermore," and "Again I say, rejoice."
The loss of Canaan began in the spirit of murmurings, "When the people, as it were, murmured, it displeased the Lord." The first break in their fellowship, the first falter in their advance, came when they began to doubt, and grieve, and fret.
Oh, keep the heart from the perforations of depression, discouragement, distrust and gloom, for Satan cannot crush a rejoicing and praiseful soul.
Look out for the beginning of sin. Don't let the first touch of evil be harbored. It is the first step that loses all. Oh, to keep so encased in the Holy Ghost and in the very life of Jesus that the evil cannot reach us!
The little fly on the inside of the window-pane may be attacked by the little bird on the outside, and it may seem to him that he is lost, but the crystal pane between keeps him safely from all danger as certainly as if it were a mighty wall of iron.
A. B. Simpson
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Joy in Prison
"And Joseph's master took him, and put him into a prison . . . But Jehovah was with Joseph . . . and that which he did, Jehovah made it to prosper" (Gen. 39:20-23).
When God lets us go to prison because we have been serving Him, and goes there with us, prison is about the most blessed place in the world that we could be in. Joseph seems to have known that. He did not sulk and grow discouraged and rebellious because ."everything was against him." If he had, the prison-keeper would never have trusted him so. Joseph does not even seem to have pitied himself.
Let us remember that if self-pity is allowed to set in, that is the end of us--until it is cast utterly from us. Joseph just turned over everything in joyous trust to God, and so the keeper of the prison turned over everything to Joseph. Lord Jesus, when the prison doors close in on me, keep me trusting, and keep my joy full and abounding. Prosper Thy work through me in prison: even there, make me free indeed.--Selected
A little bird I am,
Shut from the fields of air,
And in my cage I sit and sing
To Him who placed me there;
Well pleased a prisoner to be,
Because, my God, it pleaseth Thee.
My cage confines me round,
Abroad I cannot fly,
But though my wing is closely bound,
My soul is at liberty;
For prison walls cannot control
The flight, the freedom of the soul.
I have learnt to love the darkness of sorrow; there you see the brightness of His face.--Madame Guyon
Streams in the Desert
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"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept; for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead; for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Corinthians 15:20, 21, 22
Christ risen is the firstfruits of that mighty crop of buried dead whose remains still sleep in the silent dust, and who will be joined by successive ranks of those who die in him, till all are together wakened up in the resurrection morn. The figure is that of the sheaf of the firstfruits which was waved before the Lord before the harvest was allowed to be reaped (Lev. 23:10, 11). This offering of the wave sheaf was the consecration and dedication of the whole crop in the field to the Lord, as well as the manifest pledge that the harvest was fully ripe for the reaper's sickle. The firstfruits represented the whole of the crop, as Christ is the representative of his saints; the offering of them sanctified what was still unreaped in the field, as Christ sanctified or consecrated unto God the yet unreaped harvest of the buried dead; and the carrying them into the tabernacle was the first introduction therein of the crop, as Christ entering heaven as the firstfruits secures thereby the entrance of the bodies of the saints into the mansions prepared for them before the foundation of the world. Thus Christ rising from the dead presented himself before the Lord as the firstfruits of the grand harvest of the resurrection yet unreaped, and by doing so consecrated and dedicated the whole crop unto God. As, then, he rose from the dead, so shall all the sleeping saints rise from the dead at the last day, for his resurrection is the fitstfruits, the pledge, and the earnest of theirs.
J. C. Philpot
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Trusting the Leadership of the Holy Spirit
by Joyce Meyer
So if the Son liberates you [makes you free men], then you are really and unquestionably free. —John 8:36
I once read that we believers are like ships that God wants to turn out to sea to sail wherever the wind and waves carry us. That sea represents the freedom we have in God, and the wind is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. But as new believers, we are tied to the dock because that is the only place we can avoid becoming shipwrecked until we learn how to follow Him.
When we learn to follow those inner promptings of the Holy Spirit, we can be untied from the dock and sail the seas of life under His leadership without the fear of becoming lost.
Paul explains, We [Jewish Christians] also, when we were minors, were kept like slaves under [the rules of the Hebrew ritual and subject to] the elementary teachings of a system of external observations and regulations. But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations of] the Law, to purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God's sons]. And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the [Holy] Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba (Father)! Father! (Galatians 4:3-6)
When the Spirit of God is in you, the law of God is written in your heart. You no longer have to memorize the law because you can follow the leadership of the Holy Ghost, who will lead you in the right direction.
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Are you…Available? Expendable? Adaptable?
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Colossians 2:8
Jesus never approved of putting the traditions of men above the Word of God (see Mark 7:1-13). What about you? Are you willing to change your life in order that God may use you, or had you ...rather hold onto your traditions? There are three qualities I believe every Christian should exhibit: availability, expendability, and adaptability. We need to be walking with the Lord so closely that we ought to be ready to witness at a moment’s notice. It is God’s ability and your availability. It is His power and your personality. It is His work and your witness. That’s God’s plan!
Let’s pretend that someone is walking toward you right now with the sole purpose of asking you how they can have a personal relationship with God. What would you say? Get ready today to give an answer for the hope that is within you (see 1 Peter 3:15).
1 Peter 3:15 but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason of the hope in you, with meekness and fear;
Adrian Rogers
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This Body Fashioned Anew
"Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His Glorious Body" (Philippians 3:21).
Often when we are racked with pain and unable to think or worship, we feel that this indeed is "the body of our humiliation," and when we are tempted by the passions which rise from the flesh we do not think the word vile at all too vigorous a translation. Our bodies humble us; and that is about the best thing they do for us. Oh, that we were duly lowly, because our bodies ally us with animals and even link us with the dust!
But our Savior, the LORD Jesus, shall change all this. We shall be fashioned like His own body of glory. This will take place in all who believe in Jesus. By faith their souls have been transformed, and their bodies will undergo such a renewal as shall fit them for their regenerated spirits. How soon this grand transformation will happen we cannot tell; but the thought of it should help us to bear the trials of today and alt the woes of the flesh. In a little while we shall be as Jesus now is. No more aching brows, no more swollen limbs, no more dim eyes, no more fainting hearts. The old man shall be no more a bundle of infirmities, nor the sick man a mass of agony. "Like unto his glorious body." What an expression! Even our flesh shall rest in hope of such a resurrection!
Charles Spurgeon
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4/12/2012
Don’t Quit
By Max Lucado
“For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4”
Whatever you do, don’t quit! The Christian race isn’t a jog—it’s a demanding and grueling, sometimes agonizing race.
God never promises to remove us from our struggles. He does promise, however, to change the way we look at them.
The apostle Paul dedicates a paragraph to listing trash bags: trash bags of troubles, problems, sufferings, hunger, nakedness, danger, and violent death. These are the very dumpsters of difficulty we hope to escape. Paul states their value. He said in Romans 8:37, “In all these things we have full victory through God.”
We’d prefer another preposition! We’d opt for “apart from all these things,” or “away from all these things,” or even “without all these things!” But Paul says, “In all these things.”
The solution is not to avoid trouble but to change the way we see our troubles. God can correct your vision!
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"They were as it were, complainers" (Num. xi. 1).
There is a very remarkable phrase in the book of Numbers, in the account of the murmuring of the children of Israel in the wilderness. It reads like this: "When the people, as it were, murmured." Like most marginal readings it is better than the text, and a great world of suggestive truth lies back of that little sentence.
In the distance we may see many a vivid picture rise before our imagination of people who do not dare to sin openly and unequivocally, but manage to do it "as it were" only. They do not lie straight, but they evade or equivocate, or imply enough falsehood to escape a real conviction of conscience. They do not openly accuse God of unkindness or unfaithfulness, but they strike at Him through somebody else. They find fault with circumstances and people and things that God has permitted to come into their lives, and, "As it were," murmur. They do not perhaps go any farther. They feel like doing it if they dared to "charge God foolishly."
These things were written for our warning.
A. B. Simpson
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By Death We Live
"As dying and behold we live" (2 Cor. 6:9).
I had a bed of asters last summer, that reached clear across my garden in the country. Oh, how gaily they bloomed. They were planted late. On the sides were yet fresh blossoming flowers, while the tops had gone to seed. Early frosts came, and I found one day that that long line of radiant beauty was seared, and I said, "Ah! the season is too much for them; they have perished"; and I bade them farewell.
I disliked to go and look at the bed, it looked so like a graveyard of flowers. But, four or five weeks ago one of my men called my attention to the fact that along the whole line of that bed there were asters coming up in the greatest abundance; and I looked, and behold, for every plant that I thought the winter had destroyed there were fifty plants that it had planted. What did those frosts and surly winds do?
They caught my flowers, they slew them, they cast them to the ground, they trod with snowy feet upon them, and they said, leaving their work, "This is the end of you." And the next spring there were for every root, fifty witnesses to rise up and say, "By death we live."
And as it is in the floral tribe, so it is in God's kingdom. By death came everlasting life. By crucifixion and the sepulchre came the throne and the palace of the Eternal God. By overthrow came victory.
Do not be afraid to suffer. Do not be afraid to be overthrown.
It is by being cast down and not destroyed; it is by being shaken to pieces, and the pieces torn to shreds, that men become men of might, and that one a host; whereas men that yield to the appearance of things, and go with the world, have their quick blossoming, their momentary prosperity and then their end, which is an end forever.--Beecher
"Measure thy life by loss and not by gain,
Not by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth.
For love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice,
And he who suffers most has most to give."
Streams in the Desert
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Behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean. Lev 13:13
At first sight this seems a very extraordinary provision. When the leprosy was beginning to show itself, and whilst the marks were hardly distinguishable, the poor patient was treated as unclean; but, when it was fully developed, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, the priest pronounced the leper clean.
As long as we palliate and excuse our sins, and ,dream that there is much in us which is noble and lovely, we are not fit subjects for God's saw ing grace. But when we take our place as helpless and undone, without one plea or one redeeming trait, we are in the position in which the free grace of God can have its blessed way with us.
We must come to an end of ourselves, and fall prostrate, in the very helplessness of our despair, in the very dust at our Saviour's feet; we must confess that from the crown of our head to the sole of our foot we are full of need and sin - then we are nearest Christ, and in a fit condition to be richly blest, and made the channel of blessing to others.
Would you rise? then you must humble yourself before God. God's thrones are approached, not by steps up to them, but by steps down to them. It is the publican who beats his breast, saying, "God be merciful to me the sinner," that goes clown justified to his house. It is when sin abounds, that grace much more abounds. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones" (Isa 57:15).
F. B. Meyer
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To Grow Bitter Is to Be Beaten
He who is able to endure has learned one secret of the overcoming life. To endure is to bear patiently whatever the revolving years may bring us. It is to accept quietly and cheerfully the intractable elements of life. It is to pass through difficult or tragic hours free from any embittering of spirit, for to grow bitter is always to be beaten. We say "what can't be cured must be endured"; but that is scarcely the endurance of the Scriptures. Such endurance is a joyless thing. It is forced submission to necessity. The endurance of which the Bible speaks is of a happier character than that; it is a glad and even grateful acquiescence. Paul and Silas, in the prison at Philippi, did not accept things in a joyless way. They were happy; there was a lilt within their hearts; they sang so loudly that the prisoners heard them. And that is the endurance of the Scripture the bearing of things in a happy kind of fashion; an acceptance with the note of triumph in it.
George H. Morrison
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"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1
What is "the secret place of the most High?" It is the same spot, of which Asaph speaks in the seventy-third Psalm--"Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end." It is the spot, of which the Lord speaks in Ezekiel--"I will be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come." Then this "secret place" is the secret bosom of God. It is an entrance by faith into Jehovah, by a spiritual manifestation of him, leading us into a spiritual acquaintance with him. "The secret place of the most High" is that solemn spot, where Jehovah meets with the sinner in Christ, and where he opens up to him the riches of his mercy, and leads him into his bosom, so as to read the secrets of his loving heart. It is called a "secret" place, as only known to the persons to whom it is especially communicated. It is called a "secret" place, because none can get into it,--no, nor desire to get into it,--except the Lord himself, with his own mysterious hand, opens up to them a part in it, sets them down in it, and sweetly blesses them in it. Then to be in "the secret place of the most High" is to be brought into something like fellowship and acquaintance with God,--something like communion, spiritual worship, divine intercourse; so as to know something of him experimentally, and "run into" him, as "a strong tower," and there feel solemn safety.
J. C. Philpot
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Well-Laid Plans
by Joyce Meyer
For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere. —Ephesians 6:12
“How could you?” Helen screamed. “How could you ever do such a thing?”
Tom stared helplessly at his wife. He had committed adultery, faced his sinful actions, and asked his wife to forgive him.
“But you knew it was wrong,” she said. “You knew that was the ultimate betrayal of our marriage.”
“I never planned for an affair to happen,” Tom said with tears in his eyes. Tom wasn’t lying. He knew he was making a few bad choices, but he hadn’t looked ahead at the consequences of his actions. After almost an hour of pleading, he said something that helped Helen begin to understand and eventually to forgive.
“I was unfaithful to you in hundreds of ways before I ever committed adultery.” He spoke of their being too busy to spend quality time together, his critical attitude, her occasional lack of emotional response, her not listening to him when he talked about problems at the office. “Just little things, always little things,” he said. “At least in the beginning they seemed that way.”
That’s exactly how Satan works in human lives. He begins by bombarding our minds with cleverly devised patterns of irritation, dissatisfaction, nagging thoughts, doubts, fears, and reasonings. He moves slowly and cautiously (after all, well-laid plans take time).
Tom said he began to doubt that Helen truly loved him. She didn’t listen, and she didn’t always respond to his amorous moods. He dwelt on those thoughts. Whenever she did anything he didn’t like, he kept track. He kept track by remembering and adding that to his list of dissatisfactions.
One of his coworkers listened, and she offered him sympathy. One time she said, “Helen doesn’t deserve a warm, caring man like you.” (Satan also worked in her.) Each time Tom took a tiny step off the right path, he justified his actions in his mind: If Helen won’t listen to me, there are people who will. Although he said the word people to himself, he really meant the woman in the next cubicle.
The coworker listened. Weeks later, he hugged her and as he did so, he wished he could feel that caring response from his wife. It was a harmless embrace—or so it seemed. Tom didn’t grasp that Satan is never in a hurry. He takes time to work out his plans. He doesn’t immediately overwhelm people with powerful desires. Instead, the enemy of our minds starts with little things—little dissatisfactions, small desires—and builds from there.
Tom’s story sounds much like that of a forty-two-year-old bookkeeper who was indicted for stealing nearly three million¬ dollars from her organization. She said, “The first time I took only twelve dollars. I needed that much to pay the minimum amount on my credit card. I planned to pay it back.” No one caught her, and two months later, she “borrowed” again.
By the time they caught her, the company teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. “I never meant to hurt anybody or do anything wrong,” she said. She never intended to do anything big—just to take small amounts. The prosecutor said she had been stealing from the company for almost twenty years.
That’s how Satan works—slowly, diligently, and in small ways. Rarely does he approach us through direct assault or frontal attacks. All Satan needs is an opening—an opportunity to inject unholy, self-centered thoughts into our heads. If we don’t kick them back out, they stay inside. And he can continue his evil, destructive plan.
We don’t have to allow those wrong thoughts to take up residence in our heads. The apostle Paul wrote, “For the weapons of our warfare are . . . mighty before God. . . . [We] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ . . .” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5).
Lord Jesus, in Your name, I cry out for victory. Enable me to bring every thought into obedience. Help me not to allow Satan’s words to stay in my mind and steal my victory. Amen.
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He Remembers No More
"For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34).
When we know the LORD, we receive the forgiveness of sins. We know Him as the God of grace, passing by our transgressions. What a joyful discovery is this!
But how divinely is this promise worded: the LORD promises no more to remember our sins! Can God forget? He says He will, and He means what He says. He will regard us as though we had never sinned. The great atonement so effectually removed all sin that it is to the mind of God no more in existence. The believer is now in Christ Jesus, as accepted as Adam in his innocence; yea, more so, for he wears a divine righteousness, and that of Adam was but human.
The great LORD will not remember our sins so as to punish them, or so as to love us one atom the less because of them. As a debt when paid ceases to be a debt, even so doth the LORD make a complete obliteration of the iniquity of His people.
When we are mourning over our transgressions and shortcomings, and this is our duty as long as we live, let us at the same time rejoice that they will never be mentioned against us. This makes us hate sin. God's free pardon makes us anxious never again to grieve Him by disobedience.
Charles Spurgeon
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4/11/2012
A Smiling God
By Max Lucado
“Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them. Psalm 126:2”
I’m not one who easily envisions a smiling God. A weeping God, yes. An angry God, okay. A mighty God, you bet! But a chuckling God? It seems too—too unlike what God should do. Which just shows how much I know—or don’t know—about God!
What do I think he was doing when he stretched the neck of the giraffe? What about the eight legs of the octopus? And what do I envision on his face when he saw Adam’s first glance at Eve? A yawn? Hardly.
Is that him smiling as Jonah lands on the beach? Is that a twinkle in his eye as the disciples feed thousands with one boy’s lunch? Can you honestly imagine Jesus bounding children on his knee with a somber face?
No, I think Jesus smiled. I think he smiled a bit at people and a lot with people!
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Faith adds its amen to God's yea, and then takes its hands off, and leaves God to finish His work. Its language is, "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him; and He worketh."
Lord, I give up the struggle,
To Thee commit my way,
I trust Thy word forever,
And settle it all to-day.
A. B. Simpson
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Music and the Rest
"Into a desert place apart" (Matt. 14:13).
"There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in it." In our whole life-melody the music is broken off here and there by "rests," and we foolishly think we have come to the end of the tune. God sends a time of forced leisure, sickness, disappointed plans, frustrated efforts, and makes a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives; and we lament that our voices must be silent, and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator. How does the musician read the "rest"? See him beat the time with unvarying count, and catch up the next note true and steady, as if no breaking place had come between.
Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the tune, and not be dismayed at the "rests." They are not to be slurred over, not to be omitted, not to destroy the melody, not to change the keynote. If we look up, God Himself will beat the time for us. With the eye on Him, we shall strike the next note full and clear. If we sadly say to ourselves, "There is no music in a 'rest,'" let us not forget "there is the making of music in it." The making of music is often a slow and painful process in this life. How patiently God works to teach us! How long He waits for us to learn the lesson! --Ruskin
"Called aside--
From the glad working of thy busy life,
From the world's ceaseless stir of care and strife,
Into the shade and stillness by thy HeavenlyGuide
For a brief space thou hast been called aside.
"Called aside--
Perhaps into a desert garden dim;
And yet not alone, when thou hast been with Him,
And heard His voice in sweetest accents say:
'Child, wilt thou not with Me this still hourstay?'
"Called aside--
In hidden paths with Christ thy Lord to tread,
Deeper to drink at the sweet Fountainhead,
Closer in fellowship with Him to roam,
Nearer, perchance, to feel thy Heavenly Home.
"Called aside--
Oh, knowledge deeper grows with Him alone;
In secret of His deeper love is shown,
And learnt in many an hour of dark distress
Some rare, sweet lesson of His tenderness.
"Called aside--
We thank thee for the stillness and the shade;
We thank Thee for the hidden paths Thy love hath made,
And, so that we have wept and watched with Thee,
We thank Thee for our dark Gethsemane.
"Called aside--
Oh, restful thought--He doeth all things well;
Oh, blessed sense, with Christ alone to dwell;
So in the shadow of Thy cross to hide,
We thank Thee, Lord, to have been called aside."
Streams in the Desert
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Two young pigeons. Lev 12:8
These were the offerings of the poor, of those whose means did not suffice to buy a lamb. All these offerings pointed to the one great Sacrifice which was to be offered on Calvary.
The blood of Christ is within the reach of the poorest and feeblest. - None can say that it is beyond them, that they cannot afford to procure it, that they are too poor. To the poor the Gospel is preached. The Divine call is to those who have no money. Salvation is to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly. "It is nigh thee."
The faith that apprehends but a part of the Saviour's work saves. - The pigeon may stand for the meagre apprehension of Christ that is the portion of the faltering and timid; but it saves equally with that fuller conception of His saving work, which might be compared to the bullock of the priest. The question is not as to the quantity but the object of faith. Is it fixed on Jesus? All faith directed to Him cannot but be genuine. It may but touch His garment's hem, yet it saves.
The beneficence of God's law. - What tender touches there are through this strong ancient code! There is such a one here, framed partly in anticipation of the mother of our Lord, who gladly availed herself of its provision. What a glimpse into our Master's humiliation! He owned the cattle on a thousand hills, yet He so emptied Himself that His parents were compelled to bring the poorest offering the law allowed. He stooped that we might rise; emptied Himself that we might be full; became poor that we might be made rich; was made human that we might be made Divine.
F. B. Meyer
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"Hold fast that which is good." 1 Thessalonians 5:21
There are two things especially which every saint of God is called upon to hold fast: these are, first, the beginning of God's work upon his soul; and, secondly, his deliverance. Any manifestation too that you have had of the Lord Jesus Christ; any application of his atoning blood; any discovery of his glorious Person or shedding abroad of his love; hold that fast, for it is good. And so I may say, hold fast any promise you have ever had applied; any answer to prayer you have ever received; any felt blessing that may have been wrought in your heart by a divine power. All this is good. It comes from a good God; it works in a good way; it leads to a good end; it will make a good deathbed, and will land you in a most blessed eternity. Therefore "hold fast that which is good." Everything which is commended to your conscience as really good; every good man; every good minister; every child of God with whom you feel union or communion; every good precept, word, and work; in short, whatever is fully commended to your conscience as spiritual and divine, hold that fast, and you will find the benefit of it. Discard and reject everything bad, unbecoming, inconsistent, ungodly, erroneous, or heretical; discard them all--shew them no mercy. In heart but not in hand, hew them down, as Samuel hewed down Agag in Gilgal.
J. C. Philpot
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A Strong Fortress
by Joyce Meyer
I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust! …You shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay waste at noonday. —Psalm 91:2,5-6
You need to remember you are ready for anything through Christ who infuses inner strength into you. Paul prayed for the Church at Ephesus to be strengthened with all might and power in the inner man (see Ephesians 3:16). He knew if they stayed strong inwardly, they would be able to handle whatever came against them.
When you trust God, you don’t have to be afraid of the devil’s sudden surprises that stalk you. He is your strong fortress. No matter what may come against you, you will not be defeated.
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Close Fellowship
"And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD" (Jeremiah 31:34).
Truly, whatever else we do not know, we know the LORD. This day is this promise true in our experience, and it is not a little one. The least believer among us kn...ows God in Christ Jesus. Not as fully as we desire; but yet truly and really we know the LORD. We not only know doctrines about Him, but we know Him. He is our Father and our Friend. We are acquainted with Him personally. We can say, "My LORD, and my God." We are on terms of close fellowship with God, and many a happy season do we spend in His holy company. We are no more strangers to our God, but the secret of the LORD is with us.
This is more than nature could have taught us. Flesh and blood has not revealed God to us. Christ Jesus had made known the Father to our hearts. If, then, the LORD has made us know Himself, is not this the fountain of all saving knowledge? To know God is eternal life. So soon as we come to acquaintance with God we have the evidence of being quickened into newness of life. O my soul, rejoice in this knowledge, and bless thy God all this day!
Charles Spurgeon
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4/10/2012
This is Love
By Max Lucado
“This is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us. John 4:10”
Love never fails!
Wait a minute, no one has unfailing love! No person can love with perfection.
That’s right. But God is not a person. Unlike our love, his love never fails! God’s love is immensely different from ours. Ours depends on the receiver of the love. Our love will be regulated by appearance or by personality. Even when we find a few people we like, our feelings will still fluctuate.
Does God love us because of our goodness? Because of our kindness? Because of our great faith?
No. He loves us because of HIS goodness, kindness, and great faith. The love of God is born from within him, not from what he finds in us. His love is uncaused, spontaneous. God loves you simply because he has chosen to do so!
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"Hold fast the confidence" (Heb. iii. 6).
Seldom have we seen a sadder wreck of even the highest, noblest Christian character than when the enemy has succeeded in undermining the simple trust of a child of God, and got him into self-accusing and condemnation. It is a fearful place when the soul allows Satan to take the throne and act as God, sitting in judgment on its every thought and act; and keeping it in the darkness of ceaseless condemnation. Well indeed has the apostle told us to hold firmly the shield of faith!
This is Satan's objective point in all his attacks upon you, to destroy your trust. If he can get you to lose your simple confidence in God, he knows that he will soon have you at his feet.
It is enough to wreck both the reason and the life for the soul that has known the sweetness of His love to lose its perfect trust in God. "Beloved, hold fast your confidence and the rejoicing of your hope firm unto the end."
Fear not to take your place
With Jesus on the throne,
And bid the powers of earth and hell,
His sovereign sceptre own.
A. B. Simpson
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The Summer Will Come
"Therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you" (Isa. 30:18).
Where showers fall most, there the grass is greenest. I suppose the fogs and mists of Ireland make it "the Emerald Isle"; and whenever you find great fogs of trouble, and mists of sorrow, you always find emerald green hearts; full of the beautiful verdure of the comfort and love of God. O Christian, do not thou be saying, "Where are the swallows gone? They are gone; they are dead." They are not dead; they have skimmed the purple sea, and gone to a far-off land; but they will be back again by and by. Child of God, say not the flowers are dead; say not the winter has killed them, and they are gone. Ah, no! though winter hath coated them with the ermine of its snow; they will put up their heads again, and will be alive very soon. Say not, child of God, that the sun is quenched, because the cloud hath hidden it. Ah, no; he is behind there, brewing summer for thee; for when he cometh out again, he will have made the clouds fit to drop in April showers, all of them mothers of the sweet May flowers. And oh! above all, when thy God hides His face, say not that He hath forgotten thee. He is but tarrying a little while to make thee love Him better; and when He cometh, thou shalt have joy in the Lord, and shalt rejoice with joy unspeakable. Waiting exercises our grace; waiting tries our faith; therefore, wait on in hope; for though the promise tarry, it can never come too late. --C. H. Spurgeon
"Oh, every year hath its winter,
And every year hath its rain--
But a day is always coming
When the birds go north again.
"When new leaves swell in the forest,
And grass springs green on the plain,
And alders' veins turn crimson--
And the birds go north again.
"Oh, every heart hath its sorrow,
And every heart hath its pain--
But a day is always coming
When the birds go north again.
"'Tis the sweetest thing to remember,
If courage be on the wane,
When the cold, dark days are over--
Why, the birds go north again."
Streams in the Desert
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It is not enough to peruse our allotted Scripture portion; we must ruminate upon it, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and scripture with scripture. The Holy Ghost will take of the things of Christ and show them unto us, and He will bring all things to our remembrance.
F. B. Meyer
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For love alone sees purely, clearly, deeply. Love always seeks the best interpretation. Love never makes the most of petty faults. The windows of love are of the finest glass. And it is that spirit of loving interpretation that helps a Christian to see things as they are. If without love I never can know God, then without love I never can know anything. For every blackthorn that breaks into snow-white blossom, and every bird that is winging its way from Africa, and every human heart, however vile, has something of the Creator in its being. Take away God, and things are chaos to me. And without love, I never can know God. You understand, then, the wisdom of Jesus Christ in putting love at the center of our life. It focuses everything. It links the little and the great with the Creator, and brings things to their relative importance.
George H. Morrison
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"I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. " Habakkuk 3:18
If ever, as we pass through this wilderness, we feel one drop of solid joy, of true happiness, it must flow, it can flow only from one source--the manifestation of Christ to our souls. This joy may be very transient: we may have to look upon it through a vista of many years; and doubts and fears may becloud the mind whether we ever rejoiced truly in Christ, or whether our joy might not have been "the joy of the hypocrite" that perisheth. And yet we are brought to this point--we can find joy and peace in Him alone. Sin, the world, the things of time and sense, business, amusement, pleasure so called, afford now no joy; there is an aching void, a feeling of dreariness and misery connected with everything short of communications of mercy, favour, and love. So that though we may not be enabled to say, 'we greatly rejoice at all times, in all places, at all seasons, in the Lord;' yet we can come to this point--we can rejoice in no other; we can take real pleasure in nothing else. One smile from the Lord, one word from his lips, one gracious breaking in of the light of his countenance does, while it lasts, communicate joy; and from no other quarter, from no other source can a moment's joy be drawn.
J. C. Philpot
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Today May Be "One of Those Days"
by Joyce Meyer
Be alert and on your guard; stand firm in your faith (your conviction respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, keeping the trust and holy fervor born of faith and a part of it). Act like men and be courageous; grow in strength! —1 Corinthians 16:13
Have you ever had “one of those days” where nothing went right, yet you were hesitant to pray because you didn’t know where God might lead you? God won’t always ask you to do something; sometimes He just wants to talk to you.
If He does ask you to do something, He will anoint you to do it. You will enjoy the presence of His power, and someone will be blessed by your obedience.
Those are the best days of your life. Take time to pray this morning. Today may be “one of those days” that God has a special assignment for you.
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The Mission of the Church
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” John 13:34
A man and his wife were walking through a wheat field in Alberta, Canada, early one evening with their young son. They forgot for a moment that their son was with them, and then suddenly they realized he wasn’t there.
They searched to no avail, and then ran back to the village to get help. Many people returned with the couple to search through the night. Then one man said, “Let’s lock arms and we’ll sweep across the field.” Then there was a cry: “I found him!” And everyone rushed together to the lifeless form of the little fellow who had died of exposure.
I wonder if there are people who are going to slip into a Christless eternity because we, as a church, haven’t joined hands soon enough.
What are you doing in your church to welcome newcomers, disciple younger believers, or minister to the needs of others? Ask God to give you opportunities to redeem the 168 hours He has given you this week in selfless acts of love for others.
Adrian Rogers
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Look and Live
"And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shalt come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live" (Numbers 21:8).
This is a glorious gospel type. Jesus, numbered with the transgressors, hangs before us on the cross. A look to Him will heal us of the serpent-bite of sin; will heal us at once -- "When he looketh upon it, he shall live." Let the reader who is mourning his sinfulness note the words -- "Everyone that looketh upon it shall live." Every looker will find this true. I have found it so. I looked to Jesus and lived at once, I know I did. Reader, if you look to Jesus you will live, too. True, you are swelling with the venom, and you see no hope, True, also there is no hope but this one. But this is no doubtful cure -- "Everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live."
The brazen serpent was not lifted up as a curiosity to be gazed upon by the healthy; but its special purpose was for those who were "bitten." Jesus died as a real Savior for real sinners. Whether the bite has made you a drunkard, or a thief, or an unchaste or a profane person, a look at the great Savior will heal you of these diseases and make you live in holiness and communion with God. Look and live.
Charles Spurgeon
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4/09/2012
The Secret of Forgiveness
By Max Lucado
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,Whose sin is covered. Psalm 32:1”
Is it still hard to consider the thought of forgiving the one who hurt you?
We’ll never be able to wash the feet of those who’ve hurt us until we allow Jesus, the one we’ve hurt, to wash ours. That’s the secret of forgiveness. You’ll never forgive anyone more than God has already forgiven you.
Watch Jesus as he goes from disciple to disciple. Can you hear the water splash? Keep that image. John 13:12 says, “When he had finished washing their feet…” Note, he finished washing their feet. He left no one out. That’s important! It means he also washed the feet of Judas. Jesus washed the feet of his betrayer.
That’s not to say it was easy for Jesus. That’s not to say it’s easy for you. That IS to say—God will never call you to do what he hasn’t already done!
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I do always those things that please Him" (John viii. 29).
It is a good thing to keep short accounts with God. We were very much struck some years ago with an interpretation of this verse: "So every one of us shall give an account of himself to God." The thought conveyed to our mind was, that of accounting to God every day of our lives, so that our accounts were settled daily, and for... us judgment was passed, as we lay down on our pillows every night.
This is surely the true way to live. It is the secret of great peace, and it will be a delightful comfort when life is closing, or the Master coming, to know that our account is settled, and our judgment over, and for us there is only waiting the glad "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
Step by step I'll walk with Jesus,
Just a moment at a time,
Heights I have not wings to soar to,
Step by step my feet can climb.
Jesus, keep me closer--closer,
Step by step and day by day
Stepping in Thy very foot-prints,
Walking with Thee all the way.
A. B. Simpson
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Don't Fret
"Do not begin to be anxious" (Phil. 4:6, PBV).
Not a few Christians live in a state of unbroken anxiety, and others fret and fume terribly. To be perfectly at peace amid the hurly-burly of daily life is a secret worth knowing. What is the use of worrying? It never made anybody strong; never helped anybody to do God's will; never made a way of escape for anyone ...out of perplexity. Worry spoils lives which would otherwise be useful and beautiful. Restlessness, anxiety, and care are absolutely forbidden by our Lord, who said: "Take no thought," that is, no anxious thought, "saying what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?" He does not mean that we are not to take forethought and that our life is to be without plan or method; but that we are not to worry about these things. People know you live in the realm of anxious care by the lines on your face, the tones of your voice, the minor key in your life, and the lack of joy in your spirit. Scale the heights of a life abandoned to God, then you will look down on the clouds beneath your feet. --Rev. Darlow Sargeant
It is always weakness to be fretting and worrying, questioning and mistrusting. Can we gain anything by it? Do we not unfit ourselves for action, and unhinge our minds for wise decision? We are sinking by our struggles when we might float by faith.
Oh, for grace to be quiet! Oh, to be still and know that Jehovah is God! The Holy One of Israel must defend and deliver His own. We may be sure that every word of His will stand, though the mountains should depart. He deserves to be confided in. Come, my soul, return unto thy rest, and lean thy head upon the bosom of the Lord Jesus. --Selected
"Peace thy inmost soul shall fill Lying still!"
Streams in the DesertSee More
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To take the yoke, and meekly bear it; to put the hand on the mouth, and bow in the dust - this is rest and peace. In this way we drink Christ's cup and become partakers of His sufferings.
F. B. Meyer
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Do Not Make Light of the Things of the Soul
Young men and women, you know I do not want you to be solemn. I do not wish you to be dull. I want your sky to be as bright as heaven. But as you have a life to live, and as you have a death to die, do not make light of the great things of the soul. Do not make light of duty. Do not make light of purity. Do not make light of sin. Do not make light of now. Above all, in all, through all, do not make light of Christ. For to be Christ's is manhood, power, victory. And to make light of Christ is death.
George H. Morrison
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"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise." Jeremiah 17:14
If we feel that we have ruined our own souls, that no human arm can save us, that we cannot bring salvation into our own consciences, nor of ourselves see any beauty, glory, sweetness, or suitability in the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet are striving with prayer and supplication to touch the hem of his garment, to taste the sweetness of his dying love, to feel the efficacy of his atoning blood, to be wrapped up in his glorious robe of righteousness, and to know him in the sweet manifestations of his grace, we too can say, "Save me, and I shall be saved." Here is this sin! save me from it: here is this snare! break it to pieces; here is this lust! Lord, subdue it; here is this temptation! deliver me out of it; here is my proud heart! Lord, humble it; my unbelieving heart! take it away, and give me faith; give me submission to thy mind and will; take me as I am with all my sin and shame and work in me everything well-pleasing in thy sight, for "Thou art my praise." If ever I have blessed thee, it has been for thy goodness to my soul; if ever my heart has been tuned to thy praise, if ever my lips have thanked thee, it has been for the riches of thy grace, and the manifestations of thy mercy. I am nothing, and never shall be anything but a poor guilty sinner in thy eyes; but I have to praise thee for all that is past, and to hope in thee for all that is to come; "for thou," and thou alone, O Lord, "art my praise."
J. C. Philpot
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DEALING WITH ANXIETY
Philippians 4:7
The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus
Christians have frequently relied upon a sense of peace as evidence of the Holy Spirit's leading. It is common to hear people say, "I just don't have a peace about it." I think that is legitimate. I would be concerned about the person who proceeds when his spirit is disturbed. God doesn't lead through anxiety. We are to cast our anxiety upon Jesus, because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).
Still, a lot of money is spent on the temporary "cure" of anxiety. People consume alcohol, take illegal drugs, turn to the refrigerator, have sex, mindlessly repeat mantras, and escape to cabins, boats and motor homes--all to reduce their anxiety. One lady said, "Whenever I feel anxious, I go on a shopping spree!" Prescription drugs are regularly dispensed for the ails brought on by anxiety.
The bartender, drug pushers, occult practitioner, and other peddlers of escapism all have one thing in common: They really don't care about the consumer. They are out to make a profit. Even worse, when the temporary "cure" wears off, we have to return to the same world with the added problem of hangovers and other negative consequences of fake healers.
Internally, we desperately need the peace of God: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6, 7). The awareness of a troubled spirit should drive us to find the peace of God by turning to Him and assuming our responsibility to use our minds.
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for breaking through so many of my old anxieties and setting me free. I ask You to free me from those that remain.
Neil T. Anderson
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Seriously, Don't Worry!
by Joyce Meyer
And which of you by being overly anxious and troubled with cares can add a cubit to his stature or a moment [unit] of time to his age? —Luke 12:25
Don’t worry. Be happy. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying many times. Have you noticed that it’s easier said than done? I believe that to actually stop worrying requires having experience with God. I don’t think there is any way a person can fully overcome habits of worry, anxiety, and fear—and develop habits of peace, rest, and hope—without years of experience trusting and receiving God’s love.
This is one reason why having faith and continuing to have faith in the midst of trials and challenges is so important. During these hard, trying seasons, God is building in us the patience, endurance, and godly character we need in order to eventually develop joyful hope, strong love, and confident expectation in Him.
When you find yourself in the midst of a battle against our enemy, remember that every round you fight produces valuable experience and strength. Every time you endure an attack, you become stronger.
Loving God means trusting Him in every situation and refusing to allow the enemy to control you, torment you, and rob your peace through worry. It will take practice and experience with God to break this habit, but you can do it by His grace. Commit to the process of becoming a worry-free, trust-filled person who lives in the peace and joy God wants you to experience.
Love God Today: Today, refuse to worry, be anxious, or allow fear to operate in your life. Declare your trust in God in every situation.
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The Bible's Supreme Place
"Great peace have they which love Thy Law: and nothing shall offend them" (Psalm 119:165).
Yes, a true love for the great Book will bring us great peace from the great God and be a great protection to us. Let us live constantly in the society of the law of the LORD, and it will breed in our hearts a restfulness such as nothing else can. The Holy Spirit acts as a Comforter through the Word and sheds abroad those benign influences which calm the tempests of the soul.
Nothing is a stumbling block to the man who has the Word of God dwelling in him richly. He takes up his daily cross, and it becomes a delight. For the fiery trial he is prepared and counts it not strange, so as to be utterly cast down by it. He is neither stumbled by prosperity -- as so many are -- nor crushed by adversity -- as others have been -- for he lives beyond the changing circumstances of external life. When his LORD puts before him some great mystery of the faith which makes others cry, "This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" the believer accepts it without question; for his intellectual difficulties are overcome by his reverent awe of the law of the LORD, which is to him the supreme authority to which he joyfully bows. LORD, work in us this love, this peace, this rest, this day.
Charles Spurgeon
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4/08/2012
No Matter What
By Max Lucado
“Nothing above us, nothing below us, not anything else in the whole world will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:39
No matter what you do, no matter how far you fall, no matter how ugly you become, God has a relentless, undying, unfathomable, unquenchable love from which you cannot be separated. Ever!
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"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine" (Prov. xvii. 22).
King Solomon left among his wise sayings a prescription for sick and sad hearts, and it is one that we can safely take. "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." Joy is the great restorer and healer. Gladness of spirit will bring health to the bones and vitality to the nerves when all other tonics fail, and all other sedatives cease to quiet. Sick one, begin to rejoice in the Lord, and your bones will flourish like an herb, and your cheeks will glow with the bloom of health and freshness. Worry, fear, distrust, care, are all poison drops; joy is balm and healing; and if you will but rejoice, God will give power. He has commanded you to be glad and rejoice; and He never fails to sustain His children in keeping His commandments. Rejoice in the Lord always, He says; which means no matter how sad, how tempted, how sick, how suffering you are, rejoice in the Lord just where you are, and begin this moment.
The joy of the Lord is the strength of our body,
The gladness of Jesus, the balm for our pain,
His life and His fulness, our fountain of healing,
His joy, our elixir for body and brain.
A. B. Simpson
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Don't Rush
"Who is among you that feareth Jehovah, that obeyeth the voice of his servant? He that walketh in darkness and hath no light, let him trust in the name of Jehovah and rely upon his God" (Isa. 50:10, RV).
What shall the believer do in times of darkness--the darkness of perplexity and confusion, not of heart but of mind? Times of darkness come to the faithful and believing disciple who is walking obediently in the will of God; seasons when he does not know what to do, nor which way to turn. The sky is overcast with clouds. The clear light of Heaven does not shine upon his pathway. One feels as if he were groping his way in darkness.
Beloved, is this you? What shall the believer do in times of darkness? Listen! "Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and rely upon his God."
The first thing to do is do nothing. This is hard for poor human nature to do. In the West there is a saying that runs thus, "When you're rattled, don't rush"; in other words, "When you don't know what to do, don't do it."
When you run into a spiritual fog bank, don't tear ahead; slow down the machinery of your life. If necessary, anchor your bark or let it swing at its moorings. We are to simply trust God. While we trust, God can work. Worry prevents Him from doing anything for us. If our minds are distracted and our hearts distressed; if the darkness that overshadows us strikes terror to us; if we run hither and yon in a vain effort to find some way of escape out of a dark place of trial, where Divine providence has put us, the Lord can do nothing for us.
The peace of God must quiet our minds and rest our hearts. We must put our hand in the hand of God like a little child, and let Him lead us out into the bright sunshine of His love.
He knows the way out of the woods. Let us climb up into His arms, and trust Him to take us out by the shortest and surest road.--Dr. Pardington
Remember we are never without a pilot when we know not how to steer.
"Hold on, my heart, in thy believing--
The steadfast only wins the crown;
He who, when stormy winds are heaving,
Parts with its anchor, shall go down;
But he who Jesus holds through all,
Shall stand, though Heaven and earth should fall.
"Hold out! There comes an end to sorrow;
Hope from the dust shall conquering rise;
The storm foretells a summer's morrow;
The Cross points on to Paradise;
The Father reigneth! cease all doubt;
Hold on, my heart, hold on, hold out."
Streams in the Desert
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What a Saviour is ours! In Him are combined meekness that bears all insult and hatred, and mercy that retaliates on wrongdoing in ministries of love. He fulfills His own idea of blessing those that hate, and praying for those that despitefully use. How truly can it be said of Him, as of Archbishop Ussher, that to do him a wrong is to make him your friend forever!
Let us imitate Him in this, and let the going forth of our lives be one incessant stream of benediction to men, until they shall fall on their faces and acknowledge the overwhelming power of love. But in order to this we must be much in company with our blessed Lord; gazing on His face we shall reflect His likeness; the lineaments of the Divine beauty shall pass into our life, and light it up with a loveliness which is not of earth. Thus shall we bring glory to our God.
F. B. Meyer
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"If ye were of the world, the world would love his own but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." John 15:19
If you walk in the fear of God, and follow in the footsteps of a persecuted and despised Jesus, the world will hate and despise you as it hated and despised him, as he himself declares, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you." God himself has put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15); and nothing will secure you from the manifestation of this enmity if you are on Christ's side. Neither rank, nor property, nor learning, nor education, nor amiability, nor the profusest deeds of liberality, nor the greatest uprightness of conduct, will stave off the scorn of men, if you are a sincere follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and carry out in practice what you hold in principle. If you are not conformed to Jesus here in his suffering image, you will most certainly not be conformed to Jesus hereafter in his glorified likeness. But if by living for and unto Jesus and his cross, your name be cast out as evil, wear it as your distinguishing badge, as adorning the breast of a Christian warrior. If men misrepresent your motives or actions, and seek to hunt you down with every calumny that the basest malignity can invent, do not heed it as long as you are innocent. They cannot find you a better or more honourable crown, if indeed your godly life provoke the cruel lie. It is a crown that your Master bore before you when they crowned his head with thorns. If you feel as I have felt, you will at times count yourself even unworthy to suffer persecution for his name's sake.
J. C. Philpot
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You Have Something
by Joyce Meyer
And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multiply your [resources for] sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness [which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness, and charity]. Thus you will be enriched in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous, and [your generosity as it is] administered by us will bring forth thanksgiving to God. —2 Corinthians 9:10–11
Notice that our woman in Proverbs 31 reached out her filled hands to the needy (v. 20). When a person truly wants to give, God will give seed to sow. Even if you don’t have extra money to give, you do have something.
Look around your house and start giving away everything that you are not using or wearing. If an article of clothing has been in your closet one year without being moved, there is a good chance you will never wear it again. Pass it on to someone in need and God will bless you with new things as you need them.
I believe that we know giving is the right thing to do. In our hearts we can sense joy and confidence when we become givers and not merely takers.
It is no wonder I did not like this woman in Proverbs 31 when I first started reading about her. She was everything I was not but needed to become.
Lord, I truly want to be a giving person. I ask Your blessing that I might meet the needs of others, whatever they might be. Amen.
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Preserved to Work's End
"The LORD stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome" (Acts 23:11).
Are you a witness for the LORD, and are you just now in danger? Then remember that you are immortal till your work is done. If the LORD has more witness for you to bear, you will live to bear it. Who is he that can break the vessel which the LORD intends again to use?
If there is no more work for you to do for your Master, it cannot distress you that He is about to take you home and put you where you will be beyond the reach of adversaries. Your witness-bearing for Jesus is your chief concern, and you cannot be stopped in it till it is finished: therefore, be at peace. Cruel slander, wicked misrepresentation, desertion of friends, betrayal by the most trusted one, and whatever else may come cannot hinder the LORD's purpose concerning you. The LORD stands by you in the night of your sorrow, and He says, "Thou must yet bear witness for me." Be calm; be filled with joy in the LORD.
If you do not need this promise just now, you may very soon. Treasure it up. Remember also to pray for missionaries and all persecuted ones, that the LORD would preserve them even to the completion of their lifework.
Charles Spurgeon
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4/07/2012
Christ In You
By Max Lucado
“No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.” John 3:5, NLT
When you believe in Christ, Christ works a miracle in you. “When you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit” (Eph. 1:13, NLT).
You are permanently purified and empowered by God himself. The message of Jesus to the religious person is simple: It’s not what you do. It’s what I do. I have moved in. And in time you can say with Paul, “I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20, NLT).
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We must come into personal contact with the risen Saviour, and have His very life quicken our mortal flesh before we can know the fulness and reality of His healing. This is the most frequent cause of failure. People are often trusting to something that has been done to them, to something that they have done, or something that they have believed intellectually; but their spirit has not felt its way to the heart of Christ, and they have not drawn His love into their being by the hunger and thirst of love and faith, and so they are not quickened. The greatest need of our souls and bodies is to know Jesus personally, to touch Him constantly, to abide in Him continually.
May we this day lay aside all things that could hinder our near approach to Him, and walk hand in hand, heart to heart, with Jesus.
A. B. Simpson
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Bearing the Sting
"He opened not his mouth" (Isa. 53:7).
How much grace it requires to bear a misunderstanding rightly, and to receive an unkind judgment in holy sweetness! Nothing tests the Christian character more than to have some evil thing said about him. This is the file that soon proves whether we are electro-plate or solid gold. If we could only know the blessings that lie hidden in our trials we would say like David, when Shimei cursed him, "Let him curse; . . . it may be . . . that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day."
Some people get easily turned aside from the grandeur of their life-work by pursuing their own grievances and enemies, until their life gets turned into one little petty whirl of warfare. It is like a nest of hornets. You may disperse the hornets, but you will probably get terribly stung, and get nothing for your pains, for even their honey is not worth a search.
God give us more of His Spirit, "who, when he was reviled, reviled not again"; but "committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." "Consider him that endureth such contradiction of sinners against himself."--A. B. Simpson
"Before you" He trod all the path of woe,
He took the sharp thrusts with His head bent low.
He knew deepest sorrow and pain and grief,
He knew long endurance without relief,
He took all the bitter from death's deep cup,
He kept not a blood-drop but gave all up.
"Before you" and for you, He won the fight
To bring you to glory and realms of light.
--L.S.P.
Streams in the Desert
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Ye shall not go out. Lev 8:33
For seven days Aaron and his sons, newly consecrated by the blood and oil, waited together in the Holy Place. They were prohibited from going beyond the door, but fed on the consecrated food till the eighth day summoned them to begin their priestly duties. Similarly we are shut in with our Great Aaron, the High Priest of our profession. We are in Christ in the purposes of God, for we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. We are in Him, as Noah was in the ark, and as the child is in the home; as the member is in the body, and the branch in the vine; as the sponge in the ocean, or the jewel in the sunbeam. We are in Him as a strong enclosure, through which the malice and strength of our foes cannot break - a fortress, a strong tower, a castle keep. We are in Him, as a banqueting-hall, a Tabernacle with its shewbread, an upper room with its descending fire.
It is highly necessary that we should maintain our walk and experience on this blessed elevation. The great enemy of our souls is perpetually tempting us to leave our abiding-place, and to try issues with him in the plains beneath. What is temptation but his subtle solicitation to come out from the secret place of the Most High. Beware! the bait may be very attractive, but the end is death. Keep the charge of the Lord, and abide day and night in the company of the Great High Priest. "He shall dwell among them."
On what viands do such happy souls feast with Christ! A table is provided before them by the Lord Himself, and they feast on all that pertains to Him in blessed partnership. "Son, thou art ever with Me, and all that I have is thine."
F. B. Meyer
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"I will be as the dew unto Israel." Hosea 14:5
Sometimes the Lord, without applying his word with any very great and distinguishing power to the heart, makes his truth to drop with a measure of sweetness into the soul. This is as rain or dew, according to his own gracious declaration, "My doctrine shall drop as the rain; my speech shall distil as the dew" (Deut. 32:2). The dropping, then, of his doctrine, or, as the word means, his "teaching," as rain, and the distilling of his gracious speech as dew, kindle in the soul a love of the truth, and wherever this is felt there is salvation, for we read of those who perish that "they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved" (2 Thess. 2:10). There is a receiving of the truth, and a receiving of the love of the truth. These two things widely differ. To receive the truth will not necessarily save; for many receive the truth who never receive the love of the truth. Professors by thousands receive the truth into their judgment, and adopt the plan of salvation as their creed; but are neither saved nor sanctified thereby. But to receive the love of the truth by the truth as it is in Jesus being made sweet and precious to the soul, is to receive salvation itself. It is in this way that the gospel is made the power of God unto salvation; and therefore the Apostle, speaking of "the preaching of the cross," says that "it is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." Now it is impossible that this power should be felt without its having an alluring effect upon the soul, whereby it comes out from every evil thing and cleaves to the Lord with purpose of heart.
J. C. Philpot
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FEELINGS OF ANGER
Ephesians 4:31
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander by put away from you, along with all malice
Feelings of anger should prompt us to reexamine what we believe and the mental goals we have formulated to accomplish those beliefs. My daughter Heidi helped me with this process one Sunday morning while I was trying to hustle my family out the door for church. I had been waiting in the car for several minutes before I stomped back into the house and shouted angrily, "We should have left for church 15 minutes ago!"
All was silent for a moment, then Heidi's soft voice floated around the corner from her bedroom: "What's the matter, Dad? Did somebody block your goal?" She was blocking my goal to get to church on time, but she wasn't blocking my goal to be the husband and father God wants me to be. The only one who can block that goal is me.
A wife and mother may say, "My goal in life is to have a loving, harmonious, happy family." Who can block that goal? Every person in her family can block her goal--not only can , the will ! A homemaker clinging to the belief that her self-worth is dependent on her family will crash and burn every time her husband or children fail to live up to her image of family harmony. She will probably be a very angry woman, which could drive family members even farther away from her and each other. Her major goal in life should be to become the wife and mother God called her to be.
A pastor may say, "My goal in ministry is to reach this community for Christ." Good goal? It is a wonderful desire, but if his self-worth is dependent on that desire being fulfilled, he will experience tremendous emotional turmoil. Every person in the community can block his goal. Pastors who continue to believe that their success is dependent on others will end up fighting with their boards, praying their opposition out of the church or quitting.
Make it your goal to be what God has called you to be. No one can keep you from reaching that goal but you.
Prayer: Father, help me see Your long-range view of life so I can learn not to blow up at minor, short-term irritations.
Neil T. Anderson
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Are You Listening to Him?
by Joyce Meyer
We have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull in your [spiritual] hearing and sluggish [even slothful in achieving spiritual insight]. —Hebrews 5:11
Have you ever met someone who asks questions, but never bothers to listen to the answers or perhaps answers their own questions? It is hard to talk to someone like that, someone who doesn’t listen. I am confident that God does not bother to try to speak to people with that kind of an attitude. If we won’t listen to Him, He will find someone who is eager to hear what He has to say.
Hebrews 5:11 warns us that we will miss learning rich life principles if we don’t have a listening attitude. A listening attitude will keep our hearing from becoming dull. A person who has a listening attitude is not one who wants to hear from God only when he or she is in trouble or needs God’s help, but one who wants to hear what He has to say about every aspect of life.
When we expect a human being to say something, we pay attention to that person; our ears are ready to hear his or her voice. The same is true in our relationship with God; we should live every day fully expecting to hear from God and listening for His voice.
Jesus said that people have ears to hear, but they hear not, and that they have eyes to see, but they see not (see Matthew 13:9–16). He was not talking about physical hearing and sight capacities, but about spiritual ears and eyes, which we receive when we are born into the Kingdom of God.
Our spiritual ears are the ears we use to hear God’s voice. We are equipped to hear from God, but we must believe that we can hear from Him. All of God’s promises become a reality in our lives through faith, so start believing today that you can and do hear from God.
God’s word for you today: Use your spiritual ears.
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Without Fear of Man
"And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the Name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee" (Deuteronomy 28:10).
Then we can have no reason to be afraid of them. This would show a mean spirit and be a token of unbelief rather than of faith. God can make us so like Himself that men shall be forced to see that we rightly bear His name and truly belong to the holy Jehovah. Oh, that we may obtain this grace which the LORD waits to bestow!
Be assured that ungodly men have a fear of true saints. They hate them, but they also fear them. Haman trembled because of Mordecai, even when he sought the good man's destruction. In fact, their hate often arises out of a dread which they are too proud to confess. Let us pursue the path of truth and uprightness without the slightest tremor. Fear is not for us but for those who do ill and fight against the LORD of hosts. If indeed the name of the eternal God is named upon us, we are secure; for, as of old, a Roman had but to say Romanus sum, I am a Roman, and he could claim the protection of all the legions of the vast empire; so every one who is a man of God has omnipotence as his guardian, and God will sooner empty heaven of angels than leave a saint without defense. Be braver than lions for the right, for God is with you.
Charles Spurgeon
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Upheld by HIS Hand
“Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation: and Thy right hand hath holden me up, and Thy gentleness hath made me great.” Psalm 18:35
In World War II, General Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright led a gallant but vain fight that led him to become a prisoner of war. For months, the Japanese mocked him and beat him. Then, one day, the news arrived that the Allied Forces had won....
The Japanese guards thought Wainwright hadn’t heard the news, so they approached him to inflict their daily habit of abuse. Though Wainwright had grown frail and weak, he stood up straight and tall and said, “From now on, I’m giving the orders around here.”
The devil doesn’t want you to know the Good News that Jesus has won the victory, either. But, you must resist him and claim the power of God in your life.
Where do you think you’d be if Psalm 18:35 said, “I have saved myself. My hand has held me up. My gentleness has made me great”? Praise God that your salvation is from Him.
Adrian Rogers
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4/06/2012
Six Hours, One Friday
By Max Lucado
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21”
Six hours, one Friday. Mundane to the casual observer. A shepherd with his sheep, a housewife with her thoughts, a doctor with his patients. But to a handful of awestruck witnesses, the most maddening of miracles is occurring.
God is on a cross. The creator of the universe is being executed. It is no normal six hours. It is no normal Friday. Far worse than the breaking of his body is the shredding of his heart. And now his own father is beginning to turn his back on him, leaving him alone.
What do you do with that day in history? What do you do with its claims? They were the most critical hours in history. Nails didn’t hold God to a cross. Love did.
The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint!
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Last Words of Jesus
What Were the Seven Final Phrases of Jesus on the Cross and What Did They Mean?
1) Jesus Speaks to the Father
Luke 23:34
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (NIV)
In the midst of his excruciating suffering, the heart of Jesus was focused on others rather than himself. Here we see the nature of his love—unconditional and divine.
2) Jesus Speaks to the Criminal on the Cross
Luke 23:43
"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (NIV)
One of the criminals who was crucified with Christ, had recognized who Jesus was and expressed faith in him as Savior. Here we see grace poured out through faith, as Jesus assured the dying man of his forgiveness and eternal salvation.
3) Jesus Speaks to Mary and John
John 19:26-27
When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." (NIV)
Jesus, looking down from the cross, was still filled with the concerns of a son for the earthly needs of his mother. None of his brothers were there to care for her, so he gave this task to the Apostle John. Here we clearly see Christ's humanity.
4) Jesus Cries Out to the Father
Matthew 27:46 (also Mark 15:34)
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (NKJV)
In the darkest hours of his suffering, Jesus cried out the opening words of Psalm 22. And although much has been suggested regarding the meaning of this phrase, it was quite apparent the agony Christ felt as he expressed separation from God. Here we see the Father turning way from the Son as Jesus bore the full weight of our sin.
5) Jesus is Thirsty
John 19:28
Jesus knew that everything was now finished, and to fulfill the Scriptures he said, "I am thirsty." (NLT)
Jesus refused the initial drink of vinegar, gall and myrrh (Matthew 27:34 and Mark 15:23) offered to alleviate his suffering. But here, several hours later, we see Jesus fulfilling the messianic prophecy found in Psalm 69:21.
6) It is Finished
John 19:30
... he said, "It is finished!" (NLT)
Jesus knew he was suffering the crucifixion for a purpose. Earlier he had said in John 10:18 of his life, "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father." (NIV) These three words were packed with meaning, for what was finished here was not only Christ's earthly life, not only his suffering and dying, not only the payment for sin and the redemption of the world—but the very reason and purpose he came to earth was finished. His final act of obedience was complete. The Scriptures had been fulfilled.
7) Jesus' Last Words
Luke 23:46
Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. (NIV)
Here Jesus closes with the words of Psalm 31:5, speaking to the Father. We see his complete trust in the Father. Jesus entered death in the same way he lived each day of his life, offering up his life as the perfect sacrifice and placing himself in God's hands.
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Why Did Jesus Have to Die?
This incredibly important question involves a matter central to Christianity, yet effectively answering it is often difficult for Christians. We will take a careful look at the question and lay out the answers offered in Scripture.
However, before we answer the question, "Why did Jesus have to die?" it's also important to understand that Jesus clearly understood his mission on earth involved laying down his life as a sacrifice. In other words, Jesus knew it was His Father's will for him to die.
He proves his foreknowledge and understanding of his death in these passages from Scripture:
Mark 8:31
Then Jesus began to tell them that he, the Son of Man, would suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and three days later he would rise again. (NLT) (See also Mark 9:31)
Mark 10:32-34
Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him in Jerusalem. "When we get to Jerusalem," he told them, "the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. They will mock him, spit on him, beat him with their whips, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again." (NLT)
Mark 10: 38
But Jesus answered, "You don't know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of sorrow I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?" (NLT)
Mark 10:43-45
Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all. For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many." (NLT)
Mark 14:22-25
As they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God's blessing on it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take it, for this is my body." And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, "This is my blood, poured out for many, sealing the covenant between God and his people. I solemnly declare that I will not drink wine again until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God." (NLT)
John 10:17-18
"Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father." (NKJV)
This last verse also explains why it is pointless to blame the Jews or the Romans—or anyone else, for that matter, for "killing" Jesus. Jesus, having the power to "lay it down" or "take it again," freely gave up his life. It truly doesn't matter then, who "killed" Jesus. The ones who nailed the nails only helped carry out the destiny he came to fulfill by laying down his life on the cross.
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Why Did Jesus Have to Die? (Part 2)
God is Holy
Though God is all merciful, all powerful and all forgiving, God is also holy, righteous and just.
Isaiah 5:16
But the LORD Almighty is exalted by his justice. The holiness of God is displayed by his righteousness. (NLT)
Sin and Holiness are Incompatible
Sin entered the world through one man's disobedience - Adam, and now all of us are born into this "sin nature."
Romans 5:12
When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. (NLT)
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard. (NLT)
Sin Separates Us from God
Isaiah 35:8
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. (NIV)
Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. (NIV)
Sin's Punishment is Eternal Death
God's holiness and justice demand that sin and rebellion be punished. The only penalty or payment for sin is eternal death.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (NASB)
Romans 5:21
So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (NLT)
Atoning Sacrifice
Our death is not sufficient to atone for sin because atonement requires a perfect, spotless sacrifice, offered in just the right way. Jesus, the one perfect God-man, came to offer the pure, complete and everlasting sacrifice to remove, atone, and make eternal payment for our sin.
1 Peter 1:18-19
For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. (NLT)
Hebrews 2:14-17
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. (NIV)
Only Through Jesus Christ
Only through Jesus Christ can our sins be forgiven, thus restoring our relationship with God and removing the separation caused by sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (NIV)
1 Corinthians 1:30
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. (NIV)
The Messiah - Savior
The suffering and the glory of the coming Messiah was foretold in Isaiah chapters 52 and 53. God's people in the Old Testament looked forward to the Messiah that would save them from their sin. Though he did not come in the form they expected, still their faith looking forward to his salvation saved them. Our faith, looking backward to his act of salvation, saves us. When we accept Jesus' payment for our sin, his perfect sacrifice washes away our sin and restores our right standing with God. God's mercy and grace provided a way for our salvation.
Romans 5:10
For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. (NLT)
In Summary, when we are "in Christ Jesus" we are covered by his blood through his sacrificial death, our sins are paid for, and we no longer have to die an eternal death. We receive eternal life though Jesus Christ. And this is why Jesus had to die.
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4/05/2012
Trust the Cross
By Max Lucado
“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22”
My dog Salty knows he isn’t supposed to get into the trash. But let the house be human free, and the dark side of Salty takes over. If there’s food in a trash can, the temptation is too great!
That’s what happened the other day. I got made, but I got over it. I cleaned up the mess and forgot about it.
Salty didn’t! He kept his distance. When I finally saw him, his tail was between his legs, his ears dropping. He thinks I’m mad at him. He doesn’t know I’ve already dealt with his mistake.
Somewhere, sometime, you got tangled in garbage…and you’ve been avoiding God. You wonder if you could ever feel close to God again. The message of his torn flesh on the cross is—you can
The door is open. Don’t trust your conscience. Trust the cross. You’re welcome in God’s presence!
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"Many shall be purified and made white and tried" (Dan. xii. 10).
This is the promise for the Lord's coming. It is more than purity. It is to be made white, lustrous, or bright. To be purified is to have the sin burned out; to be made white is to have the glory of the Lord burned in. The one is cleansing, the other is illumination and glorification. The Lord has both for us, but in order for us to have both, we must be put into the fire to be tried, and to be led into difficult and peculiar places where Christ shall be more to us because of the very extremity of the situation. We are approaching these days. Indeed, they are already around us, and they are the precursors of the Lord's coming.
Blessed is he that keepeth his garments lest he walk naked.
There are voices in the air, filling men with hope and fear;
There are signals everywhere that the end is drawing near,
There are warnings to prepare, for the King will soon be here;
O it must be the coming of the Lord!
A. B. Simpson
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"And after the earthquake a fire; and after the fire a sound of gentle stillness" (1 Kings 19:12, RV margin.)
A soul, who made rapid progress in her understanding of the Lord, was once asked the secret of her easy advancement. She replied tersely, "Mind the checks." And the reason that many of us do not know and better understand Him is, we do not give heed to His gentle checks, His delicate restraints and constraints. His is a still, small voice. A still voice can hardly be heard. It must be felt. A steady, gentle pressure upon the heart and mind like the touch of a morning zephyr to your face. A small voice, quietly, almost timidly spoken in your heart, but if heeded growing noiselessly clearer to your inner ear. His voice is for the ear of love, and love is intent upon hearing even faintest whispers. There comes a time also when love ceases to speak if not responded to, or believed in. He is love, and if you would know Him and His voice, give constant ear to His gentle touches.
In conversation, when about to utter some word, give heed to that gentle voice, mind the check and refrain from speech. When about to pursue some course that seems all clear and right and there comes quietly to your spirit a suggestion that has in it the force almost of a conviction, give heed, even if changed plans seem highest folly from standpoint of human wisdom. Learn also to wait on God for the unfolding of His will. Let God form your plans about everything in your mind and heart and then let Him execute them. Do not possess any wisdom of your own. For many times His execution will seem so contradictory to the plan He gave. He will seem to work against Himself. Simply listen, obey and trust God even when it seems highest folly so to do. He will in the end make "all things work together," but so many times in the first appearance of the outworking of His plans,
"In His own world He is content
To play a losing game."
So if you would know His voice, never consider results or possible effects. Obey even when He asks you to move in the dark. He Himself will be gloriously light in you. And there will spring up rapidly in your heart an acquaintanceship and a fellowship with God which will be overpowering in itself to hold you and Him together, even in severest testings and under most terrible pressures.--Way of Faith
Streams in the Desert
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Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out. Lev 6:13 (R. V.)
This is an emblem of the perpetual work of God for man.
The Love of God. - There never was a time when God did not love. The bush that Moses saw gave no fuel to maintain the holy flame that trembled around it, because the love of God to Israel and to the human race demands no sustenance. Through the ages it burns and will burn; however much indifference and neglect and rejection are heaped upon it, or poured over it, like barrels of water over Elijah's sacrifice, it never goes out. It is as fresh and vigorous today as ever, and waits to consume your sin and mine; for God is a consuming fire.
The Intercession of Christ. - As the ages pass, this sacrifice retains its merit. What He did as Priest on the cross, He does as Priest on the throne. It is always "this same Jesus." What He was, He is, and will be; and as generations of saints bring their gifts to the altar, He takes them, and lifts them up to God, as the fire bears up the substances which are submitted to it. He ever liveth to make intercession; and the fire that burned through the long night in the Tabernacle bore witness to the undimming, unwaning virtue of our Saviour's work.
The Ministry of the Holy Ghost. - The fire that was lit on the Day of Pentecost burns still in the Church. There has been no intermission to its presence from the first day till now. Multitudes of unknown sects and persecuted saints have kept that fire burning in the world. On the perpetuity of its existence in our midst depends the constancy of our own love and purity and prayer. If the fire shall never go out in our hearts; if the life in our spirits is indeed ever-lasting - it is because He lives and loves always.
F. B. Meyer
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The Ambitious Disciples
And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom--Mat 20:21
A Promise Misunderstood
The disciples had been pondering deeply, we may be sure, on the great promise Jesus had lately made to them--"When the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Mat 19:28). So strongly had these words impressed James and John, that from the hour they heard them they could think of little else. And gradually, as they dwelt upon that future, new ambitions began to mount within them; they began to dream of holding the most coveted seats, on the right hand and the left hand of the King. But they remembered how Jesus had rebuked them when once before they had striven for precedence. They dreaded such another rebuke, should they venture to broach the same subject again. So they made their mother the petitioner, they entreated Jesus through their mother's love, and it is the story of that entreaty that forms this lesson. Do you know what their mother's name was? It was Salome (cp. Mat 27:56 with Mar 15:40). Do you know what Salome means? It means perfect. I believe that Salome is perfect now, though she was very far from being perfect then. And do you know where we meet with her again? Once at the cross, where she stands far off and watches (Mar 15:40); and then in the early morning at the sepulchre, where she has gone to anoint the body of Jesus (Mar 16:1).
It Happened Shortly before the Crucifixion
Let us note, too, that all this happened little more than a week before the crucifixion. The shadow of the cross lay on the path of Jesus, His soul was filled with the thought of the approaching agony, and He had begun to talk very plainly of it to His own--and all the time His own were dreaming their own dreams, and happy in the golden thought of thrones. They thought that the kingdom was to be realised at once; were they not travelling to Jerusalem for that very end? But Jesus saw the darkness of Calvary before Him, and on either side (not seated upon thrones) a thief. Do you mark the gulf between the thoughts of Jesus and the thoughts of those who were nearest and dearest to Him? On the one side ambition and dominion; on the other, renunciation and the grave. Surely, in the next year or two, some mighty power must have been at work to bring round the disciples to the mind of Jesus. Just think how the cross found them, as their hearts are revealed in this incident, then think what in the after-days they became, and it is impossible not to feel the action, and detect the presence of a risen Lord.
George H. Morrison
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LIVING TODAY
2 Peter 3:11
What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness
I believe in setting goals and making plans. But biblical vision for the future and godly goals for ministry or work have no value if they don't provide direction for our steps today. Goals for tomorrow that don't prioritize present activities are nothing more than wishful thinking. We make plans for tomorrow in order to establish meaningful activities for today. We need to ask the Lord each day if we are still on target, and give Him the right to order mid-course changes in direction.
Some people don't like to set goals because they feel goals only set them up for failure. But a goal should never be a god. It should be a target, not a whip. Other people become obsessed with goals for tomorrow. Biblically, the will of God is almost entirely directed at living responsibly today. Legitimate goal-setting should support that.
"Are you trying to tell us that we aren't to make any plans for the future or establish any goals for our ministry or work?" No, I'm trying to say that the primary focus of God's will is that we seek to establish His kingdom by becoming the person He wants us to be today .
Most people want to know what God has in store for them tomorrow. That's why prophecy has always been a popular subject. Most prophecy teachers know that the critical issue concerning the Lord's second coming is "What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness" (2 Peter 3:11). Jesus said, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow" (Matthew 6:33, 34). Biblical prophecy is given to us as a hope (the present assurance of some future good) so we will have the courage to live righteously and confidently today.
Prayer: Father, help me live in the present and not worry about tomorrow, accepting only Your will and guidance for my future.
Neil T. Anderson
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Not Forgotten
"Thou art My servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me" (Isaiah 44:21).
Our Jehovah cannot so forget His servants as to cease to love them. He chose them not for a time but forever. He knew what they would be when He called them into the divine family. He blots out their sins like a cloud; and we may be sure that He will not turn them out of doors for iniquities which He has blotted out. It would be blasphemy to imagine such a thing.
He will not forget them so as to cease to think of them. One forgetful moment on the part of our God would be our ruin. Therefore He says, "Thou shalt not be forgotten of me," Men forget us; those whom we have benefited turn against us. We have no abiding place in the fickle hearts of men; but God will never forget one of His true servants. He binds Himself to us not by what we do for Him but by what He has done for us. We have been loved too long and bought at too great a price to be now forgotten. Jesus sees in us His soul's travail, and that He never can forget. The Father sees in us the spouse of His Son, and the Spirit sees in us His own effectual work. The LORD thinketh upon us. This day we shall be succored and sustained. Oh, that the LORD may never be forgotten of us!
Charles Spurgeon
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The Gift of God—Life’s Greatest Treasure
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23
In Christ. That is a small phrase, but it is the key that unlocks the door to the largest treasure you will ever know. You see, all that happened to Christ, happened to you.
When He was crucified, you were crucified. When He was buried, you were buried. When He arose, you arose. Christ acted for you. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
A man is never more secure, until he is in Christ. Someone has asked, “What if you lose your salvation?” It can’t happen to a child who is in Christ. Not only does He hold us, we are in Him. Security is not in a place called “heaven,” it’s in a person called “Jesus.”
Today I want you to share Romans 6:23 with five people. Begin praying right now for God to show you these people and ask Him to give you boldness to share. You can even write Romans 6:23 on a piece of paper and give it to them. And before you hand it to them you could say something like, “I would like to give you a gift.”
Adrian Rogers
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4/04/2012
"Resist the devil and he will flee" (James iv. 7).
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. This is a promise, and God will keep it to us. If we resist the adversary, He will compel him to flee, and will give us the victory. We can, at all times, fearlessly stand up in defiance, in resistance to the enemy, and claim the protection of our heavenly King just as a citizen would claim the protection of the government against an outrage or injustice on the part of violent men. At the same time we are not to stand on the adversary's ground anywhere by any attitude or disobedience, or we give him a terrible power over us, which, while God will restrain in great mercy and kindness, He will not fully remove until we get fully on holy ground. Therefore, we must be armed with the breastplate of righteousness, as well as the shield of faith, if we would successfully resist the prince of darkness and the principalities in heavenly places.
Your full redemption rights
With holy boldness claim,
And to the utmost fulness prove
The power of Jesus' name.
A. B. Simpson
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Alone In The Desert
"And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place" (Luke 9:10).
In order to grow in grace, we must be much alone. It is not in society that the soul grows most vigorously. In one single quiet hour of prayer it will often make more progress than in days of company with others. It is in the desert that the dew falls freshest and the air is purest.--Andrew Bonar
"Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile,
Weary, I know it, of the press and throng,
Wipe from your brow the sweat and dust of toil,
And in My quiet strength again be strong.
"Come ye aside from all the world holds dear,
For converse which the world has never known,
Alone with Me, and with My Father here,
With Me and with My Father not alone.
"Come, tell Me all that ye have said and done,
Your victories and failures, hopes and fears.
I know how hardly souls are wooed and won:
My choicest wreaths are always wet with tears.
"Come ye and rest; the journey is too great,
And ye will faint beside the way and sink;
The bread of life is here for you to eat,
And here for you the wine of love to drink.
"Then fresh from converse with your Lord return,
And work till, daylight softens into even:
The brief hours are not lost in which ye learn
More of your Master and His rest in Heaven."
Streams in the Desert
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He shall confess that wherein he hath sinned, and bring his Guilt-offering. Lev 5:5-6 (R. V.).
It is said that sometimes a soldier will come from the battle bleeding from a hidden wound which he has received without knowing it. So in the rush of life we may contract defilement by touching uncleanness, or speaking rashly, which in the sight of God will leave a foul stain upon the white robe of the soul.
The presence of unconscious sin with us is the reason why we are often unable to pray or read the Word of God at night. We are aware of a certain distance, a vail, a cloud, which has settled down between us and the beatific vision. At such times we do well to examine ourselves and the past more critically; for probably we shall be able to detect the hidden cause, which, when we know it, must be confessed and placed on the head of our guilt-offering, whilst we yield ourselves to God as a whole burnt-offering, in a new act of self-surrender.
But confession is all important. We must confess our sins, if the faithful Lord is to forgive them. Confession is taking God's side against ourselves. It is the act of judging evil in the light of the Throne. It is like the unpacking of a box, in which one begins with the lighter things at the top, and works steadily down to the heavy articles underneath. It is the repetition in the heart of Joshua's calling the roll of Israel until Achan, the son of Carmi, was taken.
When the atonement has been made as touching sin "in any of these things," there is forgiveness. Dare to believe that this is so, Openi-tent soul, who hast made Christ's soul an offering for thy sin. He says: "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins." Go thy way, and sin no more.
F. B. Meyer
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"And when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples." Mark 4:34
What is the exact meaning of the word disciple? It means properly a learner, one who is under a teacher, whose submissive and devoted pupil he has become, and from whom he receives continual instruction. And thus a disciple of Christ is one who is admitted by the Lord Jesus into his school, whom he himself condescends personally to instruct, and who therefore learns of him to be meek and lowly of heart. A disciple of Jesus is one who sits meekly at the Redeemer's feet, receiving into his heart the gracious words which fall from his lips. This was Mary's happy posture, whom the Lord commended for choosing the better part. Such is also the posture of all the saints of God, according to the ancient declaration, "Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand; and they sat down at thy feet, every one shall receive of thy words" (Deut. 33:3). But a true and sincere disciple not only listens to his Master's instructions, but acts as he bids. So a disciple of Jesus is one who copies his Master's example, and is conformed to his Master's image. A sincere disciple is also characterized by the love which he bears to his Master; so a disciple of Jesus is one who treasures up the words of Christ in his heart, ponders over his precious promises, and delights in his glorious Person, love, and blood. A disciple of Jesus is one who bears some reflection to the image of his heavenly Master; he carries it about with him wherever he goes, that men may take knowledge of him that he has been with Jesus; and as when Moses came down from the mount his face shone from the reflection of the heavenly glory which had streamed upon his countenance, so does the true disciple shine before men with some sparkles of the glory of the Son of God. To have some of these divine features stamped upon the heart, lip, and life, is to be a disciple of Jesus. To be much with Jesus is to be made like unto Jesus; to sit at Jesus' feet is to drink in Jesus' words; to lean upon Jesus' breast is to feel the warm heart of Jesus pulsating with love; and to feel this pulsation, causes the heart of the disciple to beat in tender and affectionate unison; to look up to Jesus, is to see a face more marred than the sons of men, yet a face beaming with heavenly beauty, dignity, and glory. To be a disciple, then, of Jesus, is to copy his example; to do the things pleasing in his sight; and to avoid the things which he abhors. To be a disciple of Jesus, is to be meek as he was; humble as he was; lowly as he was; self-denying as he was; separate from the world as he was; living a life of communion with God, as he lived when he walked here below. To take a worm of the earth and make him a disciple of Jesus is the greatest privilege God can bestow upon man. To select an obstinate, ungodly, perverse rebel, and place him in the school of Christ and at the feet of Jesus, is the highest favour God can bestow upon any child of the dust. How unsurpassingly great must be that kindness whereby the Lord condescends to bestow his grace on an alien and an enemy, and to soften and meeken him by his Spirit, and thus cause him to grow up into the image and likeness of his own dear Son. What are earthly honours and titles when compared with the favour thus conferred upon those whose foundation is in the dust? Compared with this high privilege, all earthly honours, stars and garters, titles and robes, sink into utter insignificance.
J. C. Philpot
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Dream Big Dreams
by Joyce Meyer
Through skillful and godly Wisdom is a house (a life, a home, a family) built, and by understanding it is established [on a sound and good foundation]. And by knowledge shall its chambers [of every area] be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
—Proverbs 24:3-4
Do you have a dream or a vision in your heart for something greater than what you have now? Ephesians 3:20 tells us God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond all we can hope, ask, or think. If you are not thinking, hoping, or asking—you are cheating yourself. You need to think big thoughts, dream big dreams, and ask for big things.
There is a gold mine of dreams, visions, abilities, and strength hidden in every life, but you have to dig to get to it. You must be willing to dig deep and go beyond how you feel or what is convenient.
If you will dig down deep into the spirit, you will do greater things than anyone could ever imagine.
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God's Hornets
"And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee" (Exodus 23:28).
What the hornets were we need not consider. They were God's own army which He sent before His people to sting their enemies and render Israel's conquest easy. Our God by His own chosen means will fight for His people and gall their foes before ...they come into the actual battle. Often He confounds the adversaries of truth by methods in which reformers themselves have no hand. The air is full of mysterious influences which harass Israel's foes. We read in the Apocalypse that "the earth helped the woman."
Let us never fear. The stars in their courses fight against the enemies of our souls. Oftentimes when we march to the conflict we find no host to contend with. "The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." God's hornets can do more than our weapons. We could never dream of the victory being won by such means as Jehovah will use. We must obey our marching orders and go forth to the conquest of the nations for Jesus, and we shall find that the LORD has gone before us and prepared the way; so that in the end we will joyfully confess, "His own right hand and his holy arm, have gotten him the victory."
Charles Spurgeon
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Listening to a Different Frequency
“I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart.” Psalm 119:32
There is an unseen world right where you are. Did you know that in the room where you are reading this, that there are cartoons, music, murder mysteries, and concerts going on? You just don’t see them unless you have your radio or television tuned in to the right frequency.
So many people are missing out on the joys and privileges of the Christian life because they are not living a “tuned in” life to Jesus. To experience the abundant life that Jesus died to give you, all you have to do is tune in.
Christians march to a different beat. They whistle a different tune. And that is where our blessings lie – where the world cannot see.
Finding God’s frequency takes discipline. Practice the discipline of quieting your heart and listening for His voice today.
Adrian Rogers
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Where the Wrath and Love of God Meet
Romans 3:23-26
In our culture, sin is no longer considered an issue. Although some people might admit to making mistakes or being wrong, few will actually say, "I have sinned." The Lord, however, takes sin very seriously. Until we learn to see transgression as He does, we will never understand what happened at Christ's crucifixion.
The cross was God's perfect answer to a terrible dilemma. Because the Lord is holy and just, He hates sin and must respond to it with punishment and wrath. Yet He also loves sinners and wants to be reconciled with them. The cross of Christ was the place where God's wrath and love collided.
The only way to rescue fallen mankind from eternal punishment was to devise a plan whereby the Lord could forgive sins without compromising His holiness. There was no way to overlook transgressions; His wrath had to be poured out--either on us or a substitute. But there was only one possible substitute: the perfect Son of God.
So Jesus came to earth as a man and suffered the Lord's wrath for us as He hung on the cross. Sin was punished, divine justice was satisfied, and now God could forgive mankind without compromising His character. His wrath was poured out on His Son so that His love and forgiveness could be lavished upon us.
Because of human limitations, we'll never grasp all that happened while Jesus hung on the cross. We can begin to comprehend only the physical suffering He endured, but in the spiritual realm, Christ bore so much more--the very wrath of God. This costly redemption plan proves God's great love.
Charles Stanley
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4/03/2012
Just For You
By Max Lucado
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed. I Peter 2:24”
What is the fruit of sin? Step into the brier patch of humanity and feel a few thistles. Shame. Fear. Disgrace. Discouragement. Anxiety. Haven’t our hearts been caught in these brambles?
The heart of Jesus, however, had not. He had never been cut by the thorns of sin. What you and I face daily—he never knew. He never worried. He was never guilty. He never knew the fruits of sin until he became sin for us. And when he did—all the emotions of sin tumbled in on him like shadows in a forest. He felt anxious, guilty, and alone. Can’t you hear the emotion in his prayer?
“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” This prayer is one of the most remarkable parts of his coming. But there’s something even greater!
He did it for you. Just for you!
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"My expectation is from Him" (Ps. lxii. 5).
When we believe for a blessing, we must take the attitude of faith, and begin to act and pray as if we had our blessing. We must treat God as if He had given us our request. We must lean our weight over upon Him for the thing that we have claimed, and just take it for granted that He gives it, and is going to continue to give it. This is the attitude of trust. When the wife is married, she at once falls into a new attitude, and acts in accordance with the fact, and so when we take Christ as a Saviour, as a Sanctifier, as a Healer, or as a Deliverer, He expects us to fall into the attitude of recognizing Him in the capacity that we have claimed, and expect Him to be to us all that we have trusted Him for.
You may bring Him ev'ry care and burden,
You may tell Him ev'ry need in pray'r,
You may trust Him for the darkest moment,
He is caring, wherefore need you care?
Faith can never reach its consummation,
'Til the victor's thankful song we raise:
In the glorious city of salvation,
God has told us all the gates are praise.
A. B. Simpson
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The Brightest Colors
"It is good for me that I have been afflicted" (Ps. 119:71).
It is a remarkable circumstance that the most brilliant colors of plants are to be seen on the highest mountains, in spots that are most exposed to the wildest weather. The brightest lichens and mosses, the loveliest gems of wild flowers, abound far up on the bleak, storm-scalped peak.
One of the richest displays of organic coloring I ever beheld was near the summit of Mount Chenebettaz, a hill about 10,000 feet high, immediately above the great St. Bernard Hospice. The whole face of an extensive rock was covered with a most vivid yellow lichen which shone in the sunshine like the golden battlement of an enchanted castle.
There, in that lofty region, amid the most frowning desolation, exposed to the fiercest tempest of the sky, this lichen exhibited a glory of color such as it never showed in the sheltered valley. I have two specimens of the same lichen before me while I write these lines, one from the great St. Bernard, and the other from the wall of a Scottish castle, deeply embossed among sycamore trees; and the difference in point of form and coloring between them is most striking.
The specimen nurtured amid the wild storms of the mountain peak is of a lovely primrose hue, and is smooth in texture and complete in outline, while the specimen nurtured amid the soft airs and the delicate showers of the lowland valley is of a dim rusty hue, and is scurfy in texture, and broken in outline.
And is it not so with the Christian who is afflicted, tempest-tossed, and not comforted? Till the storms and vicissitudes of God's providence beat upon him again and again, his character appears marred and clouded; but trials clear away the obscurity, perfect the outlines of his disposition, and give brightness and blessing to his life.
Amidst my list of blessings infinite
Stands this the foremost, that my heart has bled;
For all I bless Thee, most for the severe.
--Hugh Macmillan
Streams in the Desert
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If a soul shall sin through ignorance. Lev 4:2
Sin is something more than that of which our conscience convicts us. Our conscience may excuse or palliate our sins, or may fail to detect them for want of proper enlightenment, or may be misled by the practices and sentiments of those around. Therefore we may do things which are grievously wrong in God's sight without realizing their evil or bemoaning it.
All such sin must be met and atoned for ere God can admit us into His holy presence. Sin must be dealt with and put away, not only as it appears to us, but as it is in itself and in the sight of the All-Holy. So, in the types of Leviticus, provision was made for sins of ignorance; and the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin, whether known to us or not.
There is more sin in us than any of us know. If we think we have passed a day without conscious sin, we have only to wait till an intenser light is flashed on our motives and intentions - for firelight to be exchanged for electric light - and we shall see specks and flaws. If we do not actually violate known commands, there may be a grievous coming short of the infinite standard of the Divine perfection. Who shall dare to say that be has loved God with all his heart, and soul, and strength? Besides, there is always the liability to sinfulness; and this needs to be perpetually met and atoned for.
It is very needful, then, for us to be perpetually cleansed in the precious blood of Christ. We must ask to be forgiven for the many sins which we know not, as well as for those we know. The work of confession and forgiveness must therefore go on to life's end, applied to each heart and conscience by the Holy Spirit.
F. B. Meyer
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"Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14
To possess this holiness is a necessary and indispensable meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light; but this meetness must be wrought in us by the power of God's grace, for I am sure that in ourselves of it we have none. But see its necessity. What happiness could there be in the courts of bliss unless we had a nature to enjoy it? Unless we were made capable of seeing Christ as he is, and enjoying his presence for evermore, heaven would be no heaven to us. Nothing unclean or unholy can enter there. Sanctification therefore must be wrought in us by the power of God, to make us meet for the heavenly inheritance, and he therefore communicates of his Spirit and grace to give us heavenly affections, holy desires, gracious thoughts, tender feelings; and above all that love whereby he is loved as the altogether lovely. By the sanctifying operations of his Spirit, he separates us from everything evil, plants his fear deep in the heart, that it may be a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death; and works in us a conformity to his suffering image here that we may be conformed to his glorified image hereafter. Thus there is a perfect and an imperfect sanctification--perfect by imputation, imperfect in its present operations. But the one is the pledge of the other; so that as surely as Christ now represents his people in heaven as their holy Head, so will he eventually bring them to be for ever with him in those abodes of perfect holiness and perfect happiness which are prepared for them as mansions of eternal light and love.
J. C. Philpot
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Pray Before Answering
by Joyce Meyer
For [of course] I will not venture (presume) to speak thus of any work except what Christ has actually done through me [as an instrument in His hands] to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed. —Romans 15:18
The Father has sent to us a Counselor—the Spirit of Truth—who teaches us all things (See John 14:16-17, 26). As we stay sensitive to God’s leading, He will direct us. If we pray before speaking, the Lord will keep us from overcommitting our time, and from misleading people.
Jesus took time to listen to the Father before speaking. God will also give us “a word in due season” for somebody (see Proverbs 15:23), if we listen for His input before we give what we may think is a right answer. God will give us the right words to say, if we expectantly listen for His direction before we speak.
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SEATED WITH CHRIST
Ephesians 2:4-6
God . . . made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus
The New Testament clearly reveals that Christ's power and authority over Satan and his kingdom have been conferred to those of us who are in Christ. In Ephesians 2:4-6, Paul explains that when Christ was raised from the dead, those of us who have believed in Him were also resurrected from our condition of spiritual death and made alive "together with Christ." It's only logical that the head (Christ) and the body (His church) should be raised together.
Furthermore, when God seated Christ at His right hand and conferred on Him all authority (Ephesians 1:20, 21), He also seated us at His right hand and conferred on us through Christ all authority because we are "together with Christ." The moment you receive Christ, you take possession of what God did for you 2000 years ago. Your identity as a child of God and your authority over spiritual powers are not things you are receiving or will receive at some time in the future; you have them right now. You are a spiritually-alive child of God right now . You are seated in the heavenlies with Christ right now . You have power and authority over the kingdom of darkness right now . We have the authority because of our position in Christ, and we have the power when we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
Paul also related this life-changing truth in his letter to the Colossians: "In Him [Christ] you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority" (Colossians 2:10). Notice again that the action is past: We have been made complete. When? At the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. And since Christ is the God-appointed head over all rule and authority, and since we are seated with Him in the heavenlies, we have the authority and power to live responsible lives.
Prayer: Father, help me want to live responsibly, to claim my position as Your child, and to grow to full stature in You.
Neil T. Anderson
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4/02/2012
What We Do to Him
By Max Lucado
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12”
The soldiers bowed before Jesus, making fun of him, saying ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They spat on Jesus. They began to beat him on the head. Then they led him away to be crucified.”
The soldiers’ assignment was simple. Take the Nazarene to the hill and kill him. But they wanted to have some fun first. Strong, armed soldiers circled an exhausted, nearly dead, Galilean carpenter and beat up on him.
The beating was commanded. The crucifixion was ordered. But the spitting? Spitting isn’t intended to hurt the body—it can’t. Spitting is intended to degrade the soul, and it does.
Ever done that? Maybe you haven’t spit on anyone, but have you gossiped? Raised your hand in anger? Ever made someone feel bad so you would feel good?
Jesus explained this truth in Matthew 25:40: How we treat others is how we treat Jesus!
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"He shall dwell on high" (Isa. xxxiii. 16).
It is easier for a consecrated Christian to live an out and out life for God than to live a mixed life. A soul redeemed and sanctified by Christ is too large for the shoals and sands of a selfish, worldly, sinful life. The great steamship, St. Paul, could sail in deep water without an effort, but she could make no progress in the shallow pool, or on the Long Branch sands; the smallest tugboat is worth a dozen of her there; but out in mid-ocean she could distance them in an hour.
Beloved, your life is too large, too glorious, too divine for the small place that you are trying to live in. Your purpose is too petty; arise and dwell on high in the resurrection life of Jesus, and the inspiring hope of His blessed coming.
Rise with thy risen Lord,
Ascend with Christ above,
And in the heavenlies walk with Him,
Whom seeing not, you love.
Walk as a heavenly race,
Princes of royal blood;
Walk as the children of the light,
The sons and heirs of God.
A. B. Simpson
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Grow in His Strength
"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him" (Deut. 32:11, 12).
Our Almighty Parent delights to conduct the tender nestlings of His care to the very edge of the precipice, and even to thrust them off into the steeps of air, that they may learn their possession of unrealized power of flight, to be forever a luxury; and if, in the attempt, they be exposed to unwonted peril, He is prepared to swoop beneath them, and to bear them upward on His mighty pinions. When God brings any of His children into a position of unparalleled difficulty, they may always count upon Him to deliver them. --The Song of Victory
"When God puts a burden upon you He puts His own arm underneath."
There is a little plant, small and stunted, growing under the shade of a broad-spreading oak; and this little plant values the shade which covers it, and greatly does it esteem the quiet rest which its noble friend affords. But a blessing is designed for this little plant.
Once upon a time there comes along the woodman, and with his sharp axe he fells the oak. The plant weeps and cries, "My shelter is departed; every rough wind will blow upon me, and every storm will seek to uproot me!"
"No, no," saith the angel of that flower; "now will the sun get at thee; now will the shower fall on thee in more copious abundance than before; now thy stunted form shall spring up into loveliness, and thy flower, which could never have expanded itself to perfection shall now laugh in the sunshine, and men shall say, 'How greatly hath that plant increased! How glorious hath become its beauty, through the removal of that which was its shade and its delight!'"
See you not, then, that God may take away your comforts and your privileges, to make you the better Christians? Why, the Lord always trains His soldiers, not by letting them lie on feather-beds, but by turning them out, and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long march with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. This is the way in which He makes them soldiers--not by dressing them up in fine uniforms, to swagger at the barrack gates, and to be fine gentlemen in the eyes of the loungers in the park. God knows that soldiers are only to be made in battle; they are not to be grown in peaceful times. We may grow the stuff of which soldiers are made; but warriors are really educated by the smell of powder, in the midst of whizzing bullets and roaring cannonades, not in soft and peaceful times. Well, Christian, may not this account for it all? Is not thy Lord bringing out thy graces and making them grow? Is He not developing in you the qualities of the soldier by throwing you into the heat of battle, and should you not use every appliance to come off conqueror? --Spurgeon.
Streams in the Desert
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We have Peace with God. - We are justified by faith in Jesus. In Him we stand before God, accepted and beloved. The curse is exchanged for blessing; distance for presence; the husks of the swine for the fatted calf. The past is forever under the blood; above us is the clear heaven of God's love.
We have the Peace of God. - The very peace that fills our Father's heart, undisturbed by the storms of care and strife which sweeps this lower world, is ours also. We sit in heavenly places; His peace, like a sentry, keeps our hearts and minds against molestation; the peace of God rules in us, bringing every thought into subjection to itself. We have perfect peace because our mind is stayed on Him.
We have the God of Peace. - According to the Apostle's fervent hope and prayer, He is with us. Not the gift, but the Giver; not I, but He; not the river only, but the source. We may well open our doors to admit such a guest, in having whom we received the Author and Giver of concord, unity, and unbroken rest.
F. B. Meyer
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The Loss of Childlikeness May Creep on Us Slowly
The spirit of the child, then, never died in Jesus. I wonder if it has died in you? It dies away so slowly and so gradually, under the pressure of a worldly city, that we hardly notice how far we have drifted. But the greatest losses are the losses we never observe; the crumblings in secret till this or that is ruined; the stealing away of the dearest in the dark; and there is no loss more tragic for a soul than the loss of that spirit of the child.
You Cease to Be Childlike...When You Cease to Be Receptive
You ask me why? I think there are three reasons; there are three penalties that follow when the child-spirit dies, and the first is, that we cease to be receptive. The joy of childhood is its receptivity. The greatest duty of it is to receive. The child knows nothing of a haunting past yet, and it is not yet anxious about the future. Its time is now, and now is God's time too, do not forget. But you and I have so overlaid this present with yesterday's sin and with tomorrow's project, that we have little heart for today's message. We are not receptive as the little child is, we do not welcome impressions and angels now. And so we grow very commonplace and dull; there is plenty of dust about us, and no dew. Let the dead past bury its dead! Do not be living in a quenched yesterday. And take no anxious thought about tomorrow. Consider the lilies; be a child again. To feel the eternal in this passing moment, to catch the rustle of God's garment now, not to be burdened with a vain regret, not to be peering forward through the curtain; all that, with the open eye and feeling heart, is to be childlike. And of such is the kingdom of heaven.
George H. Morrison
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"I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Isaiah 48:10
According to God's own testimony, it is "through much tribulation" that we are to enter into the kingdom; and therefore there is no entering into the kingdom of grace here or the kingdom of glory hereafter without it. But let this be ever borne in mind, that whatever affliction befall the saints, it is laid upon them by the hand of God, and that for the express purpose of putting them into a situation and of making them capable of receiving those comforts which God only can bestow. None but Jesus himself and the Father can comfort a truly afflicted heart. And he can and does from time to time comfort his dear people by a sense of his presence; by a word of power from his gracious lips; by the light of his countenance; by the balm of his atoning blood and dying love; and by the work and witness of the Spirit within. And as they receive this consolation from the mouth of God, their hearts are comforted. How good the Lord is of his own free grace to bestow such blessings upon his redeemed family! May he give us much of them! And may he wherever he has bestowed upon any of us everlasting consolation, or even a good hope through grace, comfort our hearts as we journey through this vale of tears, and may our consolations be neither few nor small.
J. C. Philpot
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A BLAMELESS CONSCIENCE
Acts 24:16
I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men
Folklore advises, "Let your conscience be your guide." This has serious limitations since our conscience is a function of our mind. Having been conformed to this world, the conscience can be programmed wrongly. It is always true to its own standard. Until we come to Christ, the standard is the world system in which we were raised. Many people are falsely guided by a guilty conscience--not a true guilt, but a psychological guilt usually developed in early childhood. Satan works through this stronghold to accuse the brethren day and night (Revelation 12:10).
People like this are usually perfectionists who labor under condemnation, even though the Bible says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8;1). They aren't led; they are driven. They constantly look for affirmation. They have a tendency to be man-pleasers. Paul said, "If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10). If you are striving to please men, of whom are you a bond-servant?
Since our minds were conformed to this world, we need to renew them in such a way that what we believe is in accordance with truth. Chapter 14 of Romans deals with how we should walk in regard to nonmoral issues. Paul says, "The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves" (Romans 14:22).
However, we are to restrict our freedom if it causes a weaker brother to stumble. We never have the right to violate another person's conscience. Paul says, "I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men" (Acts 24:16). Be very cautious about going against your own conscience once you are committed to Christ. The Holy Spirit does work through our consciences as He seeks to renew our minds.
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that my mind and conscience can be renewed daily through the power of Your Word.
Neil T. Anderson
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Exercise Your Authority
by Joyce Meyer
And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout the church]. —Ephesians 1:22
From the beginning of time, God has had good plans for our lives, but the devil disrupted His original plan when he tempted Adam and Eve to sin and they listened to him instead of obeying God. God had given Adam and Eve dominion over everything in the Garden, but when they disobeyed Him, they lost their authority and suddenly, Satan had the upper hand.
We must never forget that Satan is a thief and a liar. He wants us to believe his lies because that will cause us to be deceived and not to live in truth. He will tell us God doesn’t love us or want the best for us.
From the beginning of time he has sought to divert the good things that are ours, and he will continue to do so if we allow him to. In other words, he will stay on our property if we don’t run him off!
Satan attacks us, but he does not have to defeat us. We can have dominion over his works. All we have to do is exercise the authority that belongs to us in Christ by opening our mouth in faith and saying, “No, Satan, you have no authority over me.”
In His love for us, God sent Jesus to earth to deliver us from the power and authority of the enemy. Jesus is Lord over all; He has put all things under His feet. Because we are “in Christ” as believers, the only place Satan has in our lives is under our feet!
Love God Today: As you think of Easter and of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, thank God that He has given you authority over the devil and that you have the Power of the Holy Spirit available to help you live in victory.
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True Heart-Energy
"Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all" (1 Timothy 4:15).
This is, practically, a promise that, by diligent meditation and the giving up of our whole mind to our work for the LORD we shall make a progress which all can see. Not by hasty reading but by deep meditation we profit by the Word of God. Not by doing a great deal of work in a slovenly manner, but by giving our best thought to what we attempt, we shall get real profit. "In all labor there is profit" but not in fuss and hurry without true heart-energy.
If we divide ourselves between God and mammon, or Christ and self, we shall make no progress. We must give ourselves wholly to holy things, or else we shall be poor traders in heavenly business, and at our stocktaking no profit will be shown.
Am I a minister? Let me be a minister wholly and not spend my energies upon secondary concerns. What have I to do with party politics or vain amusements? Am I a Christian? Let me make my service of Jesus my occupation, my lifework, my one pursuit. We must be in-and-in with Jesus, and then out-and-out for Jesus, or else we shall make neither progress nor profit, and neither the church nor the world will feel the forceful influence which the LORD would have us exercise.
Charles Spurgeon
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What Separates You from the Love of God?
“Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39
A historian tells us that after the Spanish Inquisition, Napoleon’s soldiers uncovered a dungeon. They went down into the dungeon and found a skeleton with chains still on it. To their surprise, they looked on the wall and saw a cross. At the apex of the cross, was the word “height.” At the foot of the cross, was the word “depth.” And on either side of the cross were the words “breadth” and “length.” To this prisoner, the cross was a picture of the dimensions of God’s love. God’s love is expansive and everlasting.
Jesus Christ went to the Cross to demonstrate the depth and height, length and breadth of the love of God. God went to extremes to show His love for you.What are you doing today to lead others to Jesus Christ?
Adrian Rogers
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4/01/2012
God’s Joy
By Max Lucado
“I have said these things to you that my joy may be in you.” John 15:11 RSV
Think about God’s joy. What can cloud it? What can quench it? . . . Is God ever in a bad mood because of bad weather? Does God get ruffled over long lines or traffic jams? Does God ever refuse to rotate the earth because his feelings are hurt?
No. His is a joy which consequences cannot quench. His is a peace which circumstances cannot steal.
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"Vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory" (Rom. ix. 23).
Our Father is fitting us for eternity. A vessel fitted for the kitchen will find itself in the kitchen. A vessel for the art gallery or the reception room will generally find itself there at last.
What are you getting fitted for? To be a slop-pail to hold all the stuff that people pour into your ears, or a vase to hold sweet fragrance and flowers for the King's palace and a harp of many strings that sounds the melodies and harmonies of His love and praise? Each one of us is going to his own place. Let us get fitted now.
The days of heaven are Christly days,
The Light of Heaven is He;
So walking at His side, our days
As the days of heaven would be.
The days of heaven are endless days--
Days of eternity;
So may our lives and works endure
While the days of heaven shall be.
Walk with us, Lord, through all the days,
And let us walk with Thee;
'Til as Thy will is done in heaven,
On earth so shall it be.
A. B. Simpson
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Long Hours
"I will give myself unto prayer" (Ps. 109:4).
We are often in a religious hurry in our devotions. How much time do we spend in them daily? Can it not be easily reckoned in minutes? Who ever knew an eminently holy man who did not spend much of his time in prayer? Did ever a man exhibit much of the spirit of prayer, who did not devote much time in his closet?
Whitefield says, "Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground, in silent or vocal prayer." "Fall upon your knees and grow there," is the language of another, who knew whereof he affirmed.
It has been said that no great work in literature or science was ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude. We may lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be often, and long, alone with God. --The Still Hour
"'Come, come,' He saith, 'O soul oppressed and weary,
Come to the shadows of my desert rest;
Come walk with Me far from life's babbling discords,
And peace shall breathe like music in thy breast.'"
Streams in the Desert
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Every act of our life should emit sweet fragrance toward God. Always moving forward in Christ's triumphant procession, bearing aloft the incense - bowls of thought, action, word, filled with love and praise.
F. B. Meyer
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Who Can Despise Someone for Whom Christ Died?
But the greatest power of all has still to be named. It is the life and death of our Saviour Jesus Christ. No man can struggle to be true to that ideal, nor feel the love that brought Him to the cross, without the contemptuous spirit we are all so prone to, taking to itself wings and flying away. I ask you to trace the story of that life, and tell me if you find a trace of despising there. The fact is, Christ was despised for not despising: the Jew could never understand His charity. Did He despise the woman of Samaria though all her village held her in contempt? Did He despise the publican, the harlot? Did He ever look with disdain on the little children? Christ saw the worst as you have never seen it--felt all the loathsomeness and guilt of sin--yet for the worst all things were yet possible; there was some chord still capable of music. The sorriest sinner was good enough to live for. The sorriest sinner was good enough to die for. A man may be poor, unsuccessful, vulgar, very dull; but if he can say "Christ Jesus died for me," I do not think I shall despise that man again.
George H. Morrison
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"That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ." Philippians 1:10
If divine light has enlightened your mind, divine life quickened your heart, and you love the Lord and his people, you must approve of the things that are excellent. For they are so commended to your conscience that you can no more do otherwise than you can tell a deliberate lie or call black white. And as you approve of them, you will disapprove of everything which is contrary to, or falls short of this excellency. Now this is what distinguishes us from the world and the spirit of it, and from all whose eyes are blinded by the god of this world--that whilst they approve of the things God abhors, we approve of the things that God loves. Here is the mind of Christ; here is the teaching of the Spirit giving us in some measure to see as Christ sees, to feel as Christ feels, to love as Christ loves, and to approve as Christ approves. We shall never go far wrong so long as we are approving the things that are excellent, and seeking, as the Lord may enable, to know the will of God and do it. But directly we lose sight of this spiritual standard and set up the opinion of men, then our eyes get blinded, our hearts hardened, our consciences benumbed, and instead of approving the things that are excellent, we may gradually and insensibly drift into the very spirit of ungodliness.
J. C. Philpot
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HOPE FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW
1 John 3:2, 3
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
As children of the sinful first Adam, we were obstinate and ornery, helpless and hopeless, with nothing in ourselves to commend us to God. But God's love overruled our unloveliness. Through Christ God provided a way for us into His family. As God's adopted child, you have been given a new identity and a new name. You're no longer a spiritual orphan; you're a son or daughter of God. Romans 8:16, 17, tells us, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ."
If you're beginning to think you are some one special as a Christian, you're thinking right--you are special! Your specialness is not the result of anything you have done, of course. It's all God's doing. All you did was respond to God's invitation to be His child. But as a child of God, in union with God by being in Christ, you have every right to enjoy your special relationship with your new Father.
How important is it to know who you are in Christ? There are countless numbers of Christians who struggle with day-to-day behavior because they labor under a false perception of who they are. They see themselves as sinners who hope to make it into heaven by God's grace, but they can't seem to live above their sinful tendencies. Why can't they live the victorious Christian life? Because they have a misperception of who they are in Christ.
But look again at the hope-filled words of 1 John 3:2, 3. What is the believer's hope? That he will someday be changed into Christ's image? That's part of it, but that's only a future hope. What is your hope for today and tomorrow? That you're a child of God now ! You must see yourself as a child of God in order to live like a child of God. The blessed hope for the believer is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
Prayer: Thank You, Father, for the glorious hope of being Your child. I want to live in the security and blessing of that reality today.
Neil T. Anderson
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Work Your Plan
by Joyce Meyer
She rises while it is yet night and gets [spiritual] food for her household and assigns her maids their tasks. —Proverbs 31:15
She rises before daylight to spend time with God. She knows that she can never be a good wife or mother and be able to adequately provide for others unless she feeds herself with spiritual food. I am sure she reads God’s Word, prays, worships, and praises and makes sure she is spiritually ready for the day. She prays, “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You” (Psalm 63:1 NKJV).
She also has a plan for the day. This is so important because I don’t believe we should be vague and thoughtless, merely getting up daily and waiting to see what happens. People who have this mentality rarely ever accomplish anything; they are usually frustrated and unfulfilled. Have a plan and work your plan. Be disciplined with your plan unless God shows you something else He wants you to do.
I encourage you to take charge of your life. Don’t let life manage you; you manage it! Be careful about making excuses—they rob people of their destiny more than any other thing. A great confidence booster is to feel that you are doing with your life what you know you should be doing.
Lord, I want to take charge of my life. I know that starts with my relationship with You. I seek to know You and worship You above all else. Amen.
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The King's Highway
"The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein" (Isaiah 35:8).
The way of holiness is so straight and plain that the simplest minds cannot go astray if they constantly follow it. The worldly wise have many twists and turns, and yet they make terrible blunders and generally miss their end. Worldly policy is a poor, shortsighted thing, and when men choose it as their road, it leads them over dark mountains. Gracious minds know no better than to do as the LORD bids them; but this keeps them in the King's highway and under royal protection.
Let the reader never for a moment attempt to help himself out of a difficulty by a falsehood or by a questionable act; but let him keep in the middle of the high road of truth and integrity, and he will be following the best possible course. In our lives we must never practice circular sailing nor dream of shuffling. Be just and fear not, Follow Jesus and heed no evil consequences. If the worst of ills could be avoided by wrongdoing, we should, in the very attempt, have fallen into an evil worse than any other ill could be. God's way must be the very best way. Follow it though men think you a fool, and you will be truly wise.
LORD, lead Thy servants in a plain path because of their enemies.
Charles Spurgeon
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